We are big tea lovers in the family – so this towel in Handwoven S/O 2003 caught my eye. I have used this draft numerous times over the years – in various colours and weights of fibre – for towels and as material for tray...

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Linen warp bobbins had to be very wet to prevent loops in the selvedge. Tension was a problem throughout and I helped that by spraying the threads. The yarn seems too coarse to make a really nice towel....

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The yarn was predominantly unmercerized cotton. The goal was to use yarns from dark to light so that the light warps would stand out. The colors were chosen as I wound the warp. Occasionally perle cotton was used if the color sequence required it and...

Finished towel is 17.5″ x 25.0″...

I wove this at 25 epi so it would fit on my workshop loom. If width had not been an issue, I would have woven it at 24 epi....

I like to choose a threading that can provide several patterns. Then I play…use one for the hem, another for the body, intersperse plain weave....

The hand-painted stripes were dyed using Procion MX Fiber Reactive dyes. I used a different color weft for each towel....

Dark stripes always begin & end on harness 4 in any number of repeats. Light stripes always begin & end on harness 1 in any number of repeats. The color order is given in the accompanying chart. These yarns blend Sally Fox’ green and brown...

The section on the draft that is labeled to be omitted was included only to illustrate that I used a variety of colors for the last 8 threads of each 40-thread unit. I used unmercerized cotton for both warp and weft....

A great way to use up small quantities of yarn...

This towel was woven with 4 colors, 2 in the warp and 2 in the weft....

I did a straight tabby weave hem for approximately 1-1.5 inches at the beginning and end of the towel. I used a weft that was laceweight in order to have a hem that was flatter when I folded it over twice....

This has become one of my favorite towel warps. It is draft #246, false damask check. I call it woven ribbons, as that is what it looks like to me. Although it uses two shuttles, it is actually a very rhythmic weave. On my ten-yard...

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Used 5 stripes of my hand dyed 8/2 cotton (purple/blue, orange/pink, yellow, greens, red/orange) – each 3″ wide with 1/2″ wide stripes of purple, teal and blue of commercially dyed 8/2 cotton. The hems are plain weave (1 1/2″ long, turned and machine stitched). Crocheted...

Really enjoyed Tom Knisely’s “Weaving on a Straight Eight” class taken during the 2017 MAFA conference. Wanted to weave something from his class booklet and chose the pattern ‘Ribs of Twill and Plain Weave’. It’s a nice easy piece to weave, and the treadling is...

This was a warp and project that was my first exploration of a complex (for me) gamp. While a newer weaver, and always trying new things, I loved working on a twill sampler with friend and weaving mentor Jane Stafford via her Canadian Online Guild....

I started out with Strickler #246, and as I was working with two different shades of red in the weft, I realized how much it reminded me of watermelon. I decided to add some lines in shades of green to represent the rind, along with...

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Name draft created from the title Bellwether, a book by Connie Willis. Because the warp threads alternated in color every two threads, it was easier to see any errors in the blocks as the weaving progressed. I only had a 15 dent reed with this...

This design was inspired by 200 Patterns for Multiple Harness Looms by Russell E. Groff (1979). Calculated as follows: Weaving width 20″ EPI: 20 400 warp ends, but I calculated 405 warp ends to balance the design. I added 2 floating selvages at each side....

Warp Width: 19.5″ Sett: 24 Reed: 12 Sley: double # Ends: 470 Warp Yarn: unmercerized cotton Count: 8/2 Color: 6 colors Weft Yarn: unmercerized cotton Count: 8/2 Color: 6 colors, same as warp. Used one color for each of the 6 towels. Finished dimensions: 16.5...

I use my towel projects as experiments. The draft does not show threads per color stripe, and the final threading was not exactly what my original plan called for. For these towels, the threading (right to left) was: Grey 20, White 4, Grey 12, White...

Hand-dyed warp, dyed in the skein using fiber-reactive dyes, undyed weft. Woven on a new-to-me Bexell Cranbrook countermarche loom....

Warp is 8/2 cotton dyed by Kathrin Weber of Blazing Shuttles (for wider stripes) and 8/2 Maurice Brassard (for narrower stripes). Weft is 8/2 variegated purchased from Webs many years ago. Hems are 10/2 mercerized cotton from Lunatic Fringe. Lots of colors! The “Friendship Towels”...

I was inspired by “Twill Illusions with Two and Four Blocks” by Freya van Holst Pellekaan, p. 96 in Best of Weaver’s: Twill Thrills (2004). Basic threading, tie-up, and treadling for 5-end satin blocks is in Handweaving.net #74464. Warp color progression, right-to-left: 514 ends plus...

A temple is most useful to prevent draw-in. You can make a coordinated set of towels on the same warp, having fun varying weft colors and block sizes. 480 ends Sett 2 per dent in a 12-dent reed Wet finished Hemmed, hand-stitched Love this cottolin!...

