Threading

 

ready to thread

Yesterday I beamed the next warp and today I will begin threading.  The Megado has a removable breast beam, so I take the reed out of the beater and the beater top off, then remove the breast beam.  I have a lower stool (than what I sit on to weave) and I have spot lighting.  

The lamp on the right gets directed into the heddles on the shafts and another lamp on the left shines light from over my left shoulder.  I want the light where I need it, which is in the 'threading zone' ie, where the light can shine on the heddles I am threading.

Given my current series of tea towels, which has a fairly complex threading, I print out the entire threading draft and mark each group as I complete it.  Since each group may vary, I find it easier to just track my threading myself, not rely on iWeaveit, which gets set to a specific number of ends.  But my drafts rarely fit nicely into a constant number of threads, so it makes more sense to me to break the threading sequence down into groups that make visual sense.   That may vary from 4, to 5, to 6, to 7 or even 8 ends.  I rarely do more than 8 at a time.

I also have a lamp at the back of the loom that lights up the back few shafts and the stick that holds the bouts of the sectional beaming.  This is especially helpful on grey dreary days when it can be harder to see the back few shafts.

Some people 'treadle' their threading but I have never tried that.  Those who do it, love it, so you might want to explore that if it seems like a good idea.  

Instead I have numbered the top of each shaft on the bottom, several times across the width of the loom.  As I move the heddles from left to right, I still have the numbers as a visual guide to work from.  I don't dye my heddles, but prefer to keep the data in the same format - numbers on the draft, numbers on the shafts.  I don't have to remember that shaft one is red, shaft two green, etc.  And, with 16 shafts, I would run out of colours so I'd be repeating them.  And for me, that way lies chaos.  But again, if it works for you, by all means, you should use processes that are effective for you, not me. 

Because we are all different.  What works for me, may not work for anyone else.

As I thread each group, I pull the threads upwards as I tie a slip knot into the group.  Doing this will sometimes catch oopsies - a thread that didn't make it into the heddle eye will stand out and can be quickly fixed.  Sometimes I can tell I did a progression in the wrong direction.  Again, I can quickly fix that.

Each threading repeat gets tied into a larger grouping.  Again, one way for me to track my progress through the threading sequence.

The typist's clipboard works well to hold the draft and the little ledge holds my pencil so I can easily find it to mark the group just done as being complete.  As I do that, I check for the next group, then pull the needed heddles out of the forest, position them in their intended order, select the number of ends in that group, then thread them.

Rinse, repeat.

The current towels have 760 ends.  I go slowly, not rushing, and take a break every 45 minutes or so to give my back and hips a rest.  I used to be able to thread that many ends in a single day.  Now I try and spread it out over two days.

I don't mind the 'old'.  I mind the 'decrepit' deeply.

Keeping Track

 

Someone asked how I keep track of threadings, especially when they might be complicated, and lots of shafts.

Over the years I've worked out ways to try and avoid threading errors.  (Don't always work, but tends to reduce issues.)

First of all, I number my shafts.  On the AVL, the shafts were wood and fairly thick - thick enough I could write the numbers on the top of the bottom part of the shaft.  I used a fine nibbed permanent marker and could then easily identify which shaft was which.  The Megado has wooden top and bottom shafts, but they are thinner so I used a pencil to number them.  The numbers are written on several places along the length if the shafts because as I thread the heddles will obscure the numbers.  So about every 7 to 8 inches I wrote the numbers 1-16 so I could easily see them as I thread.

Simple progressions aren't too hard to manage but things tend to get complicated when more complex threading orders are required.

After I got Fiberworks weaving software, I could print out the threading only, tape the pages to the side of the AVL and then mark off each section.  The progression would get broken down into manageable units, and as each group of ends was threaded, they would be marked off on the print out.  If I got interrupted or needed a break, I could see at a glance where I left off.  Each group gets tied into a slipknot so I know that group is complete. 

With many threads needed for a motif, as in the draft above, I also tie a slip knot when each motif is complete.  

The current weave structure I've been playing with is twill based, so I tend to thread 4 or 8 ends at a time - until the twill line changes direction;  then it might be 5 or 7 ends in a bundle.

The draft prints out with numbers for the shafts, my shafts are numbered appropriately, and I find it easiest to read the numbers off the draft, select the heddles on the appropriate shafts and 'stack' them in order, then select the number of ends needed for the group and thread them.  As I tie the slip knot, I lift the bundle up to see if I can spot any threads that are 'wrong' - maybe I missed the eye of the TexSolv heddle, or I mis-threaded the sequence.  It's a quick self-check to try and spot any errors.

That doesn't mean I don't make mistakes, of course I do!

On the latest warp, as I sleyed I spotted something 'wrong' with one group of 8 ends.  I had threaded the sequence the wrong way.  As in I threaded the progression / instead of \.  (If something looks wrong, it probably is!)  I checked the previous threads, saw which direction the twill line was going, realized I'd reversed the threads, so they got pulled out, the heddles stacked in the correct order and re-threaded.

