BEGINNER TUTORIAL TWO-WARP FLOAT PATTERNS-a proposal by Laverne Waddington

 

These warp float patterns are created on a base of horizontal bars. You should know how to prepare your warp to weave horizontal stripes in two colors before you attempt this tutorial. The instructions for weaving horizontal bars are on the first beginner tutorial page........www.weavolution.com/node/4610

Instructions will be given here for weaving a triangle. You will see that once you have mastered making a triangle and a simple diagonal, these can be combined in endless ways to form all kinds of simple and complex designs. Video instructions can also be accessed on my Flikr page..........

www.flickr.com/photos/39560980@N05/sets/72157622448219980/ 

                 

 

Comments

Wed, 03/03/2010 - 21:28

siseltikva (not verified)

Hmph... I wonder what I'm doing wrong then. Weird. When there was more than one row of the same warp being picked up on the pattern, that's when it floated over more than one teal stripe. So apparently I'm missing some step when that float should be going back into the purple stripe before it floats over the teal stripe again. I'm going to watch your video and again and try to figure it out.

Wed, 03/03/2010 - 21:58

siseltikva (not verified)

Nope, I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. I watched your videos twice, and read through the tutorial twice and I can't find the step I've missed, or what I have out of order. :( I tried to go back over the steps I went through when weaving and... nope. Can't figure it out. It seems like... I'm missing some step where the previous row's warp floats should be transferred back under the teal... :( I don't know. I hate it when I make fundamental mistakes like this.

Any thoughts? 

:) Thanks, though, for the edges complement! Its amazing what happens when I don't worry about them.

Wed, 03/03/2010 - 22:14

bolivian warmi

let's see if I can explain it here....

STEP ONE-Open shed with all pink warps and pass weft.

STEP TWO-Select the pairs of pink warps that you want to have floating. Save these warps on a stick.

STEP THREE-Open the shed with all the teal warps.

STEP FOUR-Add the pink warps that you are saving to the shed with all the teal warps and pas the weft.

STEP FIVE-Open the shed with all the pink warps and pass the weft.

STEP SIX-Select NEW pairs of pink warps that you want to have floating. The pairs that you selected in STEP TWO will NOT be selected again this time. You will probably be selecting pairs that are adjacent to the pairs you selected in STEP TWO. (or whatever the pattern chart dictates)

For example, if you slected the 2nd pair of warps in STEP TWO, you might select the 1st and 3rd pairs this time but NOT the 2nd pair again.

Continue now with steps THREE, FOUR and FIVE.

See if this makes sense Tara.

Let me know if it doesn't and I will get some photos together for you.

Laverne

 

Wed, 03/03/2010 - 22:34

siseltikva (not verified)

There's nothing different in my process (from what I remember, at least) than yours.

Maybe I'm reading the pattern wrong! If the pairs I select should not be selected again in the next row, then I'm DEFINITELY reading the pattern wrong. Should I be kind of skipping a line? ... If that makes sense. Like, I shouldn't be picking up warps for every row in the pattern. Every other row should be the all pink row. ... is that it?

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 00:29

bolivian warmi

My chart here is for black and white warps. Let's call the blacks pink and the whites teal.

So you see the first row is a normal all pink shed-NO WARPS ARE PICKED UP. Pass the weft.

After you have passed your weft select the pairs for the float pattern-in the chart above they are pairs 1, 3 and 5. Put these on a stick. Now open the shed with all the teal warps. Add the selected pinks. This is the second row on the chart. Pass the weft.

The third row is an all pink row. Open the all pink shed Pass the weft.  You have now completed row 3 of the chart.

Row 4 is the all teal shed plus NEW PAIRS-the 2nd and 4th pairs of pink warps- select and save them with a stick BEFORE you open the all teal shed.

Remember, every time you go to open a teal shed, you are going to add pink pairs to it but each time they will be different pairs of pinks.

 

 

 

 

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 04:02

siseltikva (not verified)

Thanks for your explanation :) 

So, on the pattern I used, do I "skip" picking a row (the all pink row taking up what was in the pattern for that row)? 

Let me see if I can explain in a picture...

