Ask Madelyn: Converting Projects to Doubleweave

I have an 8-shaft Baby Wolf loom (25" weaving width) and I'd like to weave a baby blanket for my upcoming great- grand nephew. All of the patterns I've looked at call for a 43-53" weaving width, which is wider than my loom. Would this be an opportunity to try doubleweave? I've never done doubleweave before, so I don't want to waste yarn and time if it won't work. (The pattern I had in mind was Linda Ligon's huck lace blanket in the free baby blanket eBook from Handwoven.)

—Donna

Hi Donna!

This would be a great project to use for a first doublewide piece. You'll have to create the new draft (the hardest part). You should get the ebook Doubleweave Doublewidth to see how to translate the original draft into a doubleweave draft. It includes other great tips for weaving two layers successfully and achieving a smooth edge at the fold (the trickiest part).

As you have probably figured out, you'll need twice as many shafts as the original draft. The draft you chose is on four shafts so you can weave it doublewide on your 8-shaft loom.

Essentially, you'll divide the draft in half. You may have to alter the original draft a bit to be sure that it can be woven at twice your own loom's weaving width. Then, what I do is write the first half of the draft on the first four shafts, skipping a space between each thread. When I get to the last thread of the first half in the threading, I continue writing, but go back in the opposite direction, using the spaces I left, and moving the second half of the threading to shafts 5-8. So I don't have to think, I sometimes just use the original numbers (1-4) on rows 5-8 and then change the numbers when I finish. Whether I do that often depends on how complicated the threading is.

When you weave, you are going to start at one selvedge (this will be the open one), weave to the other (fold) side in the top layer, weave to the starting (open) side in the bottom layer, weave back to the other (fold) side in the bottom layer, then weave to the starting side in the top layer. The starting side is always the open side.

To create the tie-up, you'll use the original tie-up for the picks in the top layer. When you weave in the bottom layer, you'll raise all of the top layer with the shafts that would have been down in the original tie-up but moved to shafts 5-8. In other words, you are weaving the bottom layer upside down so that the face of the cloth will be on top when the cloth is unfolded. This might not make sense, but you'll understand better when you read that ebook.

You will, of course, double both the warp and weft sett, which should not be that hard with huck lace.

—Madelyn

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