Over centuries, weavers have developed graphic systems called “weave drafts” to indicate how to thread and weave different fabric structures. Once you understand what they mean and how they work, you’ll be able to convert a weave draft written for a 4-shaft loom into a threading and lift plan for a rigid-heddle loom
There are three basic components to a weave draft: (1) the threading, which tells you which shaft a given warp thread is attached to; (2) the tie-up, which tells you which shafts will raise when you step on a given treadle; and (3) the treadling, which tells you the order in which to step on the treadles.
The following explanation assumes that you are dealing with the modern form of a weave draft used in the United States, with a shed created by rising shafts, and with the threading, tie up, and treadling in the positions shown on the facing page. Be aware that other countries and other eras formatted weave drafts differently. If you come across a weave draft that looks odd, take a moment to figure out where the various parts are and how they’re encoded before converting it.
On a floor loom, each shaft contains a set of heddles, which are wires or strings with loops in the middle that the warp yarns are threaded through. It’s as if each shaft is a rigid heddle with only holes and no slots. Following a four-shaft weave draft to thread a rigid-heddle loom with three heddles is fairly simple if you follow a few rules:
Some weavers find it easier to understand the conversion from a 4-shaft weave draft to a rigid-heddle plan by taking an intermediary step and examining what is known as a “peg plan.” (Weave drafts created for table looms and computer-driven looms use peg plans.) Study the three charts on the facing page to see how each system works. To the right of the threading in illustration A, a chart indicates the tie-up, or how the threading maps to the treadles of a floor loom. On a floor loom, you physically tie one or more shafts to a treadle; when you press that treadle with your foot, one or more shafts move to form the shed. Since your rigid-heddle loom doesn’t have treadles, you must convert a weave draft with a tie up into a weave draft in peg-plan format (B). A peg plan format has no tie-up, and thus tells you explicitly which shafts need to be raised to create each shed.
Here’s how to convert a tie-up and treadling into a peg plan: For each row of the treadling, go straight up to the corresponding line in the tie-up above. This will tell you which shafts need to be raised on that row. On the peg plan, fill in the blocks for those shafts. (Most weaving software has the ability to convert a tie-up draft into a peg plan with a click of a button.)
A. Standard 4-shaft 2×2 twill draft
B. Threading translated to rigid heddle and tie-up converted to peg plan
C. Threading translated to rigid heddle and peg plan translated to rigid heddle
After you’ve converted the weave draft into a peg plan, you can then convert the peg plan into a rigid-heddle weaving plan (C). This is useful because of the way shaft 4 works on a rigid-heddle loom. Since the “4th” shaft is made up of the passive slot threads, in order to raise it, you instead lower any shafts that aren’t raised in that weft pick. For example, let’s compare the 4-shaft peg plan to the rigid-heddle weaving plan for a 2×2 twill.
peg plan |
rigid-heddle plan |
|
Raise 1 and 2 |
Raise 1 and 2 |
|
Raise 2 and 3 |
Raise 2 and 3 |
|
Raise 3 and 4 |
Lower 1 and 2 |
|
Raise 4 and 1 |
Lower 2 and 3 |
As you can see, in the rigid-heddle plan, shaft 4 never moves, so you have to figure out how to move the other threads below shaft 4 in order to have shaft 4 on the top of the cloth. It’s not harder to weave, just different, and worth figuring out and writing down before you get to the loom. The calculation is easy: Any time shaft 4 threads are raised, make the shed by lowering the heddles with hole threads that should be down for that shed.
The chart shown here is a common 4-shaft weaving pattern: Point Twill. Using the technique from the previous page, you can convert it into a rigid-heddle project. This first chart shows the tie-up version of the weave draft (A).
The next step is to convert the tie-up to a lift plan by mapping the shafts lifted in each treadle step (B). From the lift plan, you can create the rigid-heddle weaving plan (C). Remember to lift heddles on rows where shaft 4 does not rise and to lower heddles on rows where shaft 4 does rise.
Double-tap the images to open to fill the screen. Use the two-finger pinch-out method to zoom in. (These features are available on most e-readers.)