On the previous warp I'd made a similar mistake - instead of threading a point progression 4,3,2,1,2,3,4 - I'd threaded 5,4,3,1,3,4,5.  Again spotted during sleying because it looked 'wrong'.  A quick re-thread after tying in two 'repair' heddles on shaft 2 quickly solved that issue.

I approach threading a complex pattern with the 'how do you eat an elephant' approach - one bite at a time.

As for the printed out draft, the Megado doesn't have a place to tape the draft so I dug out an old typists clipboard thingee and it gets set on a table beside me.  The draft gets printed out in a larger size font than when I was younger, which means I generally have about 5 pages of draft.  Fiberworks does indicate the page numbers so that makes it easier to tell where I am as I complete each page.  The clipboard has a little 'tray' so a pencil gets set on that and each time I complete a group, that group gets checked off on the draft so I know where I am in the sequence.

I find that threading needs a lot of concentration, so it becomes particularly important to set any distractions aside.  If I can't do that, it usually means I make mistakes.  I also find that the best approach for me is to play instrumental music, not songs where I might sing along (in my head!)  I need to pay attention and focus.  I need to take breaks.  Threading is usually an uncomfortable position and staying in that position for 'too long' means I start to lose concentration.  Far better to stop after a while (eg when the cd ends), take a break, clear my brain, go back and do another section.

The method of threading I learned from Norman Kennedy makes threading twill progressions very efficient and ergonomic.  Small moves, not large ones, means less fatigue and stress on the body.  

Threading is one of the tasks involved in weaving where you need all of your focus and attention, and distractions need to be kept to a minimum.

My advice?  Try to see the rationale of the pattern.  Try to see how the threads march through the pattern.  Try to sense the flow of the design line.  Set up self-checks, in whatever way works best for you.

For me, keeping the data in the same format (numbers in the draft, numbers on the shafts) helps me process the information in a way that makes sense to me.  I try to break the design down into manageable units.  If I can't find a way to do that, then 4 ends at a time is a manageable unit because I can easily hold 4 threads in my left hand (when threading a four shaft loom - I can do up to 8 when I'm working on the Megado with sectional beam.)

Think about what it is you need, then give yourself the tools to do the best you can.  Then do your best to stay in the moment, focused on the task and not let your thoughts wander.  As soon as that begins to happen, take a break, then come back after a rest.

Reading Drafts Part XII

 

Complete Book of Drafting by Madelyn van der Hoogt

Handloom Weaving Technology by Allen Fannin

Weaving and Drafting Your Own Cloth by Peggy Ostercamp

This will be the final post in this thread of books which morphed from 'reading drafts' to 'books in my library'.  It's a baker's dozen (one post was not numbered) of the type of thing I value enough to a) purchase b) keep on the shelves of my 'library' c) refer to often enough to want at my fingertips.

The books I shared in this series comprise perhaps 50% of my library.  The rest are more focused in their approach - books on colour/design, draft collections, general 'pretty' books for inspiration, more industry/technical tomes, anything else I find interesting.

When wanting to read a draft, the first thing is to understand what a draft is, what the information contained in a draft represents, do drawdowns to make sure you are understanding the information as presented.  Being familiar with a number of 'basic' weave structures will help to slot new information into the mix.

Above all, read the beginning bits, where the author will generally say what the symbols in their drafts represents.

There is nothing like the weaving community for splitting hairs.  Well, maybe every craft is like that.  Certainly weavers are masters at it.

But the thing is - when you know more, you can better understand the craft.  When you know more, you can modify your understanding of the craft.  Or you can keep a closed mind and not learn something new.

There are some things that are perennial occasions for opinions to be aired, some people will give the 'it depends' qualifiers, others will huff and puff about 'tradition' citing 'hundreds of years' when weaving has been happening for thousands.  And things evolve.  Knowledge grows (one hopes!)  Attitudes can change.

Just a for instance...

When I purchased my AVL Production loom with fly shuttle and auto cloth advance, I was informed by a string of people that I could no longer call my textiles hand woven.  They did not accept that I was still coming up with the concept, working out the details, dressing the loom, threading each end, sleying it, pegging each bar (doing the tie up) and throwing every single pick.  But in their minds I was no longer 'hand' weaving.

Ditto when computers came along.  Double Ditto when computer assist was introduced.  All within the last 40 years.

Going back further?  The development of the fly shuttle in the 1700s.  The development of the Jacquard/punch card looms.  Well within the 'hundreds of years of history' someone was gnashing their teeth over.

If people want to master the craft of creating cloth, an open mind is necessary (in my humble opinion of course!)  Remember that the only correct short answer is 'it depends', that the 'correct' answer is most likely not short and usually defined by the very specific circumstances in which the question arose.

Change one thing and everything can change.  A good teacher will tell you where to look, not what to see.

Happy weaving!

Reading Drafts part XI

 

Helene Bress The Weaving Book

threading draft and photos of options

I would be remiss if I neglected this tome, put together by Helene Bress.  When I purchased it, it was $60 US (or $100 Canadian) and worth every penny.

