Myggtjäll and “Mosquito Netting”

Marcy Petrini

October, 2019

In a delightful essay in “End Notes” in the November/December 2018 issue of Handwoven, Lynn Tedder describes her affinity for huck and mentions a subset of huck lace, called Myggtjäll, which translates to mosquito netting in Swedish. The original description came from Mary Snider’s Lace and Lacey Weaves.

I had read Mary Snider’s book in 1986 when the new revision was published, but I didn’t make the connection to the 3-thread block of huck that I had woven.

Compare the drawdowns of huck lace on the left and that of Myggtjäll, the latter Lynn’s (note that there is a small error in the article: in the tie-up, treadle 2 & 3 are correct, but placed in the wrong position).

  Click here for the full-sized draft (a PDF will open a new window)

The block threading and treadling are the same, except for the size, and plain weave can be woven across the width of the fabric and down its length in both cases.

I was taught that each block of huck and huck lace can be as wide and as long as we wish, as long as it starts and ends with the same shaft, thus making the block on odd number of threads; this maintains the plain weave treadling.

Thus, at a sett of 15 ends per inch, a block threaded 2, 3, 2, 3, 2 will have a 5-thread float which is ⅓” long; at a sett of 60 epi, a 21-thread block will also have approximately a ⅓’ long float. They are both huck lace.

One day, when making a table runner with fatter yarn, I decided that my huck lace would be better served if I reduced the threading to 3 threads for each block. I wove Myggtjäll and I didn’t even know it!

After reading Lynn Tedder’s article, I thought that it would be nice to include it in the Pictionary, especially since it’s not well known and who wouldn’t want to weave mosquito netting?

But my some thirty-year-old runner was showing its wear and tear, so I decided to weave a sample of Myggtjäll for the Pictionary. To see how the blocks behaved, and what other color interactions there may be, I threaded the selvages and block A in red, and block B in purple. I then wove sections of the sampler with red, purple and blue. Here is the drawdown followed by the fabrics.

   Click here for the full-sized draft (a PDF will open a new window)

As I was weaving, I thought that it may be fun to go back and read what Mary Snider wrote; and here it is, she used a traditional pointed twill threading!

   Click here for the full-sized draft (a PDF will open a new window)

Shaft 1 in the huck threading becomes shaft 3 and shaft 3 becomes 1 and there is our pointed twill!

But think of the options! On the same threading, we can weave the twill’s own treadling, a number of other twills, Myggtjäll, and the entire bumberet series!

An entry for Myggtjäll has been added to the Pictionary.

   Happy Weaving!

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Bumberet Family

Marcy Petrini

August 2019

My friend Gio Chinchar gave me one of her beautiful towels as a present and she said it was woven as a bumberet – bumberet, where did I come across that structure before?

As it turned out, there had been an article by Alice Schlein (Weavers 14: 10-13, 1991) that covered four structures that use the same pointed twill threading, but have different treadlings: bumberet, velveret, thickset, and ducape. It had been flagged in my magazine as something to try. More recently Madelyn Van der Hoogt (Handwoven Jan/Feb 2017, 14-15) described the first three of these structures, all of which originally came from Weaver John Hargrove who published 52 weaves in 1792 in The Weavers Draft Book and Clothiers Assistant (available for download from handweaving.net).

I had woven a vest in velveret a long time ago, (before Alice’s article) not really understanding much about the structure and thought that, from the name, it may be related to velvet. No, as a linguist may say, “false friends”, not related.

Since the threading is that of a pointed twill, it makes me think of the structures as treadling methods; interestingly, they are woven in blocks: 2-1-2 and 3-4-3.

Finally, I got to the weaving. Below is the drawdown showing all four possibilities. The first 6 threading repeats (starting from the right) are in four colors, to match the warp of the first three samples; the reason for this choice will become apparent soon. The next 5 threading repeats are in two colors, red and purple.

The treadling colors match the samples below (rising shed loom): the bumberet is treadled in red, thickset in green, the velveret in blue, and the ducape in purple and blue. I have shown the treadling for ducape to be single in the purple section, in parallel to the other structures, but Alice shows it double, which is in blue in the drawdown, only one repeat.

From the drawdown we can see that it is not possible to weave all four structures on a 6-treadle loom, except with a direct tie-up.

