Turned Twill with a Color Twist

 

The Not 2 Square Weavers have been meeting through the magic of Zoom for several years.  This really bites into our ability to handle all the lovely textiles that members have woven, but  we still have the pleasure of looking at the colors and hearing the stories of how they have been created.

This past month, Karen W. talked to us about her adventures with a color trick on a turned twill design that she she wove.  She was eager to use up bits and pieces of yarns from her stash and fished out four colors she thought might work with a draft that another member had shared with the group. 

 

 

 

 Karen wove four towels for gifts using this technique and since it is a trick we can all use in our turned twill designs, we are sharing it will our followers

 

 The draft, shown above, isn't a complete repeat of the design, but the trick is in overlapping colors in both the warp and the weft.  As you can see from the draft above, you don't keep the colors strictly within the blocks.  The little color trick allows you to get more visual blocks in your design.  Karen kept her color sequence in the warp and the weft the same, so that her overall design was symmetrical.  This  is one choice.  You could do a free form design, but warping stripes of various colors in no particular width, then weaving in a similar fashion by either using the same colors as are in the warp, or different colors.  Hint:  Click on the draft photo for a larger  view of the details.

I don't know the source for the above draft - and as I mentioned, it doesn't show a full repeat of the threading.  However, I did find a great article by Alice Schlein in an old Handwoven Magazine (Mar/Apr 2001). The article starts on page 38 and has a complete explanation and drafts of the technique.

Another way you might tweek your draft would be to vary your tie up.  Look at this article for ideas https://bannermountaintextiles.blogspot.com/2024/02/two-block-twills-with-multiple-tie-up.html 

This is a fun way to use up stash odds and ends and get a lot of bang for your buck!