Several weave structures are covered, and as usual, I hand drew down (because no weaving software yet existed) in order to better understand the relationship between threading sequence, tie up and treadling sequence.

As always - read the beginning bits.

And if there is no other message the readers of these posts takes, that should be the one!

Bress set out to explore the possibilities involved in several commonly used threading systems for four and even more shafts, then wove them to find out if they actually worked.  Because just because something is a possibility, doesn't always make 'good' cloth.  

And that's ultimately the bottom line, isn't it?  Are we making 'good' cloth?  Not 'perfect' cloth - GOOD cloth.  Is it good for it's intended purpose?  Only by putting the threads in the loom, weaving a sample, wet finishing it, then analyzing it, will we know for sure if we are on the right track.

So I did drawdowns.  Hundreds of drawdowns.  By hand.  In pencil, on graph paper.  And wove samples.  In order to learn.  To expand my knowledge.  To understand.

Two other smaller books I also did drawdowns from are:

I drew down every single given draft in both of these booklets and...found errors.  So even 'experts' sometimes get it 'wrong' - or make mistakes.

Bottom line? 

Learn as much as you can from as many different sources as you can.  When you know more, change your mind.  An open mind learns.  A closed mind stays stuck in whatever it has closed around.

While I have not presented all of the books in my library, I am going to stop this series with tomorrow's post.  I think I have given you, dear reader, plenty of fodder to chew on.  Books you may not be familiar with just because some of these date from my early years when I relentlessly searched for more information and brought home my treasures to pore over.  Books which may have fallen out of fashion but still have really good information, even if it means digging for it.

When we know better, we can do better.  

And suddenly Leonard Cohen's sage advice pops into my head:

"Forget your perfect offering.

There is a crack in everything.

That's how the light gets in."

Let the light shine into an open mind.  Grow your knowledge. Work to be better.  Accept 'good' and do not despair because you are not 'perfect'.  

Reading Draft part X

 

John Tovey c 1969

reading different draft formats

John Tovey's concise book is crammed with really excellent information, some of which is rarely found in 'standard' weaving books.  I remember sitting down and reading it cover to cover, and while I rarely look at it now, I'm wondering why not after thumbing through it for this post.  

Both this book and the next are British, so be aware that some terms may be different from what we are used to now.

The section on twills is worth the price of the book - if you can find it.  (Not the 'new' price quoted on Amazon, but the paper back price.  Of course you might be able to find it cheaper at a guild sale!)

effect of spin direction on twill

If you are a spinner, you might find this bit of information on twist direction and twill direction interesting.

The book is 'only' 100 pages, but full of useful and not otherwise easily available information.

diagram showing live weight brake system

Marianne Straub's book is another slim volume with very interesting information packed into it.  I had forgotten that it was in this book that I first learned of live weight brake systems for looms.  We put one onto the Leclerc Fanny using information from other sources, but it was here I first saw one.  I found that this system doesn't work very well for any cloth requiring a heavy beat so I put it on and take it off as required.

First published in 1977 in Britain, I found it soon after learning how to weave and read it cover to cover.  I was only a few pages into it when I realized I was understanding how to use more than four shafts.  This book has 150 pages, and like Tovey, lots of clear line drawings.  She also describes how to read weaving drafts clearly.

Neither of these books are pattern books per se, but both are packed full of information that I absorbed and use in my weaving practice.

I don't know that I would pay the Amazon price but definitely one I would look out for at guild sales or other second had booksellers.

Reading Drafts Part IX

 

Bateman 

page from Virginia Harvey's publication Park Weaves, based on Dr. Bateman's work

page from Weaving Innovations from the Bateman  Collection by Robyn Spady, Nancy A. Tracy and Marjorie Fiddler

Dr. Bateman did a deep dive into a variety of weave structures, and eventually Virginia Harvey edited his work and turned them into a series of monographs.

There have been many individuals who have, for their own intellectual interest, took the time and effort to do this sort of examination of how threads can go together.  Sadly many of them never made it beyond their own limited circle.

We are fortunate that Virginia Harvey belonged to the Seattle Weaver's Guild and that the guild remains active to this day.  That three of the current weavers then took the time to examine Dr. Bateman's work more fully means that we have this information to draw upon now.

Perhaps the down side to something like Park Weaves is that they are shaft hungry.  However, in the 21st century we also have access to multi-shaft looms with computer assist which can make simple work of things like tied weaves and others that are similarly shaft hungry and which would, in 'older' days, require at the very least a drawloom or an affinity for using a pick up stick.

Not that a pick up stick is any deterrent to someone determined to bring into being a design!  

The above design was rendered by my brother based on a photo of the Royal Hudson steam locomotive, which I then edited to make it weave properly, and then, using Beiderwand threading wove with a pick up stick in a modified Beiderwand treadling.  (Beiderwand is traditionally woven with two pattern picks per block - I just did one.)

