Category Archives: Coverlets

A Weaving Study — Or “How Did They Do That?”

17 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by in Coverlets, Craft History, Doubleweave, Weaving Inspiration

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For the last couple months, I’ve been reading The Coverlet Book by Helene Bress (2003, Flower Valley Press, Inc., Gaithersburg, Maryland). What a fascinating study of how our forebears elevated necessary household textiles to works of art!

The Coverlet Book by Helene Bress

The Coverlet Book by Helene Bress

Ms. Bress examined early coverlets and coverlet fragments over the course of many years, documenting the weave structures, the materials used, the design elements, and the history of the pieces if available. She recorded her first impressions of each coverlet or fragment, and analyzed the weaving. There were anomalies in some of the pieces and she delved into the possible reasons without passing modern judgement (21st Century weavers like rules that may not have been important to 18th and 19th Century weavers!)

The first volume is on overshot while the second volume covers twill, doubleweave, summer and winter, blended structures, and various other designs. Some coverlets were woven by professional weavers, but many overshot coverlets were woven at home on simple 4-shaft looms with home-dyed wool and homespun cotton or linen. Some of the earliest designs were Monks Belt – two blocks only. From there, the weavers played around with designs and over time, the designs got more and more elaborate.

Seeing the block designs in these volumes just confirms my fascination with traditional pattern weaves. What an array of designs can spring from one threading! How exciting to see how a pattern changes when the threading starts at a different point in the draft!

Doubleweave Placemat in Blue and Yellow

Doubleweave Placemat in Blue and Yellow

My current project has been a snowball and pine tree draft that is fairly common in coverlets. However, instead of weaving the blocks to form those snowballs and trees, I wove the blocks in straight order, one following the other, without combining them. From there the design evolved. This week the third rendition came off the loom. Here the blocks are just treadled in point order—zig zag order if you will. I like this pattern, but it is slower to weave because the blocks change constantly.

As I page through The Coverlet Book, I dream about weaving a coverlet. Maybe…someday…who knows! For now I am inspired and will keep exploring!

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The Evolution of an Idea

12 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by in Coverlets, Doubleweave, Weaving Inspiration

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Block Doubleweave, Second Warp

Block Doubleweave, Second Warp

Every project starts somewhere, inspired by some need, some desire for color, a picture in a book or magazine, a piece in a store window. My Mom tells the story of her grandmother seeing a crocheted doily in a shop window during the Depression, studying it, and then going home to recreate it. Inspiration!

Weaving drafts give the directions that tell the weaver what to do. Drafts consist of four elements:

  1. the threading: the order the threads are arranged
  2. the treadling: which treadle to press when
  3. the tie-up: how those treadles are connected to the shafts
  4. the draw-down: what the pattern will look like with all of the above

    Doubleweave Draft

    Doubleweave Draft

The inspiration for my block doubleweave goes back to a class at Madelyn Van der Hoogt’s Weavers School when it was still in Missouri. I pulled out my class notes and studied the draft. The blocks – the areas where the colors change – form a pine tree and snowball design, but what if I changed the order of those blocks? How would the overall design change?

The easiest way to change a pattern is to treadle it differently, so I played around with the order of those blocks. Weaving the blocks in the same order as they are threaded, “as drawn in,” produces rings in the corners with ovals and diamonds in the center, like the green placemats. But I’m not a production weaver, so after weaving a couple placemats in this design, I started to ponder how to change it yet again without rethreading.

Doubleweave Designs Evolving

Doubleweave Designs Evolving

Again, I looked at the block order. What if I treadled just one set of blocks over and over? How about treadling them in point order – back and forth, one repeat of each? There are so many possibilities. I have the second pattern on the loom now in a natural pattern against a deep wine background, and a third set will tie on after it in yet different colors. Three different designs with one threading, just by changing the block order!

This is the evolution of design.

An Ode to Overshot

13 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by in Coverlets, Overshot, Weaving Inspiration

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Everywhere I turn lately, I’m seeing overshot. Or maybe I’m just more aware of it because I used that weave structure for my mug rugs (see previous post).  But the March/April issue of Handwoven Magazine did include an article about researching a found coverlet , “The Story of the Martin Brenneman Coverlet” by Tom Knisely followed by a project for a table runner in overshot. And there are numerous books – books on my very own bookshelf!—about overshot. So I want to take another look at this weave structure.

Overshot Throw woven in wool and cotton

Overshot Throw woven in wool and cotton

It’s curious how weaves come and go. And it’s amazing what is woven today in structures that have been around a really long time, how structures are combined and envelopes are pushed, making something old speak to today! I think that’s why overshot is showing up again.

I recently reread American Woven Coverlets by Carol Strickler (Loveland, Colorado: Interweave Press, 1987).  Strickler writes here for anyone interested in coverlets, not just for weavers. She defines a coverlet as “a hand-woven bedcover with loom-controlled pattern” and differentiates coverlets from quilts (quilts are two or more separate fabrics put together like a sandwich). She goes on to cover the why, the when, the who, and the where of coverlet weaving.  She includes chapters on the fibers, the equipment, and the patterns used to weave coverlets. It’s a fascinating and very readable book for weavers and non-weavers alike.

Another book referenced by Strickler and one that I’m currently reading is Keep Me Warm One Night: Early Handweaving in Eastern Canada. Burnham, Harold B. and Dorothy K. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1972. This is a classic! Strickler notes that although this book only discusses Canadian coverlets, the patterns, materials, and equipment used are “closely related to a large portion of Eastern American weaving.” (bibliography). More on this classic next time.

What appeals to me about both coverlets and overshot is that they were often woven at home by the homemaker. The looms that these weavers used were usually simple four shaft looms. The materials were often spun and dyed at home. And the weavers were busy with the demands of life, but found time to create beautiful household linens with the materials at hand. My deepest respect to the weavers who have gone before me.