I used a Josephine Estes miniature, “Cambridge Beauty” (www2.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/monographs/eje_min1.pdf), to design this towel. I added some striped segments that altered the miniature repeats to create the structured effect I was seeking in the towel. 735 ends plus 2 FS each side. I played with the...

20″ wide, 600 ends plus floating selvages. Straight draw on 24 shafts so each towel could be different. I put on a 10 yard warp. I wove each towel about 37″ on the loom and hand hemmed. The towels are generously sized; the one for...

This is my expression of pansies viewed through a window. Used Kathryn Weber ‘s Blazing Shuttles for warp with white cotton and purple accents for warp. Structure was plainweave with two overshot accents in the weft—one narrow purple and one wider of white. Floating selvages...

This towel was woven on a long warp of 496 threads in a 2 block design. Each block uses 8 shafts in a straight threading. I used several tie-ups to vary the look of each towel, and even included a tabby with one or two...

Woven in Valley Yarns 8/2 variegated unmercerized cotton in the ‘Cotton Candy’ colorway. It was interesting to weave because of the variegated yarn. Six towels were woven then zigzagged on the sewing machine. They were washed and dried in the dryer then cut apart and...

This towel was washed in the machine, dried in the dryer, ironed with steam and hand hemmed with cotton thread. Other notes on making the towel are included in the WIF. I might sett it a tad closer next time—22-24 epi. It offers a great...

I selected this pattern because I liked the geometry. I learned more about block patterns and how they are constructed. Strickler’s book notes that this draft, woven by Barbara McClanathan, is a 2 block twill adapted from Väv Magazinet, 1984, Nr.4, pages 20-21. Here are...

It was my first experience with Bateman weaves. I looked at the following books to understand the technique and create my pattern: Bateman Weaves: The Missing Monograph by Linda Tilson Davis Weaving Innovations from the Bateman Collection by Robyn Spady, Nancy A. Tracy and Marjorie...

This is the oldest, simplest, and most traditional Scottish tartan. It is variously known as Shepherd’s Check, Houndstooth, or Northumberland (Northumbria) tartan, as that is the area where it originated. I can just imagine those early medieval weavers deciding to add a little variety to...

Changing the blocks in the tie-up and treadling can produce a variety of designs in the cloth while weaving on one warp. Towel designs are a good way to play with blocks in the tie up and treadling. I wove four different towels by changing...

Warp (10/2 organic cotton) was 513 ends including floating selvages. Used #3 treadling. A rolled hem was machine stitched....

The colors I used were blue, gray, red, and turquoise. This was a fun project to weave. I also added a hang tag woven with the same colors....

I used 422 ends including floating selvages. The warp is Chocolate Brown by Spartan Dyers from Cotton Clouds. The weft is turquoise by Maurice Brassard from The Woolery. My draft is #355 in Strickler’s A Weaver’s Book of Eight-Shaft Patterns. This is a plaited twill...

I was influenced by the piece Vavstuga had for Bockens Egyptian 8/2 cotton on their website (store.vavstuga.com/product/yarn-bock-cot-8-2-dyed.html). Their current piece is actually a little different, as the one that influenced me had some red accent yarns in warp and weft. I liked the combination of...

The original draft I found on the Schacht website had 414 ends, so I adjusted to 430 ends to meet the necessary width requirement. I also used a simplified threading, a draft of which was supplied to me by Judie Eatough. I machine washed the...

Note that the heddle count is significantly greater for harnesses 2 and 3 and minimal for harnesses 1 and 4....

I was introduced to this pattern, “Checked Houndstooth,” in a Scandinavian Towel class taught by Melissa Weaver Dunning. This traditional design can be found in Simple Weaves by Birgitta Bengtsson Bjork & Tina Ingell, p. 92. Warp is wound 36 Periwinkle, 4 Marine, 4 White,...

Twill blocks in 4 warp colors (red, black, grey, white) with block changes not coinciding with color changes. Blocks were woven as 3/1 and 1/3 twill rotating the same four colors as the warp. Color changes were made every 16 picks, alternating which side the...

I used the napkin patterns in the Handwoven article and adapted them. I used the treadling for towel 1. I began and ended the towel with 1 ½ inches of 10/2 weft to make the hems a little less chunky. 20″ in reed; 30″ long....

This is a draft that blends overshot and huck with plainweave in between. It was very hard to beat the overshot to square, so I ended up using sewing thread for tabby. 418 ends; 2.5 yards long. 8-shaft loom, 21″ weaving width; 10 dent reed....

I made 6 towels on this warp. For all the towels except this one, I used 8/2 cotton. On this towel, I used a thicker cotton (Conshohocken ‘Softball’ cotton, color 088 – cherry). It made the whole towel very fluffy and I loved it....

