Complexity. Subtlety.

 

As a new weaver, it gets confusing to try and figure out things like weaving drafts.  What do those little black boxes mean?  How do you get plain weave on this weave structure?  Where are the odds vs even treadles that weave 'tabby'?

It can be frustrating to make sense out of what you *know* to be true - tabby or plain weave is always, always odd shafts vs even shafts.  Confusion reigns.

It can be really hard to break through that wall of absolute certainty - because 'My teacher told me tabby is *always* odds against the evens!'

Yeah, about that...

Sometimes teachers are just plain wrong, or they gave you a nugget of the information, not the whole picture.  Simplifying for immediate use, not to understand the larger complexity and/or subtlety of the craft.

Plain weave (or tabby) is when every thread alternates such that a plain weave interlacement can be achieved.

If you look at the draft above, which is an 8 shaft Bronson Lace, take a close look at the tie up.  See the two treadles at the far left?  One treadle is tied to just shaft one.  The other treadle is tied to shafts 2-8.  *Those* are the plain weave treadles.

If you want to weave plain weave across the warp, you alternate those two treadles for as many times as you want plain weave.

Other weave structures will present with different possibilities - based on the threading sequence and what you want to achieve by manipulating the threads to weave the design you want.  

Some new weavers are anxious to do the 'fun' stuff, leap into the very deep end of the pool and find they don't actually know how to swim.  Not because they can't - they simply haven't learned enough to stay afloat.

Going to bang my own drum, blow my own horn...

The Intentional Weaver, written for my Olds students (and any other newer weaver) to help put some of the subtleties of the craft under the microscope.  My other books are available as well - Stories from the Matrix is a series of essays looking at the craft in various ways, some teach actual weave structure theory, others look at various 'historical' stories, some 'attitudes' (mostly mine - sorry, not sorry), or things that intrigued me in the moment. And of course my very first book, Magic in the Water. 

A Thread Runs Through it is a 'memoir' of being a professional production weaver for the best part of 45 years.  That one is available (pdf only) at my ko-fi shop.

Online classes:  

School of Sweet Georgia - four classes - looks at some of the lessons I wrote about in The Intentional Weaver.

Long Thread Media - two classes - and lots of articles in Handwoven over the years

WEFT magazine - articles in every issue - so far - with more lined up.

I will do my best to answer questions on groups online, but for more detailed explanations, read my books, or if you can't afford books or classes, check out the labels here.  I've probably written something about most things here.  And if you have a mystery that you just can't figure out, you can email me laura at laurafry dot com.