Handtowels in Satin Weave

 Satin weave

I have just finished two handtowels in 10 shaft satin.  

Warp for both towels.

Warp: 16/2 unbleached cotton

Weft: 16/1 linen

Sett:19.5 ends per cm approx 48 ends per inch

I used a 16 reed with 3 ends per dent.

Total number of warp ends = 864

Width in reed =  approx 18 inches

Border: block 1 = 82, block 2 = 35, block 1 = 50 then block 2 = 35 ends.  

Border total = 202 at each side. 

Centre of towel has 460 ends. block 1.

Pattern one

Weft = red 16/1 linen

For this towel, I increased length of the of coloured stripes by 5 picks each time.

So the first stripe repeat of 5 picks was woven 3 times

The second repeat of 10 picks was woven 4 times

The third repeat of 15 picks was woven 5 times.

The next repeat of 20 picks was woven 7 times.

The pattern was then reversed to the end of the towel.

Red towel off the loom

Reverse face of red towel

Pattern two

Weft = blue 16/1 linen

For this blue towel I increased the number of pattern repeats for each stripe. The first pattern repeat is 5 blue picks on the surface and five picks where white predominates on the surface. 

The first stripes of 5 picks was woven 13 times. 

The second stripes of 10 picks was woven 7 times. 

The third stripes of 15 picks was woven 6 times. 

The fourth stripes of 20 picks was woven 5 times.  

The fifth stripes of 25 picks was woven 4 times. 

The sixth stripes of 30 picks was woven 3 times. 

The final stripes of 35 picks to end the towel was woven once.

For this version, I varied the length of each block as I was weaving.  

Blue towel off the loom 

Reverse face of blue towel

Here are the two woven towels before being hemmed. 

Two towels off the loom. 

I enjoyed trying to vary the pattern by the length of the horizontal stripes.  These are very sturdy handtowels.  I have to weave some matching hanging tags but I have another project on my band loom at the moment. 

June 2023

Susan J Foulkes

Weaving a tubular cord on an inkle loom and with a weaving disc.

Weaving a filled tubular cord with a weaving disc. 

 This blog accompanies two articles in the Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers.   https://journalwsd.org.uk/

Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, 285 Spring 2023  A Weaving Disc - an exploration of history and uses. Part 1,  and 285 2023, Summer, A Weaving Disc - part 2. 

What is disc weaving?

I have been exploring a little known weaving implement: a weaving disc. The disc seems to have originated in Indonesia but also appears in Lithuania and Russia.  

These weaving discs are be made with a odd number of holes around the edge and a central hole for the filling material. I have used discs with 13, 15, 19, 21 and 25 holes.

A filled tubular cord can be woven using a disc with a circular arrangement of holes and a central hole for the core thread. It produces a cord with a firm structure and the angle of twist can be altered whilst weaving. 

 

However a tubular cord can also be woven on an inkle loom. It is useful to examine this type tubular cord before examining the filled tubular cord. 

Weaving a tubular cord on an inkle loom

 Inkle Loom.

Weave drawdown for 13 threads

There are thirteen warp ends alternately threaded across the loom either through a heddle or over the top of the bar. There are two sheds so the weave structure is plain weave. The weft pulls the warp threads close together so the band itself is warp faced plain weave. The warp threads are in a single horizontal layer across the inkle loom. 

Weaving a flat band

The band loom cord was first woven as a flat band. The shuttle was entered first from one side then the shed was changed and the shuttle entered from the other side. 

Weaving a tubular band

To weave a tubular cord the weft was continually entered from the same side and pulled tight. This pulls the flat band around on itself so that the tube is formed. 

The twist in the pattern occurs because the weft spirals whilst weaving even though the warp threads are in a horizontal line. This twist is permanent and cannot be varied.

Weaving a filled tubular cord with a weaving disc. 

What is disc weaving?

With the warp ends arranged in a circle and a central core thread, a patterned cord can be woven in warp-faced plain weave. The weft is not visible as the warp ends are pulled tightly together. The central core thread makes the cord strong. 

The weft is entered from the same side for the whole of the weaving. The disc is rotated. This means that unlike other weaving methods, the warp is not in a static horizontal plane but moves around as the weft is entered. 

As there are no books about this technique I had to experiment to find out the most efficient and effective way of weaving.  I discovered that the disc itself does not need to be circular. It is the pattern of holes that need to be arranged in a circle. 

A disc with 13 holes and a central hole

A cardboard square with 13 warp holes

 

Visualising the spiral pattern. 

