Name Drafting and Overshot

I have an idea for a new project. I am going to create a name draft using Overshot. I have a computer program (WeaveIt Pro) that will help me create this. I still have to use pencil and paper, but the computer helps a great deal.

I had such a fun time when I gave my lecture at the Ozarks Celebration Festival at Missouri State University (Springfield, MO), that I wanted to create something to remind me of the event. So I am using the words "Ozarks Celebration Festival". It will be a traditional four shaft overshot draft.

First I will create the draft. Decide the size of threads, color, and dimensions. Will I do a small table topper or a long table runner? Should it be a pillow? There are lots of decisions to be made when attempting to do a new project. Sometimes making the draft is the easy part!

Background Texture

Still playing around with the Single Two-Tie draft on eight shafts.  Another name is Summer and Winter on opposites without tabby.

With this draft I am not weaving tabby, but if I were, I would treadle 1 Vs. 2+3. All the pattern shafts Vs. the two tie-downs.

But since I am weaving 'on opposites' I do not want to weave tabby. If I want a solid row of background texture, I will weave these treadles:
2 =  tie-down one
1+2  =  tie-down one, and all pattern shafts
3 =  tie-down two
1+3 =  tie-down two, and all pattern shafts

I will repeat for a total of 8 picks. Yes, I am stepping on two treadles at the same time.

If you look real close it is different than tabby. Tabby is over one and under one. This is BACKGROUND texture.

More S2T polychrome

Still trying to find an interesting draft to weave. I have been playing with summer and winter polychrome. According to Lillian Whipple from her "Summer & Winter To Taquete, A Lesson In How To Design and Weave In Two Basic Structures"  she says that Summer and Winter Polychrome "means one or more pattern wefts followed by a tabby".  Here I am working on two pattern shots divided by alternating tabbies.

This is a wonderful CD, be sure and check with her to see if she has any more for sale.

Here I am working on my computer with two colors. I am not showing tabby in my treadling. And I have already seen errors. I will have 12 picks of each block before I go to the next. So I will need to work on this draft.

Playing with Overshot and Drafts

Playing around with trying to figure out some drafts that Weaver Rose had. They can be found in the book "The Weaving Roses of Rhode Island". Vicki has done most of the work here by getting the threading.

This is his draft 103.

The treadling needed some work, so I circle the blocks to know how many pattern picks to throw. Half the fun of overshot is figuring out the details out before weaving begins.

Tied Weave Scarf and Repeats

Now that I am weaving again on this single two-tie scarf, I will take the advice of Maryse and weave this 'without repeats'. I think that is a wonderful idea. Thanks Maryse!!! {check out her web page here:  http://www.fiberexpression.com/ }

But I will try to keep track of my treadling, just in case. After all, I do want this to be a 'one of a kind' scarf, but I might need to know some day what I did. You never know.

Just like when we learn to do tabby without thinking, I will know that I will always step one or two treadles to weave in the correct order I have chosen. Stepping on two treadles at the same time become routine. I use a skeleton tie up because I don't have enough treadles to tie up the complete treadling.

1-2-2-1 pattern order, a-b-a-b tabby order

 

          For Example on this draft:
tie down one + pattern treadle ..two treadles used
tabby a  ..one treadle used
tie down two + pattern treadle 4  ..two treadles used
tabby b  ..two treadles used
tie down two + pattern treadle 4  ..two treadles used
tabby a  ..one treadle used
tie down one + pattern treadle 4  ..two treadles used
tabby b  ..two treadles used

Weaving on the Computer

What better thing to do on a rainy day than play 'weaving' at the computer. I have some 12 shaft drafts (for my newest loom), some four shaft drafts that look fun, and some that were so bad, they didn't get saved or printed.

Weav-tasking....

Weav-tasking..... when one who is a weaver runs around working on several different project while not really finishing any. I know you know that you do this too!!!

Well, I did get one finished project. I think! It may need tassels on the corners, but I will think about that for a while. This is part of my Theo Moorman workshop. It's a sample that is now a very small pillow.

  This is the painted warps that I did just last weekend. I am combining two chains.

 

 

 And this is the draft for the painted warps. It's one of Ralph  Griswalds 8 shaft CRACKLE drafts.

 

Fustian continues to the 36:" mark. Only 9 more yards to go!!!!!

Prep Work for FUSTIAN

Fustain: "a term which includes a variety of heavy woven cotton fabrics, chiefly prepared for men's wear." The Encyclopaedia Britannica 1910

fustian:  "a hard-wearing fabric of cotton mixed with flax or wool with a slight nap." www.thefreedictionary.com/fustian

I keep winding the warp for fustian and will prep the loom. I have entered the info into my weaving software and it will tell me how many heddles I need on each shaft. So when I get tired of standing at the warping board, I can go count heddles.

