How to Know the Weft Length in Advance Before Weaving

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In a previous article “Weft Measurement Techniques for Efficient Weaving“, I introduced a method for preparing the required weft length in advance before weaving.

I explained that the method is effective when a grid design is being created in advance.

Once the number of rectangles that make up the grid is known, the length of weft needed can be determined.

In this article, I will explain how to count the number of rectangles that make up a grid using a grid design file created in Adobe Illustrator.

I have explained how to create a grid design using Illustrator in eight separate articles. Each of these articles can be found at the following links:

What will be explained in this article is how to count how many rectangles make up the grid design by color, and how to know in advance the length of weft needed.

The following items are explained in turn:

  1. Select only rectangles of the same color
  2. Check the number of rectangles selected
  3. Calculate the length of the weft you need

1. Select only rectangles of the same color

Follow the steps below to select only the rectangles of the same color among the rectangles that make up the grid design.

  1. Open the grid design file in Illustrator. Select Open from the File menu to open the file.

  2. If you have created several separate color scheme patterns in the Layers panel, display only one color scheme layer.
    In the sample screenshot, only “Color 01” layer is visible.
  1. Select one or more background rectangles.
    In the sample screenshot, I selected multiple yellow-green rectangles.
  1. Go to the Select menu – Same – Fill Color.

  2. Only the background rectangles are selected.

2. Check the number of rectangles selected

Next, check how many rectangles are selected. The procedure is as follows:

  1. Select Document Info from the Window menu to display the Document Info panel.
  1. Open the menu in the upper right corner of the Document Info panel and select Objects.
  1. A number appears next to “Paths.” This number is the number of rectangles.
    In the sample, there are “4116” yellow-green rectangles.

3. Calculate the length of the weft you need

Let’s calculate the length of the weft you need using the number confirmed in the procedure 2 above. The calculation formula is as follows:

Formula:

The number of cells (rectangles) ÷ the number of warp threads

The sample is designed with 39 warp threads, so dividing “4116” by “39” to calculate the number “105.5”.

In the sample, I would like to take a little extra for a couple of picks, taking into account that the tailings will be done several times, so I would decide the yellow-green weft for the background will be “110” picks.
When actually weaving the background, several parts are woven at the same time. It would be easier to weave if the weft is divided and wound on several bobbins such as for 35 picks + 35 picks + 40 picks.

Similarly, for the other colors, you can check the number of rectangles in the grid in the same steps, do the calculation, and take a little extra for tailings to get the length of the weft you need.

As explained above, the software is very convenient because it makes it easy to check the numbers.

Also, if you know the amount of weft you need in advance, you will not wind too much or too little weft onto the bobbin, and you will be able to weave without waste.

Then, enjoy weaving!

Now that the grid design is complete, we have identified the length of each weft needed.

Once each weft is wound onto a bobbin and ready to go, all that remains is to enjoy weaving!

I hope the above information is helpful.

Thank you for reading to the end!