The bumberet is the only structure that is balanced, two shafts are up and two down with every pick. The others all have some unbalanced picks which tend to make the weft pack, the fabric weft-dominant on one side and warp-dominant on the other, resulting in a sturdy cloth. Bumberet, thickset and ducape alternate treadling shots of plain weave; velveret uses on opposite treadling (1 & 2; 3 & 4).

Click here for the full-sized draft (a PDF will open a new window)

Below are the photos of the fabrics, the left shows the front, the right the back, rising shed loom.

Bumberet with four color warp and red weft:

Thickset, also with the four color warp, and green weft:

Velveret with the four warp colors and blue weft:

Ducape with red and purple warp, and purple weft, single repeat

Ducape with red and purple warp and blue weft, double repeat:

 While I was studying these structures, I was intrigued by the little boxes that were formed in some cases, and I wondered whether I could make the boxes to be the same on both blocks at the same time. I experimented with the bumberet draft because I thought a balanced weave would be easier to change for boxes. The drawdown is below.

I thought I could use the draft to make a runner to match a bowl for a side table, so I picked the colors from the bowl, shown in the drawdown and fabric below, front on the left, back on the right; you can see that the two sides look the same.

 Click here for the full-sized draft (a PDF will open a new window)

Use a structure from the bumberet family for one of your future projects!

The four structures are in the Pictionary individually.

 Happy weaving!

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Bronson and Barley Corn

Marcy Petrini

September 2019

Do you recognize this fabric? On the left we have blocks with weft floats, on the right we have blocks with warp floats.

The cloth is characteristic of grouped or unit weaves, one-shuttle structures that make lacey fabrics. If we look closely, we can see that a warp thread is shared by adjacent blocks. This is a characteristic of Spot Bronson.

Below is the drawdown for a sinking shed loom; even though I weave on rising shed looms, I find it easier to think of a block being woven when it is covered by weft, which occurs with a sinking shed loom. On and off the loom, weft floats appear on one side of the fabric, warp floats on the other.

The drawdown shows some important characteristics of the structure: there are three blocks; what is generally called A is threaded on shaft 2, B on 3 and C on 4. I like to think of these shafts as pattern shafts; in each block, the respective pattern shaft alternates with a thread on shaft 1 for the width of the block. This is the reason why adjacent blocks share a thread, they share shaft 1.

This means that it is possible to weave plain weave across the fabric by treadling 1 vs. 2 & 3 &4, since every other thread is on shaft 1 and the alternate thread is on a pattern shaft; this is shown in the drawdown but not the fabric. The two alternating plain weave picks are sometimes called tabbies, since Spot Bronson is traditionally woven with the same size warp and weft, so that the plain weave area can be a true tabby.

This characteristic of treadling 1 vs. all pattern shafts, makes me think of a tied-unit weave (for example summer-and-winter), but Spot Bronson is not, for two main reasons.

  Click here for the full-sized draft (a PDF will open a new window)

The most important reason is that the floats are not delimited by a tie-thread, but by the pattern thread of the adjacent block. If we look at block C (1, 4, 1, 4, 1), the first block starting on the right in the drawdown, we see that the weft thread covers the block for its 5 warp threads, (including the warp thread shared on shaft 1), and it stops with shaft 3 of the following block (1, 3, 1, 3, 1). This is similar to what happens with huck.

The other reason that this is not a tied-unit weave is related to the first: the block can be as wide as we wish – for block C, for example, 1, 4, can be repeated many times, ending with 1 – being mindful that the float may be too long. This variable float length, too, is similar to huck.

In treadling a block we alternate the tabby 2 & 3 & 4 with a pick that uses shaft 1 plus the shaft of the block; the treadling for block C, for example, is 2 & 3 & 4 vs. 1 & 4.

What makes Spot Bronson intriguing is that there are 3 blocks on 4 shafts, unusual for unit weaves. This increases the design possibilities as can be seen from the drawdown and fabric.

But the extra block comes with a cost: it is not possible to weave plain weave down the length of the fabric, even though the two blocks not being woven produce plain weave. This emphasizes the design, but even with floating selvages, the floats are one thread away from the edge.

Enter Lace Bronson, also called Bronson Lace: since plain weave is formed on the blocks not being woven, we could use one of them to produce plain weave down the length of the fabric. We would gain another option: placing between blocks the pattern shaft of the block used for plain weave; this allows us to repeat a block without long floats.

Block A of Spot Bronson is traditionally used for the plain weave to turn it into Lace Bronson. Below are both sides of the fabric of Lace Bronson.

