Interleaved Waves

It’s magical to watch the amazing color blendings of a four-colored warp and one-colored weft as the weaving progresses on the loom.  Inspired by the various images in both Marian Stubenitsky‘s book, Weaving With Echo and Iris, and Bobbie Irwin‘s book, Weaving Iridescence, I designed a few drafts using four colors and interleaving in the threading.  The color blendings looked pretty good in one of the drafts so I wove it as a sample that I plan to cut up and share with my fellow members of the Fine Threads Study Group at Complex Weavers.  Here are photos of the finished piece and also how it looked on the loom:

Interleaved Waves, woven on 16 shafts, cotton, 2022

Interleaved Waves, woven on 16 shafts, cotton, 2022 (close-up)

Interleaved Waves, woven on 16 shafts, cotton, 2022 (on the loom)

For the warp I used 20/2 non-mercerized cotton in four colors: blue, yellow, green, and black. For the weft I used the same cotton in a dark pink. The sett is 42 e.p.i. and about 40 p.p.i. As you can see below, these yarns do not look very impressive at first glance, they are not even shiny, but once woven, wet-finished, and seen in proper lighting, the transformation is magical. The colors become iridescent – they appear to be changing as the angle of view changes. The colors are most playful and bright from close-up and not so much when viewed from a distance.

Warp and weft for Interleaved Waves, cotton, 2022

Using Fiberworks weaving software, my design started out with a simple pattern or design line that I networked using initial 4. Opting for non-parallel threadings, I then interleaved this networked pattern line with a straight twill, and then interleaved this with itself. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? It really is with the interleave tool in Fiberworks. The final result is four interleaved threadings with four repeating colors. The treadling is just one networked pattern line of one color. Here’s a partial draft of my design:

Partial draft for 16-shaft Interleaved Waves, 2022

Hope you’re inspired by this post. It’s mid-February now, and I’m enjoying the subtle beauty I see in my yard. A few days after I took this photo it snowed again, but I’m looking forward to Spring:

Waiting for Spring, February, 2022

Wishing you well, see you next time!

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Woven Pleats, Squiggles & Waves

As I continue to weave through these difficult pandemic times to help me get through it all, new weaving projects are swirling around in my mind.  Searching for inspiration I came across Erica de Ruiter’s article, “Magic Pleats on the Loom from Eight Shafts to Two” in Weaver’s magazine, issue #31 (Spring 1996).  I also found a wonderful PDF file online from the Westfield Weavers Guild by Dawn McCarthy, “Creating Texture with Pleats, Fulling and Shrinkage.”  Weaving pleats looked like fun, and so I gave it a try.  I wove a few samples, some turned out well and some didn’t.  Here’s a pleated scarf that I think turned out well:

Pleated scarf woven on 8 shafts, cotton, 2021

Pleated scarf woven on 8 shafts, cotton, 2021 (close-up)

Pleated scarf woven on 8 shafts, cotton, 2021 (on the loom the pleats are flat and emerge after wet finishing)

I used 20/2 cotton, two strands together for the warp at 30 e.p.i. and 20/2 cotton, one strand only, for the weft at about the same p.p.i.  Notice in the photos above that on the loom there are no visible pleats, they really emerge only after wet finishing:  I washed the scarf by hand, gently squeezed out the excess water, rolled it in a towel, and placed it down flat to dry, pulling on it vertically helping the pleats to magically emerge.  I used a broken twill draft but straight twill will work as well:

Draft for weaving 8-shaft broken twill pleats

Erica de Ruiter wrote another article, “Scarves in Diagonal Pleats,” in Weaver’s magazine #37 (Fall 1977).  I really like these diagonal pleats that appear wavy when woven.  However, 16 shafts and 32 treadles are required, and I don’t have so many treadles.  So I made some adjustments to the draft, reducing the number of treadles to 16.  Instead of big waves I got smaller squiggles, but I still like it.  I used the same type of yarns, sett, and finishing process as for the previous scarf, and here it is:

Squiggly pleated scarf woven on 16 shafts, cotton, 2021

Squiggly pleated scarf woven on 16 shafts, cotton, 2021 (close-up)

Here’s the draft, straight twill this time:

Draft for weaving squiggly 16-shaft straight twill pleats

At this point I wanted to play with more waves, not necessarily pleated, and came up with some wavy interleaved designs.  I wove the sample below using purple and tan 20/2 cotton for the warp at 54 e.p.i. and 20/2 red rayon for the weft at about 38 p.p.i.  This sample is not pleated, it’s flat:

Interleaved waves woven sample on 16 shafts, cotton & rayon, 2021

Below are the drafts for the above sample.  I interleaved a straight twill threading with a 5-end advancing twill threading, and the treadling is networked.  The first draft shows two repeats.  The second draft shows one repeat and will be enlarged and more readable if you click on it:

Draft for weaving 16-shaft interleaved waves (two repeats)

Draft for weaving 16-shaft interleaved waves (one repeat, click to enlarge)

Hoping 2021 will be a good year for all…see you next time!

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Ikat-Inspired Twills Revisited

Several years ago I explored “faux” or “false” ikat by designing network drafted twills.  I shared what I learned in a blog post and also in more detail in an article I wrote, “Ikat-Inspired Twill Studies,” published in the Complex Weavers Journal, issue #104 (February 2014).  I decided to come back to this interesting topic and experiment some more.  Here is how it turned out:

Ikat-Inspired Networked Twill Scarf, cotton, 2020

Ikat-Inspired Networked Twill Scarf, cotton, 2020 (close-up)

Below is a partial close-up of the draft I designed for this scarf.  I often start with pattern or design lines and then network them.  In this case I also interleaved the networked treadling, and the longest float is 4.  I used a white warp (20/2 cotton, 2 strands together, at 28 epi) and alternating black and blue weft (20/2 cotton, 2 strands together).  The gradual blending of these three solid colors works well, and the overall design reminds me of a waterfall.

Networked Twill – Interleaved Treadling (partial draft for scarf)

Next is another scarf I designed that I tied on to the same warp as the previous one.

Ikat-Inspired Networked Twill Scarf, Tencel and pearl cotton, 2020

Ikat-Inspired Networked Twill Scarf, Tencel and pearl cotton, 2020 (close-up)

Below is a partial close-up of the draft I designed for this scarf.  The treadling is networked with no interleaving, and the longest float is 3.  I used lustrous yarns:  8/2 Tencel for the warp, mostly blue with randomly placed green and purple at 28 epi, and 10/2 red pearl cotton weft, all are solid colors.  This scarf is iridescent – the colors appear to change as the angle from which it is viewed changes.  I often see iridescence in nature, such as when the humming birds come in the summer to drink nectar from their favorite red, tubular flowers of the Cardinal Climber vine in my garden.  At times the hummers appear to have a dull, lusterless color, but as they whiz around in the light they keep on transforming into brilliant colors.  If you are interested to learn more about iridescence especially as it relates to weaving, I recommend an informative and inspiring book by Bobbie Irwin, Weaving Iridescence – Color Play for the Handweaver.

Networked Twill (partial draft for Tencel scarf)

I designed many drafts and wove samples before weaving these scarves.  Here’s one of the samples showing both sides of the cloth:

Ikat-Inspired Networked Twill Sample showing both sides, 2020

Below is a partial close-up of the draft for this sample.

Networked Twill (partial draft for sample)

Lastly, below is a draft of an 8-shaft version that I designed, but the ikat effect is too subtle.  I think it’s a nice draft anyway.  Click on it to see it enlarged.

Networked Twill – 8 shafts (draft showing 2 repeats)

I hope you enjoyed this post and are inspired to experiment with faux/false ikat.  Perhaps you might be inspired to design and weave true ikat using dyeing techniques…maybe I should try it someday!

See you next time!

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Turned Taqueté Variations

The next step in my weaving experience with turned taqueté was to try some variations.  While I was browsing through Marian Stubenitsky’s amazingly beautiful book, Weaving with Echo and Iris, I came across an 8-shaft draft in Chapter 7 of a turned taqueté variation with a different interval – the threading is designed with an interval of 3 instead of the usual 4 as in true turned taqueté.  I designed a few drafts this way on 8 shafts, chose one I liked and wove some yardage.  I also experimented with another turned taqueté variation that was inspired by my fascination with interleaved threadings.  The drafts I designed this way looked very interesting and so this time I chose a 12-shaft draft that I liked and wove some yardage as well.  Following are photos, drafts, and notes of these two fun projects.