Am I thinking about this the right way now?

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 13:22

rose Goldielocks (not verified)

yup you are thinking the right way!  Here is my picture, a little different from Laverne's, but esentially the same information. (I have only ONE weft, for each of the "pattern" blocks, she has a PAIR, or 2 wefts for each "pattern" block.)

Don't feel bad about not quite getting the warp floats, I had to weave one of the samplers for a "S" pickup design 4 times before I got it right, and that was only after I did the diagram similar to below! (And I had already woven a whole bunch of other pick-up  designs out of Atwatter's books !)

In my diagram, "white" is shown as gray, and "dark" is shown as red, as using 'true" wite and black, and white for the weft, would just make a mess of a diagram. Your weaving will not show the weft sticking out inbetween the warps on the front side, I did that for clarity, so you could see how the heddle and open threads (the dark row, and the light row) interact with each other, and that the first threads in each row are not 'truely' on top of each other the way that they are conveiently diagramed.

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 15:11

siseltikva (not verified)

Wow, nice diagram! :) Thanks for showing this. That is pretty clear. Did you make that yourself or was it generated? I'm very impressed if you made it yourself, because I just thought it was easier to draw pictures on paper, and I'm even a web designer lol.

And thanks for the encouragement not to feel bad. :) I feel a little silly. But really I should have known when I recharted the pattern for ease of use, adding the horizontal striped parts, and thought it looked so awkward and not quite right lol. Oh well. Good learning experience, which is what all my weaving seems to be :) And I think my awkwardly long floats will still make a nice gift for someone lol.

Thank you!

Tara

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 15:30

bolivian warmi

I can see that you have got it now Tara. Your drawing on the left shows what you were doing wrong and why your floats were so long.  Rememeber you are just weaving a series of horizontal stripes with pairs of warps jumping over a stripe. You have it sorted on your chart on the right-now you should weave it to see if it all falls into place.

Laverne

Wed, 03/10/2010 - 15:02

bolivian warmi

I was looking hrough some stuff I got in Guatemala and found this really long belt with simple warp floats. I noticed this part of it where the weaver has used floats alternating from one color to the other and thought it was interesting. It kind of plays tricks on your eye.

Laverne

Wed, 03/10/2010 - 18:51

siseltikva (not verified)

Whoa, that's so cool! Very trippy. It does play a trick on your eye. Thank you for sharing this! 

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 13:27

historicstitcher (not verified)

So neat!  I was playing around with switching warp float colors on the piece I'm working on right now, but took it out because I couldn't get it quite right.  I love this example - thanks for sharing!

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 13:51

historicstitcher (not verified)

So here's my contribution from this lesson.  I seem to be weaving ahead and posting pictures later, but whatever.  The colors I chose were inspired by my newest book "Weaving in the Peruvian highlands".  I've eyed this book since it came out, and am thrilled to finally own a copy!  So many patterns to play with!!!

I've already warped up for Lesson 3, and I'll post pictures from it eventually.  Weaving time has been limited lately (as has knitting, spinning, and everything else-time).  Such is life.

My band: woven in 5/2 cotton from the weaving store.  It pilled on the heddles a little, but not so much that I couldn't weave, I'd just have to clear them once in a while.  I had a warping error on each side of the red/white color change to stripes that I just decided to deal with, and you can see it as a bump in the red on the right.  Overall, it was fun and pretty, and I think it'll be the strap to a bag (unless my son claims it for a belt, which is highly possible!).  I'm making a habit of making lesson bands really long, both for practice and for getting something useful out of it.

The colors are more true in the first one.  The second one shows the popsicle-stick technique for making the sheds.

I'm a little disappointed that my selvedges went wonky during the second weaving session - the first day they were all straight and tight, and after that they started wandering.  I'm wondering if the warps might have changed tension when I rolled it up and put it away?  Maybe I need to be more careful about re-setting it up?

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 14:15

rose Goldielocks (not verified)

 

I think your band looks wonderful, and I love all those bright colors! Your edges look just fine, a little bit uneaven proves that a human wove it, as opposed to a computer/robot.

