Durham Weaver: April 2026

I have organised a disc weaving workshop for the members of the Durham Guild of Spinners Weavers and Dyers. I thought that it would be useful to put some of the information into my blog.

I wrote about this technique in May 2023 in this blog. I had written two articles for the Journal of the Braid Society about my research and also ran a workshop for members.

https://thebraidsociety.wildapricot.org/

The Braid Society has an excellent group called Braids and Bands - it is well worth joining.

braidsandbands@groups.io

I made a YouTube video to accompany the two articles :

Disc Weaving: making a tubular filled cord

https://youtu.be/W7miDg2bix4

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.

I experimented 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. I had a new set of discs made with 15 holes in a square. They are lovely. The person who designed them for me put a depiction of the Durham Cathedral sanctuary knocker in the centre as they were for the Durham Guild.

I am using dk cotton for the pattern. I was not sure how many core threads would be suitable. I tried with four but that was too many. The cord was difficult to weave evenly. I removed two of the core threads after a couple of inches weaving as you can see. Now the cord is weaving well.

Threading the disc.

First make the warp for the cord. Thread the disc by putting the disc on the edge of a table so that the empty holes can be seen. For this warp I used 6/2 cotton.

Thread the 15 pattern threads first.

Threading the warp.

Now add in the centre filling cord.

Adding the filling cord

You are now ready to start weaving.

Seizenn Loom Pattern Generator.

This pattern has been created using the excellent software which is provided so generously. Go to the web site.

Go to the web site.

https://www.raktres.net/seizenn/v2/#/

Look down the list of pattern types on the left hand side.

For disc weaving there is a picture of a disc. Edit pattern for disc loom. The instructions are easy to follow. You can change the number of holes and then add the correct colours to the loom palatte.

This pattern