The  SeiZenn - Band Weaving Pattern Editor. This is an amazing resource. This can be found at: 

  https://www.raktres.net/seizenn/#/

The software now includes a disc option which you can access from the home page. Here is a quick link. 

https://www.raktres.net/seizenn/#/disk  This means that you can design a pattern for your tubular cord using this software.  It is a great addition to a weavers box of tools.

Here is a 13 thread pattern using this software. 

Here is the same 13 warp thread pattern as shown in the drawdown for the inkle loom but here you can see it as a spiral woven tube. 

close up of the filled tubular cord.

I also made a YouTube video to accompany the two articles :  Disc Weaving: making a tubular filled cord 

  https://youtu.be/W7miDg2bix4

The video demonstrates how to start weaving; how to find the point of weaving and how to weave. The thickness of the core threads alters the feel and flexibility of the cord. 

These  cords are flexible and have many uses. They can be made in a variety of threads: cotton, silk, wool and with a variety of core materials.  I have woven cotton cords with raffia, jute and rattan as the core thread.

Susan J Foulkes May 2023

Designing from architecture: the Casa Batlló, Barcelona Part Two

Course Work; a valuable resource. 

 I was fascinated by the buildings by Gaudi, in particular the Casa Batlló in Barcelona. The outside of the building is wonderful but the staircase inside is a lovely exercise in  the use of shading. 

Robert Hughes says that 'Under the skylight where they take the most light, the skin of the internal walls is flat, a cobalt blue. The walls get lighter in colour and develop a ripple of texture (to catch the light falling from above) as they descend from floor to floor. They pass from cobalt to sky blue, and thence to pearly grey, before becoming white at street level for maximum reflection.'

Roberto Hughes Barcelona (1992) p 512. This is my picture of the internal stairwell.  

I was fascinated by the way in which Gaudi had used shading to bring the light down into the stairwell. The tiles shaded upwards so that the top of the stairwell is darker blue and resembles the sky when looking up.  The bottom of the stairwell is white to reflect the light. Nowadays you can go on a virtual tour. This is amazing and you get to see so many areas of the building which were not open to the public when I went. 

https://www.casabatllo.es/en/virtual-tour/

The remit from the HNC course was to design materials for a range of purposes. Here are some of my samples inspired by the stairwell tiles.

Weave structure: Monks belt - for a cushion cover.

This is an interesting structure with regular floats on a plain weave background. 

Weave draft Monks Belt

The woven sample

Weave structure: Boulevard weave - for a cushion cover

Weave draft for Boulevard weave.

For the weave draft, I used different colours to show up the weave structure. For the actual design I used five shades of blue 16/2 cotton. 

Boulevard weave

Weave structure:   Inlay

Inlay

reverse of inlay sample

Some of the entries in my sketch book.

  

Weave structure:   Double weave 1  cushion covers.

I used 16/2 cotton at 32 epi for both layers. The weft is 5 shades of blue 16/2 cotton. 

I have used this design for cushion covers for my living room. 

Double weave 2

Once double weave is set up on the loom, the weaving can be varied.  I tried to shade the colours and to change the length of the coloured pattern on the surface.  It gives a pleasing effect.  

I hope that you have enjoyed looking at these old samples.  They may be old but are a rich source of inspiration for me particularly as I had not viewed them for some time.

Happy weaving

Susan J Foulkes 2023

Designing from architecture: the Casa Batlló, Barcelona part one

 Course Work - a valuable resource.

In 2000 - 2001, I studied at Bradford for my HNC in Handwoven Textile Design.  One of the assignments was to explore architecture as a source for inspiration and produce a range of items. The key words were colour and texture.

Having recently visited Barcelona, I was fascinated by the buildings by Gaudi, in particular the Casa Batlló in Barcelona.I chose these buildings for my assignments. 

Robert Hughes in his book 'Barcelona' describes the house thus:

Gaudi ... wanted the Casa Batlló to be read as a symbolic paean to the legend of Saint Anthony, patron saint of Catalunya, in  his victory over the dragon. The building 'represents' the dragon, its lair, its victims and the triumph of St George all in one. The ridged roof, with its interlocking glossy scales, is the monster's back. Below, the curving iron balconies of the intermediate floors, pieced with holes like eye sockets, look like masks and represent the skulls of the victims. Robert Hughes  Barcelona (1992) Pp 513 - 514.

My drawing of the exterior

This beautiful house is a fantastic source of inspiration. The coloured mosaic on the facade is described by Hughes as 'an architectural equivalent to the shifting, luminous crusts of airy and watery colour in Monet's waterlilies.' 

Sample one

This sample is woven in plain weave with 16/2 cotton. The colour inlay areas are randomly placed in the same shed as the plain weave pick, although I tried to refer to the photograph to arrange areas of colours.  The inlay threads are various lengths and are 16/2 cotton in a variety of colours. 