As always - read the beginning bits in the book to understand the notation and become acquainted with the weave structure, then maybe weave a sampler to make sure you understand how the weave is supposed to work.  

Reading Drafts Part VIII

 

Satin blocks, draft is a draw up showing profile draft, threading draft and tie up

Drawloom draft and why I call the frames that hold heddles shafts.  Drawlooms have two 'harnesses' - the ground harness made up of 2 or more shafts, and the pattern harness which may be 10 to 50 shafts

Drawdown showing two different yarns used in the colour bars to the left and the top of the draw up and the tie up box indicated in the lower right in the greyed square

Draw ups with a colour photo showing the actual cloth

Photos taken from the above books.  Both of the books in Swedish are now available in English translations

So I forgot to sequentially number one of my posts in the 'thread' but did tag it with the 'threading draft' tag.  Realizing that I still had a bunch of books to do, decided to put these four in the same post.

The Cyrus-Zetterstrom has a lot of information packed into a small format and I still reach for it for specific things - like the formulas for metric yarn sizing.

The Damask one I bought in part for the drafts for drawlooms and the great line drawings of looms.  And because I thought that one day I would weave on a drawloom.  (My neck says nope, nope, nope.)

Warp and Weft is one of a series of draft compilations by a group of Swedish weavers.  I was introduced to one of them on a trip to Stockholm when Kerstin and I ran into her by chance.

And the Big Book of Weaving by Laila Lundell is a great introductory book for anyone dealing with a Scandinavian style loom, and just overall introduction to weaving from a Swedish perspective.

Prior to personal computers and weaving software, Swedish weaving drafts were traditionally done in a very specific manner.  Now that is changing as more people turn to the efficiency of using a computer.

The book Warp and Weft has some weave structures that are common in Sweden but less so in North America.  Traditionally Swedes weave on counter balanced looms (up to 16 shafts - yes, really!)  or counter march (also contre marche).  If anyone is interested in multi-shaft counter balanced looms, Lundell's Big Book of Weaving has great diagrams and explanations of how they work.

People tend to exist in their own personal reality bubble.  If they have never seen a multi-shaft counter balanced loom, they don't know that they do, in fact, exist.  I have woven on several.

If they don't know about drawlooms, they don't understand why I choose to use shaft rather than harness for a 'standard' floor loom which has just one 'harness' but may have 4, 8, 16, 32 shafts.

If they have never had a particular experience with a loom or yarn, they assume that it is user error, when it might be equipment or even environment.

Understanding the principles involved in this craft will help determine what is going wrong when it does, and inform decisions on how to fix the problem.

It is one reason why, when I decided to 'retire', I chose to continue to teach the Olds College master weaving class(es).  The program tries to teach the principles of the craft, encourages weavers to analyze their results and work towards figuring out the best approach to fixing any issues.

With the roll out of the vaccines beginning this month, there is now some hope that the classes will be able to happen, although possibly not.  It will depend on people getting a grip on the virus that is running rampant throughout the globe so that travel can happen and people can gather in groups in not very well ventilated rooms.

So - stay home if you can.  Wear a mask if you need to go out.  Maintain physical distance.  Knock this virus down, now.  Christmas is not cancelled, just how we celebrate it.  Let's all pull together and get our world - and our lives - back on track.

Reading Drafts part VII

 

Ars Textrina was a scholarly publication that dealt with the history of textiles and as such was expensive.  I bought every issue until I could no longer afford them, but they stopped publication soon after anyway.  

A few years ago (quite a few now, man, am I ever *old*!) I needed money quite badly, had run out of space on my shelves for my library and realized that there were a bunch of books that I simply wasn't using.  So I started the Great Library Cull.  I knew that these volumes were prized by many people and rare as hen's teeth, so I decided to sell them all - except for these two.

Patricia Hilts had somehow found a couple of old German manuscripts - weaver's pattern books - and translated them, putting them together for Ars Textrina.  She did computer generated diagrams of the weave structures - thumbnails, as it were - and included the threading and tie up drafts.  

The drafts can be woven in a variety of ways, of course.  I have frequently used them as 'fancy' twills, playing with the tie up and treadling to get a variety of different designs all from the same warp (also changing the weft, just to add colour into the mix).  Lately I've been using them as twill blocks.

At any rate, because I have 16 shafts, I have been extending the threading draft into 16 shafts instead of 12.

There are several threading drafts given per page, no doubt to save paper.  To read these, the designs are divided by the long (more or less straight) line with the dot at the top, bottom and the middle.  The squiggle with the dot at the end of the M or W is the end of that particular threading draft.  (or the beginning if reading from left to right)

It took me a while of playing with the progressions in Fiberworks, seeing what happened when, before I got the hang of it.  And then I just got carried away playing with them.

During the Cull, I decided I used these two volumes far too frequently as a resource and kept them, even though I knew I could have gotten quite a lot of money in the eBay auction I was running getting rid of the books I had decided I could live without.

The more I worked with these (and other) drafts, the more I understood how to make the threads do what I wanted, where I wanted, when I wanted.