The drawdown that follows shows how the 1, 2, threading results in a plain weave border and how the pattern thread on shaft 2 can separate repeats of the same block. Look at the two repeats of block on 1, 3, a thread on shaft 2 prevents the long float, in effect functioning as a tie-down thread. 

   Click here for the full-sized draft (a PDF will open a new window)

Same block threading, two structures with different characteristics resulting from some block re-arrangement and changes in treadling.

But, wait, there is more!

Last year at the Chimneyville Weavers and Spinners Guild meeting, my friend Gio Chinchar was presenting a program on weaving towels when she showed one woven as Barley Corn, which is basically Bronson, she said.

I hadn’t thought about Barley Corn since the 90s and I seemed to remember that there was something unusual about the Bronson of the Barley Corn. So, down the Barley Corn rabbit hole I went.

Barley Corn is Spot Bronson and it is usually – but not always – woven with a fat weft for the pick using the pattern shaft; the warp and the tabby (2 & 3 & 4) weft are the same, the fat weft is of the same proportions that we would use for a supplementary weft, for example in overshot.

Ultimately, I decided to weave “Detail from Flowers of Caanan” from A Handweaver’s Pattern Book by Marguerite Porter Davison, “the green book” where there is an entire chapter devoted to Barley Corn.

Below is the drawdown of the Flowers of Caanan followed by the front and back of the fabric. The threading is that of the Spot Bronson drawdown shown above. The treadling uses two wefts. The tabby weft is the same as the warp as can be seen from the fabric, 10/2 mercerized cotton; in the drawdown it is shown in lighter blue to make the plain weave obvious; it is always 2 & 3 & 4. The pattern shot is woven with Brown Sheep Nature Spun, color Sunburst Gold; the fatter yarn makes the pattern more visible, gold in the drawdown.

   Click here for the full-sized draft (a PDF will open a new window)

Davison says that the motifs of Barley Corn can resemble overshot.

Because the tabby weft is fatter, the fabric is heavier than Spot Bronson, it would make great pillows or other household textiles where overshot may be used.

Barley Corn has been added to the Pictionary. Spot Bronson and Lace Bronson have been part of the original set of Pictionary. Download the pdfs as you wish.

Use some of your favorite Spot Bronson patterns and convert them to Barley Corn! And for me, I can’t wait to see what my friend Gio is going to weave next, because she always seems to dig up interesting weaves.

 Happy weaving!

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How to Adapt the Warp Sett for Your Fabric

Marcy Petrini

July 2019

At the Beginning….

People generally learn to weave with plain weave. To start the project we need to explain the sett. We wrap the yarn around a ruler, count the threads in one inch, and explain that we call the measurement the yarn size or grist or diameter (d) in wraps per inch (wpi) and that we will use half that number for our sett in ends per inch (epi) because our finished product will have half warp and half weft; then we hand the rulers to the students and let them try, admonishing not to overlap the threads and not to leave empty space in between them, as show below.

As the old saying does, “you gotta start somewhere”. We may mention that we will explain for future projects how the sett varies, but first impressions are powerful.

So, there was the time we used a 5/2 cotton sett at 16 epi – and 16 epi became “the sett” – for everything (“you told me to sett it at 16”); or the time that we used 3/2 cotton sett at 12 epi in a 12 dent reed and the conclusion was that the reed determines the sett, and not the other way around.

Those are rare instances, no doubt, but I do think that beginning weavers sometimes are looking for a magic number. “What’s the sett for 10/2 cotton?” asks the e-mail. Ah, if only sett were that simple! But with a bit of thought and understanding, it doesn’t have to be that hard, especially since we have some leeway.

The Determinant of Sett

Let’s look at all the assumptions that the instructors make for that first project:

Let’s look at these individually and see if we can use some principles.

Structure

Plain weave has the shortest floats, each weft goes over and under each warp thread, each warp thread over and under each weft thread.

But when we have longer floats the fabric can be unstable, too much wiggle room as shown in the picture below, where the warp ends bunched together.

When we have floats, we adjust by setting the warp more closely.

How much more closely?

For twills, a rule of thumb is that balanced twills should be sett at least 20% closer than plain weave. For that 5/2 yarn that we sett at 16 epi for plain weave, we would use 20 epi for a twill.

Unit weaves form lacey blocks and plain weave. You may read that lacey weaves should be sett more openly, the same or closer than plain weave. All of those are true and the sett varies on the proportions of these. If there is a lot of plain weave, we may want to use a more open sett to accentuate the lacey areas; if there are a lot of lacey blocks, then the sett should be a bit closer because the floats can make the fabric unstable. A huck lace that has all lace and no plain weave (except the selvages) using 10/2 Tencel^® usually sett at 24 epi for plain weave, I may sett it at 26 epi.

