Weaving Today : Weaving Patterns

A New eBook: Blankets and Throws on Four Shafts

Madelyn van der Hoogt — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:00:00 GMT


Rainbow blanket by Faye Kolhonen

Caribbean Blues Blanket Leslie Voiers

In my first weaving class, we wove four-inch-wide samplers. This gave me the distinct impression that new weavers should weave little things, narrow things. The warp for our samplers was inexpensive crochet cotton and the weft was dime-store rug yarn. These yarn choices suggested to me that new weavers should not use (i.e., waste) expensive materials. We should practice with lesser yarns first. I did notice, though, that it didn’t take very long to weave one yard of that sampler. The thought struck me that except for warping time, weaving something wide didn’t take any longer than weaving something narrow, unless you counted the time it took for the shuttle to travel a little farther.

Thinking along these lines helped me decide to weave a coverlet as my first project. If I had known then what I know now, I would have picked a blanket or throw as my “first.” My coverlet had a fine (boring) off-white cotton warp (36 ends per inch) and two wefts (pattern and tabby, at 72 picks per inch). Although it might not have taken much longer to weave it than something much narrower, I sure could have picked an item that was faster to weave and that didn’t require quite as much experience (at drafting, warping, using fine threads, achieving an even beat, and maybe most important of all—at unweaving).

Most blankets and throws use relatively thick yarns (lovely, soft, colorful yarns that are fun to handle). That means that a blanket might not have any more warp threads in it than a fine cotton table runner. Therefore winding a warp for a blanket or throw (or even weaving it) may be no more time-consuming.

Usually, the important element of a blanket or throw IS the yarn. So threadings and weave structures tend to be simple and straightforward. Instead of spending so much time with my fine off-white cotton (winding the warp, threading, and beaming), I could have been winding a rainbow of wool colors. Instead of the complicated overshot draft I used (thereby making many errors), I could have been threading twill or plain weave or some simple lace at eight ends per inch.

I wish I’d had this eBook back then. It is full of colorful projects, all on four shafts (in twill, shadow weave, plain weave, Atwater-Bronson lace, huck lace, and more). Light cotton blankets for summer picnics and warm cozy blankets for cool evenings—these blankets will please beginning and experienced weavers alike.

When you weave a blanket, its colors fill your vision. When you take it off the loom, you have something big and wonderful to show for your time. During warm weather, a blanket can brighten the arm of a couch or the end of a bed. When winter comes, you can wrap it around you. A blanket can give more beauty and tactile pleasure than almost any other handwoven item, both as you weave it and as you use it.


Shadow-weave blanket by Sharon Alderman		Cotton blanket by Carla Buchheit

Inkle Weaving: Color and Design

Anita Osterhaug — Fri, 10 May 2013 09:00:00 GMT

Color is a core element in designing any weaving project, predicting the complex interaction of warp and weft colors, yarn textures, and color proportions. Even for a warp-faced inkle band, there are many interesting choices to be made. Here's Handwoven editor emerita Jane Patrick to tell you about some of her design process for inkle weaving. —Anita

Pure, clear color is one of the appeals of weaving inkle bands. What I mean by this is that in a traditional inkle band only the warp shows, so the color is not affected by the weft crossings. The weft barely peeks out at the selvedge or edge where it exits one shed and enters the next. The warp yarns, drawn closely together to form a warp-faced band, are unaffected by the weft which is safely locked inside.

In playing around with inkle band designs, I like to take a particular threading and explore. One of my favorites is horizontal bars. These are a perennial favorite for a few reasons: I have an affinity for stripes (in my childhood family of girls, we were stripes and plaid gals, not a feminine floral lot—it stuck!). Stripes have a graphic appeal and the alternating colors make warp pick-up easy. And also, because I have a weakness for short cuts, you can measure two yarns at once when alternating warp colors, thus shortening your warping time by half. Who can resist that?


	Various inkle bookmarks using the variations of the same horizontal bar pattern in different colorways.

	Band on a Schacht inkle loom illustrating weft variations. The first uses the same 5/2 weft as used for warp, the other alternates a thick and thin weft for a rep-weave look. To make a thicker weft, Jane plied 4 strands of 5/2 pearl cotton on her spinning wheel. Because you don’t need a lot of weft yarn for an inkle band, this task is done fairly quickly.

In considering color and horizontal bars, here are several examples with similar threadings in different colorways. Note: To thread horizontal bars, just alternate two colors, one color threaded in a heddle, the other left open. You’ll need to decide ahead of time, though, which color you want to use for pattern (if you’re planning a pick-up pattern) and which is intended for background. For the blue and gray band at right, for example, the gray threads are the open threads, which are easily picked up.