Actually, on one of the 'tips and tricks' in TWIST, they say to check the tightness of how  you pull the weft with your fingers, not your eyes.

And, In my experience, pickup weaves do distort the edges a little, and it is necessary to have a plainweave border in order to keep the weaving even.

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 14:42

jeannine (not verified)

this  band is looking good! I like the bright colours very much.   the selfedges don't look to bad to me. in general i have the impression that my selfedges never are the same as i have to restart on another day. so I keep an eye on that and try to make them as even as possible. But it is handweaving and  selfedges which are sligtly uneven is one of the trademarks I think.

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 14:53

historicstitcher (not verified)

Thank you!

 

I really enjoy this type of weaving, and have so many ideas.  I'm trying to keep myself to only warping one project ahead of the one I'm weaving, but with the ideas and such, it's hard to not start a new one every day!  But then, time constraints help kep that in check, too  :-/

I recently visited my "local" weaving store and bought a selection of 5/2 cottons in fun bright colors along with the basic white and black.  if I don't use them for this, they'll end up in towels on the big loom at some point, but for now I have a wonderful selection of colors to play with!

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 15:29

bolivian warmi

Your bands are sooo pretty-what gorgeous colors!! The edge warps get slack. You can just untie the knots at your far loom bar and retie them tighter or place bamboo kebab skewers, toothpicks or thin dowels under the slack warps to take up tension. Slip the sticks under the loose warps at the far end of your warp and tie them to the loom bar. Good to have a collection of sticks of all thicknesses to deal with warps that are a little or very slack. Don't worry. this is a very common occurence.

May I show off your work on my blog next week? PLEASE! Do you have a blog?

Laverne

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 16:39

historicstitcher (not verified)

I'd be honored if you showed it off!  Thank you!!

And yes, I do have a blog, but it's been pretty quiet lately: historicstitcher.blogspot.com.  Life has interfered with posting there, and every time I want to post, something else interrupts me and it doesn't get done.  Forums are SO much quicker to post in! 

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 20:30

bolivian warmi

Great. I know what you mean about posting in forums....Picture, hey look what I just made!! end of story!

PS I just noticed that you are floating single warps instead of pairs which is perfecty fine-the technique is exactly the same. I was just wondering if there was a reason you chose to do that.

 

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 20:32

bolivian warmi

This is a great tease. I must go to your blog and find out more about this!

Sat, 03/13/2010 - 00:50

historicstitcher (not verified)

I was looking for the more delicate strings of color that come from fine or single warps.  I wanted a lighter look, like the ones in "Weaving in the Peruvian Highlands".  I guess it's just me.

Sat, 03/13/2010 - 15:33

siseltikva (not verified)

This is beautiful! Your colors are lovely! And your selvedges are actually pretty nice. Good job! 

Sun, 03/14/2010 - 22:52

siseltikva (not verified)

Hello! I just thought I'd post a picture of my finished (all be it messed up) warp-float pencil pouch. I used a button hole stitch for the end of my warp, and the triple cross knit looping to finish the edges of the pouch.

Sun, 03/14/2010 - 23:01

bolivian warmi

Tara!! It' looks great. I am so happy that you used the cross knit looping. May I put this on my blog? The sewing across the turned over edge looks nice in the contrast color too.

 

Mon, 03/15/2010 - 00:07

siseltikva (not verified)

Sure you can! If you'd like to :) I liked doing the cross knit looping, even though its not all that consistent :) Thanks so much for that tutorial! 

Fri, 03/19/2010 - 13:42

bolivian warmi

 

I made this cell phone pouch from a band made with simple warp floats. This is the same technique that is taught in this tutorial except that the entire surface is covered with warp floats so that the horizontal stripes get hidden. I started off with white and red horizontal stripes and then made floats with both colors.

You can read more about this on my blog today and the yurt bands that inspired the design.

backstrapweaving.wordpress.com/

There's a braid tutorial and a new pattern chart for simple warp floats too.

