I’ve long admired the finished product of soft, flowing curves in woven items. Particularly with only 4 shafts, this isn’t always easy to produce. So when I saw Bonnie Inouye’s article on Weavezine, I decided I had to give it a shot. I had several other projects that had to take priority, though, so while I waited my desire just increased.
This week I was finally at a point where I could check it out. I used Bonnie’s draft and set up my loom. Trust me when I tell you it took LOTS of attention to thread the heddles correctly – 72 threads in one pattern repeat!
I used a deep, rich purple 8/2 rayon for the warp, sett at 18 ends per inch. I’ve used this sett with this yarn for a variety of patterns, and always liked the result. To show the curves off well, I picked a medium green rayon for weft. I figured it would be as lovely as the amethyst & peridot jewelry I’ve made.
Hah! Wrong again!
I started with a few rows of plain weave, as I usually do for stability. Then I wove one repeat of the 70-row treadling pattern. This was clearly too loose to make a stable fabric, plus I didn’t like how it looked.
Next I tried another repeat of the 70-row treadling, this time beating much more firmly. Much more stable, but not much better looking, to my eye at least.
I waited overnight to see if I’d like it better the next day. That sometimes works. I can see the beauty of things after a time away, or their flaws, or get an idea on how to improve things.
I didn’t like it any better, but did have an idea. Maybe my weft needed to be much thicker than the warp for it to work well. So I made two shots of each row, doubling the weft thickness, for a third 70-row pattern. Yes, the pattern shows up better, but I still don’t like it.
I’m going to unweave all this, unthread reed & heddles, and re-thread in another pattern. Not sure exactly what yet, but I’ll use a tried & true, I think. I want to weave something I’m pretty certain to like!
Thanks, Peg. I would have used a closer sett with that warp- it looks balanced in the plain weave area. And I like more value contrast with the 4-shaft versions of network drafted twill because they are subtle even in black and white. Your weaving is fine.
Bonnie
Peg, I am sorry you did all this work and did not like the results! The long article I wrote for WeaveZine was divided into two. I hope you read both articles. I said that the results with network drafting on only 4 shafts are subtle, but it is possible and I wanted to show how it can be done. For clear designs on 4 shafts, weave as overshot with a pattern pick and a tabby pick. This is not the same as just weaving with tabbies- it means using an overshot treadling and not a twill treadling. This is in the first of my two WeaveZine articles. You could have sampled that on this warp and I think your sett would have been better for that, too.
If you do not care for this kind of design with meandering curves, I understand this. Most weavers prefer to have mirror symmetry in both threading and treadling. My style is different, and Syne asked me to write about how I weave curves. I chose this threading so you could follow the curving lines in the treadling. I can see that this is totally different from the drafts you have chosen for other projects. I do not understand why you decided to follow a draft when you don’t like the design, but you must have expected something different in the cloth.
In my own work (not the pieces that I weave for a magazine article)I prefer long threadings, more than 200 ends, because I enjoy weaving large-scale designs. I am sorry that the length of this threading was a problem for you, especially after you realized that you did not like it at all. Did you consider weaving it as drawn in? Or following the lessons in the first article which has much more about 4-shaft weaves? Did you look at the draft in Fiberworks before threading the heddles? I think this would have helped- maybe you would have changed your mind before threading the loom! My articles in WeaveZine had wif files available when they came out, and this threading is very quick anyway. Just enter the first part and advance it.
I hope this helps! I am really sorry that you did not like this cloth. It was a lot of work!
I have given my Big Twill workshop (similar to Advance) in Rochester and Albany, some years ago, but not other places in New York state. My articles in the Twill Thrills book might have helped if you wanted other treadling ideas besides those in the two WeaveZine articles.
Bonnie
http://www.bonnieinouye.com
Bonnie
Oh, Bonnie, I’m sorry I made you feel bad with my post!! Like the title said, it just wasn’t my cup of tea. But I had long admired yours from Weavezine and thought I’d give it a shot. The fact that it didn’t suit the yarn and/or colors I’d chosen is certainly no reflection on your draft! I thought I’d really like it, despite the fact that this type of flowing curve design is much different than my typical pattern — I like to move outside my box periodically, to see things differently. Sometimes I fall in love with them, sometimes not.
You are absolutely correct saying that I should have tried other treadlings. Why did this thought not occur to me? Who can say how the mind works – or doesn’t, in this case. You’re also correct that I hadn’t seen your first Weavezine article, only the second. If I’d actually read the first one, it surely would have helped me problem solve on this attempt.
I did do the draft in Fiberworks before threading the loom, and liked it. I do like the concept, the free-ness, and the look, just not in the fibers I’d chosen. I’ll probably try a variation on it again – particularly with the new knowledge of your first article!
[…] The Warp After deciding to unweave the 210+ rows of the attempted curves with the purple rayon, I rethreaded the loom in an Ms & Ws pattern. I’ve used it plenty […]
Well, to me it doesn’t so much look wavy as it does bargello-y.
You say poTAYto, I say poTAHto. The end result is the same – I don’t like this pattern and will take them apart and start again from the beginning.
I guess that’s why they say, “sample, sample, sample!” There’s no sense in using a whole warp to weave something that doesn’t make you happy. If you ever have a hankering to try this again, try using a closer sett. Advancing twills have longer floats than most twills you would weave in a 4-shaft loom, so if you use the same sett that you would for most other 4-shaft twills, they will be sleazy. I took Bonnie I’s “Advance!” workshop a couple of years ago, and it was so much fun. The best part is that when you understand the treadling, you don’t have to follow a draft; you can just change the slope and direction of the curves as you’re weaving.
Thanks, Alison. Yes, I figured that the sett would need to be closer for this, that’s why I tried with doubling the weft thread to accommodate for some of that. If I’d liked the design, I would have simply had to re-thread the reed, not the heddles. But since it doesn’t make me happy, I’m starting all over.
If Bonnie ever gets to western NY, I will definitely take one of her classes – what a weaving wonder!