I should add, too, that some contrast in the colors will help the pattern stand out, as well as make it easier to see which threads are to be picked up.

As for color, two of the bands shown here feature bright, contrasting yellow borders. These serve to frame the interior of the band and lend a bold look. In contrast, the ecru and navy blue band is more subtle. The border of solid ecru accented with a 2-end stripe of navy and a 2-end stripe of orange frames the interior without overwhelming it. I think this variation is more sophisticated, both because of the tone of the colors and the subdued border accents.

The pick-up sampler (pictured at bottom), with broad chocolate borders and rust and lavender bars is another variation. Here, because the borders are proportionally wider, they have a strong impact on the design even though the color contrast is not as great as the bands with narrower, bright yellow borders.

Another technique to try with horizontal bars is to alternate a thick and a thin weft, à la rep weave, thus highlighting one color. This also makes a slightly thicker band which might be desirable for a belt or carrying strap.

Really, truly, I think you could spend a lifetime just exploring horizontal bars. Think about leaving one yarn constant and the other yarn changing, try blocks of bars to make a checkerboard, try alternating yarns of different textures, or juxtaposing a shiny yarn against a matte-finish one. See what I mean? The ideas just keep coming. And remember: inkle weaving is good for you!

All bands are woven with 5/2 pearl cotton—making a perfect weight for a bookmark.

—Jane Patrick

Pick-up sampler using a background of horizontal bars. The orange pattern threads are
the open threads. Pick-up patterns are made block-fashion. A sampler is a great way to
explore pattern. Cross-stitch patterns can be great for pick-up pattern inspiration.

Weaving in Honor of Weavers

susan horton — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 23:53:00 GMT

The American handweavers of the early twentieth century had to rediscover much that was lost over decades of industrialization. Today, our weaving community is blessed to have generous, experienced members to pass on the craft, welcoming new weavers, teaching, mentoring, and sharing their passion. Every few weeks I receive a letter from one weaver or another, writing about one of these treasured friends who has passed from our lives, and I wish we had the space in Handwoven to memorialize each and every one of them. Here is Susan Horton to tell you about a precious weaver in her life. As you read it, I hope you will think fondly and gratefully of the precious weavers in yours. –– Anita

At its last two meetings, besides looking at honeycomb (the weave structure!), my guild's weave structures study group has been talking about a project to honor weavers of the past and present for their inspiration. Some in the group want to honor someone they knew or know, others are interested in using the samples or work of well-known or unknown weavers and other fiber artists. Part of the project will be learning about the artists as well as interpreting one of their pieces or samples. In the fall, we are planning a program for the guild when we will present our weavings and talk about the artists we are honoring.


	Patricia Ghourdijan, weaver and inspiration.

You would think it would be hard to pick a favorite weaver, but in fact it was easy, I picked my friend, Patricia Ghourdjian, who passed away in November at the age of 90. Pat was an inspiration to me in more than one way, not the least of which was her passion for all types of fiber arts and her determination to continue weaving although she was, for all intents, blind. Pat was a member of the guild and the study group and often stunned those of us who are not blind and not 90 years old with her productivity. When her eyesight would stymie and frustrate her, she would sometimes talk of quitting, and I would tell her "You need to weave so I'll know I can weave when I'm 90." And she did; in fact she had a project on her loom when she passed away.

Pat's daughter-in-law, Connie Ghourdjian, lent me her samples. There are about thirty of them, of varying degrees of interest and beauty. Many of them are accompanied with a note about the page in the book or magazine used, the yarn size, and the sett. I homed in on the sample she used to design the fabric for an apron for her husband, George. For a man's apron, I think we expected blue, black, or gray and maybe some burgundy, in a simple twill. With her usual flair, however, Pat wove goose eye twill in pink, orange, and purple. George, a retired military officer, told her he liked it so much he wanted to be buried in it!

To honor Pat, I'm going to weave fabric for an apron using elements from her sampling, but I've decided to expand the parameters of the project to include other weavers that also inspire me. I want to incorporate some ideas from Elisabeth Hill's "Chocolate Chef's Apron" in the September/October 2012 issue of Handwoven. That article was an inspiration to me, as is Elisabeth, ever since I took a class from her. I loved the idea of making an apron that allows you to button on a working towel and then, when the work is done, button on a pretty and clean towel. Finally, I am going to take some inspiration about color mixing from my good friend, Sarah H. Jackson, in her article "Mixing Colors in Turned Twill for Coordinated Pillows" in the November/December 2012 issue of Handwoven. Sarah has an instinctive sense of color and color blending, and her work is always beautiful. It will be an apron for my husband and it might even be woven in a mixture of pink, orange, and purple.

