Hi
Someone has posted a "universal" tie up for a a CM loom. Has anybody ever tried this? Does it work? Any opinions appreciated.
Thanks!
Candace
It would work - the caveat is that you'd have a devil of a time remembering those shaft combinations until you got used to it.
For 4 shafts, the max number of treadles would be 14 and this variation gives you that 14 treadle capability.
You get - tabby, 2/2 twill and 3/1 twill at the same time.
For instance, for tabby, you'd first press 1 and 7 together and then 2 and 8 together.
FWIW - I would never *dream* of using a "universal tie-up" for *any* loom :-) (OK, possibly a 4-sh CB, but only if I *had* to - lack of treadles, for instance)
It is so much simpler to do a logical tie-up - logical for the treadling sequence, that is. I even tie up more treadles tahn "needed" if it simplifies treadling. The tie-up is something you do once per warp (or item) - but the treadling is something you have to do hundreds, even thousands, of times per warp (or item).
Never felt the need and I dislike depressing more than one treadle at a time. It slows me down.
Dawn
I agree with Kerstin that I wouldn't want to work so hard on the treadling! There are a couple of times when I have tied up my CM loom with a multi-treadle tie-up in order to achieve more complex options, namely for double cloth (where I assigned half the treadles to each layer, allowing me to mix blocks at will) and summer & winter (where I separated the tabby from the pattern blocks), but for twills and other basic weaves I'd much rather just get under the loom and organise the treadles for that particular project. But I always take a cup of tea down there with me, for sustenance!
Cally
Hi Candace,
The link you gave has a tie-up which was needed because she did not have enough treadles. Usually this is called a skeleton tie-up. Looking at American weaving in the recent past, Summer and Winter patterns were very popular and they often required more treadles than the loom had. The skeleton tie-up was often called an X Y tie-up, which referred to separating the first two treadles out to make the skeleton tie up. So, this concept has had different names.
But it is used when you do not have enough treadles. Kerstin is right, one does not choose to do this when you have enough treadles, as it is much harder to weave.
You will get used to the tie-up and after a few warps, you will not want to think about weaving with two feet.
Joanne
