When weaving with weft yarns of multiple colors, there may be a process of cutting and tailing the weft many times to switch colors. However, it can be tedious if you work on it frequently.

In such cases, though, it is on a case-by-case basis, if the weft yarn of the same color is to be used again in a place not too far apart, it may be evacuated to the back side without a tailing process, and when weaving again, you can bring it to the front side and start weaving.

The following items will be explained along with illustrations and photos:

1. Explanation with a tulip sample
2. Application to complex patterns

Here I will use the tulip sample shown in the previous article “Mastering Plain and Tapestry Weaving with a Sample“.

As you can see in the first illustration, in the design, the tailing processes are done where the end of the stem and the beginning of the leaf.

However, when actually woven, the end of the stem and the beginning of the leaf are connected on the back side, as shown in the second illustration.

Photos 1-5 show the actual weaving process. The weft was once moved to the back side at the place where the stem was finished weaving. After that, when weaving the leaf on the right side, I brought the weft back to the front side and started weaving.

The stem and leaf were designed to use the same color weft, and the distance between them was not too far, so I was able to connect them on the back side without cutting them off each time.

I would like to show another example. As shown in Photo 1, this design has a leaf pattern that is repeated multiple times.

You can do the tailing process after each green leaf and each orange leaf, but the way I often do is to connect them on the back side without cutting the weft threads for tailings.

In Photo 2, I marked the places that are connected on the back side with colored pencils.

In Photo 3, you can see the actual backside of the weaving.

One note is that this method is not suitable if you want to cut all the tails on the back side later and show the same design as on the front side.

If you are willing to leave the tails on the back side, for example, if you sew a lining or put the weaving in a picture frame, you may not mind having the weft crossed on the back side.

In my case, sometimes I am too lazy to do the tailings, and sometimes I am not. I don’t think there is any one way that you absolutely have to do it, so find a way that you are comfortable with!

Thank you for reading to the end!