—Susan Horton

Weaving by Hand

Anita Osterhaug — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 09:00:00 GMT

When I visit with weavers from around the world, one thing that strikes me again and again is that the weaver is so much more than his or her loom. Handweavers in remote areas, working with the simplest of looms and tools, create stunning, intricate designs that would be a challenge to reproduce with sophisticated looms and many shafts. While my back doesn't hold up to hours on end of backstrap weaving, nothing makes me happier than the freedom of getting my fingers into the warp and creating handwoven designs on the fly. Don't get me wrong, I love my shafts, but fingers are smarter than shafts will ever be. No mechanized loom will create a rya rug, inlaid designs, or hand-manipulated lace like I can.

To help you explore the joy of fingers in the warp, we've put together a free eBook, Free Weaving Patterns from Weaving Today : Explore Techniques for Inlay, Plain Weave, and Huck Lace, with "handy" projects that can be done on any loom. The free weaving patterns start with a breezy Summer Plaid Scarf, create by up-and-coming designer Cei Lambert, perfect to limber up your weaving fingers. Cei adds interest to a sunny plaid with subtle accents of hand-manipulated soumak, a traditional tapestry technique. Next, Jane Patrick shows how to create pattern on plain weave with a looped pile technique that you can use to create a handsome fireside pillow in plenty of time for crisp fall days (or maybe you'll want to make it in summer colors to grace your patio furniture). Then Lynn Tedder and Ruth Morrison present an octet of huck lace towels spiced up with Spanish lace, Italian hemstitching, Danish medallions, and other hand-manipulated lace techniques. And to feed your weaver's mind, as well as your happy fingers we've also included an article by Madelyn van der Hoogt on the many variations in weaving drafts and how to read them.

Summer is just around the corner, time to expand your horizons. These free weaving patterns will help you expand your weaving horizons as well, with new techniques and projects that you can take on the road.

Happy weaving, and happy travels!

The Wonders of Wet-Finishing

LauraFry — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:59:00 GMT

Laura Fry is a longtime contributor to Handwoven, a master weaver, and an expert and dedicated researcher into the science of wet-finishing of fabric. She is the author of the definitive work on wet-finishing, Magic in the Water. Here she is to tell you why wet-finishing really is a magical step in the weaver's process. ––Anita


	These cute boots by Anne Sneary from the January/February 1996 Handwoven are made by felting colorful wool.

Turning threads into cloth is magical. As weavers, we begin with little three-dimensional rods (threads), put them into the loom one by one and then interlace the weft to make fabric. Once that part of the process is complete there is one more thing required—wet-finishing.

People often ask why I use the term wet-finishing rather than just saying that I wash my webs. I use the term to distinguish between that wondrous first time the threads hit the water and transform from individuals into whole cloth and routine laundering.

Quite often the wet-finishing process will use temperatures or agitation much more vigorous than that recommended for ongoing cleaning. Wet-finishing consists of using soap or detergent to scour dirt or other impurities out of the cloth (spin oil, hand oil, naturally occurring waxes), agitation, and in some cases compression.

During wet-finishing, any fugitive dye can be dealt with, threads will slide to areas of least resistance so that weave structures such as waffle weave and lace weave will develop to their full potential, woolens can be fulled, and small inconsistencies in the cloth due to reed marks or irregular beating will be reduced or eliminated altogether. (If you want to learn more about wet-finishing wool, there’s a complete guide in the January/February 1996 issue of Handwoven, now available as part of the Handwoven1996 CD Collection.)

Compression will flatten the threads, making textiles that should shine (silk, rayon) and adding a little more stability by notching the perpendicular threads down into each other, much like a log house is notched at the ends of the logs.

Some special effects are built into the cloth to occur during wet finishing, such as shrinkage differential for fabrics that go “bump.”

When I learned how to weave in 1975, I realized that I could study the construction of cloth for the rest of my life and not learn it all. Some 38+ years later, I am still learning, still exploring, still getting excited by how many different ways a weaver can interlace threads, wet finish them, and create unique textiles.

—Laura

Legacies of Cloth

Christina Garton — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 09:00:00 GMT

Robyn Spady's dishtowels are
inspired by a sportscoat woven by
her great-grandmother Vovo.

