Category: Treadling For Dummies

Tip of the Month: Braille for the Feet

7/2/2017

I have long used rubber bands on my treadles to mark my path and help me treadle without peeking. It is a great tip. But I go through rubber bands like they are water because they dry rot very quickly. And they are hard to roll up and down the treadles between projects.

Enter my student Jane Hunt. She told me she liked my idea so much, she went to Target and bought a handful of ponytail holders! She found that they slide up and down the treadles easily, and they are bulkier than the rubber bands. Bonus: I am sure they will hold up much longer too! Thank you, Jane! Why didn't I think of that??

As it turns out there are dozens of kinds of ponytail holders. I picked the ones that I could double up and would fit well over my treadles. Hence my unabashed ad for Goody. These are nice because they have no metal joins on them that could scratch the wood.

BEFORE: Rubber bands on the treadles, ready to walk the treadles for a point twill

AFTER: Ponytail holders in place. The blue and green ones have been pulled down where my feet can feel them. I will walk this pattern from the center out, just as I did in the photo to the left.

Walking the treadles:
I tend to walk my treadles from the center out whenever my pattern allows me to do so. When I do that, I will put bands on the two center treadles so I can find my way back to center without peeking. I also place bands on every other treadle going out from the center.

Treadling straight across:
On the rare occasion that I tie up my treadles straight across, I simply put bands on the odd treadles and leave the even numbered treadles naked.

Treadling pattern with tabby
If I have 2 tabby treadles and a group of pattern treadles, my personal preference is to have the tabby treadles on one side and the pattern treadles on the other. If the tabby treadles are on the left, I will put a band on tabby a and leave tabby b naked. I will then put bands on all of the odd numbered pattern treadles and leave the even numbered pattern treadles naked.

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Treadling for Dummies: Walking the Treadles

8/8/2016

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When we first learn to weave we usually are taught to tie up our treadles from left to right just as they are written in a typical draft.

In a simple example, to weave straight twill you would need to set up 4 treadles as indicated below:

Treadle 1 lifts harnesses 1 & 2
Treadle 2 lifts harnesses 2 & 3
Treadle 3 lifts harnesses 3 & 4
Treadle 4 lifts harnesses 4 & 1

Traditionally, you would set up the treadles from left to right as they are written in the tieup:

           Treadle           1        2     Center      3       4
            Lifting           12      23 34 41
            Foot                --Left-- --Right--

To weave this pattern, you would use your left foot to weave treadle 1 followed by treadle 2, then switch to your right foot to weave treadles 3 followed by treadle 4.

Walking the treadles is a much more comfortable, ergonomic alternative to this. The treadles still lift the same harnesses in the same order in order to get the same pattern. The difference is that the treadles under the loom are not tied up from left to right. They are tied up so that you can “walk” the treadles left-right-left-right from the center out. Your odd numbered treadles will be on the left, even on the right.

For the straight twill shown above the treadles would be tied up as indicated in the draft above, but they would be in a different order under the loom as follows:

           Treadle           3        1     Center     2       4
            Lifting           34      12 23 41
            Foot                --Left-- --Right--

This allows you to comfortably rock from left to right as you throw the shuttle from left to right.

Note the rubber bands on the center treadles.

My personal preference is to throw the shuttle towards the foot that is treadling, so I treadle 1(left foot is down) and throw to the left, treadle 2 (right foot is down) and throw to the right, treadle 3 and throw to the left, treadle 4 and throw to the right. Then I move both feet back to the center (where I have rubber bands to help me find the center without peeking).

Tip!

Advantages to walking the treadles:

You develop a nice rocking motion that is very comfortable,
It allows you to improve your rhythm and speed up your weaving
The fact that your shuttle is always heading towards the depressed foot helps “cue you in” if you accidentally get off pattern. If suddenly your shuttle is going left and your right foot is down, it means you have made a treadling error.

Tips for not losing your place and other notes:

After pressing a treadle, I keep my foot there (lightly) until ready to use that foot again. In other words I never move my foot completely off a treadle so I always know what I did last.
If I am doing a sequence that starts over at treadles 1&2 (center treadles), I move my feet back to center together.
I use heavy rubber bands to mark my center treadles and other significant treadles to help my feet find the correct treadles without peeking.

Tips!

For example, if I am doing a straight twill with 4 treadles, I would put rubber bands on just the center treadles (1&2).
If I have a twill pattern that I am walking with 6 treadles like the point twill pattern below, I would put rubber bands on the center treadles and the outer treadles (5&6). This helps me easily find the center treadles when I am returning to center but also helps me distinguish between 3 vs 5 and 4 vs 6 so that I don’t accidently press a treadle in error (because 3&4 are “naked” and 5&6 have bands).

Note: I do NOT recommend leaving “space” (untied) treadles between your treadles. I think it disturbs the rhythm of weaving and the farther from center your treadle is, the more tiring the weaving will be. SO keep them as close to the center of your body as possible.

A harder example:

Suppose you have a simple point twill treadling. Normally the tieup would be presented as shown with 4 treadles. One full repeat consists of the six shots or picks shown above the red line in the draft to the right:

Treadle 1 lifts harnesses 1 & 2
Treadle 2 lifts harnesses 2 & 3
Treadle 3 lifts harnesses 3 & 4
Treadle 4 lifts harnesses 1 & 4
Treadle 3 lifts harnesses 3 & 4
Treadle 2 lifts harnesses 2 & 3

You could set those 4 treadles up in the traditional left to right configuration or walking style. The problem with this is that anytime you are treadling 2 or 3, you need to remember whether you were going toward treadle 4 or returning from treadle 4. The possibility of confusion is high.

Everything above the red line is one repeat

6 treadle walking option:

But we can take it one step farther (assuming you have 6 treadles) and assign each of the 6 picks in the repeat their own treadle. Set those 6 treadles up walking style and you will find this treadling pattern easier to weave with no confusion.

Treadle 1 lifts harnesses 1 & 2
Treadle 2 lifts harnesses 2 & 3
Treadle 3 lifts harnesses 3 & 4
Treadle 4 lifts harnesses 4 & 1
Treadle 5 lifts harnesses 3 & 4
Treadle 6 lifts harnesses 2 & 3

Everything above the red line is one repeat and weaves the same cloth as the repeat in the draft above.

Set the treadles up for walking as follows:

Treadle 5 3 1 Center 2 4 6
Lifting 34 34 12 23 41 23
Foot -----Left----- -----Right-----

Rubber bands on the center treadles help your feet find the center at the end of the sequence. Bands on 5 & 6 also help your feet with the "no peek" treadling.

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Treadling for Dummies: A Series of Tips / Part 1

7/15/2016

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My Treadle Minder

When weaving my Bronson Weave tieup, my left foot travels from treadles 1 to 2 and back, while my right foot travels down the pattern treadles 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10. My feet are always treadling left right, left right. But my left foot is going 1-2-1-2-1-2 while my right is going 3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10. For my brain this is a little like patting my head and rubbing my tummy, and I have always had the tendency for my left foot to "wander" to treadle 3.

Tip!

SO... I am now using my MS 150 biking award between treadles 2 and 3 to remind my left foot not to stray. It's nice to know that award is good for something! If you don't happen to have one, I guess anything narrow and vertical would do.

This would work well for any pattern where you left foot is working one set of treadles independently from your right. For example, I use the left 2 treadles for tie down treadles and the treadles to the right for pattern treadles in summer and winter.

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Tip of the Month: Braille for the Feet

Treadling for Dummies: Walking the Treadles

Treadling for Dummies: A Series of Tips / Part 1

Pattie Lamb

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