Supplementary weaves have a ground of tabby, but the supplementary weft is generally larger than the ground weft, which is traditionally the same as the warp. In this case, I open up the tabby sett a bit, to allow room for the supplementary weft. A 10/2 cotton, that may be sett at 24 epi for tabby, I sett at 18 epi for a tabby of a supplementary weave.

There is actually a formula for calculating the sett for different structures, but while I used to really like to use it, with time I found it unreliable for some unbalanced structures, and those that have different size floats with different picks, for example a birds’ eye twill.

Fortunately, we don’t have to do any calculations from the formula to find reasonable setts. While there are lots of sample setts on the web for the various commonly used yarns, there are differences in twist in yarns which effect the sett. The best place to find the sett for a specific yarn is to use the web site of the yarn vendor.

Manufacturers of yarns may provide either a range for setts or ranges for plain weave and twills. For example, for 10/2 cotton, the sett suggested may range from 18 to 36 epi. The 18 is for drapeable plain weave or a lacey structure with lots of plain weave, for example used in a scarf; the 36 is for unbalanced twills. About in the middle is a balanced twill, 24 epi.

Alternatively, the sett suggestions may say: plain weave: 18 - 24; twill 24 - 36; in this case, the 24 is suggested both for a sturdy plain weave, for example to be used in a placemat, or a balanced twill. The suggested setts for a given yarn usually take into consideration the fiber, so they are worth noting, even when wrapping the yarn to determine its grist.

Warp and Weft Size

Often, we use the same size weft as the warp, but sometimes the perfect yarn for the project is larger or smaller.

If the weft is larger than the warp, the sett must be more open to make room for the weft; if the weft is smaller than the warp, the sett must be closer to avoid the weft to pack in and make the cloth too stiff.

For example, for 10/2 cotton woven in plain weave for warp and weft, the average sett is 24 epi. For the runner below, woven with a larger ribbon, the warp was sett more openly at 18 epi.

The scarf below was woven with a multicolor 5/2 bamboo for warp and a purple 10/2 bamboo for weft in a twill. For a balanced twill, the sett of the 5/2 warp would have been 20 epi, but because the weft is smaller, a sett of 24 epi was used. This makes the fabric more stable but also allows the multicolor warp to be the focus of the scarf while still having good drape.

 Balanced and Unbalanced Fabrics

A balanced fabric is one where the same amount of warp and weft shows on each side; both plain weave and 2/2 twills can be balanced, if we use the same size warp and weft.

In an unbalanced fabric, the weft shows more on one side, the warp on the other as shown in the picture below of a  3/1 twill, front and back; 3/1 means that for every shot, 3 threads remain down while 1 thread is lifted.

How do we sett the warp for these fabrics? Closer than for a balanced twill. I already mentioned that when vendors give a range for twills, the upper value is for unbalanced fabrics. Let’s use the example of 5/2; we may sett it at 16 for plain weave, 18 for a balanced twill, and 22 epi for the 3/1 twill.

Yarn and Fiber

The general sett recommendations for 10/2 unmercerized cotton, 10/2 mercerized cotton and 10/2 Tencel^® (which follows the cotton count) are the same. But there are differences. Look at the photo below:

There are 6 wraps for each of the three yarns, which are: 10/2 unmercerized cotton (blue), 10/2 Tencel^® (rust) and 10/2 mercerized cotton (yellow), occupying the portion of an inch as labeled. Translated to epi, the setts would be 19, 20 and 23, respectively, with some differences, especially between the unmercerized and mercerized cotton; visually, I can see that the yellow yarn has a higher twist than the others. This is not surprising as I have found differences between mercerized cottons of the same count and Tencel^® of the same count. In using the yarn, such differences may not matter, but I still think it is important to consult the yarn vendors for their sett recommendations.

Silk is the one fiber that benefits from a closer sett as it is very slippery. Luckily, all silk yarn vendors have helpful tables for their yarns.

Final Use

I wouldn’t use 3/2 cotton to make a scarf, the fabric wouldn’t drape as well as I’d like, but 3/2 makes great mats; for a scarf, I would use 10/2 cotton, which I wouldn’t use for a table mat, I think the sturdier 3/2 works better.