Some of my most treasured family heirlooms are textiles: handsewn quilts, embroidered napkins, and knitted sweaters to just name a few. There is just something about cloth that, for me at least, triggers and emotional reaction. Perhaps this is because cloth is made for touching. It is made for wearing, for cuddling, and even for cleaning food off our faces.

This emotional connection is seen in our latest issue of Handwoven. For this issue we asked weavers for projects inspired by the textiles that connect us to our past, our cultural heritage, and weavers from around the world.

The response we received was overwhelming (in a good way), and so the projects in the latest issue of Handwoven are all full of stories of family, faith, and global weaving traditions.

Robyn Spady tells the story of her great-grandmother, an Irish weaver nicknamed “Vovo,” whose weaving inspired Robyn’s elegant Generational Dishtowels. Jennifer Moore’s simply stunning Andean Memories Runner tells the story of her trip to Urubamba, Peru and the Tinkuy conference of handweavers.


Jennifer Moore's doubleweave runner was inspired by Andean scaffold weaving.

While working on the issue it was hard not to think of my own textile heritage, not just the items passed down to me but the items I may someday pass down to the younger generations of my family. In her article, Robyn Spady writes that “we make our own legacies when we pass along the items we create.”

The line is poignant, and I believe it’s true. I hope that someday my own handwoven legacies are treasured long after I am gone, and that maybe they will inspire somebody to weave (or knit, sew, paint, or otherwise create). I also hope this issue inspires many a weaver to not just make the projects in the issue, but to look to their own past and treasured heirlooms to create their own unique, and utterly emotional, textiles. I know it's certainly inspired me.

The Weaver's Playground

Anita Osterhaug — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:00:00 GMT

How to Weave a Scarf: Seven Handwoven Scarves from Weaving Today

Scarves are the weaver's playground: a chance to explore color and weave structures to your heart's content. When you weave a scarf, you're not committing your loom for weeks or months, and you don't have to spend a fortune on yarn. They're quick to warp, quick to weave, fun to give and to wear. They don't take up closet space, so you can have scarves for every mood and season.

For your weaving and wearing enjoyment, we've updated our free eBook, How to Weave a Scarf. With these fun-to-weave and fun-to-wear projects, you can fill your closets with a variety of hand woven scarves. There's Joan Sheridan's Serendipity Scarf, made with sock yarn: wearable, washable, and who doesn't have a bit of sock yarn in their stash? Joe Sullins's Shetland scarf is a beautiful, soft waffle weave, Liz Gipson's basketweave scarf pattern can be woven on a rigid heddle or floor loom, and Madelyn van der Hoogt's Big Bumps scarf and felted lace scarf provide sneaky lessons in fulling, wrapped in bundles of fun. The latest addition to this smorgasbord of accessorizing possibilities is Ramona Abernathy-Paine's Warped and Twisted bead leno scarf pattern; made with artisan hand-dyed alpaca yarn, this scarf is a great way to learn a new technique and a great way to use some luscious hand-dyed skein from your stash or your own handspun yarn.

For me, the question is never really how to weave a scarf. It's which scarf to weave first, and where to stop. These free scarf patterns are a great place to start, whichever you choose to weave first. And the joy of scarf weaving is that you never have to stop! So let the fun begin.

A Handwoven Mystery

Christina Garton — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:20:00 GMT

This past autumn my husband and I were driving through the mountains and forests of northern Colorado enjoying the peak fall foliage and exploring the small towns we found along the way. This is how we ended up in Walden, Colorado, and more specifically in the North Park Pioneer Museum.

I have a thing for small town museums. They may not have fancy, high-tech displays and interpretive panels but they make up for it with the sheer volume and diversity of items on display. You never know what you’ll find in these museums; maybe there will be an exhibit on the old movie theatre that closed down in 1987 or the time the high school marching band was in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I love it all.

Being the good weaver that I am, though, I always keep an eye out for interesting textiles and any looms. Usually in pioneer towns like Walden, the handwoven textiles featured in the museums are simple and utilitarian. There are lots of plain weave rugs and blankets, usually in simple colors, exactly what you’d expect, given the time period.


	The mystery blanket.

So imagine my surprise when I saw a gorgeous, handwoven doubleweave saddle blanket displayed under an old and musty saddle, almost as an afterthought. Some of the colors had faded, and it was stained in places, but the quality of weaving was undeniable. Near-perfect selvedges, a consistent PPI, and ninety-degree angles in the design—this blanket was clearly made by a skilled weaver.

