PROJECT
Square Dance Mat

If you already have warp on your loom from the Autumn Windows Runner, you’re ready to rethread for the Square Dance Mat. If not, follow the warping instructions for the Autumn Windows Runner, which starts on page 144, up to the point of threading the heddles. A 2-yard (183 cm) warp will give you plenty of length to weave the Square Dance Mat and to experiment with a second piece.

Thread your warp following the block plan from the Autumn Windows Runner (page 147), but using the two threading blocks in Figure 74 on page 167. The A blocks are threaded just as they were in the Autumn Windows Runner, but the B blocks now have a new threading sequence.

Sley 4 threads per dent in an 8-dent reed and tie on. Tie up your treadles according to the tie-up plan in Figure 76 on page 167. Have two shuttles —either boat or stick shuttles—ready with your background color. For your pattern colors, you’ll be weaving a small amount at a time with each color; wind one color at a time onto a stick shuttle.

When weaving areas of background only, weave with the two background color shuttles, alternating with one for the top layer and one for the bottom layer, following the treadling sequence in Figure 75 on page 167. Start both shuttles from the left and interlock wefts.

When weaving areas of pick-up, weave with one of the background color shuttles and one of the pattern colors, following the treadling sequence in Figure 76 (page 167). Begin by weaving 1 inch (2.5 cm) of solid background on top for a turned-in hem. Then continue weaving following the graphed design (Figure 77 on page 170). After finishing the graphed design, weave an extra 1 inch (2.5 cm) of solid background on top for a turned-in hem.

Figure 77: Graphed design for Square Dance Mat. Every square of the graph represents two dents in the reed, or four threads in each layer.

In this graphed design, each square on the graph represents two dents in the reed, or four threads from each layer. This means that the treadling sequence is repeated once for each row of the graph. The entire treadling sequence of four weft picks in each layer is woven for each row of the graphed design. Change to a new pattern weft color each time you come to a new area of pick-up design.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The primary focus of this book has been learning about and understanding the various doubleweave techniques on four and eight shafts. Without an understanding of the structures and how to work with the drafts, the best you can do is to follow recipes. But with a solid foundation in designing and drafting doubleweave, the doubleweave world becomes your universe, and your creativity can take wing.

A secondary focus throughout this book is color; color usage is fundamental to many of the effects that are possible in doubleweave. Having two layers in different sets of colors that can interact with each other in a variety of ways enables you to create effects that can’t be achieved in any other way.

Virtually every element in your weaving is a potential variable that you can explore in doubleweave. Weaving is fertile ground for asking “what if” questions, and doubleweave is doubly so.

On and on it goes. Everything that I’ve learned about doubleweave came from wondering about what would happen if I did something a certain way, and then sitting down to figure out how to make that happen. Doubleweave can be a bit like solving a jigsaw puzzle in three dimensions: At first it can be hard to wrap your mind around, but if you keep looking at it from different directions, eventually a solution begins to appear.

Keep imagining and keep exploring!