The Falkirk tartan

or: what excessive googling can lead to...

Someone asked me about "the Falkirk tartan", could I help explain?

I had to admit that "the Falkirk tartan" wasn't in my cache memory, so I would have to get back later.

There were a gazillion hits on "Falkirk tartan". Here is a picture, snagged from the National Museum of Scotland enlarged to double size (click to maximize):

Some manipulating later, I decided this was as "improved" I could get it:

So, obviously, this is a straightforward 2/2 broken-reversed twill, treadled straight. (Well, who knows which direction is which, and it probably was neither "threaded" nor "treadled" as we understand the words nowadays, but the structure looks like this)

(edited to show the correct picture here)

However, several hits used this same sentence to describe it:
" Although small, it is of a type known as weft-woven (or dog-tooth) check in woollen fabric. It has a simple check design of natural light and dark wool."

Er, yes. Of course it is a weft-woven check (I mean, all cloth is woven with a weft, yes?). But just how often do we come across the combination weft (hyphen) woven? By then, my google-fu had deserted me, I just could not convince it to search for "weft-woven" (as in weft-hyphen-woven). Tried some other search engines, with the same result.

So: is there anybody out there who can tell me what exactly "a type known as weft-woven (or dog-tooth) check" means???

Giving up on that one, I went on to "dog-tooth". Maybe I shouldn't have done that... as usual, "trade" has its own definitions, sometimes not agreeing with "handweaver" defs.

According to my usual (handweaving) sources, hound's tooth is a colour-and-weave pattern, a 2/2 straight twill with 4-and-4-ends/picks. If the twill is broken/reversed, it can become a shepherd's check (but by now I have run out of stamina, and I can't remember which of the other three quadrants is what I think of as shepherd's check, and, besides, does it really matter?)

Another shirt

At about 55-60 ends per cm (which equals about 135-150 ends per inch), this is a fairly fine shirting material, woven in a colour-and-weave pattern.

The pattern itself is easily reproduced – but to find this fine yarn for a handweaver would be quite another thing.

Here is the pattern – that is, here is the principle of the pattern. I have not tried to count the actual number of ends. The fabric is slightly warp-faced, which I illustrate with somewhat fatter wefts.

In the warp there are odd numbers of warp both for the solid stripes and for the b & w sections. Each b & w has an extra black to begin and end the section.

In the weft there are also odd numbers of each stripe, but the extra black threads are omitted.

To paddle or not to paddle?

Why, I have been asked, do I not use a paddle when warping with multiple ends?

The question came as a comment to this post – and the shortest possible answer is: but I did – only the "paddle" took the form of a reed.

One longer answer is: because I often use several colours/nuances, and rarely want a 1/1 lease because that would prevent a "random" colour placement.
Examples of "random" colour threadings (and the results) are:

On the occasions I do want a "perfect" colour order and the ends are of similar value (and thus can be difficult to see when threading) I do make a 1/1 lease – but as these colour orders often do not repeat, I haven’t found a way to make the paddle work: once the ends are in the paddle, they have their set place... Also, my favourite method for making colour transitions is based on Pascal’s triangle, which means I need to change the number of ends I warp with all the time. The system is described in an article on my website – here.

Some examples:

Detail from side panel:

Another one:

Detail, approximately bottom left corner:

I have seldom had problems with bigger leases, probably because my loom(s) are quite long, and because I seldom use very fine threads. (Most of what I weave is cotton 30/2 and coarser, and my favourite wool is approx 10000 m/kg, or something over 5000 ypp.) Maybe I would find out the need for a 1/1 lease if I ever could get my hands on some real angel hair... :-)

Same, but opposite?

I guess it started with the shirt. It reminded me of something, if I only could remember exactly what.

Then I saw this, and I knew: what Cyrus (Manual of Swedish handweaving) calls "crêpe on opposites" (in the English version it says "Small-patterned crêpe [...] drawn with the help of the four-part method [...]". (The Cyrus quotes in this post are taken from the English edition printed 1977)

"Crêpe on opposites" with colour-and-weave? Pinwheels, certainly – but other crêpes?

Hmmm.
The old CM in the shop was empty, so...
From the draft I could not understand/visualize how different placement of colours would affect the final result, so I threaded this, on 8 shafts:

(Added a minimal selvage, as I could see it would be a disaster edge without anything, and I hate floating selvages). I also added two doubled colour stripes.

