Weaving Software That Runs on WINE: DB-WEAVE (Revisited)

Years ago, I blogged about a couple of Windows weaving programs that can run on Linux with WINE. WINE is a program that creates a sandbox with conditions favorable to Windows, so that many Windows programs will run in it happily. Many won't, but it's worth a try to see what happens. 

Two of the programs I tried back then were DB-Weave and WeaveDesign. That was several computers ago, so I recently downloaded both programs to this computer and, with my table loom in mind, took a look at each of them again. To run WINE, I used PlayOnLinux. PlayOnLinux is a user friendly graphical interface for WINE (there's also PlayOnMac for Mac users.)

I'm looking for four things in weaving software:

• Liftplan option for table looms
• Can export WIF files
• Can print drafts
• can convert tie-up to liftplan

DB-Weave is geared toward dobby looms so it offers a pegplan option rather than a liftplan. It will run in WINE, although I found that the desktop icon took me to its folder where I had to select the exe file to run it. 

Opening DB-WEAVE

I took a lot of screenshots previously (which you can see here), so in this post, I'll just focus on the things I mentioned above.

I started with the new draft option, selected pegplan, and just doodled to see what it would do.

Pegplan will obviously work as a liftplan!

However, when I unchecked the pegplan mode, 

It removed the pegplan, but there was no option for tie-up and treadling. 

When I imported a WIF file. . .

. . . it gave me the treading, tie-up, and treadling, but not the drawdown and original color palette. Nor did it give me the name of the file. There may be a way to show these, but I couldn't figure it out.

It will export and print WIF files.

It also has a computer interface option for dobby looms, which I didn't look at.

While it does more than WeaveDreamer, I didn't find DB-WEAVE to be terribly intuitive. I had to refer back to my 2008 review to figure some things out. (If you click that last link, you'll see a lot of screenshots.) Between that and the way it imports WIF files, it isn't a program I'll use. 

It may do better on a Windows computer! And it's free, so it might be an option for a weaver on a budget.

DB_WEAVE can be downloaded here.

PDF User Guide with installation instructions is here. 

Weaving Software That Runs on WINE: DB-WEAVE (Revisited)

© September 2023 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related posts:

More Weaving Software That Can Run on Linux

Weaving Software Review: WeaveDreamer

Table Looms: Understanding Liftplans

Twill Gamp Weaving 4

Weaving Notes and Observations

• As grateful as I am to have my table loom, I can't get a weaving rhythm going. With treadles, the whole body is involved and the hands are freer to get rhythmic throwing of the shuttle. Having to change the levers for every pick doesn't lend itself to that.
• I'm not entirely happy with the tension as I advance the warp. But now that I have a raddle, I can try warping back to front on my next project. 
• I need to start thinking differently about color. I tend to think of colors as individual entities and influence their relationship by placement. But the effect in weaving leans more to color blending. That's something different.
• I need to come up with a way to keep track of where I am in the liftplan. I make mistakes because I get "lost." Or get interrupted and don't mark where I left off. Any suggestions?

Here's my weaving progress since the last time.

Weft section 4, warp emphasis treadling (II 43 A to II 45 C) from Bress.

As I wove that section, I started thinking about the pebble weave I was intrigued with. I decided to use that treadling for the next section, to see what it did with the other threadings. Several caught my eye.

Pebble Weave on broken twill, point twill, and rosepath, cut and pasted to compare.
Click for a larger view.

Here's the entire weft section.

5th weft section treadled with Marguerite Porter Davison's Pebble Weave. (VIII)

And that kept me going with more treadling patterns from A Handweaver's Pattern Book.

Weft section 6, Swiss Twill (XXIII)

Weft section 7, "Tweel for Pillow Cases or Bed Ticking" (XIX)

In that section, I especially like this one . . .

Treadled on broken twill threading.

Next,

Weft section 8, cord weave (VI)

Eight sections plus blue borders puts my total length at about 23 inches. That will make the finished dishtowel shorter than my projected 24 inches, but I'm okay with that. 

Now to decide what I'm going to do on the last twill gamp dishtowel.

Twill Gamp Weaving 4 © Sept 2023

by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Twill Gamp Threading

Twill Gamp Weaving 1

Twill Gamp Weaving 2

Twill Gamp Weaving 3

A Raddle For My Table Loom

The first two warping adventures on my table loom have been front to back. The was how I learned to warp a loom, and it's the first method shown in Deborah Chandler's Learning To Weave. I later switched to warping back to front, but since I'm just reacquainting myself with weaving, starting at the beginning seems like a good idea. Plus, I need a raddle. 

A raddle is basically a yarn holder for warping back to front. It's purpose is to evenly distribute the yarn across the back beam and keep it at the proper width during the beaming process. Otherwise, the yarn will tend to bunch up and make a mess. 