Overshot is a two-shuttle weave that uses two wefts. A thick weft creates the pattern, while a thin weft weaves plain weave between the pattern picks. These plain-weave picks are called tabby. Having tabby between the pattern threads gives the pattern threads the freedom to have long floats without jeopardizing the cloth’s stability. Overshot makes it possible to create circles and curves that are otherwise difficult to create in woven cloth. Often the warp and tabby weft are the same thin yarn, giving the thicker pattern weft room to spread out over the ground cloth.
Since weaving tabby with three heddles on a rigid-heddle loom means alternating raising heddles 1 and 3 and then lowering heddles 1 and 3, we’ll call these tabby up and tabby down.
Detail of overshot fabric in the Nappy’s Butterflies pattern, woven on a rigid-heddle loom
heddle position |
yarn |
|
Tabby up |
Thin weft |
|
Pattern pick 1 |
Thick weft |
|
Tabby down |
Thin weft |
|
Pattern pick 2 |
Thick weft |
|
And so on, alternating the pattern picks of the design with tabby up and tabby down. |
|
The pattern picks needed to create the pattern for an overshot design can be long. The pattern used for the Overshot Scarf is very simple, and yet it has 32 different picks before it repeats.
One of the tricks of weaving overshot is to keep track of which tabby you’re on at any given time. If you always start with the tabby up coming from the left side of the loom and the tabby down coming from the right side of the loom, the position of the shuttle will tell you which tabby pick you’re on. It’s important to properly alternate the tabby in order to form a solid ground cloth to hold your pattern shots in place.
A threading hook, long enough to reach back through all three heddles, is helpful when you’re working with this many heddles. The threading hooks made by AVL for their Production Dobby floor looms are very long and thin and ideal for this work.
This scarf is based on the overshot pattern Nappy’s Butterflies, from Marguerite Porter Davison’s A Handweaver’s Pattern Book. In a wider fabric, this project could make a nice evening wrap or jacket fabric.
Using a softly variegated pattern weft that contrasts with the ground warp gives color variation to this design. Although I hand-dyed my pattern weft, there are many hand-dyed yarns on the market you can substitute. For instance, you could try Madelinetosh Tosh Chunky (a 100% superwash Merino wool at 165 yards per 100g skein) or Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted (an 85% wool/ 15% mohair at 190 yards per 4 oz skein). Since these yarns do not need to be doubled, only 110 yards is required for either.
| project stage | width |
length |
| Off the loom |
6.5" |
58" |
| After wet-finishing |
6" |
57" |
| Shrinkage |
8% |
2% |
Using a single heddle set in the back and the direct-peg method of warping, wind a warp 3 yards long and 81 threads wide. Note: This length gives you extra warp to practive weaving the pattern.
Sample threading showing first eight threads
As you thread the pattern, check that you are threading things correctly every four threads. Use the following guidelines as you thread the heddle. Look between the heddles: Are there any twisted threads? Does the order of the holes on the heddles match what’s in the pattern? Holding onto the ends so they don’t unthread, can you get clean sheds by raising the heddle? It may seem tedious to check the threading every four threads, but threading errors you catch right after you make them are easier to fix than those you catch 84 threads later.
Weave a 11⁄2" header of plain weave using only the tabby weft (the 3/2 cotton). To do this, alternate raising heddles 1 and 3 with lowering heddles 1 and 3. Weaving the header is an opportunity to get familiar with weaving using multiple heddles and with weaving the tabby picks of the cloth.
Begin the overshot section of the scarf using two shuttles: the thin, tabby weft alternates with the thicker pattern weft. In other words, insert alternating picks of tabby up (raise heddles 1 and 3) and tabby down (lower heddles 1 and 3) between the pattern picks shown in the chart on the facing page.
Once you reach the end of the pattern picks, start over from the beginning for a second repeat of the pattern. Remember to weave your tabby picks.
When you have woven nine repeats of the pattern, weave another 11⁄2" of plain weave as header.
Cut the scarf from the loom, and twist 4" fringe at both ends. Wash in warm water, agitating firmly, or wash in a washing machine on the delicate cycle. Hang to dry.
Double-tap the image to open to fill the screen. Use the two-finger pinch-out method to zoom in. (These features are available on most e-readers.) Or download the printable pdf at http://whol.st/overshot-scarf
I write out each shot pick on blank business cards, and then keep them in sequence by my loom so that I can flip them over in order as I weave. To keep the sequence in order, you can punch holes in the cards and run a notebook ring through the holes.
