I read an article in Handwoven about advancing twills and decided to use 8/4 cotton carpet warp rather than 8/2 cotton and set it closer than usual for a firmer fabric. My original plan was to make one 12" sample and 4 placemats but I ended up with 6 placemats. I completed the 12" sample and removed it, washed and dried it to be certain the fabric had enough body for the placemats.
The original pattern from Handwoven showed 5 variations for 4s loom. One variation had long warp floats which might have worked well with an 8/2 cotton and a closer epi and ppi but with the 8/4 carpet warp it was a sure fork grabber in a placemat. I did complete one of the six placemats with that draft just to see what it looked like and, sure enough, long warp floats. Too long for my purposes.
I am very pleased with how they turned out and am now considering doing them with just one color in the warp and weft and trying the other drafts included in the article. I would also like to try the 8/2 cotton adn set and beat it tightly enough so the warp floats do not grab forks.