#weaving software

Using iWeaveIt to design and weave complex fabrics

First of all, If you are unfamiliar with weaving drafts, you can get a quick introduction from my last post here.

When I started weaving on my multi-shaft loom, I had no idea how hard it would be to keep track of the row I was on.  I was hoping I could just count--wrong.  I was so excited to get started, and the pattern was much simpler than the one above, so I just started weaving.

By the time I had four rows in I stared having trouble keeping track of the weaving and what the next sequence was for the pattern.

Enter iWeaveIt.

This is an extremely well created application which I downloaded from the App Store onto my iPad.  I’d first found it relatively quickly when I started weaving, but didn’t really see the need for it while on a Rigid Heddle loom.

Boy, was I wrong!

It makes many of the more tedious aspects of weaving, like threading the heddles, tracking the pattern repeats, color changes,etc. almost effortless.

Now, I know I could use paper and a pencil to track the weaving progress, which is what I do when I’m knitting since I’m usually nowhere near a table for that process, but I work in IT!  If there is a cool computer application I can use on my iPad or PC, I am all for it, and this one fits the bill!

While it is a bit pricier than other apps in the store, it is not what I would call expensive, and for what it delivers, it is well worth it.

Threading and Treadling Tracking

The first in-app download I purchased was the Threading and Treadling Tracker. This was the feature that I bought the app for in the first place. It enables the software to track where you are in the pattern and actually provides a line indicating your location, kind of like a “You are here” mark in the treadling section of the draft.

When weaving, I set up the iPad on the top of my loom and follow the tracker.  It tells me which treadle to press and the color of the yarn to use for that row, or pick.

Here it is indicting to press Treadle 1 and weave with a red yarn. Once that is done, I tap the screen and the pattern advances on the screen for the next treadle and color to use.

There is also a reverse option in case you need to un-weave something back to a mistake, and it has been used a few times for that, I must say.

Threading the loom for this large project was also much easier since it can also walk the weaver through the heddles in groups of 4 (it is configurable to more or fewer heddles at a time) until the entire warp is completed.

Best of all, you can stop and come back later and it remembers where you left off!

Project Setup

This add-in feature was the next one to be purchased since I wasn’t sure if I had enough heddles to weave the full width of this runner.  Project Setup provided the full count of heddles per shaft, but it provided so much more.

It has a yarn usage calculator, tracked the usage of each yarn by color, recommended the Sett (threads per inch) and allowed me to customize the look and feel of the application to better suit the thickness of the yarns being used.

Recommendation?

You bet!  This is a wonderful little application and I am so glad I bought it.  There are many other in-app purchases awaiting me, but for now I am totally happy and content.

Happy Weaving!

See what’s for sale: Etsy or TangledWebWeaving