And I give thanks to Bob Keates and Ingrid Boesel whenever I do a deep dive into a weave structure for designing/developing Fiberworks weaving software (and all the rest of the software designers for developing .wif so that drafts can more easily be shared amongst the various programs).

Reading Drafts part VI

 

Fabric Structure by John. H. Strong was published in 1947 and reflects British terminology - eg honeycomb or Brighton honeycomb is what North Americans would call waffle weave.  (top photo)  Strong shows a variety of tie ups for achieving different effects in the cloth and then rather poor black and white photos show the cloth after wet finishing.   This is one of those weave structures that relies on wet finishing to develop to its final state.

here is a four shaft version showing much the same - areas of plain weave, then diamonds with weft floats, then warp floats.  shown in liftplan because treadles tend to run out, so a direct tie up is more versatile even if it means holding down three treadles at once to get the different options,

In the section on pile weaves (and others) he utilizes cross section drawings so that you can see the actual path through the cloth.

It is small format, very little white space on the page, text crammed in to get as much information in the book as possible.  The language is of its time - 1940s British English - so a bit pedantic.  Not everyone will feel comfortable reading the text, but I find that it's an interesting alternate resource for some fairly obscure and not currently well understood weave structures.

Strong uses the 

x

-------------

            y

diagram for showing various twills so it's a good idea to really understand how this kind of diagram works, and goes quite deeply into double layer fabrics in a lot of detail.  Again cross section diagrams help to understand the path of the threads through the cloth.  He also uses different symbols to indicate the different layer threads in the tie up boxes, so while the text might be dense, it is a good idea to at least read the introduction to each section so you understand the kind of notation he used.

Reading Drafts part V

 

Doris Goerner

charting Bedford Cord

More textbooks, this time contemporary, presented by Doris Goerner.  These books are from the UK so be aware that where Brighton Honeycomb is listed, we would call that waffle weave.  

These books have very little text and large clear illustrations of various weave structures.  I think they were developed as additional/supplemental information for classes Ms Goerner taught.  There are brief explanations, as in this one that says Bedford Cord can be developed without 'cutting ends' but the ribs will be less prominent.  And then shows a draft without the cutting ends to compare how that looks.

I would expect that people who learn best from seeing or doing rather than reading would find these helpful.  Volume one covers the 'simpler' weaves, while Volume two goes into the more complex weave structures, usually with more layers - double weave, pique, etc.  With very little text, I was able to concentrate on what was happening with the threads, and then do some designs of my own using these to jump off from.

I did do Bedford cord in several fabrics and chose to weave them upside down in order to lift the fewest number of shafts.

It was while reading Watson's book (I think) that I learned that Bedford cord was commonly used for durable fabrics for things like riding jodhpurs.  I took that idea of using it for clothing fabric, did a silk warp with a fairly open density, used a fine wool/cashmere for weft and wove the above fabric for a swing coat.  Normally the long floats on the back side make the weave structure not the best choice for clothing, but after fulling the fabric wool/cashmere fulled nicely and the floats on the inside were not an issue.  It was also fine enough threads that the floats were not very long.  My mother wore this jacket in quite cold weather said she was kept warm.

This cloth was woven in a much heavier thread than the swing coat and the floats on the back were much longer.  I didn't have enough shafts to do cutting ends, plus I didn't want really deep ribs because the cloth was turned into placemats for a friend.  The ribs trapped air in the channels and helped to protect her wooden table from hot pots and plates.  The placemats were backed with a commercial fabric and the edges were bound with the same fabric.  

Drafts are just maps to a location.  It might be where we want to go, or close to it.  Or it may spark our interest and lead us to completely new and unexpected places.

The more we understand about how threads can go together to create a cloth, the better able we are to figure out what it is we want, and how to get there.  I would not recommend these books to a very new weaver because they work 'best' (imho) for someone who already has a general understanding of the various 'common' weave structures.  OTOH, some people visualize things very well from graphic representation so I don't discourage anyone from acquiring any resource that they feel might be useful.

Many of the books in my library rarely see the light of day.  For example, I haven't pulled the Goerner books off the shelf in years.  However, I know they are there and when I need to look at them, they are literally at my fingertips.  And you can probably tell from the post-it notes poking out the edges that yes, I can and do use them.  Sometimes it's just to refresh my memory, sometimes it's to look more deeply into a weave structure that I may not have used before but am contemplating now.  Sometimes it's just plain curiosity.

Acquiring knowledge is never a waste of time because you never know when it might come in handy.

Reading Drafts

Two textbooks - title pages

page about double weave from Advanced Textile Designing

I don't remember how I managed to acquire photocopies of these two textbooks, prepared for the textile industry by the International Textbook Company of Scranton, PA, but I remember they were done with permission.  It was most likely through WeaveTech.  The books were no longer in print, and someone with connections was able to contact someone who gave permission for photocopies to be made.  All I had to do was pay for the copying charge and the shipping.

