Kiss Me! I'm Irish!
I can't deny it, I love Celtic knotwork!
For years, I entertained myself weaving Celtic patterns on an inkle loom using pick-up techniques. It was satisfying to see the pattern develop, but the weaving was slow.
That's when I started looking to other ways to weave Celtic designs.
My first project was to take the same pick-up pattern and adapt it for a supplementary-warp band that ran the length of a dish towel. I was able to come up with a good-looking pattern using ten shafts; two shafts for the plain-weave ground fabric and eight shafts for the supplementary-warp patterning.
I've discovered I’m not alone in my love of Celtic knotwork. Over the past few years, I've received requests from other weavers for my Celtic pattern draft. Unfortunately, many of them had eight-shaft looms and were disappointed to learn my pattern required ten.
This encouraged me to "turn" the draft, making the threading my treadling and the treadling my thread. This changes the structure from a supplemental warp to supplemental weft. This made it possible to weave the Celtic pattern on only six shafts. Not only does the supplemental-weft version require fewer than eight shafts, but it's also threaded in a super simple and versatile straight-draw threading.
Now weavers have two ways to weave this Celtic knotwork pattern! Which one is right for you?
Using a supplemental warp is a bit trickier to set up; you need more shafts on your loom, a way to tension two different warps (either two warp beams or hanging weights), the threading is more complex, etc. The payoff comes in the weaving. The supplemental-warp pattern only requires one shuttle and has a simple treadling.
Using a supplemental weft is easier in the set up; your warp is simply your ground cloth, threaded in a straight-draw threading, you only need six shafts and one warp beam. You also have more versatility than with a supplemental warp. Because you are creating the design in the weft, you can add pattern stripes at your discretion, varying the placement of pattern bands as you're weaving. The downside is that you will be using two shuttles (one for the ground cloth and one for the design) in the pattern areas, and thus the weaving is a bit more complex and slower.
Project Details: Supplemental Weft Version
No matter how many shafts you have, one day you'll find a draft that requires more shafts than you have available. Learning how to turn a draft makes it possible for you to weave many multi-shaft designs on fewer shafts.
Yes, you will need to weave with more than one shuttle, but not for long if you decide to weave only a few bands of pattern.
What is wonderful about this set-up is that it's a single warp, in one color, and a versatile threading. I can weave the Celtic pattern in multiple colors and widths. Plus, I can weave them as often as I like. A pair of simple borders at the ends of a towel or placement is easy and quick to weave since the majority of weaving is plain weave. However, if more bands are desired, increase the frequency. It’s completely up to you!
Equipment
- A loom with at least six shafts.
- Two shuttles (one for ground weft and one for pattern weft).
Warp
8/2 unmercerized cotton in Natural.
Wind a warp of 396 ends. You should allow one yard for each towel plus an additional yard for loom waste and take-up.
Weft
- 8/2 unmercerized cotton in Natural and Black (for background cloth).
- 5/2 perle cotton (for pattern bands).
Sett
18 ends per inch.
Dimensions
Width in reed: 22 inches.
These oversized dish towels are woven 22 inches wide and 36 inches long. After finishing, the towels will be approximately 20 inches wide and 30 inches long.
Structure
Plain weave with areas of supplemental patterning.
Weaving
Weave with Natural in plain weave areas. In the pattern areas, alternate the pattern weft with the background weft as shown in the weave draft above.
Finishing
Cut apart and serge or zig-zag stitch on a sewing machine to secure the ends. Wet finish by washing and drying in a washing machine. Press. Hem after the towels have been wet finished, dried, and pressed.
Project Details: Supplemental Warp Version
If you’ve never woven with a supplementary warp before, this is a wonderful first project to introduce yourself to the technique. If you have enough shafts, don't mind tensioning two separate warps, and like single-shuttle weaves, this one is for you!
I used ten shafts to weave the dish towels with the supplementary-warp Celtic band. The plain-weave ground fabric is threaded on shafts one and two and the supplementary-warp bands are threaded on shafts three through ten.
I wove six Celtic bands, three on each side with a section of plain-weave ground cloth in the middle.
Equipment
- A loom with at least ten shafts and a second back beam (preferred) or weights to tension the supplemental-warp bands.
- One shuttle
Warp
- 8/2 Unmercerized cotton in Natural (for the plain-weave ground) and Black (accent stripes).
- 5/2 Perle cotton in Dark Green for the (supplementary warp).
Wind a supplemental warp of 24 ends of the Dark Green 5/2 cotton for each supplemental-pattern band. For six bands, this means a total of 144 ends.
Wind the ground warp of 395 ends (371 natural, 24 black), following the winding pattern below. In the chart below, the sections of Natural where the supplemental warp will be added are bold.
Add one yard of warp length for each towel plus an additional yard for loom waste and take-up.
Weft
8/2 unmercerized cotton in Natural.
Sett
- 18 in plain-weave areas.
- 36 in supplementary-warp areas (18 ground threads and 18 supplementary-warp threads.
Dimensions
Width in reed: 22 inches.
These oversized dish towels are woven 22 inches wide and 36 inches long. After finishing, the towels will be approximately 20 inches wide and 30 inches long.
Warping
My loom has two warp beams. The ground warp was beamed on one beam and the supplementary bands were beamed onto the second beam.
If you only have one warp beam, the supplementary-warp bands are small enough (approximately 1-1/2 inches wide) that they can be hung off the back beam as a warp chain and weighted with a bottle of water or some other object that can be easily attached and moved as the warp is advanced during weaving.
Weaving
Weave with 8/2 unmercerized cotton in Natural throughout.
Finishing
Cut apart and serge or zig-zag stitch on a sewing machine to secure the ends. Wet finish by washing and drying in a washing machine. Press. Hem after the towels have been wet finished, dried, and pressed.
Robyn Spady learned to weave nearly 40 years ago. She completed HGA's Certificate of Excellence (COE) in 2004 with the specialized study "Loom-controlled Stitched Double Cloth." Robyn is inspired by the many ways to weave double-faced fabrics as a way to create versatile fabrics. In addition to double-faced fabrics, she also explores uncommon weave structures and narrow warp weaves. You can learn more about her work and her teaching schedule on her website.