Taqueté in Perle Cotton

My passion for weaving seems to never end.  Looking back, I wove a few Taqueté rugs and wrote a detailed post with drafts and notes about how to design Taqueté by using blocks.  I wanted to weave a Taqueté project again, but this time I didn’t want to weave another wool rug, instead I wanted to weave something using the beautiful perle cotton yarns in my stash.  Taqueté uses the same threading system as Summer & Winter, but the weave is weft-faced without any tabby wefts.  It’s also different than Turned Taqueté which is mostly warp-faced.  I thought the perle cotton would be nice for perhaps a placemat or a wall hanging, and that’s what I ventured out to design and weave.

I wove a few samples experimenting with different setts, and then decided to weave an armrest protector for my sofa, a placemat, and a wall hanging.  The concept of form follows function went into the wall hanging when I designed it, but the armrest protector and placemat were an afterthought, but I think they are fine for what I’m going to use them for.

All the pieces were woven on the same 10/2 cotton warp using 5/2 perle cotton weft at 10 e.p.i.  They were all wet finished by hand, air dried, and steam ironed.  The hems were woven in plain weave (tabby) with the same 10/2 cotton as the warp.  First, here are photos of the armrest protector (Woven Taqueté #1), followed by its draft along with notes:

Woven Taqueté #1, perle cotton, 2021

Woven Taqueté #1, perle cotton, 2021 (close-up)

Draft for Woven Taqueté #1 (weft-face view) (Click to ENLARGE)

I designed a profile draft using 7 threading and 7 treadling blocks that require 9 shafts and 16 treadles to create the above thread-by-thread draft. The threading blocks and tie-up are the same for all the pieces. If you look at this draft, the threading blocks are repeated just once and if you start reading from the center, right to left, they are as follows: first block – 1,3,2,3; second block – 1,4,2,4; third block – 1,5,2,5; and so on. The treadling blocks are also repeated just once, alternating yellow and blue, pressing two treadles at the same time. If you start reading from top to bottom they are: first block – treadles 1+4, 1+3, 2+4, 2+3; second block – treadles 1+6, 1+5, 2+6, 2+5; third block – treadles 1+8, 1+7, 2+8 2+7; and so on until the middle of the draft. At that point, the treadling becomes slightly different: first block – treadles 1+3, 1+4, 2+3, 2+4; second block – treadles 1+5, 1+6, 2+5, 2+6; third block – treadles 1+7, 1+8, 2+7, 2+8; and so on. This is one way of flipping the pattern and background colors. If you have extra treadles to spare or a dobby loom then you wouldn’t have to deal with pressing two treadles at the same time. To weave the plain weave hem I used the same yarn as I used for the warp and alternately pressed treadles 1+2 together and then all the rest of the shafts together tied to a 17th treadle.

Next is the placemat (Woven Taqueté #2):

Woven Taqueté #2, perle cotton, 2021

Woven Taqueté #2, perle cotton, 2021 (close-up)

Draft for Woven Taquete #2 (weft-face view) (Click to ENLARGE)

Everything is the same for Woven Taqueté #2 as for Woven Taqueté #1 except: The weft yarns are purple and light green and to achieve these larger blocks in the actual weaving I repeated each treadling block 11 times, not just 2 times as shown in the draft. You may also notice the subtle change in treadling in the middle where the pattern and background colors are flipped.

Last are photos, front and back, of the wall hanging. As I mentioned earlier the threading and tie-up are exactly the same as for the other pieces, the difference is in the order and number of repetitions of the treadling blocks of various colors. I hope this inspires you to try to weave your own design.

Woven Taqueté Wall Hanging, perle cotton, 2021 (side 1)

Woven Taqueté Wall Hanging, perle cotton, 2021 (side 2)

Woven Taqueté Wall Hanging, perle cotton, 2021 (close-up)

Woven Taqueté Wall Hanging, perle cotton, 2021 (on the loom)

Wishing you well, here’s a little inspiration from my garden:

Monarch Butterfly on Zinnia, 2021

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Tags: taqueté, weaving, weaving drafts

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