I love a good draft pattern in a weave. The basic technique is very simple, but once all the rows are next to each other it’s really rewarding to see the pattern pop out.
Today we’re going to add a chevron pattern to our weave and keep our visual interest going (click here to find all the Weave Along posts). But before adding our chevron pattern, I first added a twinning thread boarder. Since last week we wove a plain weave as a base for our embroidery, I wanted a distinct boarder to separate the plain weave and the chevron weave.
Here are the steps for this week:
step 1|| with two threads, add a twinning row across your weave to work as a boarder.
We’ve covered twinning before, but for those that need a refresher:
- Take two pieces of thread measured out to the same length. Then tie them in a knot, leaving 2-3 inches of a thread tail.
- With the knot against the end warp, put one thread under the end warp and one thread over the end warp. Then begin weaving the two threads oppositely over and under the warps.
- The process of twining is basically passing one thread over, under, over, etc while passing the other thread under, over, under, etc. And at the same time twisting those two threads around each other when they cross in the space between warp threads.
- I twin my threads well below the previous row so I have room, then I pack them against the previous row.
- Tie off the two threads at the end of the row.
step 2|| next we’ll use just a single thread to start our chevron pattern. Taking your single thread weave a row across your weave following the pattern of over 2 warp threads, under 1.
When you get to the last warp thread, you may notice that you can’t complete the pattern evenly. For example, I ended over 1 warp thread. This is ok. I never worry about the edges when I’m making the chevron pattern. Instead my goal is to loop my weft around the end warp and then continue my pattern as necessary. So if I end 1 warp over, I’m going to start 1 warp under, no matter what the pattern is. On the second warp thread is where I’ll pick back up on the pattern and either weave the weft over the second warp or continue it under the second warp.
step 3|| continue your second row. We’re building our chevron pattern with the over going towards the left. This means that you’ll want to pass over the warp thread that you went under in the first row and also pass over the warp thread next to it. You’ll then go under the next warp thread. We’re continuing our over 2 under 1 pattern but it’s placed one warp thread to the left of the previous row. This creates our ‘stepped’ look.
step 4|| keep weaving each row, by stepping your over 2 under 1 pattern to the left until you have woven a total of 9 rows.
step 5|| for the 10th row in your chevron pattern, we’re going to start stepping our rows back towards the right. The easiest way to do this is look at your row 8 and copy where the over 2 under 1 passes are made on the warp threads. In this direction, where the previous rows has over 2 under 1 you will pass your thread under 1 then over 2. This steps your pattern to the right.
step 6|| continue weaving until you have 8 rows of the right stepped over 2 under 1 pattern. If you start to get confused with reversing the direction, just look to the opposite pattern rows that you have already woven and duplicate them.
The other day I was tagged on Instagram by a weaver who is participating in the weave along. She is weaving hers with the weft and the warp threads as the same color, which look really awesome! I would love to see everyone’s weave, so please email me or tag me. It’s really fun to see what you’re all making. Find all the weave along posts here.
Happy Weaving!
Kate
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