Bedford Cord Coat for Your Best Friend

Canine Couture a Bedford cord coat for your best friend

RUTH MORRISON

A Bedford cord coat with green ﬂeece lining is modeled by Italian greyhound Peanut (at right), who is wearing his collar turned up. Editor Madelyn van der Hoogt’s Maltese dog, Huck, the inspiration for the coat design, is wearing his coat, lined in yellow ﬂeece, with the color turned down (below). Project directions for a doubleweave coat in the same style appear in the September/October 2006 issue of Handwoven on pages 64–67. This article gives directions for the Bedford cord coats shown here on Peanut and Huck.

edford cord fabrics have flexible, Fitting the coat to your dog ribbed surfaces with insulating air The pattern on page 4 is for a small dog Bpockets that give warmth without with a neck-to-tail length of about 10" adding weight. In pearl cotton, the fab- and a chest circumference of 18" (size 10 ric is very washable, wears well, and can in commercial coats for small dogs). For be woven in a wide range of colors. a larger dog, adjust these two measure- ments, lengthen the neck flaps and chest Bedford cord plate, and transfer the pattern onto a Bedford cord is characterized by ribs—or muslin that you can pin-fit and trim on cords—that run parallel to the warp. Al- your dog. An alternative is to purchase a ternate ribs can be two different pure col- coat that fits your dog in a style you like ors, and cutting lines between the ribs can and make a pattern from it. add yet a third color. Bedford cord is woven When you plan the fabric for your pat- with two shuttles, but the tie-up for the tern, remember that corded fabrics usu- Huck models his Bedford cord coat with coat fabric is designed so that each shuttle ally have considerable draw-in, take-up, yellow fleece lining. is used for two picks in succession for rela- and shrinkage. Add about 15 percent to tively quick weaving (see Bedford Cord Ba- your desired finished width and length used for a garment. For the coats shown sics, page 3, and Resources, below). when you calculate warp and weft here, a polyester fleece is used for lining. amounts to avoid ending up with too lit- Fleece is especially easy to sew, because it Constructing the coats tle fabric for your pattern layout. is very flexible and does not ravel; it turns After it is washed, a Bedford cord fabric corners and eases around curves like a is surprisingly light, pliable, and easy to dream. Huck’s coat is lined with yellow Resources sew. It does have long weft floats on the fleece and Peanut’s with green. Kaestner, Tracy. “Bedford Cord for Kids.” The wrong side of the fabric, however, so that Best of Weaver’s: Fabrics That Go Bump. The Velcro fasteners are fused to the a lining is essential when Bedford cord is Sioux Falls, South Dakota: XRX Inc., fabric with a hot iron. They—and the 2002, pp. 18–20. coat design—make the coats especially Keasbey, Doramay. “More Bedford Cord.” The Ruth Morrison of easy to put on and take off your dog. In- Best of Weaver’s: Fabrics That Go Bump. Tulsa, Oklahoma, stead of struggling to work his head and Sioux Fall, South Dakota: XRX Inc., 2002, pp. 21–24. weaves on many looms, legs through small openings, you simply Alderman, Sharon. “Bedford Cord and from dobby to drawloom. place the coat on his back and join the Her current passion is Piqués,” Mastering Weave Structures. Love- fabric for clothing. Velcro tabs securely under his tummy and land, Colorado: Interweave Press, 2004. across his chest. pp. 179–184.

© Handwoven® magazine, Interweave Press LLC. www.handwovenmagazine.com HANDWOVEN 1 Not to be reprinted. All rights reserved. © Handwoven® magazine, Interweave Press LLC. www.handwovenmagazine.com HANDWOVEN 2 Not to be reprinted. All rights reserved. STEPS FOR WEAVING THE BEDFORD CORD COAT FABRIC

33x 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 Step Wind a warp of 670 ends 2 ⁄4 yd long 1. Draft for 6 6 6 following Figure 2. Warp the loom 5 5 5 Bedford cord 4 4 4 4 using your preferred warping method 3 3 3 3 1 coat fabric 2 2 2 2 (for speciﬁc warping steps, see Weav- 1 1 1 1 / ing Resources at www.handwoven floating selvedge #5 Blue heading /

#5 Green r e

magazine.com). Weave a heading in 2. Warp color order p

#10 Yellow e a

plain weave to spread the warp and 33x t 274 9 8 1 #5 Blue then weave the fabric for 44" follow- 264 8 #5 Green ing the treadling in Figure 1. 132 2 2 #10 Yellow 670