Weaving was not easy. Rather: beating was too easy. As you can see, treadles 1 and 8 form plain weave, but on the other treadles it is very easy to pack down the weft.
Anyway, I tried to concentrate. One heavier beat, seven light, one heavier, seven light... I managed so-so. (Note to self: next time, put it on the AVL – the auto-advance will help A LOT!)

Seeing it on loom did not make it easier: which colour placement would make the "best" pattern?

Having planned for two shawl-sized samples, I decided on two (slightly different) plans B.
The first: after about half, I went on to explore other possible colour arrangements. Here it is, just cut off:

The next: make a laborious V. That was almost a mistake – but one (menaing "me") can never have too many shawls/scarves, right?
I divided the weaving in two, lenghtwise. When I got near the end, I cut off the (right) half, and wove it crosswise into the other.

It was now it really showed: I had been beating too hard...

There are several things to say for my usual V method – one of them is that if the beat is off, it will occur everywhere simultaneously.
Another is that it is easy to find the correct end, as all the others still are in their heddles...
And no, wet finishing did not help:

-When it came off the loom, the cloth developped an interesting structure (see above). As nothing is finished until it is wet finished, I proceeded with the wet finishing.
After wet finishing, I decided it needed at least some pressing – and it became all flat. Tried steaming, but it remained flat.
Some days later, when it has hanged freely in our very humid summer climate, it is still flat.
The only thing I have not tried is wetting it out completely, but maybe I should.

Back to the shirt structure:

It does not follow Cyrus' rules ("[...] the repeat is divided into four parts, a pattern is drawn in the lower right section and then symmetrically opposite in the upper right section, further in the upper left section, and finally in the lower left section of the repeat"), but it can perhaps be called a "variation of a small-patterned crêpe on opposites"?

Oh, I forgot: to get the most interesting colour-and-weave result, the "other" colour should be placed on 1-8 (in my example) in both warp and weft:

The turquoise is on 1-8; the light blue is on 5-4.

On colour gamps

From time to time the topic of colour gamps crops up.

Ages ago (before the age of digital cameras, anyway) I wove one a little different. I meant to keep it for myself, but one day someone wanted to buy it... and, what can I say: I am in this for the money (yeah right!), so of course I sold it.

Now, of course, I can’t remember exactly what/how I did. There were some old notes, but not in enough detail. (Something that never has happened to me before – I wish ;-)

I do remember it was about optic blending, and I do remember I tried to use the CMYK (Cyan-Magenta-Yellow) system, using what yarns I had on hand.

After some fiddling, this is what I think I did:
(click to make bigger – the bigger the more stripey it looks)

Here and there there are a few colour-and-weave patterns, if you look closely enough. Here is one portion:

In 2/2 twill:

which also shows some colour-and-weave patterns:

Variations on a theme

Bilder till Siv - ganska lika, men inte riktigt: den andra är trampad-som-solvad, den första har en kortare trampning av varje parti. (Klicka på bilderna så blir de större)

Almost ths same, but not quite: the bottom one is treadled exactly as drawn in, while the top one has a shorter treadling repeat.

Grist-and-weave?

I have always wondered if/how colour-and-weave designs would work with thick-and-thin yarns.

Now I had a good opportunity to test it. I had some cotton 8/2, and some 16/2 that was just a shade darker, so I threaded up a hound's tooth pattern:

This is what I got:

Ho hum.
How fortunate I did not have a thin yarn in the same colour...

So - obviously the difference in size was not enough, thought I.

For the next sample I used 4 ends of a white mercerized cotton for the thick and one end unmerc for the thin, threaded to log cabin.

Okay, this time the pattern shows, but the quality is, er, sturdy. And not interesting enough to merit a re-sleying.
Re-threaded to hound's tooth:

Even more ho-hum (or should that be "less"?)...

For good measure, as there was a bit left of the lilac warp, I re-threaded that to log cabin.
Wove, from the top down,

- log cabin in thick and thin
- plain weave with only thin weft
- 2/2 twill with only thin weft.

Now I have one not-very-interesting (but soft) scarf, and one idea less to bother with.
I think it is called "experience"?

(But we did get a "draft-of-the-month"  for September, at the guild site, so it served a purpose)