Blocks

How to Change Blocks when Weaving

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I wove a table runner for my former mother-in-law. But after it was finished, I decided she wouldn’t have appreciated it so I still have it and love it. It is waiting for a new owner to come forward, however. Here is a corner which shows the borders on the ends and on the sides. That means for the beginning and the ends the weaving must be different from the weaving in the middle section.

If you’ve understood my previous posts about naming blocks, you’ll remember that the arrangement of the blocks is A, B, A.

In other words the side borders always weave alike so they are Block A . For this discussion, disregard the lines in the middle section in the runner photo and pretend that section all looks alike. Then that is Block B. 

The weave structure is twill, and some areas are warp face and some weft face (and some all the same).

The illustration shows both warp-face and weft-faced areas. The main body is warp faced with the weft faced areas being for the borders.

Next the threading:

Let Block A be threaded on shafts 1,2,3,4

And Block B threaded on shafts 5,6,7,8

Now, how to weave them!! That is a very good question.

When you want both Block A and  Block B to be weft face for the end borders, you would treadle: these 4 rows in a sequence: lift shaft 1 & 5, next row lift shaft 2 & 6, next row lift shaft 3 & 7, and then 4 & 8 for the last row in the repeat. Can you see the treadles and the tie up in the draft in the illustration for the border?

However, when you weave the enter section you will need to do something different and that means you’ll use another set of treadles. Then you’ll weave: 1,2,3,4 as before for Block  A but for Block B on shafts 5,6,7,8 you’ll life three shafts at a time. Check this in the draft:  The Center treadles are different from the Border ones , but this time it will weave warp face: Here are the 4 rows in the twill sequence you’ll weave: 5,6,7—6,7,8,—7,8,5—8,5,6; plus of course you’ll be lifting 1,2,3,4 along with them.

To change blocks when weaving:
All this means that you will need two sets of treadles.

To repeat: One set of 4 treadles will weave the side borders with the center section different. The other set of 4 treadles will weave the END BORDERS where both blocks weave alike (weft face). To repeat again: Then you’ll  use 4 treadles to lift these shafts for the end borders:1&5, 2&6, 3&7, and 4&8. Another set of 4 treadles are needed to weave the center section: 1&5,6,7;   2& 6,7,8;  3&5,8.7;  4&5,6,8

This is the look of the surface after I wet finished the linen and ironed it hard with a rolling pin on a bread board. To review that previous post go to the link: HERE 

Identical Vertical Columns! Identical Vertical Columns!

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To identify blocks, look for identical vertical columns! I wish I’d learned another phrase, perhaps look for vertical columns that are exactly alike. But that’s not much better. Knowing how many blocks there are in a pattern is important to know.

So, looking at the two illustrations, how many blocks are there? There are two. Looking at the draft on the left and beginning at the right edge (as we do in threading drafts traditionally), assign the first area (or block) as “Block A”. Move your eye across to the left and when something else happens, that’s a second block—“Block B”. As you continue working across the warp toward the left, you come to a column that is identical to the right-hand column which was assigned as block A. Hence this design has two blocks.

Now look at the draft on the right and go through the same process, starting on the right and working left looking for columns that are exactly alike. Again two blocks.

Now look at the draft above on the left  and count the blocks. Notice that there isn’t anything going on; i.e. there is no pattern on the right. That counts as a block because there is cloth to be woven there. So, again there are two blocks in the draft. The draft on the right is for two blocks as well—the same two blocks as a matter of fact. Are you catching on now? You can name the sequence of the blocks, working from right-to-let: A Block, B Block, A Block; or A, B, A.

Now count the blocks in this illustration. Remember, the key is looking for identical vertical columns. Vertical, because we are looking for how the threading will be. At the right edge is Block A, the usual–you can give it any letter, but usually, we start counting on the right and name the first section Block A. Move along until you get to a vertical column that is different; it is Block B. Moving along, there is some more Block A. The next column is one that is completely different from any so far; so that will be Block C. (so far, there are three blocks.) Moving along, there is some more of Block A then, there is a change again. Look at it carefully. Is it a block already identified, or something completely different? Is there any other place in the design where the vertical column is exactly the same? There is no other exactly identical column, so this must be called block D. The left-hand edge is Block A again. How did you do? Were you tricked because Blocks B and D are the same shape and size? See that they are different by looking from the top to the bottom of the design in both areas—the vertical columns are different. Where Block B is shown, there is nothing special going on in the area where Block D is threaded.

The order of the threading of the blocks is: (reading right-to-left): A, B, A, C, A, D, A. Notice that there is only one C Block mentioned even though it occupies two vertical columns. The reason is that that block is twice the width of the other blocks.

How many blocks are in this illustration? They can be read as A, B, C. D, A.

If you are weaving a specific design, you need to weave it from the bottom up, because that’s the way weaving “happens”. To weave the above figure (repeated from above), you would begin at the bottom of the treadling draft and weave as follows:

  1. Weave the bottom border with the treadles that weave all the blocks alike in your chosen background weave structure.
  2. Weave with the set of treadles used for Block C in pattern, and with all the other blocks weaving in background.
  3. All the blocks are in background again; use the first set of treadles.
  4. Blocks A, C, D are weaving background with Block B weaving in pattern—another set of treadles is needed.
  5. Weave with the first set of treadles for all background again.
  6. Another set of treadles is needed to weave where only Block D is weaving pattern. You will need four sets of treadles: 1 set where all the blocks weave alike for the background, 1 set with just Block B in pattern, 1 set with just C in pattern, and 1 more set with Block D in pattern.

Treadling blocks
Multi-shaft looms often need a lot of treadles. One way to keep track of your treadles is to organize them so that when you are weaving, you alternate your feet, called “walking the treadles.” I think beginning from the outside treadles and working in is a good idea, because your feet can always “feel” the outer most treadle without your having to look down at the treadles. So, the treadles for weaving all the blocks alike might be the left one, the far right one, the next-to-the-left, and the next-to-the-right one.  I try to put the treadles I will use more often nearer the center of the loom, so my feet don’t have to reach so far for them. If possible, I like to leave a treadle down between my sets of treadles, so my feet can feel their way easier. Always try to set up the treadles so you don’t have to look at them and can feel them with your feet. Walking your treadles makes keeping track of them easier.

Use a template to find blocks

Make a template with a card or the edge of a piece of paper. To find the blocks in the illustrations above start with the column on the right as usual . And working up and down along that column, mark the position of the filled-in-squares on one edge of the template. Slide the card along and as the vertical columns remain the same you will have one block.  Use another template and mark the edge when a new block appears. Shielding the design with the template as you go can make it a lot easier to count the blocks.

How many blocks can I have?
Different weaves require different numbers of shafts for each block as well as different rules to weave them. The chart can tell you the number of blocks you can have for the number of shafts you have. When you read about these weaves, you will learn how the blocks are threaded and woven for each weave.

There is much one can weave with only 4 shafts!
According to the chart any weave using these structures can have 4 blocks with only 4 shafts: Crackle, Overshot, and Shadow Weave. There’s no need for “shaft envy”!

Blocks! Blocks! De-Mystified!What Are They?? How do they work???

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Introduction:

I don’t think I can define blocks with one or two sentences. I’d love it if someone would do that. I will replace the bad definition I have in one of my books

I think of weaving blocks like having more than one loom side by side. That way you could weave different things next to each other on a cloth. For example, I would weave twill for some of my warp width and basket weave at the same time on another part of the cloth. Or, say I could have a twill cloth with borders in basket weave.  A secret: each loom will become a block, read below.

Let’s say you want to weave a design like the one in the illustration. One weave is for the main part of the cloth, and a different weave is for a vertical stripe.

The threading draft would look like the illustration. See that the “first loom” is used for the background and uses the first four shafts. Most of the warp would be threaded on shafts 1,2,3,4 because most of the warp is the background. It’s only in the area where the stripe is to be that the “second loom” is needed—and it’s only in that area where the threads are threaded on 5,6,7,8.

Don’t let the place where the stripe and background meet and the threading is 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 confuse you. It’s really 1,2,3,4 and then 5,6,7,8 where the second loom begins.

How do you get both weaves? It happens with tie tie-up draft. Look at the illustration. First, the tie-up is given for “loom 1”, a balanced 2/2/ twill. See that the combinations of shafts to be lifted are; 1,2;  2,3;  3,4;  4,1. The tie up for “loom 2” is given in the second part of the illustration, for a warp-faced, 3/1 twill. (That means 3 shafts up and one down for a 3/1 twill (warp faced twill). Those combinations are 5,6,7;  6,7,8;  5.7.8;  5,6,8.

To make  both twills weave at the same time, combine the two looms’ tie-ups as shown in the third part of the illustration.

The treadling draft would show the first X under the combination 1,2,5,6,7. The second X is under the combination: 2,3,6,7,8. Since there are 4 combinations used, four treadles will be needed.

Again, working in the tie-up draft try a variation: “loom 1” a weft faced twill (1 shaft up and 3 shafts down: (lift 1,2,3,40 and keep “loom2” weaving the same as before—warp faced twill with 3 shafts lifted and one down. That is: 5,6,7;  6,7,8;  7,8,5;  8,6,5.

Notice in the illustration I’ve indicated a dotted line in the final tie-up to separate the looms.

Here is the complete tie-up now, putting the lift sequence for the “second loom” on top of the tie-up for the “first loom”, above the dotted line. I often write 1,2,3 and 4 very lightly instead of 5,6,7,8 at first. Then I write the real shaft numbers of 5,6,7,8 over the temporary numbers, because it’s easier for me to think of four shafts and two looms.

Remember that each treadle will lift shafts from both “looms”, forming one shed. Since there are four sheds for this design, only four treadles are needed.

Finally, What are Blocks?

We can give the different “things” we are weaving a proper name. They are called blocks. We name the blocks A or B or C or D instead of loom 1 or loom 2 or loom 3, etc. Look at the illustration above. There are two blocks or two different “looms” or groups of threads that act together as a group as though on separate looms. They can weave different things, but they will always be in the same location (vertical column )in the threading. Can you see that there are only two threading blocks or that all the threads on “loom 1” are in the same vertical column so they would be threaded on their own set of shafts, and all the remaining threads  are acting act alike so they would be on their own separate “loom”?

What if you don’t have blocks?
Then all the threads across the warp would work together as one loom from selvedge to selvedge.

Can you weave with blocks if you have only 4 shafts?  YES!!

You can divide a four-shaft loom into “two looms”. In fact, there are many weaves that have blocks that only need 4 shafts.  Some can weave as many as 4 blocks with only 4 shafts.

Here is a chart which shows the number of shafts you must have for the number of blocks you can have.

Weaving Double Weave in Blocks:  Learn the principles using two blocks. You’ll need 8 shafts and a special threading

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*** Note! Photo number 7 was incorrect when I published this post last week. It is replaced in this corrected post. Thanks to subscriber Bruce for making it more clear. I love getting comments, questions, and suggestions from my readers.

Introduction:

In the case of double weave, 2 layers of cloth are woven simultaneously. The basics of double weaving are discussed in detail in my book Weaving for Beginners and on this website. In this case,  the two layers of cloth go all across the cloth—from selvedge to selvedge and only 4 shafts are used. To review the basics see Weaving for Beginners or  my website posts: Double Weave for Dummies, Parts 1, 2, and 3. Go to my website and on the home page click on the Search box and type in double weave to find these posts.

This post is based on that previous knowledge.

When weaving with double weave blocks you can weave one layer part way across the cloth and a different layer across other part of the cloth.

In other words, you can weave two things at once. In other, other words, when the shuttle goes across the warp it can weave two different things at once. In other, other, other words the two areas can weave independently and weave what ever each area wants to.

With double weave to accomplish 2 things at once we need to thread the 2 areas in the illustration above differently. For example section A is threaded on shafts 1,2,3 and 4. While section B is threaded on 5,6,7,8.

What are blocks?
We need to have words to distinguish the areas in the illustration above. Let’s call the area on the left Block A and the section on the right Block B.

 Areas that weave differently across the warp are called blocks. Another way to think about it is that there are two different “looms” or  two different groups of threads within the width of the warp. All the threads in a group can act alike because they are threaded to work as a unit. Read on and I think it will become clearer. See in the previous illustration the threading for 2 groups. And that the threads in A can do whatever you want them to, and you can have threads in Block B do something else if you like.

We need to make a convention to make it easier to be consistent. Let’s say all the odd shafts have light threads and give the even shafts dark threads.

For example, in the threading in illustration 2 above, the light threads would be threaded only on shafts 1 & 3 in block A and 5 & 7 in block B. Dark warps would be  threaded only on shafts 2,4,6 and 8.

How to weave the two blocks differently: Make a Key

Key #1: Block A light on top (dark on bottom)
                Block B dark on top (light on bottom)

Weaving the top layer is just like weaving a single cloth; lift one of the shafts, throw the shuttle; and change to the other shaft and throw the shuttle.

To weave the bottom layer, lift the top layer’s shafts up out of the way and also lift one of the shafts for the bottom layer. Then for the next weft, lift the top layer’s shafts up again plus the other shaft for the bottom layer.

These tie-up drafts explain how to weave the left half of our sample (Block A) light on the top layer and dark on the bottom.

With your light wefts lift shaft 1for a shot and shaft 3  for the next weft shot.

And to weave the bottom layer with both dark wefts : lift 1 & 3 up out of the way plus lift shaft 2 and for the next shot lift again 1&3 plus 4.

These tie-up drafts show how to weave the right half of our sample, block B: dark on top and light on the bottom.
With your first weft (light), lift 6&8 out of the way plus lift shaft 5. Then 6&8 plus 7. Then with your two dark weft shots lift 6 then 8.

Make the complete tie-up. This is the final result for the tie up for Key #1.

Now combine these two tie-ups so both Block A and Block B will weave at once—That is, Block A and Block B will weave side-by-side. In other words, they will weave simultaneously with 4 weft shots (weft rows): 2 light wefts then 2 dark wefts. Note that I made a correction in the tie up. It’s easy to make mistakes with these cfomplicated tie ups/ It was discovered by my “student”, Bruce, who I was trying to explain things to.

Now for more practice use this key:
Key #2: Block A dark on top (light on bottom)
                Block B light on top (dark on bottom)

Key #3: Block A light on top (dark on bottom)
                 Block B light on top (dark on bottom)

Key #4 Block A dark on top (light on bottom)
              Block B dark on top (light on bottom)

The Trick to Avoiding Disfiguring Floats

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Introduction:

Susie Kelly loves to learn new things and works until she is a master. She’s well known in our area for her excellent photographs. She has also greatly mastered kumihimo, beading, pottery, cake decorating, quilting, embroidery, sewing and more  that I can’t remember just now. It was a miracle that I got to know her. She met my photography teacher and blog guy at a photography show where  they were exhibiting,  and she mentioned she was taking a beginning weaving class. My friend mentioned that I was a weaver, and the rest is history. We  have an arrangement now: I teach her weaving and she began to teach me how to process my photos on the computer and now all manner of things on the computer and off! It’s a relationship made in heaven.  

This piece is fresh off the loom woven by Susie with only 1 ½ semesters in weaving classes and a few months studying with me . Four shafts weren’t enough for her right away and she borrowed my 8-shaft table loom. She has been cruising through the book, “A Weaver’s Book of 8-Shaft Patterns from the Friends of Handwoven” commonly known as “The Strickler Book”.  This was her first attempt at block weaves.

Turns out that Susie chose patterns #247 and #248. Her teacher explained the threading and weaving  of these straight and broken twills in warp and weft faced squares and off she went.

Success! Lovely squares with clean, straight vertical and horizontal edges—for the most part. Stay tuned.

Some blocks did not have clean edges on the squares. Being Susie, she quickly used her needle and thread skills and made most of the edges look perfect. I convinced her to photograph one of the places that the flaw was not so noticeable. Notice there are 4 white warp threads going out of the all-white square into the square with the black twill wefts. There were  longer “bad” floats in the sampler before her repairs. But we did find a place with shorter warp floats to show the problem. (not clean edges).

Here is the simple trick to getting all the edges clean with no threads floating across the edges. Where there is a change in warp face and weft face, the tie -down threads at the edges must look like the illustration. In other words, a weft tie-down thread on an edge must meet a warp  tie-down in the adjacent square. If you want to weave more rows than a complete repeat, that’s fine, just in the new square (or rectangle),  begin with the row that has the opposite tie-down thread.

Here is a tie up showing a warp thread opposing a weft thread at the vertical and horizontal edges of the squares. Again, you can weave a square as long as you like, just remember  If you want to weave more rows than a complete repeat, that’s fine, just in the new “square”, begin with the row that has the opposite tie-down thread.

Other weave structures use the same trick. Notice that all the vertical warps are stopped by a horizontal weft where the blocks change. This is an example of a “damask diaper: A self-patterned weave; a simple form of damask with rectilinear pattern formed by the contrast of warp and weft faces of a satin weave; much used for simple table linens.” From Warp & Weft A dictionary of textile terms” by Dorothy K. Burnham. Royal Ontario Museum. 1980. Burnham also lists a twill diaper which is the same idea as the twill weave similar to Susie’s pattern.

Dorothy Burnham chose twill blocks for the cover of her book. Notice not all the blocks are the same size or square but they all have beautiful clean edges.

The Value of Value: A few words from Anni Albers

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I’m still painting with the watercolor paints I made with dried indigo leaves. (I got the powder from Slow Fiber Studios). I find coloring in the squares immensely fun! Here is a finished painting using three values of the same color: dark, light, and medium blues. It’s fun figuring out what value (shades) go where. Value in color theory means how dark or light a color is.

I found a scrap of a note from a book by Anni Albers. It says page 221, 222 but I can’t find the book in my library. I hope someone can find it. She says, “It’s the middle color that’s important/interesting.” Here I show my painting without the middle (value) color. It’s just black and white. I think the picture is much more interesting with the middle colors as Anni says. Her quote inspired my paintings since I’m just working with different values of blue paint.

Here is the Star Fashion version. I think the medium blues do enhance it.

Here is a version of the rose version after I’d painted in only the darks and lights. However, if you consider the white paper the very light, you can see that the light blue becomes the “medium” value and does make it pretty interesting. Much better than only the dark and light seen in the second photo.

Indigo Blues Rose & Star Fashion

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Introduction:
I’ve been painting with the paints I made from Indigo powder. I began with these block designs. Look for more compositions in future posts. I’m having lots of fun. Each pair of photos was painted with the same paint but maybe lighter or darker. Each one is about 3” square. Can you identify which are the roses and which are the stars?

My first and second Rose and Star paintings. All the paintings are about 3” square. This was my comfort zone for compositions when I began.

The third and fourth ones. I always painted the Rose first so the Star often was in response to how the rose came out.

The last set. All these paintings were using special paints that had egg yolk or egg white for binders. I never could get a smooth water-color look from those. Next, I’ll use the paints that were made using gum arabic. I hope the look will be a lot different from these, but I’m not complaining.

Rose and Star Fashion Pleases Twice – By Lausanne Allen

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Introduction:
Just like chopping wood warms twice, Lausanne Allen’s woven Rose and Star Fashion potholders pleased twice: once for the weaving and once (or twice) for giving and receiving the gifts.

A year ago, in the height of not knowing what to expect from our first winter in the pandemic I warped my barn frame loom with what I affectionately called a “gratitude “ warp. It was threaded to this same single block of the Whig Rose pattern, woven to be potholder gifts for everyone on my long list of friends and acquaintances who had made 2020 a more bearable year for my husband and I. Here are some photos to share from my first (blue) warp last December 2020 and a second warp (green) that was finished in mid-January, 2021.

The calming pleasure found in my daily weaving habit grew as did my gratitude list . A second longer warp using a different color prolonged the pleasure as each pad became an opportunity to sample another pattern weft yarn. Each one became a meditation and each one different.

Giving these gifts, whether to the mailman who drove up our long slippery hill with needed packages when we didn’t dare to go out, or to long cherished friends we could now only visit with “virtually” in our winter of self isolation filled my days with a purpose that calmed me.

Weaving these every day on a sturdy barn frame loom became cherished time for me, marked by the steady shoosh of the overhead beater, the occasional squeak of the wooden pulleys and the rhythmic dance of the wooden horses at every press of the oak treadles. A few years ago my husband carved horses, treadles and pulleys for this old loom, so I could remove the shiny polished chrome pulleys that had come with it.  Weaving on this old loom brings such a feeling of contentment. A fresh snowfall provided a sense of wonderland outside my window.

Of course I wove some in each treadling fashion and as I did I tried to analyze why these two different treadling sequences yielded such different results. Your explanation here in terms of blocks makes perfect sense! All I understood then was that if I made a little clock face circle, with 1-2 at noon, 2-3 at 3, 3-4 at 6 and 4-1 at 9 that Rose treadling went clockwise around the circle, and Star treadling went counterclockwise, of course starting from a different place. The clock face made it easy to find my place when interrupted but didn’t explain why in terms of block theory,… As I write I’m feeling the urge coming on to begin a new gratitude list for the shortest days of the year that await us…. Now what shall I weave? Soon the cycle will begin again. What shall be this winter’s gratitude warp I wonder… in what will hopefully be a snowy Vermont again in little more than a month! I think the word is hygge.

(Peggy’s note)
Hygge:
a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture). “why not follow the Danish example and bring more hygge into your daily life?” It is pronounced “hoo-gah”).

The warp was a soft 8/4 cotton  “Cottontale” and the weft mostly  three strands of a mercerized cabled Dk  weight knitting cotton, called “Cleo” , carefully wound on a rag shuttle so they would display their sheen,  smoothly lofting up  as pattern weft without twisting. It took a little more tweaking to keep them from twisting when being wound but it was worth it I think. 

Star and Rose Fashion: Two treadlings for the same threading – “Tromp as Writ” and “As drawn in” explained

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Introduction:
I’ve taken a workshop with Slow Fiber Studios in making paints from indigo leaves and indigo powder. Now that I’ve made the various indigo blue paints, I want to paint something. I’m thinking of painting some block designs. I began thinking about painting the same pattern in both Star and Rose versions. I always get mixed up about how to make Rose Fashion so had to look up the information yet again. My favorite books for this are “Weaves and Pattern Drafting” by John Tovey and The Weaving Book Patterns and Ideas by Helene Bress. These books go into much more detail, but here are the basic principles and that are enough for me at this point.

The two variations are made with the IDENTICAL THREADING. The variation is in the treadling only.
The treadling ORDER is as DRAWN IN. This illustration shows what is meant by “treadle as drawn in”. Another way to think of it as “Tromp as Writ” except we are talking about the order of weaving whole blocks—not thread by thread. In a sense you are copying the threading in the treadling.

First you treadle the first thing that is threaded which I’ve numbered as 1. You weave that block the same LENGTH as it is WIDE. In other words, the first thing in this illustration says to weave block A for as many rows as it takes to make it as tall as it is wide. (a tall block) Then, all the blocks that are threaded as A Block will be that tall as well.

Second, you weave (treadle) the second thing in the threading (2): Block B, for as tall as it is wide in the threading. (another tall block) Again, ALL the B Blocks will be that height or that many picks.

Third, you will weave Block A but in this draft you will weave it for only a few rows because in the threading draft in the (3) position the block isn’t very wide. Again, all the A Blocks will now be woven for only a very few picks this time.

I hope you can see from the illustration how treadled as drawn in follows the order and size of the blocks in the threading.

The 4th thing to treadle is a tall B Block, and the 5th is to treadle a tall Block A.

Star Fashion
Star Fashion is the same as treadle as drawn in which I described above.

The result when you weave Star Fashion is that a diagonal line is formed in the woven pattern.

Rose Fashion
This is the result of weaving Rose Fashion. There is no diagonal.
At first glance, it may appear that Rose Fashion is just the reverse of Star Fashion, and that one side of the cloth weaves Star Fashion while the other side weaves Rose Fashion. This is not true. The inversion of pairs of blocks produces its own, unique effect.

When the treading draft says Block A, you weave Block B instead. And the reverse. Whenever it says Block B, treadle Block A. Notice this reversal in the previous photo (repeated here). Remember, you are treadlingthe height that the block is wide in the threading draft just as before. The only difference is WHICH BLOCK you treadle. And you are following the order and size of blocks as drawn in in the treadling.

This handy chart is found in The Weaving Book by Helene Bress. Every time I wonder how to get Rose Fashion, I come back to this chart.

This is also from the Helene Bress book. I think it clearly shows the diagonal formed with weaving Star Fashion and something completely different when treadling Rose Fashion.

Weaving Convention Report

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My Weaving in Convergence Booth
My Weaving in Convergence Booth

I got back from Convergence a week ago and have been exhausted. I think I’m coming out of it, finally. It was a lot of work and I had a good time. It was great to hear nice comments about my books from people all over the country. My retrospective book was well received, too. It was the first time I’ve shown my woven art and I’m thrilled at the validation and praise I got. It was expensive: I almost made my expenses, but not quite. That was disappointing.

My Woven Art Work
My Woven Art Work

Twill Diaper

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I got a question about blocks in “twill diaper coverlets”. Diaper is a term that means the textile is patterned in an all over design. Often it is in small diamonds. In Twill Diaper Coverlets the principle is based on warp face (3/1) twill contrasting with weft faced (1/3) twill. In other words the blocks  woven in either 1/3 or 3/1  twill. Each block requires enough shafts to make twill (so that means 4 shafts are needed  per block).  Let’s say the blocks that are weaving pattern will be in 1/3 (weft faced)  twill and those in the background are 3/1 (warp faced twill).  Read about profile drafts in my new book Weaving for Beginners, and in Book #3 Weaving & Drafting your own Cloth (in the Drafting for Multi-shaft chapter beginning on page 236. )Read on.

Beautiful examples of these coverlets are in the book, “Keep Me Warm One Night” by Burnham & Burnham. They look like overshot coverlets, but instead of being overshot weave structure  (which needs only 4 shafts to make 4 blocks), they are woven in twill diaper (where each block needs 4 whole shafts and a 4-block design would then require 12 shafts).  For the pattern blocks instead of weft thread floats, the blocks are woven in weft faced twill (1/3 twill).

This is not a beginner’s weave but the concept is the same as block substitution anywhere. You start with a profile draft and plug in the weave structure that you want to use.  Read about block substitution in Weaving for Beginners and Weaving & Drafting Your Own Cloth.