Which version of A Handweaver’s Pattern Book should I buy: Green, orange, or brown?
A Handweaver’s Pattern Book by Marguerite Davison is VERY popular; many weavers consider it a must-have, especially for folks with four shaft looms. Known as the “Green Book” for its green, hardback cover, it’s one of the best references and draft collections available for four shafts, containing hundreds of drafts in all kinds of different structures, as well as some basic theory related to those structures.
Figuring out EPI from an irregular sleying pattern
When you’re sleying every dent in the reed with the same number of ends, it’s pretty easy to tell how many ends per inch you’ll get: you just multiply the number of ends per dent by the number of dents per inch and presto, there’s your answer. For example: 1 end per dent x 12 […]
What toppings do you like on your tie-up pizza?
A tie-up is like a pizza: the bigger it is, the more slices you can chop it into. A tie-up is also like a pizza in that you can put different toppings on each slice. (I know that sounds like a stretch, but bear with me.) In the What is Twill? course, we discussed that […]
How to walk your treadles, and why you might want to
Have you ever heard someone say “I walked the treadles”, or “I use a walking treadle order”? This may sound strange or confusing, but it’s actually a very practical method for making treadling easier. A “walking treadle order” is a treadling pattern where the weaver uses their feet in an alternating fashion, as if they […]
How to add plain weave selvedges
Have you ever seen a piece of weaving with a lovely border, then looked at the border more closely and discovered it was simple plain weave? Did you wonder why the weaver chose to add that border? The weaver may like the neat, ordered look of a plain weave border. Possibly they were looking to […]
Design your own twill, with the new Twill Generator
There are a lot of fabulous twill drafts out there, but how do you create something that is truly your own? In the past, a weaver would sit down with some graph paper and start sketching. It takes significant time to fill in the threading, tie up and treadling, then fill in a repeat or […]
How to wind thread by thread stripes
If your stripes are wide, it makes sense to wind them one color at a time, holding however many ends you prefer to wind at once. But what if you’re mixing colors together thread by thread or very nearly, as in color and weave? You could wind the warp one thread at a time, starting […]
Why are my motifs standing on their heads?
Often, when you weave something, it comes out in reverse: pick by pick, it appears reversed from what you expect. Why does this happen, and how do you fix it?
Namedrafts and how to create them
Namedrafting is a technique for coming up with original designs that’s been around for ages. Learn how it works and meet Janet’s online Namedraft Generator.
