In the previous article, I introduced weaving techniques for plain weaving and tapestry weaving.
This time let’s weave horizontal and vertical lines and polka dots. I will introduce the following items weaving through a sample.
See the following article for the preparation procedures:
1. How to read the sample grid
I will explain the basic reading of the sample grid used in this article.
The illustrations 1-3 are enlarged from the overall grid to each part of the grid.
The horizontal numeral scales indicate the number of warps, and the vertical numeral scales indicate the number of weft picks.
Illustration 1 is the bottom part of the grid, from the first pick to the 66th pick.
For example, you can see that the first light brown and blue stripes consist of 6 picks each.
Illustration 2 is the middle part of the grid, from the 67th to the 143rd pick. It is woven using a technique called pick and pick. Details are explained in the vertical lines and polka dots sections.
Illustration 3 is the upper part of the grid, from the 144th to the 209th pick. The design is woven in the reverse order of the weaving in the bottom part.
2. Weaving a stripe pattern as a sample
Let’s make a striped mini tapestry like the sample illustration.
See the grid illustrations explained in the section above as well. You can see how many picks the weft threads travel to make stripes.
The finished piece will look like photo 1.
I will introduce the basic techniques for weaving this sample in the following sections.
2-1. Horizontal lines with meet-and-separate weaving
Horizontal lines from the first to the 12th picks are woven using the meet and separate technique.
The weft for the first pick to make the first light brown stripe is placed in the middle to start, as shown in photos 1 and 2. In this method, no tailing is required.
The second pick is woven from both ends of the warp toward the center, as shown in photo 3.
The third pick is woven from the center outward, as shown in photo 4.
The point where each weft is turned is shifted slightly as shown in the illustration: from the 2nd to the 3rd pick, the weft threads are folded in the middle, from the 4th to the 5th pick, the weft threads are folded a little to the right.
6 picks are woven in this manner, and when each end of weft threads meet at the 6th pick, the tails are processed in the same manner as the splicing technique introduced in the previous article as shown in photos 5 and 6.
This completes the first stripe (Photo 7).
The next blue stripe is woven in the same way, with six picks (Photos 8 and 9).
FYI: See the following article for more information on tailing processes:
2-2. Horizontal lines with plain weaving
From the 13th pick, weave in the plain weaving technique.
After tailing the white weft, weave the 13th and 14th picks (Photos 1-3). This creates a thin white stripe line. Leave the white weft uncut.
Next, after tailing the blue weft, weave the 15th and 16th picks (Photos 4 and 5). This creates a thin blue stripe line as well. Leave the blue weft uncut, too.
Next, weave the white weft, which was left uncut earlier, into the 17th and 18th picks (Photos 6-8).
Likewise, weave the blue weft in the 19th and 20th picks (Photo 9).
Proceeding in this manner, the blue weft is cut and tailed after weaving the 24th pick.
The pink stripe is woven in the same way (Photo 10), and the white weft is cut and tailed after weaving the 34th pick (Photo 11).
Continue weaving stripes in the same way until the 66th pick (Photo 12). At the 66th pick, leave the blue weft uncut.
2-3. Vertical lines with pick and pick weaving
In 67th to 79th picks, vertical stripes will be woven.
Here we use a technique called pick-and-pick.
Continuing from the 66th pick, the same blue weft is woven for the 67th pick (Photo 1).
For the 68th pick, after tailing the white weft, only one pick is woven (Photos 2 and 3).
In the 69th pick, the blue weft is wound once clockwise around the leftmost warp (Photo 4), and then once more clockwise around the first and second leftmost warps (Photo 5). After that, weave in plain weaving as shown in photo 6.
Note: The work of wrapping the weft around the warp threads occurs when this blue weft passes through the front side of the odd-numbered warp. If it passes through the back side of the odd-numbered warp, no wrapping will be done here. The next 70th white weft will travel through the front side of the odd-numbered warp, so the wrapping operation will be performed on the 70th white weft.
The 70th pick is woven with the white weft. See photos 7 and 8.
Note: If the white weft in the 70the pick runs along the front side of the warp of the odd-numbered warp, then the weft will be wrapped around the warp threads as described for the blue weft in the 69th pick above.
For the 71st pick, wrap the blue weft counterclockwise around the rightmost warp, then counterclockwise around the first and second rightmost warps (Photo 9).
After that, weave in plain weaving (Photo 10).
Note: Same as the note in the 69th pick above.
The 72nd pick is woven with the white weft. See photo 11.
Note: Same as the note in the 70th pick above.
Repeat the above steps until the 79th pick to create a vertical stripe pattern.
From the 80th to the 93rd picks, the stripe pattern is woven in plain weaving (Photo 12).
See also the sample grid.
2-4. Polka dots with pick and pick weaving
In the 94th through the 118th picks, a polka dot pattern will be woven.
In the previous section, I introduced how to create vertical lines using the pick-and-pick technique. In this section, I will show you how to create a polka dot pattern using the same pick-and-pick technique.
The 94th pick is woven with the white weft (Photo 1).
The 95th pick is woven with the blue weft (Photo 2).
The 96th pick is woven with the white weft (Photo 3).
Note: If the white weft in the 96th pick runs through the front side of the odd-numbered warp, the wrapping operation described in the 101st pick below will be performed here.
For the 97th pick, wrap the blue weft counterclockwise around the rightmost warp, then counterclockwise around the first and second rightmost warps (Photo 4).
After that, weave in plain weaving (Photo 5).
Note: If the blue weft in the 97th pick travels through the back side of the odd-numbered warp, no wrapping operation will be required here.
Continue weaving the 98th pick with the blue weft (Photo 6).
The 99th pick is woven with the white weft (Photo 7).
The 100th pick is woven with the blue weft (Photo 8).
Note: If the blue weft in the 100th pick travels through the front side of the odd-numbered warp, the wrapping operation described in the 97th pick above will be performed here.
For the 101st pick, wrap the white weft clockwise around the leftmost warp, then clockwise around the first and second leftmost warps (Photo 9). After that, weave in plain weaving.
Note: If the white weft in the 101st pick travels through the back side of the odd-numbered warp, no wrapping operation will be required here.
The 102nd and 103rd picks are woven in plain weaving with the blue weft (Photo 10).
Repeat the above steps until the 118th pick, and the polka dot pattern is completed as shown in photo 11.
After this, as shown in photo 12, weave in the reverse order of what we have done so far.
See also the sample grid.
The body is now completed!
When all the stripes at the top part have also been woven, the weaving is now complete.
As a next step, let’s move on to the finishing process.
See the following article for more details on the finishing.
Thank you for reading to the end!
Sample grid PDFs are attached so that you can enlarge it. Please feel free to download and view it.
Stripes weaving sample (grid)
Stripes weaving sample (grid-enlarged)