In my last post (Summer & Winter: A Basic Definition), several threading characteristics were mentioned. While threading alone does not make the weave what it is, it is still a very important part of it.
Summer & winter is a unit weave. Threading units consist of the least number of threads necessary to define a weave. For summer & winter, each threading unit must:
- Have four warp ends which:
- Include both tie-down ends
- Use only one of the pattern ends
- Alternate tie-down and pattern ends
More shafts would give us more units:
Etc. Designing comes in deciding which units to use, and how many times to repeat them.As you can see, the number of units we can use depends upon the number of shafts we have available. I can have two less units than I have shafts. In the example above, shafts 1 and 2 are being used for the tie-down ends leaving shafts 3 through 8 to make the pattern. To use all eight units, I would need a 10-shaft loom.
One thing that units lend themselves to, is profile drafts, which I've attempted to explain in a separate post, here.
Posted 13 Oct. 2008 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com
Related Posts:
Summer & Winter: A Basic Definition
Summer & Winter: Tie-Up
Summer & Winter: Treadling
Profile Drafts
Summer & Winter: Structure and Theory
4 comments:
These two installments on summer and winter and block weave are very informative.
I love block weaves. They are so much fun to design with, especially huck lace.
Thanks!
It's times like these that I wish I had more shafts to play with. Thanks, Leigh.
You are always a teacher! Its getting closer to the time when I can get my loom.
I appreciate the comments, ya'll.
Barb, I'm muddling through all of this with an aim to design for S&W. I can follow a draft well enough, but am clueless as to write my own. I realize that I have to understand what is going on in order to do that though. Hopefully I'll on my way to doing that soon!
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