Band Weaving and Record Keeping

The Importance of Record keeping

Record keeping may seem dull but it is invaluable.

Here is a page from one of my early record books for plain weave warp faced bands.

Keep a pattern drawdown and a small sample of the woven band.  It is easy to weave a short extra length to keep and they are really useful when designing bands in the future.
A few years ago, I found that I had so many record books and they were bulging.  I thought that I would digitise my records.

I started to scan the bands and save them with a JPEG of the drawdown.  I had to decide upon a standard format.  Adding in the materials used, the number of warp ends and the band width was important.

As my newly pristine records grew, I realised that I could put them all in a book. Here it is; The Art of Simple Band Weaving - colour and pattern. It was self published a few years ago by Blurb.com.

My book is in ebook format for IPad as well as print. 

Once I started to record my band patterns, I realised that it would be very useful to have some background information.  So the first chapter was written.  Then I thought about how I design new bands and so other sections were added.  In fact the book started to expand much further than my original idea.

Where once I had many bulging files, I now have a useful book on my shelf.  I use it when I am thinking about new bands for towel tags etc. It is a wonderful resource for me as well, I hope for others.

What sort of information is useful to record when weaving bands? 

Here are some ideas.


Warp details. The centre thread is in bold and indicated by M. This shows the colour order for making the warp and threading the heddle.

Grey      4
White        4
Green            1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1   1    1    1    1
Red                   1   1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1   1    1
                                                            M

Total number of warp ends: 43

Yarn for warp: 16/2 cotton in four colours used double.
Yarn for weft:  16/2 cotton in grey used double.

Width of woven band:  13 mm  approx 0.5 inches

If you have a programme for recording your weaving you can add the weave draft.

Weave Draft

Weave draft for narrow band.

Sample.

Always weave slightly too long a length for your project so that you can keep a sample.  This is invaluable. You do not have to keep neat samples.  If the beginning of the band is a bit wobbly as you find the correct tension, save that piece for your record book.

woven band sample

Try to keep records.  They are an invaluable resource for the future.

New Book on band weaving.

A new book on tape weaving has just been published by Schiffer Press.  The author, Susan Faulkner Weaver,  uses another way of recording band patterns.  Make your records to fit your own weaving needs.

This is a lovely informative book giving many traditional band patterns from the USA. 208 pages
Schiffer Press 2016  ISBN 978-0-7643-5196-9
Author: Susan Faulkner Weaver.


Susan J Foulkes  February 2017