I varied Jane’s original design, but started with her ideas. My fiber is actually cotton boucle and cottolin....

I just started weaving in August 2020. My fiber friends, who are also weavers, encouraged me to join Jane Stafford’s Online Guild. I fell in love with Jane’s boucle towel kits and bought two for the colors. However, I wanted to try something I had...

I created this draft as a sketch and then modified it as I wove. I had intended to warp it in three sections: ABA. Somehow, my B section became 2 sections when I inadvertently went from beige, white, beige to white, beige, white in my...

I always loved the look of turned twill and Jane Stafford renewed my interest with her lesson in her Online Guild. The colors in the towel were inspired from a clothing tag that I’ve held onto for years. I also love purple and green and...

My towel has a combination of twill treadling with narrow strips of basketweave to outline the weft color changes. This was a simple project with lots of opportunities for different outcomes by changing tie-ups and treadling....

This was fun and fast to weave. 24 epi 24 ppi 576 ends and 2 floating selvages I simplified the treadling for a less busy effect. Before finishing: 26″ long x 22″ wide After finishing: 22″ long x 20.5″ wide Shrinkage: 22% Machine wash cool,...

I am delighted by the possibilities of such a simple weave as Monks Belt!...

Traditional twill threadings like the Ms & Ws I used lend themselves to treadling variations. This towel includes straight, point, as-drawn-in, and several variations I “unvented” while playing around with Fiberworks. In the MAFA Samples Database, there is a second .wif file showing all the...

Hems are in plain weave using quilting weight sewing thread—weave 1/2″, insert thicker white yarn, another 1/2″ and another thicker yarn, and the last 1/2″. That gives a crisp fold line (after pulling out the thicker threads) for your hems. Cotton bouclé (teal) in warp...

This is a popular draft for kitchen towels with good reason. It is a fun weave and produces a good looking towel. I hope you enjoy using it as much as I enjoyed weaving it. The Schacht website describes the “Friendship Towels” pattern: “This is...

I was inspired when Judith, a member of our guild, wove this for our April 2021 newsletter sample. This was fun. I put on five yards of warp, total of 562 ends (used floating selvages). I had a 20 inch width and wove 32 inches...

I am learning more and more each time I weave. I am taking classes this time around to help me learn how to more efficiently warp my loom. And this was the first time weaving on my new-to-me Leclerc table loom. I really enjoyed watching...

The treadling was adjusted to allow squared blocks, with 8/2 Brassard cotton used for warp and weft. After being washed, the texture is nubby and more pronounced. The weaving width in the reed was 20.75″. I like the look and enjoy the process of hemming...

I wanted to weave a linen towel but with this design the linen weft didn’t work well, so I changed to cotton and was well pleased. This can be woven on a 4 shaft loom also—Davison has many patterns....

The loom was warped for a total of four towels. A total of 434 ends at 20 epi for the warp and 20 ppi for the weft. Allowance of two inches at the top and bottom of each towel. Using Fibonacci as my theme in...

This draft is a color and graphic exploration as part of the Jane Stafford Textiles Online Guild. This was created though her design influence. Consider using your interpretation of Fibonacci numbers. One thing that has become clear as I have worked with Jane Stafford is...

This draft is from a terrific issue of Heddlecraft titled “Wicked Good Weaving—Squares and Grids.” This particular draft, in what Robyn Spady terms “x” style, was a lot of fun to weave. I was really drawn to the “X” motif between the tables. Please note...

This towel represents the many towels I have woven on the straight 8-shaft twill threading using many tie-up and treadling variations in preparation for the MAFA class I am teaching. The threading offers so many options for weaving with the 8 shafts or 4 shafts...

I am a novice weaver, and this is my 10th project. I had initially planned this project for 40/2 linen, but I was unable to find colored linen in that grist. Scaled up for 16/2 linen the pattern is more dramatic and the cloth is...

I used several colors of Bluegrass Mills’ 6/2 unmercerized cotton yarn for my towel. Plain weave for turned hem, sewn by hand. I love this weave, and have used it several times for towels. I varied the stripes in warp and weft for more visual...

This towel is a design to combine waffle and tabby. I used five shafts for the waffle areas and three shafts for the tabby areas. For the waffle areas I sett the ends at 32 epi, tighter than the tabby areas of 24 epi. I...

I played around with the threading by adding some bands of straight twill between sections of the rosepath threadings. I also used sewing thread for weaving the hem sections....

It’s been several years since I wove this towel and I have no memory of where it came from. I think it came from a breast cancer awareness publication....

Name draft created in Fiberworks. Name for threading is: PatCapogrossi. 487 ends. 2 inches of plain weave at each end. Machine washed and dried. Yarns are Lunatic Fringe perle cotton....

I like weaving turned twills and find that towels woven with the design have a nice texture as well as visual pattern. I had a partial cone of variegated 8/2 cotton that would not be enough for a full towel, so I started placing stripes...