In between is 5/2; it could be used for a scarf and for a matt – but not with the same sett. For a scarf I may use an open 18 epi, for a matt a tighter 20 epi.

The ranges given to us by manufacturers are rather close, but we have a lot more leeway. To weave a tapestry or a weft-faced rug, we sett the yarn 5 or 8 epi, depending on the size of the weft, so we can cover the warp totally, on both sides of the fabric, as shown in the photo below, front and back.

At the other end of the spectrum, we can weave a rug with rep weave, warp-faced plain weave; we sett rep close to 4 times the yarn wraps per inch, to make sure that the top and bottom of the fabric are both solid warp, as show in the photo below, front and back.

Think carefully about the final use for a perfect project!

The Weaver!

As we weave, we find our preferences; some weavers like their warp tension high, some low; some like to beat hard, others softly.

Which combinations you prefer may impact your fabric; if you like to beat hard, you make great rugs – what if you want to weave a scarf? You can adjust the sett.

I know that I like to beat rather hard – not as hard as beating a rug, but certainly to weave lacey weaves, I have to fight my tendency. I also like to keep my warp pretty tight, which minimizes possible threads getting caught in the middle of the shed, especially with a sticky warp.

Rather than fighting my tendencies, I adjust the sett. By using a slightly larger ends per inch than recommended, my warp will provide some resistance to the beating; and since a tight warp also promotes heavy beating, the closer sett helps with this tendency as well.

Pay attention to what you like and learn over time to adjust accordingly.

Where Do I Go from Here?

You see why I couldn’t answer that email “What’s the sett for 10/2 cotton?” with a single number, but here is a plan to get started. And, no, I won’t use the dirty 6-letter word (sample), although sometimes that’s the best way to get the answer.

Let’s say you have chosen the yarn and the structure, and you know what you want to make.

1. If you have to buy the yarn, use the high end of the sett for your calculations for the yarn purchase, so you won’t run out of yarn.
2. If you have the yarn, or when the yarn arrives, do the following:
   1. Wrap the yarn around an inch, as described above, no overlap, no empty spaces, divide by half; this is your starting epi.
   2. Think about adjustments for the pattern, the weft size if different than the warp and what your finished product is going to be; adjust the starting epi accordingly; sometimes your adjustment may be a calculation (20% increase for twills), sometimes it’s “a little bit” higher or lower – 18 or 14 instead of 16, don’t use odd setts; if your calculations give you 21 epi, use 20 or 22, depending on what you are making.
   3. Compare the adjusted epi you have just calculated with the values recommended by the yarn vendor:
      1. If you agree, you are good to go! Go wind that warp!
      2. If you don’t agree, figure out why:
         1. Are you making a very sturdy piece that requires a higher sett than recommended?
         2. Are you using a slick yarn, like silk, so the vendor is recommending a closer sett than you had calculated?
         3. Make your final decision and proceed with warping.
      3. If when you start weaving you find that your sett is not quite right, you can re-sley, remembering that there can be two potential issues:
         1. The width won’t be the same; if you need to re-sley with a closer sett, the width will be less; more open, the width will be more.
         2. Depending on the adjustment, there could be a potential tension problem because the threads no longer will travel a straight line from the back of the loom to the front, they will either fan out or squeeze in, depending on the direction of the new sett.
         3. An alternative to re-sleying is to change weft size, which is a cleaner solution:
            1. If the sett is too open, use a larger weft.
            2. If the sett is too close, use a smaller weft.
         4. Once you are done, keep notes. This is the most important part for future use. Keep a spreadsheet if you are comfortable with them, or a table of some sort. List the following:
            1. Warp yarn used, be specific – not “cotton”, but 8/2 unmercerized cotton.
            2. Weft yarn used, say at least “same as warp”, if that’s the case.
            3. The structure.
            4. Final use of the piece.
            5. The sett in epi.
            6. Your impressions: note whether you are totally happy with this sett, or whether you are relatively happy but next time you may sett this yarn more closely or further apart. And, yes, do this even if the project turned out not to be to your liking. That may be the best lesson.
            7. Any other thing you may want to remember.
         5. When reading a published project, note the same information as above, even if you don’t plan on using it. Add it to your table or make a parallel table of use by other weavers. You can compare your setts with those of others and make conclusions about similarities and differences.

Soon you will have a table – your table – which will give you a feel for how you like to sett various yarns. Experience comes from paying attention to what we do right – and what we do not so right.

 Happy weaving!

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