Laverne

Fri, 03/26/2010 - 14:33

bolivian warmi

Here is a new cell phone pouch that I have made using the border design from a yurt band. It is done in simple warp float technique with some of the warp floats overlapping. I have done a tutorial on this border design on my blog today as a warm up to a larger yurt band design next week. Get familiar with the technique so next week we can weave this motif....

http://backstrapweaving.wordpress.com/

Laverne

Fri, 04/02/2010 - 14:08

bolivian warmi

The yurt obsession continues as I run into more and more resources online. A wonderful gentleman in Beijing has shared some pieces from his collection and given me permission to show them on my blog so go check them out-they are gorgeous. One of them has the "S" design that is in this week's tutorial on my blog and another has the border design that I taught last week.

     

Here is the "S" woven in two columns and mirrored-just the right size for a belt.

And in contrast to this black and white there are lots of colors from Guatemala this week too...

http://backstrapweaving.wordpress.com/

Laverne

Wed, 04/28/2010 - 21:16

rose Goldielocks (not verified)

Here is what I am working on right now.

The warp is knitting wool, and is very sticky... I found it as sticky as using the sugar and spice in a very tight double weave band. The pattern area is 24 warps (12 pair) wide.

Wed, 04/28/2010 - 21:51

bolivian warmi

Hi Sharon,

More details please! what technique is this and hat are you making? Does that loom have adjustable ension-is this one of your ingenious designs?

 

Wed, 04/28/2010 - 22:01

rose Goldielocks (not verified)

oh yes... the adjustable tension is done by loosening/tighthing the screws on the bolts.

the pattern is the 'birds' from your book, (I just got started, you can see the start of the pickups on the top if you squint).

as far as 'My design"... no, not really, I have seen similar designs all over the place in various forms over the years. all I did was drill holes in the end pieces. The wide ends allow the warp to be higher than the sides, so my fat fingers can reach the warp without running into the sides of a frame.

 

Thu, 06/03/2010 - 02:27

Sweet Annie (not verified)

I have tried and tried to do the 3rd chart but do not achieve what I'm supposed to. Instead I have warp floats that appear way too long.

The triangles are no problem so I don't understand what is going wrong.  I put my dark shed on top and put the weft through. Then I pick up the darks and drop the lights. 

I put my stick under the picked up warps, put my index finger in the shed, turn the stick, and put my fingers in the new shed. I pass the shuttle and then beat. 

I change sheds to the dark shed and pass the weft.

Is there something I'm not getting right? 

Thu, 06/03/2010 - 13:44

bolivian warmi

The only part that you say that doesn't make sense to me is...

"Then I pick up the darks and drop the lights."

After passing the weft throught the dark shed, you keep that shed open and keep the dark warps that you want to have floating. There are no whites there to drop.

This chart with the horizontal bars drawn in might make it clearer for you. I have also written the numbers of the pairs that you need to keep from each dark shed.

NOTE: I had to delete an original comment with this pattern chart as there were errors in the chart and, as the comment had been replied to, I could not edit it. Deleting the comment also deleted the replies. Sorry about that.Many thanks to Sweet Annie for studying the chart and finding the errors!

Laverne

Thu, 06/03/2010 - 17:01

Sweet Annie (not verified)

The chart worked for me and I finished with weaving it! 

I am on to warping for the bird. I went back to my version of the chart to color in all the horizontal bars so I won't fumble about again but I am studying how the chart looks without them colored all the way across. After all, I can't ask you to customize all the charts for me! 

It turns out that my comment of 'drop the lights' is something I was repeating from watching one of Laverne's videos where she was using black and white warps and was dropping white ones. Since I'm using colors I should just think of dropping warps, not lights. 

I haven't learned how to post pictures here but if/when I do I'll show my humble beginnings! 

 

Thu, 06/03/2010 - 19:20

bolivian warmi

That bird is lovely and no one that I know of has woven it yet. I am so happy that you want to weave it. THis is what it looks like woven as a double image with a little tree. Let me know if you would like to do this whole pattern and I will chart it for you. the bird motif is from cotton saddlebags woven in coastal Ecuador and I copied it from a photo of one in the journal of the DC's Textile Museum. THe flower below it is a motif used by the saddle bag weavers with whom I stayed and studied also in coastal Ecuador.  They repeat the flower along the whole length of the piece and so program the design by setting up the warps to be picked up 11 sets of string heddles!

