This baby blanket draft was in the November 1990 issue of Handwoven. They had kitchen curtains and dishtowels in white and blue. I guess the draft is from an old one of Mary Atwater’s.
The main trick in this pattern is to make sure the blocks square off with 10 picks or it will become unbalanced. You can’t add a couple of extra picks like you can with overshot, because then the triangles will be off. The pattern thread must be twice as thick as the tabby thread. I used the 8/2s doubled for the pattern.
I used 8/2s unmercerized cotton. I doubled 8/2s colored cotton for the pattern – I actually threw the shuttle twice for each pattern pick. That way they threads lie side by side and don’t cross over. I sett it at16 epi, warp width: 34.25″, total warps – 548 plus 2 floating selvages.
Instead of winding my pattern bobbin with two threads (double) I wound it with a single thread and as I was weaving, for each pattern pick (thread) I’d thow the shuttle once, beat, go around the floating selvage and throw the pattern shuttle again in the same shed. So, my “doubled” pattern threads would lie nicely side by side. To wind two yarns doubled on a bobbin has some problems: as you weave, one of the threads becomes longer than the other, and needs adjusting constantly. There are some little tricks to avoid that while winding the bobbin.
Some weavers use a shuttle with two bobbins. I tried that, but it slows me down too. So I prefer to have one thread on one shuttle and throw it twice. Floating selvages are essential to keeping the thread caught at the edges.
This pattern takes 6 harnesses, but there are many other really lovely patterns for 4 harness looms. Marguerite Davison’s book, A Handweaver’s Pattern Book, is a good source for 4h patterns. You can usually find it in guild libraries and it’s available in many weaving shops. It has been a trusty companion to many weavers for many, many years.
By the way, if your table loom is too narrow for a baby blanket, there’s no reason why you can’t weave half width and then join two pieces down the centre. Colonial coverlets were always woven on narrower looms and then two or three pieces were joined for width.
Baby Blankets
Huck Lace Baby blanket Draft
Huck Lace Blanket
Adriennes Rainbow Blanket
Hand Weaving Books
Weaving on a Little Loom (Everything you need to know to get started with weaving, includes 5 simple projects
The Key to Weaving: A Textbook of Hand Weaving for Krokbragd: How to Design & Weave
Handwoven Baby Blankets
Handwoven Design Collection No. 14: Weaving for Baby
EBAY Looms
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RIGID HEDDLE LOOMS – UK
EBAY SHOPPING – USED WEAVING LOOMS
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Categories: HAND WEAVING, Weaving Patterns