Walking the Treadles

Here is one of the things that weavers don’t teach each other as much as they should…you can change around your treadle order to make it easier to weave. I am going to give you some tips.

If you have a draft that has treadles tied-up that you don’t actually use, don’t tie them up. Empty treadles can be used to help you find the right treadle without having to look.

If a draft is not symmetrical, meaning that the treadles in use are not evenly spaced between the left and right side, change it so that they are. This can mean leaving empty treadles on the sides or in the middle. I prefer to tie-up my treadles so that the ones I use the most are hip-width apart. On a six treadle loom, while using four treadles, I will leave the center two empty.

Feel free to move treadles around to make it easier to weave. The trick for this is to find a way to coordinate the treadles to the draft to your brain that works for you. Every weaver’s brain works differently and I have seen weavers create and use many different labeling systems.

Here is an example of a four shaft draft rearranged. This is the draft from our current four shaft club kit.

Here is the eight shaft club draft with treadles rearranged. The one “incidental” will make it more challenging, but there are treadling options provided in each kit that doesn’t include the incidental and the resulting fabric is just as lovely.

I find it helpful to place rubber bands on a few of the treadles, but not too many. In the above draft, I might put them on treadle 2 and 9. I also find it helpful to never pull my foot into a neutral position. I will always keep my feet engaged with a treadle, often just gently touching the edge of it so I am not accidentally pushing on it and raising threads. As you practice this more, you can move your foot to the next treadle while the opposite foot is stepping. It takes some experience and rhythm.

Here are a couple of videos where I walk you through the process (pun might or might not be intended). The second video, where I am treadling, was made before I realized that I need to slow my process way, way, way down for anyone to follow. It comes with a content warning…do not try and weave this fast at home…or at least until you have been weaving for a long time and have everything else figured out. I hope you can at least get the concept, even though I am treadling faster than I am speaking.

Happy Weaving!