Project Drafts

German Birdseye Scarf

4 shaft twill - liftplan

Snowflake Twill

8 shaft advancing twill

Double Two-Tie Twill

July 2020

I just got my own loom (48" Macomber 12 shaft!) and I wanted to put an easy project on it to test out all the moving parts to make sure I put it all back together correctly. I happened to have a pre-wound warp that I picked up at the ETC courtyard sale a couple of years ago. It is a hand-dyed, dark green, 5/2 cotton and the color reminds me of the large cedar tree outside my front window. I have been admiring a few plain weave & twill scarves on Pinterest lately and thought this would be a good project to try out a more relaxed style, play around with colors, and get a feel for my new loom.

My very first solo weaving project was a ruana that I made by following the draft for Strickler #384-3. It's been almost 3 years and I know a whole lot more now! At the time, I didn't realize the full potential of the double two-tie twill structure. In a 'normal' twill, the main design is determined by the threading and treadling. The tie up alters the way that the twill lines look but the basic structure can't easily be changed. The threading likely consists of variations on the typical designs (point, straight, advancing, etc). With double two-tie twills, every other thread is assigned to shafts 1 or 2 with the rest filling in a point or straight or whatever twill threading. This means that many more designs are open to the weaver, especially if they feel like changing the tie ups. Each section of the twill design is actually controlled by the tie up and can be switched around at will. Even with the same tie up there are many different designs that can be coaxed out. For a more detailed explanation, read about them in Madelyn van der Hoogt's Complete Book of Drafting.

Following are a few of my experiments in treadling, but first the basic draft: 

Strickler 384-3 & 381-3

Two different fancy border-like stripes

More fancy stripes

One last fancy stripe and some kind of advancing twill which creates an interesting diamond pattern

A very cool feathered effect

Same Warp | Summer and Winter

Dec, 2020

I have about a yard and a half left of this dark green warp. One of the neat things about the double-two-tie structure is that it can be used for a few different structures without re-threading. One of the most well known is Summer and Winter, a pattern/tabby style weave.

I goofed around with Aseprite (a pixel editing program) and came up with a nice tree design. Fiberworks tells me I can weave it with only 14 treadles if I use a skeleton tie-up. I came up with some snowflake, flower, and alien motifs that I can try out at the same time. I love seeing what I can do with the same tie up! I have a couple extra treadles that I could use if I really wanted to, but it's already a pretty big stretch to reach 14.

The two pictures here are profile drafts, basically a shortcut notation that shows the intended design rather than the actual weaving draft.

With Summer and Winter, the warp is usually of a smaller grist: 10/2 or smaller. I'm not sure how it will turn out with my 5/2 warp. I am thinking that I will need to use a thicker and / or fluffier pattern yarn.

For those of you who are interested, I'm including a copy of the full weaving draft (the top portion of the trees). I tend to weave by looking at the profile draft and a handy cheat sheet for the tabby/pattern treadling in case I forget. There are multiple ways to treadle Summer and Winter (bird's eye, alternating, x's ...) this one is for x's.

Experimenting with Dish Towels

Jan 2022

How can I cram years of weaving experience into an evening project? I want to weave some dish towels for my kitchen, but I am not sure which weave structure I'll like the best. I COULD weave lots of different towels, a dozen of each, but that sounds like I'll never get to make my towels! My solution, warp my loom with a straight 12 threading, and change the tie-ups in between each towel. These are just little washcloth sized towels (13" x 13"), so they are quick to weave and don't use a ton of yarn. As I weave the towels, I'll update this page with the drafts & the woven towel.

Six Shaft Linen Top / Pinwheels

Three End Huck Spots

Five End Huck Stripes

Seven End Huck

Mock Leno

Waffle Weave