Barbara Mitchell leads you down a rabbit hole of choices and results using a rainbow of colours weaving 4 & 8 shaft Block Double Weave. Share your Block Double Weave journey on this thread.

I am wondering if it is possible to make napkins using 8 shafts? Cam up still have separate layers?

Hi Annette,
Yes, you can make the napkins using 8 shafts, and you will be able to have two separate layers. The instructions for the napkins on 8 shafts are shown on the 8-shaft Two Block Double Weave PDF on page 19, and also described on Season 8, Episode 4.7 starting at 15:04. Change your tie-up as shown, so that the upper quadrants mirror the lower quadrants.
In order to get two separate layers, you have to stay weaving in one block only, either in Block A for the whole napkin, or in Block B for the whole napkin.

Barbara, I just have to say that your selvedges were so straight and beautiful. Loved the lesson and thanks for all the hard work you put into the videos and the pdfs !!

Thank you so much Cheryl!

Barbara, I wound my warp today and am so excited to start this project. Thank you for such a detailed and clear lesson and materials!

Hi from Atlanta Georgia everyone :)
I had a blast weaving one looong placemat, 45”, to be used as a runner with lots of A and B blocks in it!
Thanks Barbara!
Now i am using the exact same warp, have tied up for napkins with the new tie up on page 19 and am having a terrible time with treadle 4 …the top part of the bottom napkin hangs down loose in the shed while there is no problem with it when using treadle 2. I can’t get a clear shed to use without floats and this is maddening…any ideas for the tension problem only on this treadle? I have a Spring 2 loom which can normally handle anything thrown at it.

Glad you are enjoying the episode!
Re: the loose threads in this shed. When this happened to me, where the shed is good for a particular shaft on one treadle, but not good for the same shaft on another treadle, I would look at the cords that tie that treadle to the lams. Are the cords crossed? or maybe one cord is not the correct length. A small adjustment to the length of the treadle cords should be able to fix the problem.

Thanks, Barbara…i had checked this before writing and had one texsolv cord one hole shorter than the others and changed that out, it has helped a little and i put a warping stick into the warp on the back beam between the paper and the warp, as someone else had mentioned and that is keeping it weave-able but not necessarily enjoyable yet as i have to keep an eye on that shed; but there are only two sets of napkins to go, hopefully the warp will cooperate enough :) i really don’t understand this! The whole layer of it is loose but not seriously dropping down any longer.

Hi Jacqui, I can’t see why this would be happening on your Spring Loom. Can you send us a few pictures. One with the blocking pin in. I want to see the level of your shafts, lamms and what the cords look like when all blocked. You’ll have to remove your bench and stand back a bit. Then if you could take the blocking pin out and take a picture of the shed of the offending treadle (from the side) . We wove all of this project on our SPring loom and didn’t have any problems. :)

Thank you, Jane :)
I will be glad to do that but it will probably be tomorrow before it gets done, my weaving time for today is over and it’s getting to be dinner time here :). I have had tension issues from the beginning with this loom, i have had it about a year but i am not completely impressed with the sheds it makes under all circumstances so having you look at the pictures will be more than welcome as you know what it should be like. Thank you again, i will get these as soon as i can tomorrow!!

No problem Jacqui, whenever you are able :)

How do i upload the pictures? Have tried all over the FAQ’s and can’t find how :(. I haven’t posted before.

https://help.schoolofweaving.tv/article/100-uploading-images

I noticed the placemat 4 does not match the directions laid out in the table in terms of repeats. I doublechecked because when I finished it, I thought it seemed short. Glad I checked before I hem stitched ! : )