Looking back at this sample I have seen new possibilities for the weave.  A fabric for a jacket might be a future project for me. 

Sample two

This sample is in honeycomb weave.  The background is in 16/2 cotton and the cell outlines are in a thicker cotton - 3/2. I tried to get the sense of colour as well as the three dimensional aspect of the facade. 

This is the sample woven on four shafts. The regular honeycomb shows the colours through the eyelet holes.  

Sample three.

For this sample, I wanted to explore the layered front of the house. 

here is a close up of one of the floors. 

Close up of windows

My sketch of the window and balcony shapes.

I had great fun designing a swatch to reflect this three dimensional facade. This is a honeycomb weave on 8 shafts. 

Front of material showing the lovely distorted cell shapes

This is the weave draft showing the front of the cloth.  I used beige, brown and grey to represent the facade. 

Weave draft showing the front of the material

This is the weave draft showing the reverse of the cloth. There are long weft floats. 

Weave draft showing the reverse of the material.

Sample four.

Park Guell

Colour is a feature of Park Guell.  The lizard on the steps is a symphony of colour. 

The wavy stripe pattern was irresistible. 

I used it for the starting point of designing a swatch using inlay techniques. 

From my sketch book.

This weave structure is dukagang. It was an experiment to see how shapes could be made with inlay.  The background weave is threaded straight draft on four shafts. The weft is the same as the warp threads - 16/2 cotton at 32 epi.   The coloured inlay is four strands of the 16/2 cotton. The weave order is 

13 - weft

123 inlay

24 - weft

123 inlay

Sample five 

I also tried a wavy curved twill draft with coloured stripes. The warp is 16/2 cotton bleached white.  The coloured weft is an assortment of thick coloured silk yarns and a white 16/2 silk for the main weft. 

Here is the draft for the twill pattern.

My file of course samples and work is a valuable resource which I am not sure I have fully utilised in the years since I gained my weaving qualification. Looking through my sketch books and samples has really inspired me for further weaving projects.  I hope that you find something of interest as well. 

Happy weaving

Susan J Foulkes.   March 2023

Tablet Weaving: weaving a tubular filled cord

 Tablet Weaving

I have been exploring different ways of weaving cords - in particular filled cords that is cords with a central filling core.here is a comparison between two methods of weaving tubular cords. 

Tubular cords without a central core.

Here is a drawdown for a flat woven band.  There are 13 warp ends. 

1. STC heddle

This is a new design of heddle which enables tubular bands to be woven.  Tubular bands can be woven on a four shaft loom and this heddle uses the same weaving technique.  For people without a four shaft loom, this new heddle is a cheaper, easily portable alternative.  UIt can be woven with a backstrap.

With the STC heddle cord and the band loom cord the unwoven warp threads are held horizontally in the same order. However, on the STC heddle the warp is in two layers: a top layer of warp and a bottom layer of warp. 

This is the same method as using a four shaft loom to weave tubular cloth.  Here is the threading chart for weaving a tubular band on the STC heddle.

1st pick: Raising the heddle brings the warp threads in the holes to the top. The shuttle goes from left to right through the top layer.   Top layer on surface: white / blue / blue / white

2nd pick: Raising the heddle brings the warp ends through the slots to the bottom. The shuttle goes from right to left through the bottom layer. Lower layer on surface: blue / blue / white

It is important to start weaving from the left side ( shuttle in left hand) to the right side of the heddle.

3rd pick: Lowering the heddle brings the warp ends through the slots to the top. The shuttle goes from left to right. Top layer on surface: white / grey / white

4th pick: Lowering the heddle brings the warp ends through the holes to the bottom. The shuttle goes from right to left. Bottom layer on surface: white / dark blue / white

Whilst weaving the two warp layers are separate and the band at the point of weaving will show one side of the band. Each layer of warp is horizontal.

Once released from tension, the tubular band will spiral. 

This cord does not have a central core. 

2. Tablet weaving

Using the same warp colours I threaded four tablets with the warp. I used two threads as a central core. The aim is to weave a tubular cord with a central core thread. The core thread is two strands of 3/2 cotton.

There are four cards, each with four holes labelled A, B, C and D. Note that one card only has one thread and the other three holes are empty.

The back post indicates the unwoven end of the warp.  The front post indicates the weaving end of the cord. 

It is very important to thread the cards carefully.  The warp ends in holes A and B must be S threaded. This means that the warp ends are threaded through holes A and B behind the card and emerge in front of the card. 

The warp ends in holes C and D are Z threaded. This means that the warp ends are threaded through the holes from the front of the card and emerge behind the card. 

Core thread.

