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USING WEAVING SOFTWARE

Setting preferencesCreating draftsUsing colorVarying thread sizeBlock substitution

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Madelyn van der Hoogt


Images are createdusing PixeLoom.

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Threading order

4-SHAFT DRAFTTie-up

(the numberson each treadle

representshafts raised)

Tie-up (the numbers

on each treadlerepresent

shafts raised)

Tie-up (the numbers

on each treadlerepresent

shafts raised)

Treadlingorder

pick, or shot

Drawdown showing warp �oats in black(a picture of the cloth)

(weftthread)

Warp thread shows on face of clothWeft thread shows on face of cloth

warpthread

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Madelyn van der Hoogt1

In PixeLoom, the draft format allows numbers in tie-up and treadling, symbols (black squares or black circles or user-defined), or letters (as for blocks).

The drawdown can show filled-in squares (black or selected colors) or threads interlacing.

Straight, point, and advancing twills can be entered automatically in the threading and treadling sections using the Line Tool.

Delete Key deletes threads; Insert Key inserts threads (+ key on a Mac).

A Status Bar gives information at the bottom of each draft (how many shafts, trea-dles, ends, picks, etc).

The Selection Rectangle (dashed rectangle in the Side Tool Bar) selects areas of the threading or treadling to use for Copy or Paste.

Threading and treadling can be entered with the Pencil Tool or the number keys.

Two thread thicknesses can be shown in the drawdown (Choose Thickness under Threading or Treadling in the Top Menu Bar and Select the order of the two sizes).

Choose Warp or Weft Drawdown (filled-in black squares) or Color (filled in squares based on color of warp and weft) or Interlacement (shows interweav-ing warp and weft threads).

Color: Program opens with a Default Palette of colors. New colors and new palettes are easy to make and custom palettes are easy to import into new drafts. An eyedropper tool can select colors from images to paste into palettes.

The Color Palette shows two color selection boxes at the top, left-click to use the color in the left box, right-click for right box (to do this on a Mac, you need a 2-button mouse).

Fabric analysis: Edit/Start Fabric Analysis and fill in the drawdown part of the screen, and the program will derive the Threading, Tie-up, and Treadling.

Print: Choose Scale or Size to Fit (paper size), Drawdown type (Color, Warp, Weft, Interlacement;).

Drafts can be saved as graphic files (good quality jpgs).

WEAVING SOFTWARE FEATURES

Ctrl = Cmd

UndoCtrl + Z Cmd + Z

RedoCtrl + Y Cmd+Shift+Z

Copy selectionCtrl + C Cmd + C

PasteCtrl + V Cmd + V

Zoom inCtrl + + (plus) Cmd + +(plus)

Zoom outCtrl + –(minus) Cmd + – (minus)

Insert ends or picksInsert + (PX) space bar (FW)

Delete ends or picksDelete Delete

PrintCtrl + P Cmd + P

SaveCtrl + S Cmd + S

PC MACKeyboard shortcuts

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Weaving software can be a wonderful aid to creating drafts, understanding weave structures, and working with color. Here are some of the features of PixeLoom; most are also available in other weaving software programs; see the Resources page. Knowing about these can help you decide whether weaving software will be helpful to you. To create drafts in other programs, look at all the headings in the Top Menu Bar. You may find Warp and Weft instead of Threading and Treadling, but the choices should be fairly easy to understand.

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SETTING PREFERENCES

Set preferences:Under PixeLoom in the Top Menu Bar, select Preferences and fill in the selections to choose your Default number of shafts, treadles, etc. The same process will be true of most programs.

Here are typical Preferences for an 8-shaft, 8-treadle draft selected as the Default Draft. Every time you open the program, it will open with this draft.

It’s a good idea to create a folder of basic drafts with different numbers of shafts and treadles so that when you need one that isn’t your Default Draft, you can just click on one of those to open the program. Other-wise, you’ll have to change the De-fault Draft after the program opens (under File/Properties).

Creating basic draftsTo create a draft that has a different num-ber of shafts and treadles from the Default Draft, Under File in the Top Menu Bar, select New, and the Default draft opens (8-shafts, 8-treadles here). Under File, select Properties; change the numbers of shafts and treadles, and click OK. To save this draft as a 4-shaft, 4-treadle draft, under File choose Save As, and save as a 4S4T Draft or similar name. Do the same for any other combinations you might use (8S10T, 4S6T, 16S16T, for example).

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Working with drafts

1. Open your 8-shaft, 8-treadle basic draft. Save the open file as 8S Twill. Select the Line tool in the Toolbar (top right box with a diagonal line in it). Place the cursor (it will show a horizontal line at the hotspot, i.e., the place to start) on the first square in the threading for Shaft 1 and click and drag to make 5 repeats. You can instead use the pencil tool to enter each of the threaded shafts separately by clicking on each square.

2. Now click on th spaces in the tie-up to create a 3:3:1:1 tie-up (3 shafts up, 3 down, 1 up, 1 down) or you can choose a different twill tie-up.

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4. To add color: In the Top Menu Bar under Drawdown, choose Color (the black squares will disappear). Left click on a warp color to place in the upper left color selection square; fill in the warp color bar with this color. Right click for a weft color (this will show in the right color selection box) and fill in the weft color. (On a Mac, if you don’t have a 2-button mouse, change to the weft color in the left selection box and use that to fill in the weft color bar.)

3. In the Top Menu Bar under Drawdown, choose Warp (this will create a drawdown in which black squares represent raised warp threads). In the Top Menu Bar under treadling, choose Tromp as Writ. The same order will appear in the treadling as in the threading.

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5. In the Top Menu Bar under Draw-down, choose Interlacement to see the actual threads.

