Advancing Twills

I have been taking part in a workshop on "Advancing Twills" with the Online Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, taught by the Stacey Harvey-Brown. This is the third weaving workshop I have done with the Guild, the previous ones were "Beginner's Lace Weaving" and "Summer and Winter". These are the only weaving classes I have participated in.

The Online Guild uses the "Yahoo Groups" service. This enables communication via private group e-mails and provides file space where members of the group can post up and download computer files and photographs. The instructions for workshops come via e-mail as well as in downloadable pdf or word documents, and posting up photos enables members to show their work.

With many of the workshops I have participated in, I've started off slightly curious and found myself drawn into trying new things as other people discuss the workshop in their e-mails and post up interesting photos. This has led to me learning to spin cotton and silk, use natural dyes from plants around the garden, knit socks, and try out the different weaving structures, as mentioned above.

So, back to the Advancing Twills. I started off using an advancing threading pattern and the same advancing pattern in the treadling, the pattern being (1-2-3-4-5, 2-3-4-5-6, 3-4-5-6-7, 4-5-6-7-8, 5-6-7-8-1, 6-7-8-1-2, 7-8-1-2-3, 8-1-2-3) continuously repeated.

I wove with 12/2 mercerised cotton from William Hall & Co. I tried setting it at 30 epi (3 ends per dent in a 10 dpi reed). I thought this would be good because I'd used 24 epi in this thread for my summer and winter and my lace weaving. However, the patterns didn't work at this sett, the cloth was too soft and the pattern indistinct and a bit lost. So I tightened up to 36 epi, using a 12 dpi reed.

I planned my work in a simple weaving software package called Weave Design this is a useful piece of software, but much more basic than the well known Weavepoint or Fibreworks programmes. A disadvantage is un-helpful when it comes to advancing twills is that it does not, as some of the other programmes do, calculate the longest float length. I found that some of the twill designs that looked great on paper had horrendous long floats on the back when woven! Particularly problematic were some tie-ups I'd used before for plaited twills.



This however, show one of the most successful patterns I wove, which had a mix of plain weave (i.e. over one, under one) and 2-2 twill (over two, under two).

The diagonal pattern and kind of squares occurring along that diagonal were typical of all the patterns I tried with this threading and treadling. I think it would be great for working with different colours where you want them to gradually change from one shade to another, e.g. with yellow-orange-red-dark plum red in the weft against a black or dark brown warp.

Sorry I don't have a picture of the weave design, however the following details would enable you to weave this pattern.

The lifted shafts were,
1st treadle: 1,2,5,6
2nd treadle: 1,4,5,8
3rd treadle: 4,5,7
4th treadle: 2,3,6,8
5th treadle: 1,2,5,7
6th treadle: 1,4,6,8
7th treadle: 3,5,7
8th treadle: 2,4,6

I said before the plaited twills had some long floats when used in this way. Well, here's one that didn't. Something else happened, something very strange....



Can you see some areas of the weave look denser than others? Well those areas that look losely woven, like about half the thread density ARE loosely woven at half the thread density. This wasn't so obvious on the loom, but when the cloth was off the loom and washed it was very obvious.

I had woven my first double weave cloth - entirely by accident!

Those sections that look looser consist of two separate layers in a loose plain weave.

In the excitement I muddle up my drafts and now I don't know what the pattern for this was!!! It was originally a draft for a plaited twill. I'm intending to look at double-weave by myself in the future and I hope that when I do I will be able to work out what pattern this was wove from - and why it happened.

So would I use this pattern again (when I have worked out the draft)? I might do. I think it would work better in a softer yarn, and could be useful for a wool scarf, where the pockets of double weave would make it more efficient at holding warmth around your neck on a cold day.

Moving on from this, I wanted to try some really fancy patterns. After many try-outs that didn't look right, many weary hours at the computer when I finished by switching off without feeling I'd got anywhere and saying, well, maybe tomorrow, I eventually came up with these. But first, I had to go back to "The Best Of Weavers Twill Thrills" to read, re-read and get to understand how they might work. These patterns use a 4 end repeat with point sections. The threading pattern is: the 4 end repeat 1-2-3-4, 2-3-4-5,3-4-5-6,4-5-6-7,5-6-7-8 then 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 and back to 8-7-6-5, 7-6-5-4, 6-5-4-3, 5-4-3-2, 4-3-2-1, and repeat across the warp. The treadling pattern was an image of this (i.e. "tromp as writ").


Here you see the patterns produced by two different treadle tie ups.

These patterns are rather pretty, they'd look good in silk for a waistcoat (U.S. vest), or as upholstery fabrics (though personally I don't like furnishings with small pattern repeats).



And, encouraged by this success I went on to weave more variations of these designs, with different treadling patterns and also with use of two different colour blue threads in the weft.


Just to finish, I'd like to highly recommend the Online Guild, and also the book mentioned above,
The Best of Weavers - Twill Thrills, ed. Madelyn van der Hoogt, pub. XRX Books, 2004, ISBN-10: 189376219X, ISBN-13: 978-1893762190.

Pirn winding

I had prepared photos for a post about how I wind my pirns before I received this query from Kim:

"Dorothy, having just received one of these from my dear husband for Christmas, it would be wonderful if you could discuss using an end feed shuttle. Do I wind the pirn differently then I would a bobbin on a boat shuttle? How do I trouble shoot my weaving using the end feed shuttle?"

As a fairly new weaver I'm not the very best source of information, but I'm happy to share what I know - and then advise looking at any of the books listed at the end of this post.

For a description in words: you start need to start winding near the wide end of the pirn. I will cover the first couple of inches with one layer of thread, then I work backwards and forwards to build it up, and gradually move down the pirn, building up the yarn in a wedge shape. You don't want to fill all the space available in the shuttle or the yarn will jam, so your "yarn package" is going to need to fit comfortably within the shuttle.