The draft above shows some of the ways that textiles get shown in order to see the path the yarns are taking through the structure.  

The 'usual' drawdown is all well and good - until you are trying to show what is happening with multiple layers.  At that point a cross section gives a better picture.

I got these books about the time I was playing with stitched weaves such as pique and double weave and they helped me visualize what the threads were doing, how to select the stitchers - where they should go, how frequent they should be, whether I wanted them hidden or part of the overall appearance of the cloth.

Doing this kind of designing made my brain hurt - but in a good way!  

Unfortunately they were enormously time consuming to work out.  I would spend an hour or two every day, trying to work out how to make them work, then let the draft 'sit' until the next evening when I would open the file again and see that it wasn't quite 'right' and edit.  Sometimes it was just easier to begin over again.

During this time I designed coat fabrics, which I've shared before but will do again here:

Two layers, cotton exterior, cotton/wool blend lining, fulled to 'shrink' the lining and create air pockets between the two layers for added insulation

Wool base with cotton stripes woven for design effect.  When the wool shrank, the cotton puckered on the surface creating texture

The top fabric took many hours to get to the point I was happy enough to weave it.  The bottom layer took less time because it was less complex.

Being able to chart the cross section of the cloth helped me see how to make the threads do what I wanted them to do, then I had to figure out how to transfer that passage into a 'traditional' weaving draft.

Weaving software helped by showing me instantly what was happening or it would have taken even longer than it did, if I had to do drawdowns by hand.  Especially the top cloth, with a 1:4 ratio of surface to lining (if I remember correctly - I would have to dig out my GCW files - it might have been 1:2).  The surface was 2/8 cotton woven in plain weave, the lining a 4:4 twill.  The first four shafts were used to weave the surface, the other 12 shafts wove the lining.  The two layers were stitched together in an irregular fashion so that there were not obvious twill lines.  The stitchers were hidden, not part of the surface cloth on view.

I don't have copyright information on these books, but from the style of the diagrams and the text, I am guessing early 20th century.

They are text dense, and the language is of its time, but filled with really interesting information, written for students of textile design.

(PS - these fabrics were woven with a non-computer assisted loom - I had to peg the dobby bars by hand, not just punch in the numbers then let the computer take over the treadling.)

 

Reading Drafts part IV

 

pink post-it notes poking out the side

an explanation of pique by breaking it down into its parts

First published in 1912 (according to the info in the book) Watson's Textile Design and Colour has been updated frequently throughout the 20th century.

I discovered the book in the 1980s I think and immediately bought a copy.  If I remember correctly there are two volumes, this one addressing 'elementary and figured fabrics'.  I might even have the other book, but my hand fell on this one this morning.  (I have quite a few old time books and sometimes I forget exactly what I have until I go rooting about on the shelves!)

Once again, you really need to read through the text to discover how the author is representing the information being conveyed.

The above draft shows pique, which has at least two layers, sometimes a third stuffing warp or weft.

combo of pique and stuffed double weave. white layer wool, blue layer hand dyed silk

This draft breaks down the various weave structures that go into creating the cloth - a two dimensional representation of something that is actually three dimensional, and therefore very difficult to sort out what goes where and how it will actually look once woven.  Notice that there no tie up box - instead what is shown is a liftplan.

Again, this book is text dense, but it also has lots of diagrams and covers a lot of ground in terms of the possibilities of what is called 'elementary'.

The book was published in England, so some of the terms are British English weaving terms.  It is also dated in its language being first published in 1912.  This is one of those books where the extensive index comes in handy so that I can look a topic up and then just read (chew) through that bit of information.  Then I go to the weaving software and see if I can work the structure into something personal.  I won't say unique because someone, somewhere, has likely done it before.  I follow the Elizabeth Zimmerman path of never claiming something is new, never-been-done-before, but that I have simply re-discovered or 'unvented' it.

A weaving draft is just a set of possibilities - of potential.  It is what the weaver does with that potential - the density, colours used, the arrangement of the threads, expanding or contracting the size of the blocks (if there are blocks), that insertion of the weaver/designer's personality and vision, that makes something different.

More shafts mean more complex cloth can be woven more efficiently.  But before there was technology, there was a weaver with a sword or pick up stick, making the threads go where they wanted them to go.  Understanding the path of the threads through the cloth is the key.  How one physically gets them there is just a matter of mechanical assistance.  To this day there are weavers who use a backstrap loom and pick up every shed with a stick and - using what some people consider to be very simple equipment - 

create textiles of great complexity and sophistication.  It is not the tools but what the weaver does with them.

Reading Drafts part III

 

G. H. Oelsner first published 1915, then reprinted by Dover in 1952.  It says it was translated, and I am assuming from German but don't know for sure.

threading below, draw up above, tie up notated in the top left corner - draft was turned 90 degrees to fit on the page - two drafts shown one on each page

draw down with the tie up noted by the tiny hash marks, which I have made more obvious by drawing in the vertical red line.  Threading is point progression.

Oelsner's book is one that you really need to read the text to find out how to understand the various notations used in the book.

