Design and color bravery
Rich and wonderful
Your availability and deep familiarity with the material, Cally, made this the best workshop I have ever taken.
Brilliantly executed
It was brilliantly conceived and brilliantly executed.
Thoroughly enjoyable
Empowering
UNDERSTANDING double weave.
It was so empowering.
Booking takes place through my website, and priority is given to those who have already expressed an interest by signing up to the waiting list. The next presentation will be in March 2025 and you can join the waiting list here:
This particular course is all about 8-shaft double weave, so you will need access to an 8-shaft loom to make the most of it.
Countermarche looms are great, aren’t they? Yes, you can, and I include instruction specifically focused on tying up a countermarche loom for double weave, because I want you to be able to apply these techniques to your favourite loom… BUT… whatever kind of loom you usually weave on, my top recommendation for studying a new weave is to use a table loom if you can, and that applies more than ever to double weave. Although it is not the speediest way to weave, speed is not the point when you are learning. Learning is the point, and a table loom is really well suited to this purpose.
Absolutely. There is no requirement to have tried any kind of double weave before taking this course.
That’s a hard one! Everyone has their own pace for weaving as well as for reading and thinking. Based on previous students’ experience, I’d suggest allowing up to one day per week to make the most of the live course presentation.
The main focus will be on working with double weave blocks and that will occupy most of the six weeks’ running time of the live course.
We will look in detail at designing a threading for two layers and two blocks of plain weave, and will explore many different variations which we can weave on the same threading. Among others, these will include colour-and-weave effects, weft interchange, mixing double weave with twill, and adding pickup to enhance your block design.
There will also be materials to encourage you to take your double weave explorations further, including working with twill and huck.
The basic principle of weaving double width is covered, but it is not a focus of the course. My interests lie chiefly in the pattern potential of two layers of cloth which are interchanged on the loom, and the content of the course reflects that.
Now that’s a different animal altogether! We don’t cover deflected double weave in this course, as it cannot be woven on the same kind of threading.
Yes, you will. All the core teaching materials are pre-recorded and available to you at any time. Each lesson is broken down into a series of short videos, with slides and transcripts you can print out for reference, as well as downloadable worksheets and examples. There is also a community forum where you can ask questions at any time.
The live classes have been scheduled to try and accommodate as many different time zones as possible, but if you cannot manage any of those times then you will still have all you need to be able to weave.
You will have access to the real me. I’ve recorded the core teaching materials because this makes them available to everyone at any time. However, I will also be hosting live online sessions every week for six weeks, and I will always be accessible via the community forum as well. For the duration of the course, I aim to respond to every query on the community or by email within 24 hours, and am usually much quicker than that.
Live sessions will be held at two or three different times each week and are scheduled to try and make them as accessible as possible across time zones.
Exact times will vary from one presentation to the next, so please check the listing on the course booking page to make sure that it suits you.
There’s no expiry date, so you can continue to access the course materials for as long as you like*. It’s my intention that this workshop should just be the beginning of many adventures in double weave, and I hope you’ll come back and access the materials whenever you need a reminder or want to try something new.
* As with any technology, of course, this is subject to the life of the platforms where they are hosted. If for any reason that becomes an issue, I will give you as much notice as I can.
I’m not going to lay down the law about this, as I want you to use yarn that you are happy with. My samples for the course are woven in 8/2 organic unmercerised cotton from Venne, and I will provide details of this and a few other options once students have enrolled. At that point we can also talk about any yarns you have but are unsure about, and I’ll be happy to give advice on their suitability.
At the moment I am aiming to offer the course twice a year, so I hope there will be something to suit you. The best way to make sure you hear about future dates is to join my mailing list.
There are only two requirements for full participation in this course. You need to have access to an eight-shaft loom, and you should know how to warp it. The course will include some hints and tips for setting up your loom for double weave, but it will be assumed that you can accomplish the basic steps of winding, beaming, threading and sleying a warp by following a draft. Having said that, check out the question below about beginner weavers.
Everyone defines ‘beginner’ differently, so this is a tricky one. However, if you have only just started to weave on a multi-shaft loom then this course is unlikely to be a good choice for you. As I’ve said above, you need to be confident in warping your loom, which means you’ll need to have done it several times. As a rule of thumb I’d suggest that you should be familiar with at least two structures (e.g. you’ve used both plain weave and twill) and can appreciate the difference between them. However, if you’re in doubt, just ask me.
No! I know there are some great weaving groups on Facebook, but I am not a fan of the Facebook environment, which I find noisy and confusing. I’ve chosen Circle as the platform where I host the private community for Weaving Space Online so that we have a quiet space to focus on weaving. If you haven’t used it before, don’t worry – I’ll help you get started.