Tag Archives: Overshot

Catching Up on Projects Interrupted

16 Friday Dec 2016

Posted by in Overshot, Placemats

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As the year winds down, it’s a good time to finish those projects that I stepped away from for one reason or another.

Placemat in progress.

Placemat in progress.

Earlier in the fall, I started to explore how to weave overshot placemats more efficiently. Overshot is normally woven with two shuttles, one for the ground weft which gives the fabric stability, and the other with a heavier weft which makes the pattern. But weaving with two shuttles takes a bit more time. I wanted something that would weave quickly.

What to do?

I remembered trying a nifty little trick some time ago—turning the draft, making the warp act like the weft and vice versa. Then I can weave with just one shuttle.

So if I have an 8-shaft overshot which weaves with 10 treadles, turning it makes it a 10-shaft overshot woven with 8 treadles. The original ground weft is threaded into the warp and every other warp thread is weaving the tabby either on shaft 1 or shaft 2. And now the weft will act like the original warp—in other words, I can weave it with just one shuttle!

There are a few things to keep in mind. For one thing, look at the draft. You can’t weave a 10-shaft pattern on an 8-shaft loom! My original plan was to use my 8-shaft Baby Wolf. Only when I was ready to start winding the warp did I realize that it just wasn’t going to work that way! I do suffer from tunnel vision sometimes. Luckily, I have other looms.

Also, the warp will be very dense with both pattern and ground threads sharing dents in the reed, but because the pattern threads are floating either on the face or on the back, the warp should be sett as a balanced plain weave for the size of the ground warp. The pattern thread has to be sturdy and smooth to stand up to warp tension as well.

There at the top and bottom, the figures just don't match as they should.

There at the top and bottom, the figures just don’t match as they should.

And threading the warp exactly as the weft didn’t seem to work my first try. After weaving a few repeats, it didn’t look just right. Then I noticed that the figures above and below the diamond weren’t symmetrical. The drawdown looked fine on computer but not on the loom. Hmmm…

I checked the “usual suspects”— tie-up, treadling, threading. I enlarged the draft on the computer and that’s when I noticed that at the reversing point in the diamond, the weaving program had also reversed the tabby. On the loom, I had faithfully threaded all the ground threads on shafts 1 and 2, alternating all the way across. I should have reversed those ground threads as well as the pattern threads.

After rethreading, the figures are now symmetrical.

After rethreading, the figures are now symmetrical.

After some rethreading, it is now symmetrical. There are some other irregularities, but I will work on those with the next warp.  This is a retraining project after all. By the time I make it through the various color ways I had in mind, I ought to have the process down pat.

What projects are you finishing before year’s end?

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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.

Giving Thrums a New Life

24 Thursday Apr 2014

Posted by in Overshot, Thrums

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Earlier this year I made a goal, a New Year’s resolution of sorts, to work more from my stash. I’ve made some towels with a rick-rack cotton yarn, followed by some placemats in a heavy cotton woven in block weave. There is still my thrum basket.

Thrums are the short pieces of yarn left at the end of the warp. They are too short to weave anything useful, but I ache at just throwing them away. Each warp takes a lot of planning and throwing away 300-400 pieces each 20” to 24” inches long is against my nature. But what can I do with them (other than bundling them up and putting them in a basket for some future project?)

For ideas, I pulled up my Handwoven Magazine indexes and looked up “thrums”. (Yes, I do keep my back issues—they inspire and entertain, even if they are 20 or 25 years old!) In the September/October, 1991 issue, Margaret Gaynes presented an overshot potholder design. She used her thrums as the pattern weft and bordered the potholder with bias tape to cover the cut ends on each side. There was the beginning for my project.

Instead of potholder, I chose to make mug rugs– those fabric coasters for your coffee mugs and water bottles. I like the idea of using an overshot design and chose a pattern with one large motif for each piece. Mug rugs are often fringed on the cut ends, but I needed to do something with the sides where my short thrums will hang off. The answer here is to apply a side fringe as well. This is accomplished by threading a dummy warp for the width of that side fringe. Then when the project is off the loom and machine-stitched around each mug rug, that warp is removed and the fringe remains.  Of course, I’m back to wasting yarn.

Mug Rugs from Thrums

Mug Rugs from Thrums

I’m still sampling to get the perfect size. The first mug rug had fringes that were too short (top). The second one, on the left, seemed too big to me (6-1/2” square with fringe). The third one, on the right, is sett closer, so it is 6-1/2” x 7” with fringe; still too big. Next I will use a finer ground weft to see if I can get down to a 5-1/2” square mug rug. I’m getting there.

Do you have ideas for using thrums? Let me know!