The ironing board in my studio is a dumping ground for stray samples and forgotten leftover scraps of yardage. But this morning I actually had to (gasp!) iron something, and started cleaning it off. At the bottom of the stack was a small piece of plain weave. I remember having woven it, but not the loom it was woven on; it could have been a rigid heddle loom, or a 4-shaft jack loom, or a 40-shaft dobby. No clues. The warp was a combination of odds & ends of natural-colored cottons, bast, and rayons, and the weft a plain cotton approximately 16/2. It was warp-dominant, not balanced, and had a rough coarse feel, almost like burlap. I quickly hemmed it up and threw it in the washer with some towels.
When it emerged from the dryer it was the most seductive piece of cloth I'd ever laid hands on. It was drapey (but not sleazy), soft, absorbent and about the color of my morning oatmeal, with a few glints of shiny rayon. It's just the right size for a dishtowel. I wish I could say I designed this piece of cloth, but I think it was just one of those things you sometimes throw on the loom to use up odds & ends; some weavers call these "garbage warps," an unlovely but descriptive term.
Plain weave. Not plain.