Ever want to weave a block of color? It looks so nice, but if you were to straight weave a block there would be gaps in your weave. If you want the gaps as part of the design, then great. But if you don’t want the gaps, a dovetail join is a great solution. The dovetail join is when you weave two different wefts onto the same warp threads so that you can have different wefts side by side without gaps. Here are the steps…
step 1| I like to weave a few rows of my first color (the grey colors on the left side) and then weave in my second color row (the mustard on the right side). Here I wove my second color all the way onto the warp thread that my grey color ended on then wove back the other way.
step 2| I then pushed the already woven grey row up so that it is under the mustard colored row I just wove.
step 3| I wove the mustard color again all the way to the same warp thread that the grey row ended on and wove it back again.
step 4| I pushed the grey thread up again under the mustard. You would continue in this way, layering each side on the same warp thread until you are done with your block.
The dovetail join works really well, but it does add bulk to the warp thread where the wefts meet. If you wanted a more hidden join, I have shared two other techniques previously here.
One of those other options is the interlocking weft method, which works well without creating so much bulk.
If you wanted a very clean join line, then you can weave the wefts side by side with no join and later sew them together, which is much more hidden and gives you sharp vertical lines.
If you’re not sure which method to use, I suggest playing around with each and seeing what your preference is. It can also depend on the feel of your design.
Have you used any of these joins when weaving? Out of the three, do you have a preference?
Happy Weaving!
Kate
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