Thursday, October 31, 2024

Crackle Manners of Weaving: Woven as Summer & Winter

Samples #11 & 12 of my 4-shaft crackle manners of weaving sampler.

Summer & winter (S&W) combined with crackle is mentioned by both Susan Wilson (Weave Classic Crackle & More) and Lucy Brusic (A Crackle Weave Companion), but they approach it differently. Brusic refers to crackle treadling on S&W threading (page 44 of her book. It's an idea get gets Mary Snyder's The Crackle Weave), while Wilson discusses S&W treadling on crackle threading (pages 36-38). Since my sampler is threaded for crackle, Wilson's is the option I chose. 

I did a study on summer & winter years ago (list of posts here), so I had my own notes to review. I focused on the treadling, of which there are six classic ways to treadle the pattern weft in S&W (You can see examples in this post). All use tabby:
  • 1-2-1-2
  • 2-1-2-1
  • 1-2-2-1
  • 2-1-1-2
  • 1-1-1-1
  • 2-2-2-2
Wilson discusses two of them in her book:
  • 1-2-1-2
  • 1-2-2-1
The difference is in how the pattern weft threads line up, either alternating or stacked in pairs.

Left: treadled 1-2-1-2. Looks like alternating bricks.
Right: treadled 1-2-2-1. Looks like stacked bricks.

This is using the standard 2/2 balanced twill tie-up.

Numbers in right-hand column indicate shafts.
Numbers along the bottom indicate treadling.

Here are the samples.

Sample #11: 1-2-2-1 S&W treadling

Sample #12: 1-2-1-2-S&W treadling

Both samples use 10/2 doubled for their pattern wefts. By sample 12, I had figured out which shed to use for smoother looking transitions between the blocks. Consequently, I like the second one better. 

No matter what I'm weaving, my mind is always busy wondering. Some of my thoughts are creative curiosity (what if I changed this? or tried that?). Some of them contemplate practical applications (what project could I use this for?) For these samples, I'm thinking ahead to a (probably distant) future project, which is to weave drapery fabric for my dining room windows. What I want, is something to coordinate with my Blue Willow dishes. 

The Scandinavian Favorite table runner I wove last year.

Blue Willow has an intricate blue and white border pattern around the edges.


I've been looking for something that would compliment that, and I'm thinking crackle threading with summer and winter treadling could work very well. I'll add it to my list of possibilities.

6 comments:

Valerie said...

I think the s&w treadling would perfectly compliment the dishes from a visual design standpoint. But I wonder if you would be happy with the drape of the fabric with such a weft dominant structure for a drapery fabric?

Wonderful sampling you've been doing!

Toirdhealbheach Beucail said...

I was thinking to myself as I read "Those would have gone great with the blue dishes my material grandmother owned" - and sure enough, you already had a set!

Leigh said...

Valerie, that is something I'd have to figure out with larger samples. I have questions about colors, yarn weight, sett, and drape of fabric. Crackle makes a fairly dense fabric, which I think would help for thermal properties. It would depend on how well it drapes.

For the proper width, drapery fabric would have to be woven on my 8-shaft loom, which would open up a lot more possibilities! I'll have to give it a try when I do an 8-shaft crackle sampler. Someday. :)

Leigh said...

TB, how interesting! Great minds think alike? :) This particular weave is the best I've seen so far that compliments the Blue Willow. I remain on the lookout, but this one is a definite contender for the project.

Valerie said...

Or you could explore turning the draft to make the fabric warp dominant which would drape better. In the same way that warp dominant fabric drapes better in garments.

Leigh said...

Valerie, that's a very good idea. Turned crackle is on my list of experiments, so I'll include S&W treadling in that sampler.