I will also get from my weaving software a drawndown of what my draft will look like. It helps me check for errors.

Weaver Rose and Ladey Washigton

I am thinking that this might be the way to go with this draft. I will use one color when I tread on treadles one and two and the other color when I tread on treadles three and four. And for the tabbies, I will use the same as the warp.

Some of the treadling repeats are a bit long, so will have to wait and see how it goes when I actually weave it.

I have thought that Weaver Rose was spelling 'lady' (girl) but maybe he was calling this 'lad-y' (small boy)???? I just know that the only two colors I have to use is red and blue with this white warp. Any other colors and I will have to order. Maybe I should quit thinking and finish winding the warp!

Getting Ready for Another One

Weaver Rose continues...............

Here is the draft I am going to do next. I have taped two of the drafts side by side so I can see what the center seam will look like. If all goes well, maybe I will have a lap robe.

I don't have enough heddles on my first four shafts, so I will need to work on that. I can't decide if I want to shift the heddles, or since I have an eight shaft loom, just use the heddles on the other shafts.

I need 33 extra heddles on shaft one. So I can 'pretend' and use 33 from shaft five and then when I do my tie-up, I will tie shafts one and five as if they were shaft one. But shaft two need some too, so I may just move the heddles onto shafts one and two. May be less confusing. But moving heddles isn't one of my favorite things.

There is a lot of thinking and preparing before I can begin winding a warp. Maybe tomorrow I can get that started. The winding..... not the thinking! I hope to finish thinking today!!

Purple Weaver Rose ?

When I go to bed my brain sometimes keeps working. I think I dreamed of this treadling.  I am using the "Ladey Washingtons Delight" threading from Weaver Rose. (That is on page 81 and is noted as #102.) Again I have not kept with the traditional as-drawn-in treadling but more free form treadling. I doubt if I will ever weave this, but it's nice to see what some of the possibilities could be with this warp. I even like the purple color. Makes me think of my weaving friend, Barbara. She is in a 'purple zone'.

There are a couple resources out there, if you are interested, in creative overshot. A couple are:  CREATIVE OVERSHOT - Margaret B. Windeknecht, Shuttle Craft Guild, Monograph Thirty One and a newer book OVERSHOT: A MANUAL FOR CREATIVE DRAFTING AND WEAVING - Peter Mitchell. Either one will give you  good ideas to thread once and treadle lots of different ways. It's nice if you have spent hours and hours to thread 800 ends to get several different looks!

Another Twist on Weaver Rose

I got to thinking more about the draft and what all could be done with it. I got back on the computer and came up with this treadling. Again, I like this one too. I do see some places that don't quite look right, so I would need to fix them. But all in all, it could work.

I am still weaving on Weaver Rose No Name Coverlet #156. I have finished two full repeats across the warp and have started on repeat number three. (58 inches so far).

A Twist on Weaver Rose

Sometimes it's just fun to play with your weaving software. I wondered what Weaver Rose's draft "Ladey Washingtons Delight" would look like if I treadled it using No Name draft #156. It doesn't have the diagonal line, but still gives a pleasing design.

The idea is to thread an overshot draft on your loom and then use several different treadlings to get totally different designs. This one would also look good in two different colors.

Another Weaver Rose

While I keep weaving on Weaver Rose #156, I thought I would try and figure out another one of his drafts. Using pencil and paper and then my weaving software I am on page 81 of the book The Weaving Roses of Rhode Island. This draft he has called "Ladey Washingtons Delight". The notes in the book say it's "a small Double Chariot Wheel and Table."

Here is what it looks like in my weaving software - WeaveIt Pro. I am showing two repeats in both treadling and threading. I think this would look good using two colors. I changed color at each block change.

Overshot Designs Side By Side

In answer to Thistle Rose Weaving:
I hope this helps explain how I have combined the same four shaft overshot threading onto eight shafts. And you can see why you need 12 treadles. Using just 16 ends as an example become 32 ends.

You use the same weft for both pattern and tabby, alternating from those on shaft 1-4 plus tabby on shafts 11 or 12 and then on the next pick will be a different color to weave pattern from those on shaft 5-8 plus tabby from shaft 5 or 6.

When you alternate your colors pick-by-pick and then switch that order when you start a new repeat, you get two different-colored motifs that appear side by side.

Final Draft, maybe

Boulevard, Six-Thread Blocks

This is the draft I am using to get my table runner and samples for my Complex Weavers Bateman Study Group. I looked back over Dr. Bateman's examples and saw that he usually treadled each pattern shaft twice before moving on. So with this draft I have done the same.

I did not add the tabby picks to this image, it just made it to busy to see what was going on. Also, I can't figure out how to get browns with my weaving software, hence the green. But this give the general idea.