Even by today’s standards Walden is a fairly isolated mountain town—I can only imagine what it was like during the time when this blanket was woven. So who was this unknown weaver and where did she (or he) learn to weave? The museum didn’t have any specifics on the blanket and who made it, so I was free to come up with my own ideas about where she trained, how she came to live in Walden, and what her life must have been like as a weaver in that little mountain town.

What intrigued me the most about the blanket was that as much skill and time it took to weave it, the blanket was very simply finished with a rather haphazard blanket stitch and then ultimately used to absorb sweat off a horse’s back. Was it a gift for a beloved husband or son? Was it woven for a special event like a country fair? Maybe it was intended to be a human blanket, but because of some flaw in the weaving it was demoted to stable duty.

As we rode home and I admired the vibrant yellows of the aspens, I couldn’t help but think about how lucky I am. I have access to local yarn stores and internet yarn stores alike. If I want to learn doubleweave, I don’t have to travel across the country or even the state to learn from an expert weaver. I can put a workshop DVD in the player and have a private lesson with doubleweaver extraordinaire Jennifer Moore. I have to say, as much as I enjoy immersing myself in the past, I’m so very grateful to live in the present.

Yarning for Answers

Anita Osterhaug — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 10:00:00 GMT

Handweaving Supplies: A Guide to Choosing, Designing, and Weaving with Yarn

Yarn is the joy and sometimes the bane of handweavers. Choose the right yarns, and a project sings. Choose the wrong yarns and, instead of weaving a handsome pattern, you can spend a lot of time and money producing a nondescript mess.

Just as a master chef knows how varied ingredients, preparation methods, and heat will work together to produce a succulent dish, knowing the relationship of yarns and weave structures enables you to create a sumptuous fabric. If you weave projects exactly as written, you will likely get good results. But what if you have to substitute yarns? Or what if you want to design a project around some particularly lovely yarn. There are so many things to consider: the grist (length/weight), elasticity, strength, shrinkage, even color. How will it work with other yarns in the project? Is there enough size difference to make an overshot pattern distinct? Is there enough color contrast to make a color-and-weave pattern pop?

To help you find the right yarns for your weaving projects, we've put together a free eBook, Hand Weaving Supplies: A Guide to Choosing, Designing, and Weaving with Yarn. You'll learn from Madelyn van der Hoogt how to figure your yarn needs for a project, so you don't run out of that lovely yarn at the wrong moment. Marilyn Murphy gives loads of pointers for designing and weaving with a new yarn, together with a scarf pattern that you can use with some scrumptious yarn in your stash. The eBook also includes the Weaver's Guide to Yarn, with sett information for the many popular weaving yarns plus instructions for determining sett, a reed substitution chart, formulas for metric conversion, and a directory of grists and setts for using knitting yarns in weaving. It's a resource you'll want to keep handy in your weaving studio.

Whether you want to weave from a recipe or whip up a frothy creation from your own imagination, knowing how to choose and design with yarn will make you a happier, more successful handweaver. When you choose the right weaving supplies, you'll be well on your way to producing just the fabric you want.

The Allure of Weaving

Tom Knisely — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 10:30:00 GMT

Every time I talk to Tom Knisely, I'm reminded that he is truly a master weaver. I know this because he makes every aspect of weaving look simple and fun––the mark of a pro. His mastery of weaving is only exceeded by his skill as a teacher and his gift for passing on the passion and joy he feels in his craft. Here he is to tell you how he fell in love with rug weaving and came to make his latest video. As Tom says, "Enjoy!"

One of the many beautiful rugs Tom's had

published in Handwoven.

I am fascinated by what drives people to want to weave. For me, I think it is a natural curiosity to understand just how threads interlace to create a textile. It is a lot of fun to take a fragment of a coverlet and analyze it to see just how the threads are interwoven and identify the weave structure. Then of course there’s the long history of handweaving. When you take a moment to think about the generations of talented weavers that went before us, and over thousands of years, it's mind blowing, don’t you think? There was so little written down beyond a couple hundred years ago and now we have to rely only on the pieces that have survived to tell their story.

I know I’ve been intrigued with handwoven rugs for as long as I can remember. My parents loved antiques, and I was taken on trips to antique shops and shows where I fondly remember looking at rugs for hours. It really didn’t matter if they were warp-faces , weft-faced, or pile rugs. I loved looking closely at the designs and wondering how the patterns were woven into the rug. I can remember as if it was yesterday buying a small tribal rug for a few bucks and bringing it home and analyzing it, trying to figure out how on one side the pattern was made up of pile and on the reverse was the same pattern but made up of tightly pulled loops of yarn. Knots, of course!

