A few years back I subscribed to Jane Stafford School of Weaving. In terms of my weaving life, it’s really the best decision I’ve ever made. Living in a relatively rural area, I don’t have easy access to weaving guilds to help guide my leaving. Jane’s weaving lessons offer classes beginning from how to wind a warp to more complex weaving structures. She is now in Season 9 (that’s nine years) of providing her lessons. This last lesson, Diversified Plain Weave (DPW), was provided by a guest instructor, Rebecca Logan. DPW is a structure I never heard of until this point. What really appealed to me about this structure lends itself to making “sturdier” fabric which can be used for upholstery and pillows. My daughter, Lizzie, and I have been toying around with the idea of making pillows and were contemplating about which structure to use. Perfect timing of this episode as I could learn a new structure and test it out for our pillows.
I have a goal this year to use yarn I already have for my projects. I’m not doing great with this goal, but I wanted to adapt what was called for in Rebecca’s projects to what I have on my shelves. Her DPW project called for 16/2 cotton for the “thin” yarn and cotton cloud (available through Jane’s store) as the “thick” yarn. I happened to have the 16/2, but not the cotton cloud. I had dyed left over Monte Cristo on hand from a previous project so I decided to use that. I dyed a mini skein of the 16/2 to match. Rebecca used a sett of 18 epi for her projects. I wasn’t quite sure what sett to use for the substituted yarn so I decided to weave a sample with 16 epi, 18 epi and 20 epi.
What is Diversified Plain Weave?
DPW is a block structure weave which uses a very thin yarn and a thick yarn. The thin yarn weaves the tabby and the thick yarn, the pattern. The thin plain weave ties down the thicker yarn so there no long floats. This creates a kind of a pebbled look to this weave.
To make the pattern in the weave “pop”, the warp was threaded in a light color (in this case natural) and the weft in a darker color. The pattern is threaded and treadled thin-thin-thick with the thins on shafts 1 and 2 (weaving plain weave) and the thicks on the remaining shafts to create the pattern. I have an 8 shaft loom so I have more options to create patterns. In other words, I have the ability to work with more “blocks”. The blocks for an 8 shaft are 1-2-3, 1-2-4, 1-2-5, 1-2-6, 1-2-7, and 1-2-8. If you are working on a 4 shaft loom, you can create your draft with two blocks 1-2-3 and 1-2-4. Here’s a picture of the threading on my iWeaveIt software.
If you’d like more information on the DPW structure, I recommend checking out Rebecca’s lesson (Season 9) on Jane Stafford’s School of Weaving. There is also a chapter on DPW in The Weaver’s Book of 8 Shaft Patterns (Carol Stricker). The November/ December 2016 issue of Handwoven Magazine (Thick & Thin) has projects using this structure.
Sample 16 epi/ppi
I used Rebecca’s draft for my samples. One of my first big take aways was that I had to be extra careful to be sure I was weaving the same pics per inch (ppi) as my epi (ends per inch) to maintain the motif. I measured my ppi frequently throughout my project.
I liked the drape of this sample. It can be easily used for a baby blanket or a throw. It may be a tad (just a tad) bit looser than I would like, but certainly this sett is an option.
Sample 18 epi/18ppi
The 18 epi/ppi sample was definitely firmer as expected. It’s a little firmer than previous throws I’ve woven, but this sett would certainly work. I’m thinking that using a sett of 16 would be my preference for baby blankets and a sett of 18 for adult throws. This testing is just like Goldilocks and the Three Bears- trying to find the “just right”.
Sample 20 epi/ppi
Well, let’s go tighter. Now that I have an idea for future blankets, I wanted to test out options for pillows. 20 epi was definitely firmer and ideal for pillows. I was able to beat firm enough to keep the weave balance.
What’s Next?
With samples in hand, it’s now time to plan the future projects. Although I really like Rebecca’s draft for the samples woven, I’m going to try to create my own drafts using 6 shaft twill patterns. I’m thinking I’ll use the 18 epi sett to make a throw. I’m going to have to dye the Monte Cristo so this will add a step to the process. I’m also going to try this structure with different types of thin and thick yarns. First on the list is 16/2 thin cotton with hand spun wool. Stay tuned- more DPW playing to come!