Huck draft used from page 12 of The Best of Weaver’s: Huck Lace; treadling on page 15...

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The color block design is based on Fibonacci relationships. The blue area is 8 inches wide (160 Ends). The lime green area is 13 inches wide (260 ends). In the weft, there is 3 inches of lime green, then a ¾ inch stripe of blue....

This was my 2019 Cross Country Weavers sample. The assignment was “Stripes in Structure.”...

I wanted to use the ‘Netting A’ from Davison’s book page 95, but didn’t want to have to move heddles, so I used shafts 7 and 8 to substitute for shafts 2 and 3 when necessary. I also wanted a small selvedge and used shafts...

Towel is 8 repeats plus 18 ends to balance. Was 17.83″ in 15 dent reed. The warp had 418 ends of white 20/2 @ 30 EPI and 272 ends of 16/2 blue @ 60 EPI. From the manuscripts of J. P. Meyer and F. Walbert...

I followed one of HW patterns for exchange towel. For others on warp I randomized- using 3 colors, adding alternating stripes etc. Made towels more fun in my opinion....

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According to the monograph, shadow weave is basically a balanced weave but the patterns are derived from twill. The warp arrangement and weft picks alternate light and dark and the greater contrast, the greater visual impact....

This is based on a towel in Handwoven, but modified by me....

I like towels as usable samples of structures that are new to me because even a failure will probably still dry dishes. Diversified Plain Weave (using Madelyn Van der Hoogt’s “new DPW threading and treadling” see Weaver’s Summer 1997) is a really fun structure I...

Towels are a bit on the wide side. Could have made them narrower and/or longer as they came out rather square. Treadling: Woven in plain weave for40 picks white, Turq/White, White/Turq 5 times, 14 picks white, Pink/White, White/Pink 5 times, 14 picks white, Orange/White, White/Orange...

Block Twill is fun to play with, especially with colorways. Used only one color for warp, but is great fun in color stripes. I chose this pattern particularly to reacquaint myself with profile draft, though the draft attached is a full draft/draw down. Started and...

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Making the graphic square is more important than the actual PPI. If 19 PPI gives you a square graphic, then it’s good. It was fun to weave, my first attempt at using cottolin. The draft actually calls for 18 EPI. I only had a 10...

This was fun to weave because of the color way of stripes, but the weave structure would be lost if just a single color were used. The 20/2 linen was too fine to use with cottolin and 8/2 cotton....

I saw this color palette on Pinterest and chose 4 different colors for the warp. (WEBS: Black Forest, Burnt Sienna, Tobacco and Eggplant.) The width of the stripes and colors can be adjusted to whatever you should desire. Each color stripe was 34 end wide...

I used cotton (unmercerized) for both warp and weft. Length shrinkage was close to 20% while width was a more expected 10%. I added a band woven using a tabby treadling at one end of the towel. An easy weave and the design is pleasantly...

Using the idea that if six colors is good, 60 would be better, I chose yarns from the blues and greens in my 10/2 stash, included cotton I had hand dyed, and wound various stripes onto the warping board, trying to balance colors and vary...

I modified this draft off of the towel created in the Vavstuga Basics class....

I really enjoyed weaving this towel and the fabric that was produced. As I used a very different color way than suggested, my towel looks not a lot like the gingham checks in the pattern. I hope whoever receives this towel enjoys it for many...

I did not put the different colors of the used threads, it’s up to you to use any color....

I was looking for some ideas to help me mix colors and found this draft in a Weavers Magazine. I ended up making 4 towels and used the various suggested treadling options to create alternate patterns and a sampler towel for future reference. Weaving this...

I simply played with random striping in both the warp and weft. While the pattern is technically from Gist Yarn, the point draft is from page 71 of Ann Dixon’s Handweaver’s Pattern Directory....

I did notice that my warp drew in more for the point twill than the plain weave. Next time I will use a temple for that part. Warp color is white. Weft colors- -plain weave is pale yellow, point twill chevron is orange and point...

I somehow reversed the blocks on both edges of the towel, but I like the way it turned out....

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The texture was more subtle because of the variegated weft color....

This is my first weaving project using the M’s and O’s weaving structure....

The color sequence (Chasing Rainbows) comes from The Weaver’s Weevil by Rebecca Fox and the warp yarn is 10/2 mercerized cotton from Lunatic Fringe (color spectrum). I used black for the weft and threaded on a straight draw....

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It was fun to play with color. It was difficult to keep the Monk’s Belt pattern areas from drawing in....

I learned how to choose 2 block textures for a 4 shaft loom. This was woven on a warp from MAFA 2017 Rosalie Neilson’s class “Color & Design in Huck Lace Towels” I enjoyed weaving Huck for the first time, and enjoyed learning about motif,...

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