Aside: I'd like to give you a diagram or a photo about how to fill the pirn with yarn, but I can't do that for the time being. Anyone reading my blog when I started out may remember I discovered I can't load pictures from my home computer. I still have to make a booking when the local library is open so I can use one of their computers to upload pictures.

It's important to wind tight, making a firm "yarn package", so the yarn only only unwinds when it is pulled from the shuttle, and so it pulls out evenly. When you get close to the tip of the pirn it is even more important that the layers are built up firm and even, so there is no danger of the yarn slipping of the end of the pirn(!). I use wooden pirns that came with my shuttles, and have not had problems with the yarn slipping, I don't know if the plastic pirns behave differently?

Although I've used medium to fine weight yarns with my shuttles without problems, they aren't suited to all yarns. Mine will not take thick yarns and I think most fancy yarns would catch in the tensioner - I've got a Schacht boat shuttle and various rug shuttles (the ski type is my favourite) for other types of yarn.

From my recent experience, the tension needs tightening if the yarn pulls out without effort. If you just pick up the shuttle and pull on the yarn, you should feel a resistence and it should slow and stop as you stop pulling. Watch as you weave a header, when it's right you should easily feel in total control of the way the weft lies through the warp.

I always have to remember a little rhyme my Dad taught me when adjusting the screw "right is tight, left is loose" (right being clockwise).

I started winding pirns with a quill spindle attatchment for my Ashford Traditional spinning wheel. When I sold that wheel, I had to come up with a homemade adaptation for my new wheel, a 2nd hand Timbertops Leicester. I used a piece of dowel which I shaped with a knife to make it fit the orifice of the spinning wheel and my pirns (which are of two different sizes). It clips in place with a little spring made from a paper clip, as you can just about see on the right of the first photo.








The second photo shows a pirn in place for winding, and although there is not much yarn wound you can see how I have avoided the very top of the pirn and just started to build up an even yarn package with a bulge at the top tailing off down the pirn. Peggy Ostercamp (see below) advises that a much steeper angle on the yarn is best for good tension.







The third and last photo shows off my beautiful spinning wheel.
















What I really like about using the spinning wheel for winding pirns is that I have both hands free, making it easy to guide the thread. It is also very easy to control the speed the pirn is turning, so I feel in good control of the process.

The best books I have found for instructions for using end feed shuttles are:
Peggy Ostercamp, Weaving and Drafting Your Own Cloth (several pages of good information & diagrams) (buy from Peggy direct, or all good weaving suppliers).
Rachel Brown, The Weaving Spinning and Dyeing Book, (available from Fibrecrafts in UK, see below, also Amazon in UK and US).
and
Allen A Fannin, Handloom Weaving Technology (all editions very useful, the latest is available from amazon.com in the U.S, Fibrecrafts in the UK).

My workshop

These pictures didn't come out as clearly as I'd hoped, I think there's just too much too see in each image.

They both show the part of my workshop where I have my handweaving loom. The loom is very compact. It's an eight shaft Toika Norjaana, countermarche with an overslung beater. It is 5' 1" tall (155 cm) (I am 156 cm tall!), 45 3/4" (116 cm) wide, and 4' (122 cm) front to back. This just fits in under the sloping ceiling, leaving a space where I can stand in front of it without banging my head on the roof beam - but I have to warn all my visitors to mind their heads!

Behind the loom you will see my latest purchase of 12/2 cottons from William Hall & Co.*, I haven't found anywhere else to put them yet. On the right of this picture there's a pile of plastic boxes with yarn stashed in them.

I get lovely daylight through the two roof windows, one behind my loom and the other over my work table (right), however, in these photos taken after dark, you can see the beautiful light from a special flourescent tube, chosen for it's wide spectrum light (Polylux XL F58W/835). I have a more "daylight" type flourescent (Polylux F36w/860) over the worktable, which gives a rather bluish light. Both give enough good quality light that I can use them for photography without additional flash.

Here is a side view of the loom, I stood on a chair behind my worktable to get this view. Weaving books are piled up this side of the loom on top of a structural beam. Beyond my loom bench you can see a very useful set of shelves on which I pile all the odds and ends I need to hand, shuttles, pirns, scissors, temples, sample folders, etc., and my reeds and raddle are leaning against the wall.

On the floor behind the loom is a tray of dyed wool waiting to be spun.

This loom was my first loom, and it has proved a very good purchase. I sometimes think it would be useful to have a table loom as well, because they are portable and work differently so you can use them for weave structures my countermarche loom isn't suited too. Then, I also have days when I dream of drawlooms, or more shafts. The truth is - there's no space for even a small second loom and no room for a loom that is any bigger than this one. Other work spaces that you can't see house my two Timbertops Leicester spinning wheels and stash of fibre for spinning, and a writing desk.

I have found out that I could (affordably) get more shafts and treadles for this loom, get a 2nd warp beam for it, and a "shaft switching device" to enable fancy patterned rug weaving. All these have their temptations - but I must weave more (and reduce the yarn stash) before I can justify to myself the spending money on extra weaving equipment.

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* William Hall & Co., 177 Stanley Road, Cheadle Hulme, Cheadle, Cheshire, SK8 6RF, England.
0161 437 3295 (no website).
Suppliers of handloom weaving and knitting yarns, plain & fancy, including their own plain and mercerised cottons, also suppliers of yarns from Holma-Helsinglands A.B. and Borgs Vavgarner A.B.

Toika Norjaana loom, bought 2nd hand, but originally supplied by the very helpful Don Porritt, of The Studio, Leathley Road, Menston, West Yorks, LS29 6DP, England (no website), tel: 01943 878329 and 874736, who has supplied me with reeds and other equipment.