Right From The Start

Information provided by Marcy Petrini

In her “Right From The Start” article in the Fall Issue of Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot, Marcy Petrini posed the following questions.

• In Summer and Winter:
  • How would a threading be extended to 8 shafts?
  • How would the treadling for each block be extended for the blocks on 8 shafts?
• In Overshot:
  • How can this threading be extended to 8 shafts?
  • How would the treadling be extended to an 8-shaft version, maintaining the overshot and half tone areas?
  • What happens while block A weaves overshot if the 4-shaft “rules” are aookued strictly to 8 shafts?

Summer and Winter Answers

Extending the threading to 8 shafts gives 4 additional blocks, for a total of 6:

																8		8
											7		7
						6		6
	5		5
		2					2					2					2
1					1					1					1

 

C

D

E

F

The treadling for block B in singles is:
 

Sinking-Shed Loom	Shot	Rising-Shed Loom
3 & 4	tabby	1 & 2
1 & 4	pattern	2 & 3
1 & 2	tabby	3 & 4
2 & 4	pattern	1 & 3

Extending the treadling to 8 shafts results in the following:
 

Sinking-Shed Loom	Block	Rising-Shed Loom
3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8	Tabbies	1 & 2
1 & 2		3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8
1 & 3	A	2 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8
2 & 3		1 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8
1 & 4	B	2 & 3 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8
2 & 4		1 & 3 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8
1 & 5	C	2 & 3 & 4 & 6 & 7 & 8
2 & 5		1 & 3 & 4 & 6 & 7 & 8
1 & 6	D	2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 7 & 8
2 & 6		1 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 7 & 8
1 & 7	E	2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 8
2 & 7		1 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 8
1 & 8	F	2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7
2 & 8		1 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7

Overshot Answers

																			8		8		8
																7		7		7
													6		6		6
										5		5		5
							4		4		4
				3		3		3
	2		2		2
1		1																				1		1

 

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

The treadling for these blocks is as follows:
 

Sinking-Shed Loom	Block	Rising-Shed Loom
1 & 3 & 5 & 7	Tabbies	2 & 4 & 6 & 8
2 & 4 & 6 & 8		1 & 3 & 5 & 7
1 & 2	A	3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8
2 & 3	B	1 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8
3 & 4	C	1 & 2 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8
4 & 5	D	1 & 2 & 3 & 6 & 7 & 8
5 & 6	E	1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 7 & 8
6 & 7	F	1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 8
7 & 8	G	1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6
8 & 1	H	2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7

These blocks must be combined, otherwise the floats will be too long. For example, while block A weaves overshot, block B and H will weave half-tones. Blocks C, D, E, F and G weave plain weave. However, on the other side of the cloth, the overshot will extend over these five blocks, too long to be practical.

In combining blocks, the same idea that was used for twills can be applied here. For example, blocks A and E can be combined; in this case, while blocks A and E weave overshot, blocks B, D, F and H weave half-tones, and blocks C and G weave plain weave. The treadling for this example is:
 

1 & 2 & 5 & 6

A & E

3 & 4 & 7 & 8

Blocks can be combined in any way that results in a practical float, on both sides of the cloth.

There is a method to weave overshot that separates each block. For example, block A is threaded: 1, 2, 1, 2, etc. and block B: 3, 4, 3, 4, etc. This results in 4 blocks on 8 shafts. However, in weaving these blocks, no half-tones result because blocks do not share threads. This is, in effect, Monks' Belts, which is sometimes not considered overshot because of this lack of half-tones.