Sometimes threading drafts are given, sometimes tie ups are, or sometimes, like with the last draft, the tie up is indicated within the fabric structure.

As the weave structures change, sometimes the notation changes because sometimes the information is not as transparent and needs to be indicated in some way.

So the upper draft gives the threading and how the cloth will look when woven in a twill and the twill tie up used is in that tiny little line at the top left.  It is one way to show how a twill should be executed.

For four shafts a twill can be indicated thus:

1

---------

       3

or 

2

---------------

             2

or 

3

--------

         1

You read it by noting that in the top graphic there will be 1 warp thread up and three left down to form the shed and the weft will pass between them.

The tie up then becomes

shaft 1 is tied to treadle one

shaft 2 is tied to treadle two

shaft 3 is tied to treadle three

shaft 4 is tied to treadle four

The characteristic of twill is that each pick will move up and over by one thread.

The middle one would be our 'standard' two-two twill, shown above, and the bottom one would have three shafts tied to each treadle to lift three and leave one shaft down.  (all for rising/jack type looms - reverse would be true for sinking/counter balanced looms.  For countre marche or counter march looms, the notation tells you which shafts are to be raised, which to be lowered.)

This is another dense book that requires some study to fully understand what is contained in it.  Many people assume it's just twills, but it goes beyond 'just' twills and into some other areas that can be quite fascinating.  It has weave structures for many different numbers of shafts and some are not well known.  Maybe one of these days I'll take a dive into the back pages and see what wonders they hold.

In the meantime I browse through it looking for interesting things like the scallops in the third draft, based on satin and which I have woven in a number of different yarns and densities.

A number of years ago I culled my library (I wasn't using some of them and I needed the money so I sold them) but I kept some of the books that I use routinely for inspiration.  While I may not use this one frequently, I do use it often enough that I would miss it if I couldn't find it.

Reading Drafts part II

 

Mary Black

example of MBs notation - rising shed on the right, sinking shed on the left

example of profile draft on top, tie up box just below, profile treadling indicated

Mary Black wrote her Key to Weaving back in the 1940s and updated it regularly through her life.  As such it reflects the style and attitudes of the day.  The photos are black and white (although later updates did include some colour plates) and diagrams are hand drawn because that is how information was processed at that time.  And sometimes a hand drawn illustration is more informative than a photo anyway because it cuts away anything that isn't essential to conveying the point.

Many people now look at (New) Key to Weaving with a jaundiced eye.  We have grown so accustomed to pretty pictures and lots of white space on the page where Black's book is text dense.  The language also reflects the time and seems very formal and stilted to some people which they find off putting.

But for those people who can process this kind of approach, the book holds a wealth of information.

This is most definitely a book where you need to read the introductory bits.  Black attempts to convey a lot of information in a small amount of space, so understanding what she is doing will help in figuring out what is necessary.

For example, in the middle photo, Black provides the tie up for both rising and sinking shed looms.  First you have to know which type your loom is (and I'll discuss that in another post at some point) but even if you don't know, choose one.  As mentioned yesterday, if you guess wrong you will still get a result, it will just be 'upside down'.

As Black guides you through the information, the technical information gets a bit more 'complex', as in the bottom photo which shows a unit weave which will create blocks which can then be fitted together to make motifs.

A profile draft takes up much less paper to convey, so she has given the profile draft, then how the treadles will be tied up, then also written out the treadling as a profile.  You need to understand how the weave structure works, then you can just plug in the appropriate sequence.  But all of this is not shown thread by thread - you have to have read the introductory bits so that you have the key in order to obtain the results.

Weaving is a lot like coding.  You have to understand what the code is and be able to translate it into meaning.

Weaving software makes doing this kind of translation easy but it isn't 100%.  For example, in Fiberworks, I prefer to have the Bronson Lace weft floats be my 'right' side and the software does the warp floats as the 'right' side as its default.  After I enter my blocks, then select Bronson Lace, I then edit the tie up so that I have the weft floats on the top of the cloth as I weave it.

I prefer the straight progression of twill to descend from the back shaft to the front shaft when possible, so I will use the shaft shuffler tool to do that if I am converting a profile draft into, for example, twill blocks.  (I do this because I find it more ergonomic/efficient to thread from the back most shaft to the front most.)

Weaving drafts are not set in stone.  As long as the cloth looks the way you want it to, a draft can be edited to meet your requirements.  Especially the treadling.  If the author places the plain weave treadles to one side and your preference is to have one on each side?  Change it to reflect what you prefer.

Mostly I like my plain weave treadles to either side, but for some weave structures, they might go both on one side (Bronson Lace), or even in the middle (Huck Lace).  Because to place them that way makes the treadling progression make more sense to me and I make fewer mistakes.

My copy of New Key to Weaving was purchased in 1975 when I enrolled in the weaving class at the college.  It, along with Davison and Shirley Held's Weaving were my textbooks.  Three very different volumes, still treasured volumes in my library.  

