Fiber Monday - Twill gamp

I want to tell you about the weaving class I was taking last week. It was a twill class, which meant we were learning about twill structures and how to weave them. The teacher is excellent. She is one of those teachers that make me want to see what else she is teaching and take it regardless of the topic. (If you're in the area, check out Fine Line Creative Arts Center in St. Charles. It is really wonderful.) Anyway, back to twill.

I'm assuming that if you are here and reading on a Monday that you don't mind me droning on a bit about fiber-related topics. So, first some definitions. Twill is a weave structure that, instead of going over 1, under 1, like you learn to weave construction paper in school, it goes over 2, under 2. And with that pattern, it can be varied pretty much endlessly. Which brings us to what a gamp is. A gamp is a sample piece of weaving, so in this instance a twill gamp is sampling a lot of different weave structures. The things that change in the structure are how the shafts are threaded and what treadles are used. 

[The shafts are the pieces that go up and down and the warp is threaded through them in certain patterns. We were using four shafts so we had four different options for threading a single piece of warp. The treadles are connected to the shafts in different patterns so that by pressing a treadle, a certain number of shafts are raised creating different types of patterns.]

For the twill gamp we are making, we are using three different threading patterns meaning that there are three long columns in the final piece running vertically the entire length that each have a different way the warp is threaded. Going across, the horizontal parts of the gamp [the weft], each row will have a different treadle pattern. By doing this you create a map of what each combination looks like. It is kind of like a multiplication table... the top times the side equals the box in the center. 

All of this is to explain what you are going to see in this picture. Here is my gamp so far.

Here you can easily see the different sections because they are bordered by the black yarn. Each column has a unique threading pattern and each row has the same treadling pattern.

Here's a close-up of how different the patterns can be for each combination. It has been so fun to watch the pattern emerge as I weave. This is the best part of what I've done; the rest has been... a learning vehicle. First, I wasn't beating down the weft nearly hard enough. It was my first time using such fine yarn, and it was very different from my past experiences. So I took all that out, getting a bit of practice at unweaving. (Yes, it is as much fun as un-knitting if you're curious.) After about 12 inches, I finally started to feel as though I was getting a handle on the beating aspect, but then looked carefully and realized that there was something a little odd about the patterns. I had no idea why and kept on weaving. 

And then, as I was beginning to start a new treadling section, I made a discovery... I came very close to treadling incorrectly and suddenly realized what had gone wrong earlier. To understand my mistake, you have to know what a treadling chart looks like.

You read this from top to bottom with each number indicating which number of treadle you use. You'll notice that many of the patterns are in sets of three or four either moving 1-2-3-4 or 4-3-2-1. It seems that when looking at a pattern group, such as that 4-3-2-1, my automatic default is to read left to right instead of top to bottom, meaning that instead of treadling 4-3-2-1, I ended up treadling 1-2-3-4 because I was reading left to right in preference of top to bottom. This kind of changed the pattern a bit. 

It's all learning, though, isn't it? And a gamp is certainly about learning. Now that I am more aware of this tendency, I can pay closer attention to sections which seem to move right to left. I think I am going to have enough warp left so that I will be able to reweave some of the wonkier sections correctly. Once I get my own loom warped and going, I may actually try weaving it again just for practice. I am now kind of in love with all the twill structures and very excited to do a lot more experimenting.