Turned Taqueté Variation – 8 Shafts

First, here are photos of the woven work:

Turned Taquete Variation, fabric woven on 8 shafts, Tencel & cotton, 2015 (blue weft version)

Turned Taquete Variation, fabric woven on 8 shafts, Tencel & cotton, 2015 (blue weft version on the loom)

Turned Taquete Variation, fabric woven on 8 shafts, Tencel, cotton & rayon, 2015 (yellow weft version)

And here are images of the profile draft and a partial thread-by-thread draft:

PROFILE DRAFT for 8-shaft Turned Taquete Variation

Partial thread-by-thread draft for 8-shaft Turned Taquete Variation

The thread-by-thread draft is generated from the profile draft.  When using Fiberworks PCW weaving software, the threading design line in the profile draft is first networked (initial 2) and then extended parallel repeat (shafts shifting by 3 not 4).  The treadling is generated by simply adding plain weave, as you can see in the partial thread-by-thread draft.  I wasn’t sure if I did this correctly so I emailed Marian and asked her about it, and she assured me that I did it well.

Additional notes:  I used the same warp to weave both the fabric with the blue weft and the fabric with the yellow weft, alternating 8/2 Tencel (variegated colors of dark browns, reds, and purples) and 2 strands together of 20/2 off-white cotton.  The blue weft is 20/2 cotton (only 1 strand, not 2 together) and the yellow weft is 20/2 rayon (also just 1 strand).  The sett is 40 epi and about 28 ppi.  I used a 20 dent reed, 2 ends per dent, but you can probably use a reed that’s not as fine and be able to avoid getting reed marks after wet finishing.  However, I would recommend weaving a sample first and resleying if necessary because in this particular variation the finished fabric looks much better if certain warp ends are sleyed together in the same dent.  For example, with my 20 dent reed I sleyed together in the same dent the ends on shafts 1&4, 2&5, etc. rather than 4&2, 5&1 etc.  I think the reason for this is the way certain warp threads slide together here.

I washed the yardage by hand, spin dried in the washer, hung to dry and steam ironed.  The pattern became a little less sharp than before wet finishing.  The first photo above of the fabric viewed from a distance was taken after wet finishing while the close-ups were taken before wet finishing.

I was going to make something functional from these fabrics, but for now I enjoy just looking at them as they are.

Turned Taqueté Variation – 12 Shafts

Here are photos of the woven work for this project:

Turned Taquete Variation, fabric for pillow woven on 12 shafts, pearl cotton warp & acrylic weft, 2015

Turned Taquete Variation, fabric woven on 12 shafts, pearl cotton warp, acrylic weft, 2015

Turned Taquete Variation, fabric woven on 12 shafts, pearl cotton warp, acrylic weft, 2015 (close-up)

The warp is wound with 4 different colors of 5/2 pearl cotton yarn.  You may also notice the rug in the photo, that is a summer & winter, weft-faced taqueté rug that I wove years ago:

Winding the pearl cotton warp

I used a profile draft here too but made revisions to the final thread-by-thread draft until it looked like this:

Draft for 12-shaft Turned Taquete Variation (view with corrected aspect ratio)

Partial thread-by-thread draft for 12-shaft Turned Taquete Variation (interlacement view)

As mentioned earlier, I designed this variation by interleaving two threadings, actually I interleaved the same threading with itself.  It may look like a turned polychrome taqueté, but Bonnie Inouye pointed out to me that the threading and tie-up would look different if that was the case.

Additional Notes:  I originally wove some yardage using this draft with a very close sett of 20/2 cotton but was not satisfied with how it looked.  So then I resleyed part of it with a wider sett and tied on the thicker and more lustrous 5/2 pearl cotton warp.  I really like the way the four different bright colors in the warp mix with one another when they are woven together this way.  The sett is 28 epi and about 20 ppi.  For the weft I used a lofty white 20/2 acrylic yarn that I had in my stash.  Wet finishing is the same as for the 8-shaft turned taqueté variation.  I really like the little pillow I made from this yardage!

I’m not done yet with exploring turned taqueté.  What’s next?  Maybe a painted warp?  Until then…happy weaving everyone!