6. To show numbers in the threading and tie-up, under both Threading and Tie-up, choose Numeric.

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Working more with color

1. Open the 8S Twill draft. The default color palette opens on the Mac; a color choos-ing window opens on Windows comput-ers (choose the color that will be active for the right mouse button and one that will be active for the left mouse button). Click on the color in the left top color box to highlight it and a window will open that allows a new color to be created from either the Color Wheel, the Sliders—Gray Scale, RGB, CMYK, HSB (Hue, Satura-tion, Brightness), Spectrum, or Crayons. Practice by picking the CMYK sliders and change the color that was in the top left color window into a new one.

2. Click on it again in the left top color square and it will be added to the palette and can be used in the warp or weft color bars.

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3. To replace a color, under Color in the Top Menu Bar, choose Replace. Select the color to replace in the Replace box; then choose a color for the With box that you want to use instead.

4. Click on OK and the new color will replace the former color.

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Alternating color orders and Copy and Paste

1. Open the 4S4T Draft; choose Warp Drawdown and Interlacement. With the Pencil tool, enter the thread-ing and tie-up as shown.

2. Click on the Select tool in the Toolbar and draw a rectangle around the threading. Press Ctrl or Cmd C. Position the cursor below Shaft 1 in the next thread-

5. With two contrasting colors in the color selection boxes (green and lavender here), select the Paint Bucket tool, then select Alternat-ing, and then click with the Paint Bucket tool in the warp color bar (above the threading). The color in the right selection box will appear at the rightmost square in the bar.

6. Click with the Paint Bucket tool in the weft color bar (to the right of the treadling). The color in the right color selection square will be placed at the top of the color bar.

ing space and press Ctrl or Cmd V. Move the outlined group into the new position and click. (Even easier is to use the Rubber Stamp. Select the group, change to Rubber

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Stamp in the Toolbar, and stamp the new threading in the new positions.)

3. Change to the Pencil tool and place the last thread on Shaft 1 to balance.

4. Under Treadling, choose Tromp as Writ. The drawdown will show the actual interlacement of the threads.

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1. Open the 4S4T Draft. Add threading as shown. Under Drawdown, choose Weft.

2. Under Threading, Choose Single Repeat with 2 times selected.

3. Add last 6 threads to balance.4. Fill in the tie-up and treadling as shown.5. Under Drawdown, choose Add Tabby (1:1, Tabby on

Treadles 1 and 2). Fill in tie-up for tabby (1-3 vs 2-4).6. The drawdown will look more like the cloth if you leave

a space between each thread in the threading. Then, under Drawdown, change to Color and Interlacement. Choose two colors in the color selection boxes, pattern weft on right, tabby weft on left. Apply with Paint Bucket.

7. Under Treadling, choose Fill Thickness. Make first symbol thin (•), second symbol thick (■ ).

Overshot, Repeat, Insert Tabby, Fill Thickness 1

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1. Open the 4S4T Draft. Under Warp, choose Alpha. Place threading as shown.

2. Under Threading, choose Reflect. 3. With the + on the keyboard, insert a

thread at the center mark on Block D. Click on the D row to place a D there.

Mirror Repeats, Block Substitution

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44. Fill in the tie-up as shown, and

under Treadling, choose Tromp as Writ. Save as 4B Draft. (You can also change symbols in the tie-up to blocks: Under Tie-up, choose Alpha.)

5. Under Tools, choose Block Substi-tution. Choose Twill Blocks.wif. Save as 4B Turned Twill.

6. Reopen 4B Draft. Change squares in the tie-up to see how many dif-ferent designs you can create and save your favorites.

7. Choose another block weave in the Block Substitution menu and Save.

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4-BLOCK PROFILE DRAFT

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COMPUTER WEAVING SOFTWAREFiberworks: www.fiberworks-pcw.com (Windows, Mac)Weave-It, Weave-It Pro: www.weaveit.com (Windows); iWeaveIt (iPhone, Ipod, Ipad)Proweave: www.proweave.com (Windows, Mac)PixeLoom: www.pixeloom.com (Windows, Mac)WeaveMaker: www.weavemaker.com (Windows, Mac)WeavePoint: www.weavepoint.com (Windows)Patternland: www.mhsoft.com (Windows)WIF ‘n Proof, www.SandozSoftware.com iPhone, Ipod, Ipad)

FREE WEAVING SOFTWARE AND RESOURCEShttp://www.gammon.com.au/weavedraft/weavedraft.htmhttp://www.gammon.com.au/weavedraft/weavedraft.htm

WeaveDraft (WeaveDraft, Pike’s Peak Weavers Guild, designed by Bengt Nelson)www.subudesigns.com/downloads.cfm (for rug design by David Raup)www.subudesigns.com/downloads.cfm (Lace 2011 by David Raup, makes threads bend in lace weaves)www.handweaving.net (archive of wif files)www.weavingtoday.com (Handwoven’s website with free projects and resources)

SOCIAL NETWORKING AND OTHER GROUPSwww.weavingtoday.com (blogs, forums, galleries)www.weavolution.com (networking, online classes)www.zinio.com (eBooks, eMags, DVDs)www.ravelry.com (social networking, groups)www.weavezine.com (archived podcasts,articles, blogs)weavetech newslist (WeaveTech-subscribe@yahoo groups.com)youtube.com (how-tos)www.complexweavers.org (Complex Weavers)www.weavearealpeace.org (WARP)www.weavespindye.com (Handweavers Guild of America and Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot)

ALL WEAVERS’ GUILD WEBSITES(find a very complete list at Camilla Valley Farm, www.camillavalleyfarm.com/)

RESOURCES

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