A Series on Reading Drafts part I

 Someone asked about how to read 'historical' drafts.  After mulling it over for a while, I felt a more extensive approach to answering this question  might be useful.  So I'm going to go through my personal library and talk about some of my books, how the authors approach presenting technical information and at some point will also discuss the different mechanics of the most common looms available today.

M. P. Davison

wherein Davison explains these drafts are for sinking shed looms, page xi and xii

I'm beginning with M. P. Davison's book because so many people have it in their libraries.

It was first published in 1950, was updated many times and Davison's family still retains the rights and continue to publish it (or so I understand).  As such it spans a rather large chunk of 'modern' hand weaving time.  

While there are other similar collections of drafts, this one seems to have stood the test of time.

But.  How many of you have read the beginning pages?  When dealing with a book informing technology, it is always a good idea to read the beginning bits.

For example, how many people get the book, flip it open to a design they like, put a warp on their loom and then can't understand why their cloth doesn't look like the photo in the book?

Only to discover that the book is written for sinking shed looms and theirs isn't.

I have seen more than one person then come to the conclusion that they might as well give the book away because they don't have a counter balanced loom.

Thing is, drafts can be read appropriately for the type of equipment one has.

In terms of using a draft written for counter balanced looms on a rising/jack type loom?  Just keep weaving and when you cut the cloth from the loom, turn it over.  Voila.  (I frequently weave cloth 'upside down' in order to lift the fewest number of shafts.)

OR, amend the tie up to tie the blanks instead of the Xs and bob's your uncle.

Davison also explains how to read the treadling and the notation she has used, right there on pages xi and xii, so all the guess work and teeth gnashing could be avoided if people would just read the introductory pages of *any* technology book.

A draft is a graphic representation of what the threads are supposed to be doing, first in the threading, then the tie up and then the treadling.  The area where the photos are would more usually be the drawdown, but having a photo of the cloth is helpful.  Davison has approached the book by using the same two yarns, one colour in the warp, the other in the weft, so that the path of the yarns through the weave structure can more easily be seen.  This is not a 'design a pretty cloth' book so much as it is 'let's see how weave structure can work to create a design or texture'.  She then leaves it up to the weaver to add colour to personalize their cloth.

How the four parts of the draft are arranged is not set in stone although in the 21st century in North America it has become the convention to have the threading at the top, the tie up box to the right hand side with the treadling below it.

In other countries, they do draw ups, which makes a lot more sense because we weave the cloth 'up'.

As for the tie up box being always to the right?  Davison has the box on the left on the odd numbered pages and the right on the even numbered pages.  This does not change the meaning of the information.

New weavers will sometimes assume that the only 'proper' tie up is the 'standard' 2:2 twill.  Watch the tie up boxes carefully, because sometimes Davison will change the tie up part way down the page.

If you don't have computer software (or even if you do), sometimes it is a good idea to hand draw the draw downs, just to make sure you know how they work.  I am old enough that I started weaving long before computers were available for personal use and I have drawn many a draft by hand.  Still do when I'm working out a block motif in many cases.

So, generally the threading tells the order the threads are to be entered into the heddles (which shaft they are on), the tie up box tells how the treadles are to be arranged/tied to the shafts, and the treadling sequence the order the treadles are to be used.

How each author conveys that information may vary in terms of the symbols used and the type of notation they present.  Reading the beginning pages will usually reveal how the reader is to do that.

Choosing Direction

Above are two drafts for a four shaft 'pin wheel'.  Notice anything about them?  The cloth is identical, the only difference is in the direction they have been threaded and the tie up.  

The one on top is how I prefer to thread.  I am right handed, prefer to thread from right to left with the straight draw direction beginning at the back of the loom coming forward to the front of the loom.

Why?  Because I find this to be the most efficient way to thread.  (Left handers may find threading from left to right easier.)

In almost all publications (now) drafts are written with the first thread on shaft one.  Why?  Probably because weaving software likes number 1 to be on shaft number 1.  I really don't know.  But for me, threading with the straight draw going upwards and away from me leads to a physical position that I find very uncomfortable and fatiguing.

Thing is, drafts are not written in stone.  With Fiberworks Silver there is a 'shaft shuffler' tool which allows me to quickly change a threading draft to something I find easier to thread, be that changing the diagonal of a straight progression, adjusting where pattern ends fall in a draft, etc.

Once a weave structure is understood, it is fairly easy to make adjustments - add extra repeats of a border on the selvedge, separate motifs within the body of a draft and so on.

The above is a partial image (because the complete draft is too large to copy properly) where I took the Canadian Snowflake draft (I reduced the 8 shaft Swedish Snowflake design to four shafts) then turned it into a twill block draft.  This will be the next warp that goes into the AVL.

There are times when the straight draw has to change direction, and I live with that, but when the straight draw is all one way?  I will change it to my preferred method where the diagonal goes from the back of the loom to the front to make the job of threading easier.

The more someone understands how threading drafts work, the more they can adjust the draft to fit their intended cloth and get closer to the results they desire.