UPDATE 2019:  Marian Stubenitsky, author of Weaving with Echo and Iris, is now sharing some of her beautiful drafts on handweaving.net at this link.

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Interleaved Echo Weave…

…or non-parallel interleaved twill designs would be a more accurate way of describing what I’m working on now, as I later learned from Bonnie Inouye.  Bonnie gave a seminar called “Interleave” at the Complex Weavers Seminars 2014 which I was not able to attend, but in her usual generous manner she shared with me the handout for her presentation that answered some of my questions on this topic.

I have done some work already using parallel threadings to weave echo designs, and now I’m excited to share some of my experience with non-parallel threadings.  The first time I read about it was in Sandra Rude’s article in the Complex Weavers Journal 2006, “Adventures in Not-So-Parallel Threading, Part II.”  At that time I didn’t understand any of it, but after giving it a few tries and spending many hours using the interleave tool in Fiberworks PCW, I think I get it now.  Also, I bought Marian Stubenitsky‘s beautiful new book, Weaving with Echo and Iris, full of amazing color photographs that are a feast to the eyes.  The book has a lot of great technical information as well with chapters on various related weaves.  It’s a treasure!

I like to experiment and weave samples especially when I’m learning something new.  One of my first interleaved designs started out with two easy threadings that I interleaved to design a third one.  In Fiberworks you can copy one threading, go to the second threading and under “edit” choose “interleave paste.”  A dialogue box appears with several options and a slider that shows you how the two threadings are being interleaved as you move it to the right or to the left.

Two threadings interleaved to design a third one

My complete 8-shaft draft includes the interleaved threading as shown above, a twill tie-up, an advancing point treadling, two colors alternating in the threading and one solid color in the treadling.  Here it is showing one repeat of the threading and one of the treadling:

Draft for Interleaved Twill Woven Sample showing one repeat of threading and treadling

Below are photos of the sample I wove using the draft shown above.  I used 20/2 cotton with two strands together for warp and weft with a sett of 28 epi and about the same ppi.  The warp ends alternate purple and burned orange and the weft is bluish turquoise.  I learned from sampling and from reading articles about these types of designs that the sett may be closer or may be more open and warp and weft may be of different sizes, depending on what you want to achieve.  For example, Sandra Rude in her earlier article in the Complex Weavers Journal 2005,  “Adventures in Parallel Threading, Part I,” writes that a more open sett looks more like an ordinary twill but you get more color blending because more of the weft shows.  More color blending is what I was aiming for in this sample:

Interleaved Twill Woven Sample

Interleaved Twill Woven Sample (close-up)

The more I experiment with interleaved designs the more I like it.  Below is an example of a 16-shaft, non-parallel interleaved networked twill design that shows just part of a larger draft.  For short, I prefer calling it “interleaved echo weave” because back in 1996 Alice Schlein already named these types of designs with parallel threadings “echo weave.”

Interleaved echo weave partial draft – non-parallel interleaved networked twill threading and networked twill treadling

Finally, here are photos of 16-shaft interleaved echo weave scarves that I designed and wove with different patterns.  I used 20/2 Tencel that I dyed with fiber reactive dyes.  I was invited by our friend, Jill Beech, a ceramic artist whose beautiful work is interesting and inspiring, to show and sell some of my work at her open studio during the end of the year holiday season.  That’s where these scarves will be going.

Interleaved Echo Weave Scarf woven on 16 shafts, hand-dyed Tencel, 2014

Interleaved Echo Weave Scarf, hand-dyed Tencel, woven on 16 shafts, 2014

Hope you enjoyed reading about my adventures in the non-parallel weaving universe.  See you next time!

Eva

UPDATE January, 2016:  Below are images of a new interleaved echo weave shawl I designed and wove:

Interleaved Echo Weave Shawl woven on 16 shafts, pearl cotton warp, cashmere/silk/merino weft, 2016

Interleaved Echo Weave Shawl woven on 16 shafts, pearl cotton warp, cashmere/silk/merino weft, 2016 (close-up)

UPDATE 2019:  Marian Stubenitsky, author of Weaving with Echo and Iris, is now sharing some of her beautiful drafts on handweaving.net at this link.

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