Raddles need to be sized for the loom. They are easy enough to make, but the one I wanted is the "special raddle" shown in Peggy Osterkamp's Warping Your Loom & Tying On New Warps.

I bought the materials and Dan assembled it for me.

One tidbit; Lowe's didn't have enough #12 eye screws, so I ended up going to Home Depot for the rest. They are made by different manufacturers; one makes them from zinc, the other from stainless steel. So even though they are technically the same size, they are not actually the same size! That won't make a difference in using the raddle, but I thought I'd mention it in case anyone else decides to make one of these. 

The appeal of the eye screws is that after the yarn is distributed across the raddle, a rod is run through the eyes to keep the threads from jumping out! Yes, that happens and can make a mess of things. I used to use rubber bands, but I like this idea much better. 

I still need to get the rod and a way to attach it to my back beam, but it will be ready to go for my next warp.

A Raddle For My Table Loom © Sept 2023

by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related post:

B2F vs F2B: Why I Switched

Twill Gamp Weaving 3

In the comments of my Evolution of a Project post, Michelle suggested swapping the dark green yarn for the blue. That lead to wondering about color play if I did a complete color swap for the weft yarns. 

a change-up of weft colors

The dark green weft made a lovely contrast.

The other two colors, not so much, as you'll see below.

Weaving Notes & Observations

• I'm concentrating more on making my squares square, so I'm counting picks to be the same as the warp, 48 x 48.
• If the towels shrink at the same rate as the sampler did, then they probably still won't be square.
• Except that 48 weft picks measures a little more than 48 warp ends. 
• Using the same color weft as warp on the first dishtowel seemed logical, but somehow I like the greater variety of colors in this one.
• The nice thing about weaving a dishtowel for learning, practicing, experimenting, or sampling is, in the end, a usable product is produced regardless of errors and mistakes.

Here are the first three sections with the new weft colors. Click to enlarge.

1st weft section is a straight twill treadling (II 9 A to II 12 D)

2nd weft section - twill & reverse treadling (II 18 A - II 21 D)

3rd section is weft emphasis treadling with tabby. (II 74 A to II 77 D)

Twill Gamp Weaving 3 © Sept 2023

by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Weaving Software Review: WeaveDreamer

In returning to weaving, I knew it wouldn't be long before I would return to weaving software too. You can see all of my old software posts here, but since it's been awhile, I wanted to see if anything new was available. I started my search for weaving software with two three criteria:

• can run on Linux
• supports liftplans
• freeware or has a free version

I chose to start with WeaveDreamer because it meets all of my criteria.

WeaveDreamer can run on Linux, Windows, or Mac, but requires Java Runtime version 8 or higher. After downloading and extracting the files, opening the program is just a matter of right clicking and selecting to open it in Java runtime. I have Ubuntu, however, with which .jar files aren't automatically executable. I had to right click the WeaveDreamer file, choose 'properties,' then 'permissions,' and tic the box 'allow executing file as a program.' No problem after that.

How about some screenshots?

Welcome screen upon first starting the program

Closing out that screen leaves a blank window. So, following the directions and clicking file > New, brings up the weaving draft properties window . . .

Playing around with the properties . . . 

And hit 'okay.'

Ready for my design

Individual cells can be clicked, or the mouse dragged to fill in a row or column. Selecting 'liftplan' in the properties box enables selecting more than one cell in the treadling columns.

This is the first square on my twill gamp dishtowel;
point twill threading and twill & reverse treadling.

Any area can be copied by hitting shift plus left-click mouse drag. There are two choices to paste: paste or paste special.

Options for 'paste special.' I haven't experimented with these yet.

WeaveDreamer can import and open WIF (weaving interchange format) files.

This one is from Handweaving Magazine's online library of free WIFs.

I can edit individual cells in the WIF file, changing color, threading, tie-up, or treadling.

What I can't do, is change it to a liftplan because the edit properties box is blank when I open it.

So, that's disappointing.

The liftplan option is chosen in the draft properties box. And liftplan must be selected to choose more than one cell in a treadling row. In the tie-up mode, only one cell per row can be selected in the treadling.

Another thing it can't do, is save or export any draft as a WIF file. They can only be saved in WeaveDreamer's native format. 

Lastly, DreamWeaver can't print a draft. That would be useful for my weaving notebook. If I really want to print it, however, I can take a screenshot, open that in Gimp (free photo editing software), and then export it as a PDF. So there's my workaround for printing.

So, it's limited, but is it still useful? My best use, at the moment, will likely be to create a draft and then take a screenshot to share with you. Being a basic program, there's no steep learning curve, so that's another plus for anyone new to weaving software. 

Conclusion? I'll use it for the moment, but continue to explore options.

WeaveDreamer can be downloaded here.

Instructions to install are here (about mid-page).

User Guide is here. 

Weaving Software Review: WeaveDreamer

© Sept 2023 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Hurrah for Hardy! Hurray for Wine!
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Table Looms: Understanding Liftplans