BACKSTRAP WEAVING TUTORIAL FOR INTERMEDIATE LEVEL WEAVERS - DOUBLE WEAVE-A PROPOSAL BY Laverne Waddington
THIS TUTORIAL IS NOT FOR BEGINNERS!!
IT IS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY BEEN PRACTICING MAKING PLAIN WEAVE BANDS AND ARE COMFORTABLE WITH THE BASICS SKILLS NEEDED TO OPERATE THE LOOM. YOU SHOULD BE COMPETENT AT MAKING BANDS AND WIDER PIECES WITH FAIRLY STRAIGHT EDGES. Ideally you will have woven a band following the instructions in Beginner Tutorial 3-one-weft double weave.
This tutorial also covers double weave but combines double weave with plain weave borders. This means that you can weave a wide piece in plain weave and decorate it with strips of double woven motifs. In the photo above, the apricot colored area is plain weave and the strip of brown and white motifs is double weave.
The main difference is that in this technique you will be using two wefts.
This project is for those who already know how to make string heddles and set up the loom. If you need those instructions, look in the Beignner tutorilas or on the ''getting started''and ''heddle making'' pages-or just ask!!!!
Laverne
YARNS....................
You'll have to forgive me with the yarn recommendations here as I am in Bolivia and we are not exactly spoiled for choice. I generally DEMO with a very heavy wieght cotton as it photographs well -it wraps only 12 times to the inch.(pictured at left on the ruler)
For my own projects, I use 8/2 weight cotton which you an see on the right. Your yarns need to be firm and smooth-nothing loosely twisted or fluffy in any way.
Something BETWEEN the 2 weights would be good for a first project. The heavy weight is good for sample bands and for getting used to handling the loom but for most projects IT REALLY IS A BIT TOO CHUNKY.