Fri, 06/04/2010 - 02:00

Sweet Annie (not verified)

I wove one bird! 

Fri, 06/04/2010 - 02:45

bolivian warmi

Now don't tease...where's the photo please?

PS...How come Ravelry gets an avatar and we dont? :-)

Fri, 06/04/2010 - 04:03

Caroline (not verified)

Mmmmmm, I would have to agree with the last comment, and it would be lovely to see what you have done!

Fri, 06/04/2010 - 20:23

Sweet Annie (not verified)

 I agree, too! It would be better of me to take a picture and learn how to post it (thanks for the link to the directions, Laverne!), and have a picture of something, anything! (I'll try that soon!) 

Do you all know what the plant Sweet Annie is? It's in the artemesia family and in the right amount of light it can grow very tall. It has tiny little yellow/green flowers when it blooms. It's very delicate and it has a wonderful fragrance. 

I first discovered it while residing in Ohio where people make dried wreaths with it - cutting the plants just before the buds bloom. I found a couple of plants at a nursery around where I live now and was told to let the plants go to see and I wouldn't have to buy any more of it. 

I let some of it seed itself every year and when the seeds grows the next spring I then transplant the little plants to where I want them and also give some away. This year I have a lot more of it and I am going to try growing it in more locations on the property. 

So, if you want some Sweet Annie I'll have to send you seeds in the fall! 

Fri, 06/04/2010 - 21:10

bolivian warmi

Well now we see why I was asking for the avatar...you always have such interesting ones. Your description of your user name just has me begging for more pictures! How about bird weaving and sweet Annie together?

Sat, 06/05/2010 - 01:14

Karren K. Brito

Here is mu first time trying this technique, Laverne's videos were a great starting place.  The warp sequence is from Mary Atwater's monograph on Inkle Weaving.  Used #10 crochet cotton.  They are for a bookmark project at the guild.

 

.

 

 

 

Sat, 06/05/2010 - 01:18

bolivian warmi

Very pretty colors. The turquoise down the middle makes all the difference.-very southwest looking to me.

Sun, 06/06/2010 - 15:10

bolivian warmi

VERY nice! Well done Sweet Annie!

Sun, 06/06/2010 - 16:35

Karren K. Brito

Wow, I just look at the picture and I can smell Sweet Annie.

Mon, 07/05/2010 - 01:18

Evelyn (not verified)

My start of a band with a warp float pattern.  I am using the inkle again as my support instead of trying the backstrap (but I will try it soon!)   At first I thought there wouldn't be enough contrast, but the heavy yarn sits up on top well.

The pattern is adapted from Byways in Handweaving, by Atwater

Handcrafter cotton by Bernat - Aran-Worsted weight  at   12wpi, variegated blues and an unknow white of similar weight I had on hand.

 

 

Mon, 07/05/2010 - 01:34

bolivian warmi

Looking good, Evelyn. I think it's geat to show people that these things can be easily done on other looms too. I have never thought to use a variegated yarn. I really like the way it looks.

Mon, 07/05/2010 - 02:27

Evelyn (not verified)

Thanks Laverne!  I like the weight of the band and plan to use it for the band on a bag woven using rag strips. 

It took me awhile to wrap my head around the pick-up technique and the shed openings.   I also was confused about the "pairs" of warp floats.  Then I realized that as this isn't structural than one or an odd number was o.k. and that the pattern shown in the book was o.k.

The way you describe doing the pattern picking is  so much easier with the pattern warps up, instead of fishing around below the ground warp the way it is described in some books.  

more on my blog -

http://evelynoldroyd.wordpress.com/2010/07/04/inkle-weaving-and-strawberry-shortcake/

Mon, 07/05/2010 - 03:41

bolivian warmi

I sometimes pick singles...it depends on the motif. The brown and beige example with the little birds on the first page of this tutorial is done in singles rather than pairs although you will have to look really closely to see it .

I checked out your blog...OMG the strawberry cake! It's 11.30 pm and now I'm hungry! Thanks for the links!! :-)