This is another one of my favorite weaving techniques. The vertical stripe looks complicated, but it’s just a simple plain weave pattern that you change colors. And yes this is exactly the same as the three colored weave I re-shared a bit ago, except that to get the vertical stripes you use a thin warp thread so that your weft threads sit close together and create the striped pattern.
The basic idea is to weave a row of plain weave with your first color, then weave a row of plain weave using the opposite warps like normal, but this time with your second color. Then you continue alternating between color #1 and color #2 and your stripes will build.
step 1 | weave a row of plain weave with your first color. In my weave, the first row is the sea green color. When you get to the end of the row, let your thread sit while you work with the second color.
step 2 | taking your second color, mine is the apple green, weave a row of plain weave using the opposite warps. This is just like you would when you normally weave a plain weave, except your using a second thread. Once you get to the end of the row, leave that second color thread sit and pick up your first color thread again.
step 3 | my third row will be woven using the sea green again. The trick to changing the colored rows is how you handle the sides switches. When you are weaving a color that ends under the last warp (like my sea green row), just bring it under it’s next row and plain weave as usual. This color will hook around the other color’s row (apple green) which will hold it in place.
step 4| on this fourth row I’m leaving the sea green alone and weaving the apple green. When you are weaving a color that ends over the last warp (like my sea green row), loop it once around the end warp and then bring it under two warp threads. Then plain weave as usual.
step 5| continue alternating the colors in this way until you’re finished with your weave. When you first start out weaving these rows, they don’t look like much, but as you keep going you can see that the vertical strips start to become apparent.
Don’t be put off by this sounding tricky, it’s really just as simple as the plain weave with a little extra effort on the end warps where your colors switch.
The vertical stripes add really bold visual effects. Experiment with making these stripes. You can change your weave order of the colored threads and easily make a new and interesting pattern. I’ve added them to many different weaves, including a circular weave I made. They really bring a different feel to your weaves by adding structure and detail and with not much more effort then weaving just a plain over-under weave.
Do you like how the vertical stripes look in weaves? Have you added vertical stripes to your weaves? I love to hear about what you are working on and I love seeing your work too! If you want to share your creations, tag them on Instagram with #TWLtutorial or you can join my Pinterest group board for sharing your creations here.
Happy Weaving!
Kate
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