Bronson Table Mats

As much as I do love a good runner, sometimes runners can be limiting because you can really only position them one way on any given table. Enter Laura Fry’s ingenious Bronson table mats from the November/December 2018 Handwoven.You can arrange these mats in a row like a runner, stagger them for a fun, stair-step effect, or place them corner to corner to have diamonds running along your table—how much fun is that? Here’s what Laura has to say about her design:

Laura Fry’s Bronson Table Mats are a fun spin on the traditional one-piece runner.

Designer Laura Fry’s Statement

I designed these table mats in Bronson lace with the goal of showing how a single threading can yield different results based on tie-up, treadling, and which side is deemed the right side.

In Bronson lace, there are tie-down picks every sixth pick, causing the pattern picks to pack in more tightly. Learning how to adjust your beat to achieve a balanced cloth may take some time. I suggest adding extra length to your warp so you can practice. To keep myself aware of my beat, I often include plain-weave selvedge edges, which I did on these mats.

In 8-shaft Bronson lace, shaft 1 is lifted for tabby a; shafts 2 through 8 are lifted for tabby b. The treadling is tabby a, pattern, tabby a, pattern, tabby a, tabby b. Tabby b, the sixth pick, is needed to tie down the floats in the warp that are on the back of the cloth. Look at the draft and you will see that after the plain-weave edges, every sixth warp end is on treadle 2. These are the tie-down ends that tie down the weft floats on the front.

If you do not have 8 shafts, you can still weave detailed Bronson lace designs by doing them with pick-up. When weaving Bronson lace with pick-up, the loom is used to open the appropriate sheds; you are not limited by how many shafts you have but can make quite complicated motifs with just 3 shafts.

Happy Weaving!

Christina

Project at a Glance

PROJECT TYPE: 8-shaft.

STRUCTURE: Bronson lace.

EQUIPMENT: 8-shaft loom, 11" weaving width; 10-dent reed; 1 shuttle.

YARNS: 8/2 unmercerized cotton (3,360 yd/lb; Brassard et Fils).

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