The centre core of the tubular band is not threaded through any hole although it could be threaded through the square hole in one of the cards.  It will also work if the centre core threads are threaded individually through the square central holes in two of the cards. 

The weave structure is double weave with the top and bottom layers joined together by the spiralling weft. The layers of weaving are warp-faced because the weft is pulled tight so that the warp ends hide the weft and the core threads.

There are only 13 warp threads which means that one card has only 1 warp end.  I found that putting a shaped rod through the centre square hole holds the cards together and prevents the card with only one warp thread falling out of place.  For this threading therefore I did not thread the core threads through the square hole in the cards but left them to go over the centre rod. This rod is tied with a cord so that it will not fall out when weaving.  It can be used as a turning rod.

cards with central turning rod.

Remember as weaving progresses the centre cord will become slack. This slack should be taken up at the far end of the warp. 

The Weaving Sequence. 

To weave, take the shuttle in the left hand and turn the cards so that the A corner is at the top leaving the C corner at the bottom.

Two sheds A and C

 As you can see, this means that there are three layers of warp. The A layer has 3 warp ends. The C layer has four  warp ends. 

1. The shuttle goes through under layer A and then is taken into the right hand. Tug weft to tension. The shuttle returns on top of layer C. Tug weft to tension.

2. Now take all the cards and turn them one quarter turn backwards so that the B corner is at the top leaving the D corner at the bottom. The B layer has three warp ends.  The lower D layer has three warp ends.

Two sheds B and D

3. The shuttle goes through under layer B and is taken into the right hand. Tug weft to tension. The shuttle returns on top of D. Tug weft to tension.

4. Now take all the cards and turn them one quarter turn so that the A corner is at the top leaving the C corner at the bottom.  Repeat.

When weaving, the cord does not show any twist.  Once the cord is released, the twist appears. The weft spirals through the cord when weaving which makes the twist in the woven cord. 

Weaving a flat band

With this threading of the cards you can also weave a flat band. The weaving sequence is different.

1. The shuttle goes through shed A and then is taken into the right hand. Tug weft to tension. The shuttle returns through shed C. Tug weft to tension.

2. Now take all the cards and turn them one quarter turn backwards so that the B corner is at the top leaving the D corner at the bottom. The B layer has three warp ends.  The lower D layer has three warp ends.

Here the sequence changes.  The weft does not join the warp into a circle but goes back without closing one edge. 

3. The shuttle goes through the warp in shed D and is taken into the right hand. Tug weft to tension. The shuttle returns through shed B. Tug weft to tension.
4. Now take all the cards and turn them one quarter turn so that the A corner is at the top leaving the C corner at the bottom.  Repeat.

As you can see, the core floats on the flat band. 

Here is a link to my YouTube video showing this type of weaving with 19 warp ends. 

https://youtu.be/ctJHw7gZZKA

 Here is the drawdown of the band.

This cord has 19 warp ends. This means that one card is threaded with only 3 warp ends. The warp and weft is double knit cotton and the centre core is four strands of 3/2 cotton. 

Here is the threading diagram

The tube is woven in double weave in a warp-faced structure.  The weft and central filling core are hidden by the warp threads. 

Threading the centre core threads.

The core is 4 strands of 3/2 cotton. I have threaded one strand through the square centre hole in card 2, two strands through the centre hole in card 3 and one strand through the centre hole in card 4. (All the core threads could be threaded through one centre square hole if preferred).

Remember as weaving progresses the core thread will become loose. It will need to be tightened at the non-weaving end to prevent it tangling in the warp threads. 

Weaving Sequence.

To weave, take the shuttle in the right hand and turn the cards so that the A corner is at the top leaving the C corner at the bottom.

 As you can see, this means that there are three layers of warp. The A layer has 5 red warp ends. The C layer has four blue warp ends with one empty hole. the centre layer holds the core and all the other warp ends.

The centre filling core is threaded 

1. The shuttle goes through shed A and then is taken into the left hand. Tug weft to tension. The shuttle returns through shed C. Tug weft to tension.

Shed A and Shed C with the centre threads and core

 in the middle

2. Now take all the cards and turn them one quarter turn so that the B corner is at the top leaving the D corner at the bottom. The B layer has five warp ends: red, white, red, white and red.   The lower D layer has five warp ends: blue, white, white, blue and blue.

3. The shuttle goes through shed  B and is taken into the left hand. Tug weft to tension. The shuttle returns through shed D. Tug weft to tension.

4. Now take all the cards and turn them one quarter turn so that the A corner is at the top leaving the C corner at the bottom.

Here is the woven filled tubular cord. 

I hope you enjoy exploring this different method for weaving filled tubular cords. 

Susan J Foulkes  February 2023