Ask Madelyn: Can I Combine Plain Weave and Twill on an 8-Shaft Loom?

Hi Madelyn,

I am puzzled!

I‘d like to weave a fabric using the Bird's Eye/Rose Path pattern in Marguerite Davison’s A Handweaver’s Pattern Book (Joseph France’s No. 11, VI, page 15), but I want stripes of plain weave in between the twill areas. I have an 8-shaft loom, so can I warp the plain-weave sections on shafts 5–8 and the Rose Path on 1–4?

And how would it be treadled? As you may have guessed, I don‘t have a weaving program on my computer. If you have any suggestions, I would so appreciate them!

~Linda

Hi Linda!

You can definitely thread and weave both plain weave and twill at once on your 8-shaft loom. You really only need to use six shafts, but I’ll show you drafts for both six and eight.

The issue with treadling is whether or not the twill treadling repeat has an even number of picks (and treadles).

If it didn‘t, you would tie the plain-weave shafts to two independent treadles, and step on a twill treadle and a plain-weave treadle together for each pick in the order needed. Your twill treadling worked out evenly, so the plain-weave shafts can be tied to the twill treadles, and you only need to step on a single treadle at a time.

I noticed when I made the 8-shaft draft that you can even thread and weave squares of plain weave alternating with squares of twill for a checkerboard look, as shown above. Just a thought!

You could also thread two different twills in the checkerboard version, but you‘d need to experiment with treadling patterns so that the twills didn‘t end up looking too similar.

—Madelyn

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First published Nov. 24, 2015; updated Jan. 30, 2025