But how did the weaver do it, and what kind of loom was this rug woven on? Let me tell you that there was not much available on the shelves of a rural Pennsylvania high school library on this subject. When I finally did come across a book on rug weaving, I discovered the rug I had been agonizing over was woven on a loom much like the one Navajo weavers use to weave their rugs on. A simple vertical frame made up the loom, and it was apparent that this type of weaving is slooooow.

When I graduated from high school, I took some of the money I had received as gifts and bought a barn frame loom. The loom came out of Maine and only had two shafts but it was perfect for learning how to weave rugs. I had also received as a graduation gift the famous rug weaving book by Peter Collingwood, The Techniques of Rug Weaving. Oh my gosh, I was set and ready to weave. That was thirty-seven years ago. I still have that loom. It’s now in storage but the book is near and always close to me on the book shelf.

Tom demonstrating a rotary temple

in his new video, Weave a Good Rug.

Over the years, I have woven dozens of rugs of all kinds and enjoyed weaving each and every one of them. Some ended up as gifts, some were commissioned works, and I am proud to say that many have been in the pages of Handwoven. It is always a delight to share what you love with others. To do my new video on rug weaving, Weave a Good Rug, is truly like a dream come true for me. To be able to share some of the tricks that I have found by weaving all those rugs I hope will be helpful. If I can encourage viewers to put a foot in the water, as they say, and give rug weaving a try then I will be more than pleased. I know they will like rug weaving even if it is only a small kitchen mat for in front of the sink.

Doing the video was so much fun. All of our friends from Interweave Press that were involved in the production made me feel so comfortable that it was easy to convey what I wanted to tell the viewers. Now, you rug weavers and would-be rug weavers, go out and get a copy, make some popcorn, invite a friend over and be inspired to weave your rug. I just know that you will have as much fun as I do. Enjoy!

—Tom Knisely

Totally Terrific Twill

Christina Garton — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 15:35:00 GMT

As part of my job, I am constantly surrounded by all things weaving. I spend most of each day reading, writing, and talking about various aspects of weaving, and all the beautiful projects we publish in the magazine spend several months in my office. Through Handwoven and Weaving Today, I’ve been exposed to many diverse weave structures, fibers, and patterns from around the world and throughout history.

Christina's Finnish twill napkins as they

appeared on the loom.

And yet, when I’m home at my own loom what do I weave? Twill. I keep telling myself that my next project will be huck lace or overshot, but then I fall in love with a new twill pattern and promise myself that the next project will be something other than twill.

According to archaeologists, twill is the second oldest known weave structure after plain weave, and there’s evidence people have been weaving twill fabrics for over thirty thousand years. So what is it about this structure that keeps us coming back?

There’s just something about twill that is understated and elegant; twills are like the little black dress of the weaving world—they never really go out of style. Twill also has a seemingly endless number of variations for each threading so you can weave many patterns on one warp without re-threading. And of course you can't speak of the virtues of twill without talking about drape. In twills, the interlacement of the threads allow them to move more freely which is why even twill fabrics made from wool hang nicely.


Minuet in Color by Tracy Kaestner

Another perk of twill not mentioned in any of the books is that non-weavers think you’re an artistic genius when you show them one of your twill pieces. When they see the Finnish twill towels I wove as my first project, my friends and family refuse to believe that it is actually a very simple pattern to weave. They invariably shake their heads and make further comments about how impressive the towels look. What’s not to love about that?

So even though I have access to every magazine, book, and eBook ever published on weaving by Interweave, I keep finding myself looking though the Twills on Four Shafts eBook. Maybe I'll weave the Minuet in Color runner and mats next. Or maybe I’ll use a different structure next time. Maybe.

Spending Our Weaving Time

Anita Osterhaug — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 10:00:00 GMT

Suzanne Halvorson's scarves are inspired

by African kente cloth.

Did you make New Year’s weaving resolutions? My resolutions invariably involve setting aside more time: more time for weaving, for exercise, for reading, for visiting with family and friends. Over the years, I’ve learned that there isn’t really “more time,” there are just choices about priorities, about how we spend the hours that we have.

I have a lifetime’s worth of weaving projects in my head but right now I’m a full-time editor and a part-time weaver, so I have to consider what captures my imagination and makes a project worthy of my precious time. It needs to be beautiful, of course, with pleasing colors and yarns I will love to look at and touch during the weaving. I want to learn from each project, always finishing as a better weaver than when I started. I want to design and weave with new structures, new weaving techniques, or new fibers. I want to improve my selvedges, achieve a more consistent beat, and learn something new about finishing. I want to experiment with the “what ifs.” What if I try these colors? How many ways can I treadle the pattern? What if I contrast a lustrous yarn with another that has a matte finish?