Step Remove the fabric from the loom and Bedford Cord Basics serge or machine zigzag raw edges. In Bedford cord, two sets of weft threads 2 Machine wash, warm, with mild de- bulk. Carefully turn the coat right side weave with two sets of warp threads. In tergent; machine dry, regular. out through the neck opening. the 6-shaft draft below, a blue weft weaves plain weave with blue warp Step Enlarge the pattern 400 percent and Step Right sides together, stitch the collar threads on shafts 1 and 2. A green weft mark seam lines, notches, and fas- and its lining piece together around weaves plain weave with green warp 1 threads on shafts 3 and 4. The yellow 3 tener locations; ⁄2" seam allowances 6 the curved edge, leaving the straight are included in the pattern. edge open. Clip the curves in the Bed- warp threads between the ribs of blue ford cord fabric as needed and turn and green are called the cutting ends. Step Lay out the patterns for the coat body right side out. Right sides of the Bed- They weave with both wefts to create and collar on the straight grain of the ford cord fabrics together, pin the col- furrows between the ribs. The back of the 4 Bedford cord fabric so that the neck- lar to the coat body between the cloth is covered with weft floats: green to-tail length and the ribs run in the notches, easing the straight edge of under blue ribs, blue under green. To same direction. Cut one of each and the collar as necessary. Stitch the Bed- weave Bedford cord on four shafts, omit transfer markings. Machine zigzag or ford cord fabric of the collar to the the cutting ends. If more than six shafts serge the edges to prevent raveling. neck opening through its two layers. are available, the ribs can be stuffed. Cut one collar and one body from Turn under the raw edge of the collar 66 55 polyester fleece lining fabric. (Fleece lining and hand sew to the lining of 4 4 4 33 3 doesn’t ravel, so you don’t need to the coat body. Finger press all edge 222 machine sew edges.) seams (if you need to iron, use a press 111 cloth between the iron and the fleece) 1 Step Pin the coat body and lining right and top stitch ⁄2" from all edges. sides together. Beginning at one of the 5 notches that mark the collar opening Step To install the fasteners: cut four strips and moving away from the notch, of self-adhesive Velcro about 1" long, 1 stitch a ⁄2" seam around the body, 7 rounding the corners slightly. Place the ending at the other notch. (There fasteners where indicated on the pat- should be an opening in the neckline tern (or to fit your dog), and fuse them between the notches.) Clip the curves permanently following the directions in the Bedford cord fabric and trim on the package. Always use a press the corners of both fabrics to minimize cloth when ironing on fleece.

PROJECT AT-A-GLANCE

Weave structure for coat fabric Notions and other materials selvedges, 8" for take-up, and 29" for Bedford cord. Polyester fleece fabric (lining), yellow, green, loom waste). 5 or desired color, ⁄8 yd for 2 coats; sewing Equipment thread; 1 pkg Velcro Fabric Fusion Heat- Warp and weft spacing 6-shaft loom, 24" weaving width; 12-dent 3 Warp: 28 epi (2-2-3/dent in a 12-dent Activated Adhesive Tape ⁄4" × 5 ft, beige. reed; 2 shuttles; sewing machine. reed). Width in the reed: 24". Yarn and materials sources Weft: 28 ppi. Woven length (measured Yarns 10/2 pearl cotton is available from the under tension on the loom): 44". Warp: 10/2 pearl cotton (4,200 yd/lb), Lunatic Fringe; fleece and notions are 2 #5 Blue, 617 yd (2 ⁄5 oz), #5 Green, 594 available from fabric stores. Finished dimensions 1 1 yd (2 ⁄3 oz); #10 Yellow, 297 yd (1 ⁄5 oz). After washing, amounts produce one length Weft: 10/2 pearl cotton (4,200 yd/lb), #5 Warp order and length of yardage 21" × 40" to make two size 10 3 Blue and #5 Green, 452 yd (1 ⁄4 oz) each. 670 ends 2 yd long (includes 2 floating coats for a small dog.

3. Pattern for 1

dog coat collar 2

5 ch notch es notch t pl B ate 6 A

B 7 A 8

10 20" 11 coat body

12 C

y m 13 c

e m t

u t e

14 r

b t

a u

D m

15 l i n y e

20 1 Velcro affixed to Velcro affixed 2 " seam allowances right side of fabric to lining = 1" are included in the pattern.