I'm looking at a pattern in A Handweaver's Pattern Book by Margeurite Porter Davison on page 52. It is the undulating twill patterns. It says "use tabby where indicated." And indeed it does say "use tabby" to the side of the treadling for number IV. But nothing is marked under the tie ups showing the tabby tie ups. So when would I use tabby? I'm not clear on when I stop following the pattern and use tabby.

 

if anyone can explain I would appreciate it. I'm not sure if it is appropriate to take a phot of that section of the page to show or not.

 

thanks for any help you can offer.

Comments

Wed, 09/23/2015 - 18:14

MaryMartha

Use tabby means to alternate the two tabby treadles between picks of the pattern weft.  The tabby treadles are 1 & 2.  So, according to IV, you would treadle #6, then #1 (or 2), then #4, then #2 (or 1), etc.  When you get down to the portion that calls for two picks with the same treadle, you still insert the tabby picks in between each pattern pick.

This is just a shorthand to shorten the treadling sequence.  Writing out all the tabby picks would double the length of the treadle draft. 

Wed, 09/23/2015 - 18:30

MaryMartha

Mutz, the other thing that might not be obvious here is that the weft yarn used for the tabby is different from the pattern weft.  In other words, you need two shuttles to weave this variation.  If you look very carefully at the picture, you can see the white tabby threads (matching the warp threads) running horizontally between the dark pattern threads.  Basically, you are taking the undulating twill threading and weaving it as overshot. 

Wed, 09/23/2015 - 20:18

Mutz

oh that makes so much sense now to so many of the patterns in the book. I was trying to avoid overshot in the beginning because I knew they were supposed to be complicated. That is why I picked a twill. I didn't realize it was sort of an overshot twill. But now I see maybe I don't have to be scared of overshot. It seems just as straight forward.

 

but now I question my choice of weft. Should the weft for overshot pattern picks be thicker than the warp thread and tabby picks?  I was planning on using a 8/2 tencel in the warp and 8/2 tencel weft. Will that not work for overshot?

 

 

Wed, 09/23/2015 - 20:36

kerstinfroberg

what "works" is in the eys of the beholder: the most traditional "overshot" (whatever that means...) uses thin tabby picks, thicker pattern picks.

What happens if you do the oppisite? It will look different, that's what. (and maybe the weaving police will descend on you - where I live, the weaving police is concentrating on # of picks in hems...)

What it comes down to: sample, and see for yourself. You can try your wefts as you planned, and the try another length wit the pattern picks doubled. Is the result nice? Then go for it!

Wed, 09/23/2015 - 23:40

MaryMartha

If you substitute a thinner yarn for the tabby picks, I think it will squash down the figures and you won't get the result pictured on p.52.  In this case, you probably want two yarns of the same weight -- one for warp and tabby and the other for pattern.  This will require more of the warp yarn than you may have planned on.

If you compare the I treadling with the IV treadling, you can see they are similar.  It is just that the addition of tabby makes the twill line steeper, and alternation of areas of one pick and two picks creates a vertical waxing and waning.

You'll see this tie-up (2/2 twill with tabby) again in 4 shaft overshot drafts, which by then won't seem so complicated.