In upcoming issues, we'll explore

folk-weaving techniques and patterns such

as Susan Foulkes' bands used in Sami

folk costumes.

Handwoven has been my inspiration ever since I first learned to weave, and my goal as editor is to fill each issue with articles and projects worthy of every weaver’s time, that teach and inspire us. This year’s March/April issue will feature fabrics inspired by family heirlooms and by weaving traditions around the world. Suzanne Halvorson shows how we can take inspiration from ethnic textiles, and Lynn Tedder teaches how to analyze and reproduce fabric. Jennifer Moore offers an amazing runner inspired by Andean scaffold weaving. Laura Demuth introduces us to an unusual Norwegian overshot weave, Telemarksteppe, Suzanne Foulkes teaches Sami bandweaving, and Robyn Spady carries on a family weaving tradition, designing handsome towels from a sport coat woven by her grandmother.

In upcoming issues we’ll explore the interaction of color and weave structure, the many faces of twill, the beauty of silk, and the fun of designing at the loom. And to help us all gain more satisfaction from our weaving time, each upcoming issue will have at least one project that explores a world weaving tradition plus more in-depth articles about different aspects of weaving, from planning to finishing.

I invite you to join us for a new year of weaving fun and exploration, and if you have expertise, stories, or questions to share, take a look at the 2013/2014 editorial calendar, then drop us a line and let us know what captures your imagination.

Weaving Down Ancient Roads

Anita Osterhaug — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 09:12:00 GMT


Band weaving has been a common thread for centuries across many cultures.

Guild friend Cookie Mesmer weaving a bright band on her small inkle loom.

Happy New Year! If you are reading this, then we both have survived the end of the Mayan calendar, the travails of the year past, and the joys and stresses of the holidays. In the words of my mother's German family, "Prosit!" May it be beneficial. May we take this year to love, to learn, to grow, to make the world a better place.

Weaving give us so many opportunities to do all of these things. We constantly add new knowledge and weave structures to our repertoire. We weave and give gifts of our hands and hearts. We teach weaving, helping others to grow and heal. We honor the old as we ring in the new.

My past holiday season was rich with reminders of the gifts that weaving brings. A fair trade fair at my guild's December meeting brought stories and products from weaving communities in Peru, Guatemala, and Africa, who are improving their lives by recovering and building on ancient traditions. We also met weavers from Project Grow, a local program for developmentally challenged adults that provides urban farm jobs and a professional arts studio where Jen Erickson, an amazing young woman and a member of our guild, works with the growing artists on weaving and other forms of self-expression. Our guild has helped support the program with donated equipment and materials. We have had the privilege of seeing these artists' work develop in skill and beauty over several years, and the results are inspiring.

My portable inkle loom sometimes does

double duty as a cone stand.

One of my learning resolutions this year is to get acquainted with the charming little inkle loom I bought last summer. I just reading Ann Dixon's book, the Weaver's Inkle Pattern Directory, and it reminded me once more how weaving links the future and the past. In the Forward, Madelyn van der Hoogt points out that inkle looms have been used for thousands of years, up until the industrial revolution, but Mary Meigs Atwater brought them back to the American handweaving community in the 1930s. Anne's book is replete with many weave structures that I know from other weaving styles: Andean Pebble Weave that I've woven with tablets and on a backstrap loom; what Ann calls "Baltic-style patterns," similar to bands I've woven with a special Scandinavian rigid heddle called a spaltegrind; Monk's Belt, and krokbragd, and rep-like structures that many a floor-loom weaver would find familiar; and tapestry techniques that are as fascinating in bands as in a wall hanging or rug. There are many paths to weaving these textiles, but each time I travel down an ancient road, it deepens my understanding and appreciation of the structure and the process, and it reminds me that it is weaving that makes the weaver, not our tools.

So welcome weavers, old and new, far and wide, to a new year of possibilities. May it bring you joy.

Weaving Expectations

Anita Osterhaug — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 15:33:00 GMT


Allison Irwin's Sun and Stars Pouch may be my holiday weaving treat to myself.

I love this time of year––the sparkling lights in the long, dark night, holiday music, weaving cozily while storms rage outside, and visiting with family and friends. I try to avoid the holiday hype: crowded malls and those appalling TV commercials implying that one cannot be a successful friend or parent without gifting the ultimate trendy toy or gadget. Early in my adult life, December was a stressful month because I went a little crazy trying to create a "perfect" Christmas and Hannukah for my family, not with gifts but with too many expectations: too much cookie baking, gift making, decorating, and entertaining. All the self-imposed pressure sometimes made my attitude more grinch than Santa.

