The middle panel was finished very early on this week. I didn’t have much blue yarn left; I think the panel only took 12 to 14 hours to weave and hemstitch. It was somewhat of a surreal moment when I cut the middle panel off the loom. As I was doing so, I acknowledged the fact that the weaving is over. This activity that I had prepared for over the span of two quarters was now done. The weaving went by so fast that it was surprising to finish!
Now it was time to sew the panels together and hem the edges. Before I started I watched a few videos on YouTube to see if there was any recommended way of hemming handwoven textiles, but all of the videos used sewing machines, which I do not have. I found an historic sewing channel that had so many great videos on hand sewing that I almost became distracted. But, sewing is a skill that I will focus on another day. In the meantime, I hemmed the edges using what was left of my weft yarn and secured the ends by inconspicuously weaving them into the fabric. There isn’t a single knot in my himation, which for some reason I’m proud of. I can’t explain why. Maybe all of the hours sitting alone in my craft room have finally gotten to me.
First I hemmed what I decided would be the outside edges, then sewed the middle panel to each large panel. I did one large panel at a time, sewing the panels together, then hemming the edges. I was really glad I had hemstitched everything, because I was a bit rough in handling the fabric; it became rather unwieldy as the pieces came together. Sewing also took longer than I thought – it took over 15 hours. One day I’ll accurately estimate the amount of time I need to do something…but that moment was not while hemming.
