Valley Yarns #101 Petite Dish Cloths

Valley Yarns Petite Dish Cloths

What is Being Made

The Valley Yarns Petite Dish Cloths are small, functional woven textiles designed for kitchen use. This weaving project produces approximately 7 individual dish cloths from a single 3-yard warp. Each finished cloth measures 6 5/8" by 7 3/8" after hemming and washing, making them ideal for everyday dishwashing and kitchen cleanup tasks.

Weaving Structure and Technique

This project utilizes deflected doubleweave, an advanced weaving structure that creates a dense, durable fabric with excellent absorbency and durability. The design features striped patterning created through the strategic use of two contrasting yarn colors in both the warp and weft. The deflected doubleweave technique allows two separate layers of fabric to be woven simultaneously on a single loom, which are then interlaced to create a unified, sturdy cloth ideal for practical kitchen applications.

Loom and Equipment Requirements

This pattern is designed for an 8-shaft loom with a weaving width capacity of 15 inches. The project requires standard weaving equipment including a reed, 2 shuttles, and 2 bobbins to manage the two different colored weft yarns used in the deflected doubleweave structure.

Warp and Weft Specifications

The warp consists of 162 ends set at 20 epi (ends per inch), which can be threaded using a 10-dent reed with 2 ends per dent, an 8-dent reed with 2-3 ends per dent, or a 12-dent reed with a 1-2-2 threading pattern. The width in the reed is 8.1 inches.

Warp Yarns:

• Valley Yarns 6/2 Cotton in Natural: 246 yards
• Valley Yarns 6/2 Cotton in Mediterranean Blue: 240 yards

Weft Yarns:

• Valley Yarns 6/2 Cotton in Natural: 190 yards
• Valley Yarns 6/2 Cotton in Mediterranean Blue: 190 yards

Yarn Material

All yarns used in this project are Valley Yarns 6/2 Cotton, a 100% cotton yarn with a yardage of 2520 yards per pound. The 6/2 cotton count provides a medium weight suitable for creating dish cloths with good structure and absorbency. The two-color combination of Natural and Mediterranean Blue creates visual interest while the cotton fiber ensures the finished cloths are highly absorbent and durable for repeated washing and use.

Weaving Process

The weaving process begins with warping 162 ends in alternating colors following the specified winding order. The outermost ends of natural and blue on both sides of the warp are weighted down with approximately 1 oz. hardware store nuts to maintain tension and prevent edge distortion.

Weaving begins with 30 picks using a single yarn color for the hem, finishing with treadle 2. The pattern area is then woven using both shuttles, maintaining a consistent beat of 21-22 picks per inch. A critical aspect of the deflected doubleweave technique is the edge handling: the two wefts do not interlace with one another at the edges. Instead, the blue weft weaves only to the outermost blue warp ends at each side, requiring careful attention to edge instructions to maintain the integrity of the structure.

Finishing

After weaving is complete, the dish cloths are finished through hemming and washing, which results in the final dimensions of 6 5/8" by 7 3/8". The washing process allows the cotton fibers to relax and settle, creating a cloth with optimal absorbency and softness for kitchen use.