Gwen Peterson wrote this week’s post about her process as she perseveres through a challenging weaving piece.
Since buying my Louet 44” 12-shaft Spring 2 loom, I’ve been looking for designs that are as elegant and complex as my equipment. I quickly found that some of the drafts I tried were difficult to keep track of where I was while warping with so many shafts and a wide width. Others were prone to weaving errors with patterns that were tough to keep in my head.
Determined not to let my loom investment go to waste, I added another piece of equipment, the TempoTreadle from Lofty Fiber. It combines an array that is placed under the treadles with sensors that “read” magnets attached to the treadle undersides, along with a system unit that interprets WIF files. The threading assist shows which color yarn goes in which heddle as you work your way across the warp. Then, as you weave, the display shows the pick number, weft color, and treadle for each shuttle throw. A gentle “beep” reinforces a correct throw; an incorrect treadle choice produces an ugly “awwk”. You can stop anywhere, knowing that the system will tell you where to start when you come back.
With these tools in place, I was ready to try something outside my comfort zone.
I signed up for the Undulating Twills course, and was blown away by the dynamic movement and non-linear shapes this technique offered with nothing more exotic than a twill structure. I decided this would be my base.
I started with a draft offered in the course:
… and then played with it to mirror the design in warp and weft.
That held some promise, but the design hurt my eyes a bit because it was so busy. So I removed a few of the repeats between the main motifs in both warp and weft. That helped, but not enough.
Then I thought about the course, Stripes + Drafts = Magic! and how they can be used to focus attention on the key elements of a design; and also about using color gradients to give some dimensionality. Combining these opened up a host of possibilities! Many iterations later, my top prospect emerged:
This addressed the desire for emphasis while keeping the dynamism, but I realized (with Tien’s help!) that the solid red stripe between the motifs was distracting and pulled the focus away from the design.
So I kept the solid red only on the side as a border, and changed the interior stripe to a totally black warp that allowed the design to come through uninterrupted:
Now content with the design, I started weaving, using a Merino/Tencel warp and a Tencel weft. I wanted some drape and shine but also some warmth, so this seemed a good combination.
The first thing I noticed was that repeating the treadling to create the curves made it extremely difficult – for me, impossible – to match the PPI in the weft to the epi in the warp. The Tencel weft crammed together, flattening the height of the motif. So I did what Julia Child used to do in her cooking when something went wrong: pretended it was supposed to be that way!
The next thing I noticed was that those repeated treadling picks made significant draw-in almost inevitable. This I COULD do something about, using a temple to keep a consistent width and moving it every 2 inches or so. I also doubled the floating selvedges, hoping to provide a more substantial edge. Together, they provided a 90% solution.
My TempoTreadle was absolutely essential in keeping track of the weaving. My pattern repeat was 228 picks, so keeping it in my head was not an option. Even with this, the weaving was slow, and there were times I wasn’t sure I would finish.
But I did:
It is not a perfect piece by any means, but it did achieve my objectives of making good use of my incredible tools, creating a unique and elegant wrap that is warm and drapes well, and giving me the confidence to persevere and work through new skills to add them to my toolbox going forward!
Big thanks to Gwen Peterson for sharing her process!
From the Weavers Toolbox:
