double weave overshot free sample

In January our Handweavers Hui brought Jennifer Moore to Hawaii for two doubleweave workshops, with support from the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. Both workshops were based on Moore’s book The Weaver’s Studio: Doubleweave.  The Big Island weavers had the basic workshop which covers the first half of the book with four-harness weaves, while our Honolulu group got the second half, which was mostly eight harness weaves plus a view more complicated four-harness ones. The Honolulu workshop came first, and a couple of the more experienced Big Island weavers flew over to join our workshop.

Moore is an excellent teacher who has thought hard about the logic of doubleweave and has developed various methods to convey it. She uses an original system of drafting and tie-ing up for doubleweave. She presents doubleweave as having dark and light threads to represent the two layers, and organizes the draft and the tie-up to so that you can easily distinguish the dark and light layers and understand what you are doing.

This sample was set up to weave twill in two layers joined at one side so it would open up to double width. The warp was in two made in a very bright contrast between a bright pink and a bright green, so I tried to tone it down with a maroon weft.

We had about a dozen different samples set up on fourteen looms at Linekona Art Center, plus two “extra” ones set up on table looms (because those drafts require such frequent changes that they work best with an 8 harness table loom where you can manually set up each pick). Every draft had 288 ends of 5/2 cotton, but the threading and tie-up were quite complicated and it took longer than people expected to get the looms ready. The workshop was done round-robin style so everyone could weave samples of all the different alternatives.

In short mini-lectures, Moore grouped together a number of samples in order to make particular points and show us how they were related. Then we would go back and work on whichever loom was free. The same samples are in her book, but these are some of the ones I did. These first two were fairly straightforward, and people enjoyed doing them. But some of the others, like doubleweave pickup, were very difficult and people only wove an inch or so before they gave up and moved on to something else.

There were two looms warped with doubleweave overshot, which is quite an interesting innovation. Normally overshot is a four harness weave with a plain weave background and an overshot pattern with longer floats that are often of a heavier yarn. It is the type of weaving you find in colonial coverlets and there are all sorts of books of overshot patterns.

But in doubleweave overshot, you thread one layer for the background and one with the overshot pattern in a contrasting color. You are supposed to weave the pattern and tabby alternately using two shuttles, which makes the two layers completely bind together, but the pattern shows up in the opposite colors on the reverse side. There are no long floats at all. One of our members also figured out that you could use a single shuttle to treadle the pattern and tabby alternately and still get an interesting effect with a lot less mental concentration.

This sample was stitched cloth, which wasn’t on the list, but Moore created it by changing the tie-up and treadling of the double-width twill sample, which the under-layer was stitched together with the top layer by periodically switching the layers.

When the class began a couple of weeks after the workshop, several people tried out the doubleweave warps. One person who had not attended the workshop finished off a doubleweave overshot warp. She had bought some 10/2 tencel to make a navy and white scarf with a different pattern, but with a little encouragement from other class members she ended up typing on her warp to the doubleweave overshot pattern. Her yarn was finer than the 5/2 used in the workshop and it produced a really beautiful scarf.

Others played with a log cabin warp that could be used for tubular or stuffed doubleweave.The most warp was left on the two double-weave pickup warps, but they are so difficult and frustrating that people would try doing it for an inch and then give up. We are all in awe of Jennifer Moore’s own accomplishment of having spent a year weaving a spectacular wall hanging showing all the phases of the moon over a year. I has been featured in Shuttle, Spindle, and Dyepot and is also on her website.

There were still other impacts of the doubleweave workshops. The Big Island group started a doubleweave study group that I believe is still continuing. I was inspired to weave the double width doubleweave herringbone twill blanket that is in Moore’s book. That turned into a much longer saga than I had expected, and is the subject of some other posts. I apologize for posting these blogs out of sequence!

This weave structure is also sometimes known as double weave overshot. The reason is because overshot threadings can be can be easily arranged to this weave structure. For that matter, any twill or twill derivative threading can be used. When you look at the woven fabric it has the look of overshot but lacks the long surface floats. It appears to be plain weave. Light and dark threads in the warp and weft interlace on the front and back surfaces of the fabric making areas of pattern similar to double weave. It simply magical.

Tom has designed this workshop so each student will be introduced to five different overshot patterns comparing each threading. During this workshop you will pick one of the patterns and choose two contrasting colors of Tencel to warp and weave a soft and luxurious scarf. If you would prefer a table runner or placemats instead of a scarf, two contrasting colors of cotton will do the trick well.  Whatever your preference, warping and weaving your own example of Complimentary Plain weave will give students the tools to weave more of this fascinating weave structure.

Learning to design and weave four-color double weave (4cDW) has kept me mesmerized for the past few months. I studied Chapter 3 on 4cDW in Marian Stubenitsky’s fascinating book,...

I am beginning my 30th year of handweaving, and find I am not a true “hard core” academic (I may not have that laser focus).  I love to teach and love working with people in general. I excel at small groups and one on one, solving problems as we weave together. I love to research and curate information about weaving especially in the 1700s to early 1900s. I want to be part of the solution to identify and keep handweaving history and technical information in the accessible in public domain as much as possible. But, at the same time software is not free, and web servers cost money to run. Keeping something alive will require a business model that generates supportable income in to the future after I am gone.  I know that I do not have the physical strength/endurance or the time to be a production weaver, I am a designer at heart. I love to solve problems, and then I move on to the next problem.

With COVID-19 I lost my opportunity to demonstrate handweaving to the public by letting the new weavers try the looms for themselves, and have retreated into my studio. While being in the studio, I decided that I could once again concentrate on historic research and drafting of contemporary versions of old patterns. I discovered that many of the designs I had created earlier in my career were no longer accessible because of the software going out of production, or becoming so expensive you needed to be a production weaver to be able to afford it. I have been dedicating my free time to capturing what data I could from these drafts and I will be transferring them into a more usable format for future generations to enjoy. As I complete the task I will post them to the website. I can not list them for free, because I need to cover sample production and web hosting hosting costs.

I have both 8 shaft looms, a computer-dobby  24 shaft loom, and a very large drawloom. I design for all three types of looms. In the shop I have decided to mark the number of shafts needed for a draft at the top of the description so as not to disappoint a weaver. You will know what you purchasing before you hit the download button. I also also elected to include weaving software files and manual draft files in the same draft archive packages so that people no longer have to choose one or the other.

A few more words about the work I believe I can deliver to the public. I like to design drafts and weave it before I post it to ensure accuracy, but at this point some days I do more designing than weaving. I think I would like to work out a system with a fellow weaver(s), I would like to see I if can afford to pay a weaver to weave samples of these designs that I can post on the website and give credit for the work that was done. I have no worries if you determine that you would like to weave the design for production and sell items. I am aware that drafts can not be copyrighted, and so will not chase you down if you use a my design for sale in your shop. As I have mentioned before, it is not my intent to be a production weaver. If a weaver were interested in this type of arrangement, I would ask that you email me directly with what your financial requirements might be for making samples and what type of loom (mostly number of shafts) you are using for sampling. Sample sizes should be 10″ x 10″  or larger if the draft  requires it for a full repeat. I am interested in high contrast samples so that it is clear to the weaver what is happening between the warp and weft threads.

For weavers downloading designs, please understand you are supporting my ability to create and maintain self sustaining a database of information related to weaving for access by yourself and other weavers. Downloading once and sharing widely with others defeats the business case for website sustainability. The drafts will have less value, and we all lose the resources we need to keep historic weaving documents and drafts available to the public. I also believe that I do not want to require a subscription to access the draft data or the learning that I have gathered. So this website will always have a public front end that is useful and full featured that is free.

I do not feel that I am in competition with sites like some international pattern libraries or handweaving.net. Historicweaving.com as a website predates them. I am not intending to scan books, or digitize a drafts in that way. I want to use the historic drafts to study how and why they were made, what makes them look the way they do, and how they can be modified to make new designs that reflect our time and current tastes. Understand my statement above that I am not a pure academic, who is driven to study the past and document it a completely as possible. I want to see the past, and bring it to back to life in an approachable way for today’s weavers and looms. My site will be different than others as I am different weaver.  I have had this dream for a long time, and have spent that time learning about weaving and weaving software.  I like to use Facebook as my studio blog, because Facebook can moderate comments faster and more safely. I want this expanded website for its database potential, and the ability to generate revenue to keep it self sustaining. I use Pinterest as a visual catalogue of ideas (a designer’s morgue file) to explore in the future. I’m learning how to write and present full digital content, some video, some pictorial, some e-books and stories. I believe we all learn in different ways and I want to explore ways to help other weaver’s pass on their notes/journals/drafts to the future as well. I have taken a few months to reflect on what I really want to do and how I want to spend my time. I want to research and to weave. (Ideally, I would like to travel as well, but that will take time and a vaccine.)

If I offer an handwoven item in my shop for sale it is most likely to be a one of kind – if it is not, the size of the edition will be stated. I have no desire to weave long warps of the same pattern. It slows me down once I have solved the design problem, I like to move on to the next. I like efficiency, but I am far more likely to want to achieve accuracy, especially in complex structures. I have been known to weave,  unweave and rethread multiple times until I get the loom to match the draft. I spend more time finding ways to warp and weave better. I am known to innovate. If someone asks me how long it took to weave this particular item, it is hard to answer directly because I have to determine if should I tell you about all of the samples I made before I achieved success. (Again, note, I am not a production weaver). What will make my hand woven gifts special is you can be certain that you will not find another one just like it anywhere. When I use my looms I use them as close to their full capability as possible. My personal patterns are complex on purpose, I have a special hand loom, a 100 shaft combination drawloom and I like to show what it can do. To purchase a handwoven piece from me, pricing includes the cost of overhead for maintaining full weaver’s studio, time spent learning about weaving, the cost of materials and fact the item is unique. Your purchase dollars support my research efforts directly. I reinvest my profit dollars into the website and new weaving history research opportunities.

I began with creating  an Illustrated Weaving Glossary meant for beginning weavers – https://historicweaving.com/wordpress/product/illustrated-weaving-glossary/ – never get confused about when a word is used and what it is referring to.

I have been researching extensively for the past couple of yearsMary Meigs Atwater’s Shuttle Craft Guild – Lessons and her American Handweaving Book. Many of the documents I am working from are now in the public domain because their initial publication was 100 years ago, and are even more significant because they are her attempts to record information that was sent to her from other hand weavers throughout the United States. These items are truly meant to be preserved for the public because they came from the public. Since their initial publication, draft notation standards for these structures and patterns have changed significantly, usually it requires a bit of detailed reading to learn how to read the drafts from the manuscript.

I have taken the time to record some of the larger coverlet radiating overshot pattern drafts in profile draft form making them more accessible to weavers who use drafting software. From the profile you can try different structures, colors and layouts to find a design that is pleasing to you. I have built instructions that show you how the draft is composed and how it can be modified. I would like to think of it as giving you design components more than a formal project plan. If you want the formal project plan approach use the Woven as Drawn in instructions. My goal in my presentation is to increase your understanding so that you can design your own projects and not not to restrict you to copying standardized patterns.

I added an eBook/PDF and draft package for Radiating Overshot Patterns  – Sunrise, Blooming Leaf, Bow Knot and the Double Bow Knot. These designs include full drafts, profile drafts and woven as drawn-in drafts. This is the link to purchase the draft archive and the instruction ebook: https://historicweaving.com/wordpress/product/radiating-patterns-for-historic-overshot/

A contemporary version of the Lee’s Surrender draft, using a unit tie weave that can be woven on 6 shafts. In this archive there are colored versions of Lee’s Surrender as found in museum collections.

I am turning my attention to the weaver’s draft books in the United States in the late 1700’s how they got here and the influence they had. I have in my hands access to most of these books and some scholarly research to guide my efforts.

In this article, I focus on designing with overshot blocks in order to create flowing curves large enough to be seen at a distance. I will also discuss "weaving as overshot" which is a method of applying overshot techniques to other weave structures and, finally, finish up with some strategies for designing curves in any weave structure.

Any weave structure with at least three blocks can produce diagonals. All you need is a diagonal progression in the threading with a corresponding diagonal progression in the tie-up and treadling. The simplest diagonal draft possible is a three-shaft twill.

In the twill draft above, the diagonal lines are only three threads apart, which might be too subtle an effect. To make the scale of your design larger, you can use a diagonal progression of weave-structure blocks instead of individual threads. The following draft shows an example of a diagonal progression using overshot blocks on four shafts.

Overshot is a weave structure creating a plain-weave cloth with decorative supplementary weft floats. These floats lie on top of (float over) the ground cloth. If you pull out all of the pattern weft threads, you are left with a plain weave cloth formed by the warp and the tabby weft. There are never any warp floats because of the tabby weft.

The tabby weft interlaces with the warp to form the plain weave background, so the tabby weft should be of similar value to blend visually with the warp. It does not have to be the same color as the warp. The tabby weft may the the same size as the warp, but I prefer to use a finer yarn for my tabby weft and a thicker yarn for my pattern weft.

As an example, if my warp is 8/2 cotton sett at 20 epi (recommended for plain weave) in white, my tabby weft will be 10/2 cotton, or perhaps 12/2. If my tabby weft is light blue, then the plain weave cloth will have a white warp and pale blue weft. I can change the color of the background by changing the color of the tabby weft.

Weaving software is very helpful for testing hues and values for weft yarns to use with your warp. If you choose to weave overshot with a single shuttle, choose a contrasting value to the warp for a subtle design but faster weaving.

If you put the curve in your threading, the waves travel across the fabric horizontally, in the direction of the weft. You can see this in the overshot draft below.

I learned how to make curves by studying a traditional overshot draft called Blooming Leaf (page 133 in A Handweaver"s Pattern Book by Marguerite Davison). In this draft, the treadling maintains a diagonal progression but the scale changes to make the shape "bloom" and undulate.

[Note: When I create overshot drafts, I place the first pattern block on treadle three; I like to weave the tabby picks with my left foot (alternating between treadles one and two) and use my right foot (on the remaining treadles) to weave the pattern weft and create the design.]

Now that you know how to create curves, undulations, and reflected curves, you have the tools you need to create any kind of curve or diagonal line in four-shaft overshot. For a challenge, try making a long curve followed by a short curve, like a meandering river.

The methods described above also work for overshot on six, eight, ten, or more shafts. As you add additional shafts to your design, you gain the ability to create smoother and more dramatic curves.

Below is an example of an eight-shaft overshot threading; in this case a diagonal progression with a point and mirror symmetry. My treadling in this draft is an S-shaped curve. This is just one example of the many different curves you can weave on this threading.

Because the underlying structure of overshot is plain weave, any threading which can produce plain weave can theoretically be woven as overshot, alternating tabby and pattern weft.

I wove the draft above using a 20/2 silk sett at 30 epi. I chose to sett the yarn this densely so I could weave both an overshot and twill version on the same warp. You can see the resulting cloth in the picture below.

How do I weave as overshot when my sett is more appropriate for twill? I use a tabby weft that is much finer than the warp, in this case 140/2 silk from Lunatic Fringe.

For example, the warp in the cloth below is hand-dyed in hot shades of red and orange. I chose a red tabby weft, so the background cloth would be very bright. For the pattern weft, I used a dark-purple yarn, with a deeper value than the background cloth. Because the pattern weft floats on top of the plain-weave ground cloth, it creates a textural, raised design element, which emphasizes the curved pattern.

Other times I choose to weave as overshot because the floats show off the pattern-weft yarn, such as the handspun wool used as the pattern weft in the cloth below.

It is easy and fun to make up a curved treadling at the loom, especially when weaving as overshot. Even after forty-two years of weaving, I still enjoy working with long, non-repeating treadlings; watching the curves grow and change as I weave. Instead of memorizing a sequence and repeating it carefully, I watch the design and think about where I want the next curve to go.

The drape of overshot fabric is not as fluid as that of a twill fabric. So for a scarf or shawl I might choose a structure other than overshot. Fine silk, however, has such nice drape that I can weave as overshot and still get good results.

Using two shuttles sometimes produces messier selvedges than a single-shuttle weave, because of the need to interlock the wefts at the edge of the fabric.

In order to create a diagonal line, you need at least three blocks of pattern. The number of shafts you need on your loom to weave three pattern blocks depends on the weave structure. Some structures, such as double weave, require several shafts per pattern block, whereas others, like summer and winter, are shaft thrifty.

In order to create curves, you must be able to lengthen an area to change the slope of the diagonal line while maintaining the weave structure. That’s it!

Generally this means repeating a treadling block. With a diagonal progression in the threading, you can treadle curves as long or short as you like. This applies to all weave structures.

With weaving software, it is easy to create curved overshot designs. Simply draw a freehand curve in the treadling—smoothing it out if necessary—and then add the tabby shots. Once you have the general idea from designing drafts, you can improvise new curved designs at the loom.

For other weave structures, creating a profile draft can be helpful. A profile draft is a design template that represents the woven design at one level of abstraction. To convert a profile draft into a weaving draft, you replace each block in a profile draft with the appropriate block of a given weave structure. You can, therefore, express a single profile draft in many different weave structures: overshot, summer-and-winter, Bronson lace, huck lace, double weave, etc.

The weave structure you choose can subtly change the look of the curves you designed in the profile draft. After I use block substitution to express a profile draft into a specific weave structure, I often make changes to the draft to smooth out the curves or make them more graceful.

I like smooth, flowing curves that are visible at a distance. So I look for structures that give me the maximum number of pattern blocks to design with. Generally I use weave structures where I have as many pattern blocks as there are shafts on my loom. On a four-shaft loom, I use crackle, overshot, advancing and network-drafted twills, advancing points, turned taqueté, rep, and shadow weave.

The more you work with any given weave structure, however, the more control you have over it. Weave several different drafts in the same structure and it will become your friend.

Have you ever heard of double weave? It refers to a tube of fabric that hasn’t been sewn together. Or if you know someone has a 36″ loom, but created a blanket that is 72″ wide. Those are both projects that used double weave.

Double weave refers to the process of weaving 2 layers at the same time on your loom. Then, choose if the layers are connected and how. The tube I mentioned? Simply weave the fabric such that it’s connected on both sides. The blanket is connected only on one side so it will open up. The options are endless.

Double weave can be done using only plain weave, so it doesn’t need to be complicated. But, it does take a minute to wrap your head around the logistics. If there’s ever a time to have smoke coming out of your ears, double weave would bring it on! Don’t let that dissuade you. It’s great fun and the design options are incredible. Give it a go!

Warp yarns – The yarns that are in the loom, under tension. In double weave projects, there will be twice as many warp yarns as usual because you are managing 2 layers.

Double Weave – Double weave is a weaving pattern where you weave 2 layers of fabric at the same time. It’s a little bit like patting your head and rubbing your belly simultaneously. But with a bit of practice, you’ll have it down pat (ha! pun intended).

Double weave in history – I began doing a bit of research about double weave and I found that William Morris incorporated it into his woven textiles. Are you familiar with him? He is one of the artists/designers that led the charge during the Arts & Crafts Movement in the late 1800’s. If you are curious to read a bit more about him, here is his Wikipedia link. It’s fascinating!

This post is the third in a series introducing you to common weaving structures. We’ve already looked at plain weave and twill, and this time we’re going to dive into the magic of overshot weaves—a structure that’s very fun to make and creates exciting graphic patterns.

Overshot is a term commonly used to refer to a twill-based type of weaving structure. Perhaps more correctly termed "floatwork" (more on that later), these textiles have a distinctive construction made up of both a plain weave and pattern layer. Requiring two shuttles and at least four shafts, overshot textiles are built using two passes: one weaves a tabby layer and the other weaves a pattern layer, which overshoots or floats, above.

Readers in the United States and Canada may be familiar with overshot textiles through woven coverlets made by early Scottish and English settlers. Using this relatively simple technique, a local professional weaver with a four-shaft loom could easily make a near-infinite variety of equally beautiful and complex patterns. If you’d like to learn more about overshot coverlets and some of the traditions that settlers brought with them, please see my reading list at the bottom of this article!

As it is twill-based, overshot will be very familiar to 4 shaft weavers. It’s made up of a sequence of 2-thread repeats: 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, and 1-4. These sequences can be repeated any number of times to elongate and create lines, curves, and shapes. These 2-thread repeats are often referred to as blocks or threading repeats, IE: 1-2 = block 1/A, 2-3 = block 2/B.

There are three ways weft appears on the face of an overshot cloth: as a solid, half-tone, or blank. In the draft image I’ve shared here, you can see an example of each—the solid is in circled in blue, the half-tone in red, and the blank yellow. Pressing down the first treadle (shafts 1 and 2), for example, creates solid tones everywhere there are threads on shafts 1 and 2, half-tones where there is a 1 or 2 paired with 3 or 4, and nothing on the opposite block, shafts 3 and 4. Of course, there’s not really nothing—the thread is simply traveling on the back of the cloth, creating a reverse of what’s on the face.

Because overshot sequences are always made up of alternating shafts, plain weave can be woven by tying two treadles to lift or lower shafts 1-3 and 2-4. When I weave two-shuttle weaves like overshot, I generally put my tabby treadles to the right and treadle my pattern picks with my left foot and my tabby with my right. In the draft image I’ve shared above, I’ve omitted the tabby picks to make the overarching pattern clearer and easier to read. Below is a draft image that includes the tabby picks to show the structure of the fabric.

Traditional overshot coverlets used cotton or linen for warp and plain weave wefts, and wool pattern wefts—but there’s no rule saying you have to stick to that! In the two overshot patterns I’ve written for Gist, I used both Mallo and Beam as my pattern wefts.

In the Tidal Towels, a very simple overshot threading creates an undulating wave motif across the project. It’s easy and repetitive to thread, and since the overshot section is relatively short, it’s an easy way to get a feel for the technique.

The Bloom Table Squares are designed to introduce you to a slightly more complex threading—but in a short, easy-to-read motif. When I was a new weaver, one of the most challenging things was reading and keeping track of overshot threading and treadling—but I’ve tried to make it easy to practice through this narrow and quick project.

Overshot works best with a pattern weft that 2-4 times larger than your plain weave ground, but I haven’t always followed that rule, and I encourage you to sample and test your own wefts to see how they look! In the samples I wove for this article, I used 8/2 Un-Mercerized Cotton weaving yarn in Beige for my plain weave, and Duet in Rust, Mallo in Brick, and Beam in Blush for my pattern wefts.

The Bloom Table Squares are an excellent example of what weavers usually mean when they talk about traditional overshot or colonial overshot, but I prefer to use the term "floatwork" when talking about overshot. I learned this from the fantastic weaver and textile historian Deborah Livingston-Lowe of Upper Canada Weaving. Having researched the technique thoroughly for her MA thesis, Deborah found that the term "overshot" originated sometime in the 1930s and that historical records variably called these weaves "single coverlets’ or ‘shotover designs.’ Deborah settled on the term "floatwork" to speak about these textiles since it provides a more accurate description of what’s happening in the cloth, and it’s one that I’ve since adopted.

Long out of print, this fabulous book covers the Burnham’s extensive collection of early settler textiles from across Canada, including basic threading drafts and valuable information about professional weavers, tools, and history.

Amanda Ratajis an artist and weaver living and working in Hamilton, Ontario. She studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design University and has developed her contemporary craft practice through research-based projects, artist residencies, professional exhibitions, and lectures. Subscribe to herstudio newsletteror follow her onInstagramto learn about new weaving patterns, exhibitions, projects, and more.

I am attempting some upholstery fabric for the first time and decided on Brassard 8/2 cottolin for the warp and Harrisville Shetland for the weft. The structure is “Waldenweave” from Bertha Gray Hayes collection of miniature overshot…. I am developing a “thing” for overshot and really like all aspects of it.

Drafts and Designs was published by Robin and Russ Handweavers, a weaving shop owned and operated by Russel Groff and Robin Groff. Each issue included a 5-12 harness complex weaving draft with a woven sample, and instructions on cloth construction and end use. 10 issues were distributed a year.

Because of many requests from customers, Halcyon Yarn has made arrangements with Interweave Press to offer this popular series "in actual print". These are printed on coated stock, saddle-stitched and identical to those previously offered as "Design Collections" from Interweave Press!

Now available in print exclusively from Halcyon Yarn. Thirteen Projects in Overshot. From tiny pincushions to a full-sized coverlet, you"ll find fabulous overshot fabrics - all of them on only four shafts!

Now available in print exclusively from Halcyon Yarn. Beautiful, colorful, fun and easy to weave on an eight shaft loom, this placemat collection is also a compendium of multishaft pattern weaves. Doubleweave, diversified plain weave, every kind of lace weave, summer and winter, samitum, and more! You"ll love what you weave and what you learn from this book.

Now available in print exclusively from Halcyon Yarn. Weaving a set of placemats is almost a weaver"s rite of passage. This collection includes the ten best placemat projects on four shafts (or fewer) from the first twenty years of Handwoven magazine. There are lace placemats, thick and sturdy placemats, placemats with rich textures, and even placemats inlaid with the design of a table setting. You"ll find all project directions easy to follow - either for making exactly the placemats shown or for substituting different yarns or colors to match your dishware and decor.

Now available in print exclusively from Halcyon Yarn. Using cloth strips instead of yarn opens a universe of color and texture options to weavers. For rugs, table mats and runners, clothing, bags, and more, rag wefts (and even rag warps!) produce durable, colorful, and uniquely textured fabrics. This collection includes ten Best of Handwoven projects - all on two or four shafts.

Now available in print exclusively from Halcyon Yarn. Rigid Heddle Pattern Book #1 is not only a book of projects, but it"s a how-to for creating pattern beyond plain weave on the rigid heddle. Compiled completely of articles by rigid-heddle pioneer Betty Linn Davenport, book teaches you how to create ten different leno designs, borders with warp-float stripes, eyelash-pile fabrics, Bronson lace, petit-point with a supplementary weft, and other amazing techniques that look like they could only be woven on a shaft loom. You"ll learn how to use multiple pick-up sticks, two rigid heddles, and more.

Now available in print exclusively from Halcyon Yarn. Gathered from over twenty-five years, here are more than thirteen of Handwoven"s most striking scarves - from dressy to casual - in turned twill, shadow weave, huck, collapse, and more. A vibrant sub theme of this collection is making the most of structure and color. Projects were inspired by rainbows, Monet, poppies and delphiniums, stormy seas, the deserts of the Southwest, and sunsets. Dream of spring and summer colors as you weave away on winter days.

Now available in print exclusively from Halcyon Yarn. Table runners are favorite projects for weavers: they use almost any structure or pattern, are simple woven rectangles, require little finishing, can go almost anywhere in your house, and make great gifts. This collection from the first twenty years of Handwoven includes a wide range of structures, colors, and patterns--all stellar examples of each. There"s a dramatic doubleweave/log cabin combination, a unique variation of M"s and O"s, Swedish lace, warp rep, overshot inlay, supplementary warp, and more - all on only four shafts.

Now available in print exclusively from Halcyon Yarn. There are actually more than twenty towels in Top Ten Towels on Eight Shafts since several very different looking towels can be produced on the same threading in some of the projects. Not all of the towels require eight shafts; some use five or six. All of them, however, show the advantages in design and use of weave structure provided by more than four shafts. You can weave pictures, like the borders of sheep in Georgeann Curran"s summer and winter towels, for example, or of Christmas trees and Santa Clauses in Kathy Bright"s rosepath towels. Or you can use Kathleen Farling"s eight-shaft twill threading for eight completely different-looking twill towels. There are towels in traditional M"s and O"s, towels in variations of lace, towels in undulating twill.

Now available in print exclusively from Halcyon Yarn. This first towel collection includes ten projects and covers the gamut of color and structure on four shafts. You"ll find overshot, summer and winter, huck, basketweave, and several twills, in addition to plain weave. Towel types range from colorful and casual to dressy and elegant.

Now available in print exclusively from Halcyon Yarn. Deck the Halls features twenty great items to weave for the holiday season - to decorate your house, to delight your children, to give to your friends. There are ornaments and a skirt for your tree, runners for your tables, stockings to hang for Santa, an advent calendar with edibles, handwoven cards, and more.

Now available in print exclusively from Halcyon Yarn. This collection includes 15 projects in glorious colors and intriguing weave structures. Using a wide range of materials from silky to soft, woolly to gossamer, dressy to practical, surely there will be a scarf or shawl that you will want to weave.

Now available in print exclusively from Halcyon Yarn. The editors of Handwoven magazine have assembled some of their best designers to present a stunning design collection of quick projects you can start and finish in a weekend. From totes to tablecloths, these 15 projects are guaranteed to excite weavers of all abilities. You"ll learn the tricks of designing simply and discover a wealth of design ideas.

Now available in print exclusively from Halcyon Yarn. Just Rags, features 17 inventive projects from rugs to garments to weave with either recycled cloth or strips of commercial fabric.

Now available in print exclusively from Halcyon Yarn. In honor of Handwoven’s thirtieth anniversary, readers were surveyed about their all-time favorites. This collection is the result. The survey indicated that you love household textiles best of all. A weaver could decorate an entire house with the projects presented here—curtains, towels, tablecloths, runners, pillows, seat cushions, throws, and even a colorful baby blanket! The one exception is a very clever article by Olive and Harry Linder giving four different ways to design a shaped shawl—including some unusual applications of doubleweave. This collection is rich in technique, too. You’ll learn to weave words in lace, use name-drafting for overshot, design tartan plaids, create treadling orders for shadow weave and huck, and more!

Of the many ways of designing and weaving double weave, my favorite is loom-controlled, patterned double weave.  On my 16-shaft treadle loom I can weave up to 4 blocks of plain weave as well as network drafted double weave designs.  I have written several posts on this topic and thought it was time for another visit because it really is so much fun!

In this post I share photos, drafts and notes about my recent projects that include a 16-shaft, 4-block double weave table runner and a couple of 8-shaft, 2-block placemats.  I also share a photo of a double weave Tencel shawl that I plan on submitting to my guild’s annual exhibit in April.

The first project is a table runner I wove using 5/2 pearl cotton with a sett of 28 e.p.i. that turned out to have a fairly good but not perfectly balanced weave.  I happen to like it this way, but a wider sett of 24-26 e.p.i. would have helped make the rectangular areas be more square.  After twisting the fringes, I washed it by hand, spin dried in the washer but I could have rolled it in a towel too, laid flat to dry and steam ironed while it was still a bit damp.  Here it is:

With the magic of block substitution, my weaving software (Fiberworks PCW) generated the complete drawdown.  You can do this manually as well (it’s still magical!) by looking at the profile draft and substituting the following for each block:  first block is threaded and treadled 1, 2, 3, 4; second block 5, 6, 7, 8; third block 9, 10 ,11, 12; and fourth block 13, 14, 15, 16.  I then experimented with different colors and came up with a color scheme I liked, choosing colors that I had in 5/2 pearl cotton in my stash.  Below are different views of the thread-by thread draft.  The double weave view shows how each side actually appears, one side appears different than the other side.  The close-up interlacement view shows how the warp and weft interlace or cross each other and gives you a hint that there are 2 layers with areas in one layer exchanging places with areas in the other layer:

The second project is a couple of placemats I wove using 20/2 unmercerized cotton, 2 strands used together as one, with a sett of 40 e.p.i.  I wove a few inches of basket/plain weave with the 20/2 cotton used singly in between mats to be turned and hand sewn as hems for a neat finish after the wet finishing process which was the same as that for the table runner.  Here’s how the placemats turned out:

As before, block substitution generated the complete drawdown, the first block is threaded and treadled 1, 2, 3, 4 and the second block 5, 6, 7, 8.  Since this pattern looks so busy I decided to use only 2 colors to make it appear simpler and to highlight the balance between the dark and light areas.  Below is the thread-by-thread draft in double weave view of one side.  I didn’t show the other side because it looks the same except that the dark and light areas are interchanged.  The close-up of one section of the draft in interlacement view also shows the basket/plain weave I mentioned earlier that I used to weave for the hems on the placemats.  As you can see in the tie-up you need two extra treadles to do this.

OK, I asked myself, what now?  How about challenging myself to weave something interesting in double weave to enter in my guild’s show in March?  After experimenting with many drafts, I came up with a 16-shaft networked draft for double weave that looks like mosaic when viewed from a distance and also looks interesting when viewed close-up.  I liked the design and wove this Tencel shawl:

UPDATE March 31, 2014:  This shawl received “The Kathryn Wellman Memorial Award” for imaginative weaving incorporating design, color and texture at the 2014 Philadelphia Guild of Handweavers “Celebration of Fibers” exhibit.

This entry was posted on January 29, 2014 at 1:42 pm and is filed under Double Weave, Profile Drafts. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post"s comments.