Hello,
I am not sure how to determine sett for my overshot project in which I am using 10/2 cotton for the warp and tabby and 3/2 for the pattern thread. I want a fabric that is nice and drapes very well even though I am using this heavy 3/2 mercerized cotton. I once made this shawl with a 20 epi and although it was lovely, it did not drape. I am thinking of sleying it at 15 epi this time (14 epi doesn't work well with any reed). Do you think this will give me a shawl which is soft and drapes well? Thank you!

Pam G

Thanks Sandra. I did watch that episode again before I wrote you. In it, Jane mentions overshot and says she will talk about it later but I don’t think she does. My confusion is how to wrap the ruler because it’s a different scenario…a twill where you wrap 2 threads together, leave a space and then wrap two more together. But overshot isn’t really a twill because you use tabby. So do you wrap 2 warp threads, one pattern thread and one tabby thread in the space between and two more tabby threads? I am probably overthinking this.

Hi pjoffyear. I thought I had gone over this somewhere….maybe even wrapping the ruler in Season 1. This question came up on a facebook post last week and this is what I responded.

I start on the ruler to give me a base starting point. I wrap the warp ends but at the same time I wrap the 2 wefts ends..the tabby and the pattern weft have to fit into between the warp threads. What if your tabby weft is really fine and your pattern weft is really thick. Those 2 wefts have to fit in between the warp threads. And it is amazing to realize that we have to open the sett of overshot warps to allow for those 2 wefts whatever their size. Some tabby wefts are finer, some pattern wefts are bigger, so for me it all starts on the ruler and there is no absolute in this matter because it depends on the wefts yarns. Some pattern wefts will full more than others. You could have a wool pattern weft that will bloom or you could have a cotton pattern weft that doesn’t. The ruler helps me make those decisions to get to that starting point. And yes…sometimes I put it on the loom and realize it’s not right so I resley to make it better. If your circles are becoming eggs, you have to open the sett…if your squares are becoming high rises I open the sett. I hope this helps a little bit.

Thanks very much. That clarifies it!