I've learned that the more I let go of expectations, the happier our holidays become. We're building new traditions that express our values. On "black Friday," when crowds are at the mall, my sister-in-law and I walk into the small town where she lives, go window shopping along the main street, buy a few stocking stuffers and books from local businesses, and do the bulk of our holiday shopping at the fair trade store. Rather than buying wrapping paper, I save the butcher paper and newsprint that many mail order businesses now use for packing instead of styrofoam. My daughter and I bought fun rubber stamps at the craft store to decorate the paper, and I recycle beautiful holiday cards from previous years as gift tags. My holiday wardrobe consists of scarves I've made, favorite garments purchased from other weavers, or finds from the resale shop. "White elephant" gifts from the thrift store provide tons of fun at guild or office parties. (Check out what I got at our Interweave gift exchange. It's almost indescribable.) Holiday decorations at my house are evergreen boughs, pine cones, and holly from our woods with a few bright ribbons and favorite ornaments, and friends get simple gift baskets of our Oregon hazel nuts and wine plus a bright handwoven towel or other household item.


	Susan Leschke's huck lace ornament is festive and quick to weave.

Gift-making should be a pleasure for the maker as well as the receiver. My idea of heaven is to queue up CDs or playlists of medieval carols and settle in to weave gifts on a winter afternoon with no pressure to meet impossible deadlines. The gift can be handwoven scarves or towels, pin loom potholders, or tablet-woven bookmarks or ornaments, whatever my mood dictates and time allows. No expectations.

If (and only if) you're yearning for some holiday weaving projects to satisfy your soul, our Handwoven e-books offer some lovely and simple possibilities––towels and placemats, scarves, cute bags, fun holiday weaving, and other quick projects––and you can visit Weaving Today for free downloads of all kinds of projects.

Life provides us with enough pressures; we should find pleasure whenever we can. After a holiday dinner last night, a friend wished me a happy holiday and reminded me, "Be gentle with yourself." I'll second that wish for you and add one more: "Be joyful with yourself."

History and Handwoven

Christina Garton — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Damask Dinner Napkins by Frances
Timbers from the March/April 1977

issue of Handwoven.

I can’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with history. Some of my earliest recollections were looking though my mother’s books from the King Tutankhamen exhibit in D.C.—I was probably the only child in my pre-school who knew what a canopic jar was.

Later, I studied and eventually worked in museums and archives. In school, I would spend hours in the archives in white gloves, gently paging through old documents. In past jobs, I interpreted history for the public and explained to people why it’s so vital that we preserve what we can of the past. I took classes on conservation so I could better understand and handle the heirlooms I interpreted.

Most people don’t realize that the most important and daunting job of anyone who works for a museum, national park, or historical site is finding a balance between having items on display and available to the public and keeping them safe in the collections room or archives.


Scarf of the Night Skies by Kathy Bright from the January/February 1997 issue

When I started work at Handwoven, I was in awe of the fact that I had access to every single issue of not just Handwoven but also to Interweave, the magazine that started it all. I love leafing through the old magazines and seeing how so many of the projects from ten, twenty, or even thirty years ago are still so stylish and interesting today. I love reading about the history of weave structures, or reading interviews with famous weavers who have since passed on. With few exceptions, each and every issue of Handwoven is just as useful and informative as the day it arrived on newsstands, and I could get lost in the pages for hours.

Of course, as with museum artifacts, these issues need to be treated with care. Bringing our archive copies home to read on a Saturday is absolutely out of the question. These magazines are so much more than resources, they are a part of the history of Handwoven and their preservation is a top priority.

This is just one of the many reasons I love the Handwoven CD collections. They give me access to older issues without any worry. I can take them home and read them in bed on my laptop. I can print out articles and projects and mark them up to my heart’s content or cut out drafts to clip to my loom as I weave. I organize the printed articles and projects in binders by topic rather than by issue, so if I want to find a project in overshot or huck I don’t have to search and search.


	The November/December 1997 issue of Handwoven features oodles of overshot.

The most recent in the series is the Handwoven 1997 CD collection and I am obsessed, especially with the November/December issue which features Swedish Lace, overshot name drafts, and a fabulous article about handwovens in the White House. As somebody who missed these issues the first time around—I was twelve in 1997 and my weaving knowledge began and ended with a neon pink potholder loom—I love these CDs and can’t wait until 1996 comes out.