#weaving tutorial

Introduction to weaving drafts (patterns)  

The image above is a portion of the weaving draft I used for my first 8-shaft table runner in the previous post.  Don’t worry if it looks like Egyptian hieroglyphics, it’s not.  It is, however, a very ingenious way of documenting the pattern for a weaver.

Let’s start at the top.

In the section marked Shafts (above) documents the threading of the yarn through each shaft of the loom. It is read right to left which makes 8 the first shaft to get a thread and brown is the color as indicated above it. This is followed by shafts 7, 6, 5, and so on follow on each of the following heddles in the shaft indicated by the number.

As you can see, the pattern soon switches to gold yarn and the way the heddles are threaded changes to create a different pattern shown.

We’re going to ignore the Tie-Up grid in the top right with all of the circles, for now, and move onto the right side below the grid.

Treadles are foot pedals

These indicate the order to push the treadle on the loom for each row.  This pattern uses one treadle per row.  

This section is read top to bottom and the columns are numbered 1 through 8 (left to right) since 8 treadles are used for this particular pattern. 

I’ve added arrows to each of the sections in the graphic above for easy reference.

Don’t let the 8 shafts get confused with the 8 treadles, since 8 shaft looms often come with more than 8 treadles.  Mine has 10 and 8 shaft patterns can use all 10 or any number fewer between 2 and 10, but other than that it is up to the pattern.

The red column down the far right of the Treadles section indicates what color to use in the weft.  It does not have to be the same color for each row, but on this one it is.

Now for the circles in the corner.

The upper right of corner shows a grid of circles, also known as the Tie-Up. It is called that because it indicates how to tie up the treadles to the shafts for the desired pattern.

Now that you know how the top and right sides are read, you might have guessed that each column in this grid is a treadle and each row is a shaft. (I wouldn’t have guessed it when I first saw a draft, but maybe you’re smarter than me!)

Let’s examine the first column, treadle 1.  There are circles in rows 1,2,3 and 5. This means that every time treadle 1 is pressed, the threads in these shafts will be lifted so that the weft yarn goes UNDER them.  These are colors that will be shown on top.

Let’s look at the draft holistically

One thing you might notice when looking at the draft is that the patterns in the threading (top) and the treadles (right) seem to correspond to features in the fabric.  

In the Shafts section, you will notice a lot of W shapes and the weaving has a lot W shapes in it also.

In the treadling, there are sideways Ms and Ws and that is also repeated in the finished fabric.

OK, but how do these sections create the pattern?

I use a software program on my iPad to calculate the pattern once these three sections are defined, but it can be done manually.  Kind of like multiplication (don’t let that scare you).

Let’s look at how a single row is created on the draft.

This is the first row of the pattern showing when Treadle 1 (first column in Tie-Up) is pressed.  On this treadle, we have tied shafts 1,2,3 and 5.  So the first row will indicate the color of the yarn in each of these shafts.

All of the other shafts will remain below the red weft.

Reading from right to left again, the first thread lifted will be on shaft 5 with brown (it is the 4th thread from the right after the three red threads).  The next brown thread is lifted on shaft 3, leaving a red weft thread visible it and shaft 5.  Shafts 2 and 1 are also lifted, so more brown threads.

The process repeats across the first row.  Any thread not lifted is represented on this pattern in red for weft color.

Repeat this process across each row and following the pattern, and you get something like this:

More on the software I use and how it helps me keep track of the weaving progress in the next post! 

See what’s for sale: Etsy or TangledWebWeaving

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

Weaving Tutorial Part 10: Cutting the fringe to length

So all your loose threads are tucked, your fringe is knotted and you’re almost done!  ll that’s left now is to make sure  the fringe is even. If you want both ends the same length, fold the weaving in half and line up the knotted end of the fringe (pic 1).  Look for any warp ends that are shorter than the rest–this will determine how long you can make the fringe (pic 2).  get the warps ends as straight as possible–I’ll sometimes use a comb for this.  Then, either eyeballing it or using a straight edge, cut off the excess material (pic 3).  If you eyeball it or the ends aren’t straight you may need a few extra snips to even everything up. 

Weaving Tutorial part 9.5: Tucking in weft ends

Weaving Tutorial part 9: Doing a knotted fringe

Weaving Tutorial Part 8: Getting it off the loom

Weaving tutorial part 7: actually weaving

This is the fun part, and usually the quickest. I’m a bit of a slacker though, so I’ll probably do this in several sessions.  Anyway, you’re pretty much just going to step on the appropriate treadle to lift whatever yarns need to be lifted to form your pattern, shove the shuttle through and pull back the beater bar to put the thread in place.  For this particular piece, I’m making it a bit more complicated by adding a pick up weave (which is literally where you manually pick up threads to create the pattern).  I’m going to alternate it with blocks of pattern, and because I really like weaving lace, the loom controlled pattern is huck, and the pick up weave is leno.  With leno, you actually twist the warp yarns around each other, and you hold them in place with a pick up stick.  Once you’ve gone all the way across, you can turn the stick on its side to make space for your shuttle.  It’s a little tricky because it tends to draw in the sides a lot.  You can see in the pictures here what that process looks like, and the first couple blocks of the entire pattern.  I’m actually rather further along at the time of writing this, and I’m averaging about a foot an hour, so that should you an idea of about how long this’ll take to complete (I’m shooting for around two yards for the finished piece).

Weaving tutorial part 6: prepping bobbins

One more thing you need to do before you get starting is to prep your shuttle.  For most weaving projects, I prefer to use a boat shuttle, which has bobbins you can fill with yarn and then switch out as you empty them (pic one).  You’ll need a bobbin winder in order to use this kind of shuttle (need might be a strong word, but you’ll definitely want it).  The winder will make quick work of it, and ensure your bobbins are evenly loaded.  They make fancy electric ones, but for my purposes a hand crank one is fine.  Load your bobbin onto it, and tie your yarn on--don’t tie it in a full knot because you want it to come off later, but you do want it tight enough that it won’t come undone when you start winding.  I put the yarn I’m using one my makeshift yarn holder below it (you want it in a fairly straight path).  Then crank until it’s full, cut, and repeat.  You can see in pic four that I wound quite a few--I’ll need to wind more before I’m done, but this is a good start.