Hello Taquete Experts,

I am setting up , y drawloom to learn taquete. I know most weavers use standard looms for this now, but I will be basing most of my taquete on historical examples, which are believed to have been woven on a drawloom. Plus, these designs require more shafts than I have on any other loom.

In preparing my initial warp, I have read the section on Taquete in Tabby to Taquete and Pattern and Loom. These books discuss different binding mehtods. Hoskins uses A1, A2, B1, and B2, each being shaft 1 or 2 plus all the pattern shafts for "block" A or B. Whereas Becker says taquete is woven using a binding warp and main/pattern warp, where the binding warp are the only warp threads used in the tabby treadling.

I plan to samole both methods, but would be interested in hearing thoughts of other weavers.

Cheers,

Erica

Comments

Dawn McCarthy

There are a couple of articles on Drawloom Taquete in past issues of VAV.

Dawn

Erica J

I only just started subscribing to VAV a few years ago. What is the best way to get back isues?

Cheers,

Erica

Sara von Tresckow

Taquete is taquete.

The binding warp will always form a tabby.

There is effectively no difference in structure between the sources you name. Your A1 or B1 will always lift threads that form a tabby, as will the A2 and B2. Taquete can be woven as a block structure to conform with the number of shafts on a loom, or can be woven as a more elaborate pattern on a drawloom where the pattern areas can be designated by the use of pull cords.

Honestly, for your first try, use a normal loom with 4-8 shafts and give it a try to see what type of thread, color choices, etc. give you good results - and THEN transfer this to the drawloom, using your drawcords to form a pattern not based on blocks.

Erica J

Hmm Becker shows a diagram and specifically states the pattern/main warp does not habe anything to do with the binding/tabby. I guess I'll give it a go from my interpretation of both and see how it works out.

I plan to usethe drawloom only as this is part of a larger research project focusing on medieval weaves and yheir development. So it is important tomy research tolearn the way early weavers learned.

Thanks,

Erica

Yvonne K

Looking through my resources, I see that taquete is also known as polychrome summer and winter. I have previously downloaded a publication from 1956 by a weaver called Ruth Arnold. It includes a section on weaving summer and winter on a draw loom which could be of use. The publication is a bit awkward to use because the diagrams are separate from the text, and it is all quite small and hard to read. However, it can be printed larger using scale settings on your printer. 

You will find this resource if you search online for " Weaving on a Draw-loom Ruth Arnold"

 

Sara von Tresckow

Erica,

I thought I stated that the binding warp was not the same as the pattern warp. There is NO difference in the way the fabrics intersect - only in the way the pattern threads are threaded. The tabby binding warp is used in the same manner in both books. Only the terms are used differently.

To understand that, you need to do a simple test piece without the drawloom to find your way. Sure, you want to "reenact" - but to do that you need to learn the very basic form of the cloth in a way that is familiar to you.

Bonnie Inouye (not verified)

Lillian uses taquete for most of her wonderful handwoven card insets. She wrote a couple of articles for WeaveZine, including one that explains the difference between regular summer and winter (pattern weft alternates with tabby weft) and taquete (which is woven on opposites, without tabbies). Polychrome summer and winter usually means that you have 2 or more pattern wefts plus a tabby weft, while polychrome taquete means you have more than 2 pattern wefts and they work together to cover all warps, with no tabby weft. (Usually the last pattern weft is the opposite of all preceding wefts so it covers the remaining warp ends.) Look for Lillian's articles:

www.weavezine.com

It's free! It was a very nice online magazine and we are lucky to have it remain available along with all the podcast interviews that Syne recorded and edited.

Bonnie Inouye

Erica J

Thank you everyone! Your answers and suggested resources have helped a lot. I have Ruth Arnold's book downloaded and will have another look!

Sara it did take a bit for it to sink in that Nancy's explanation and John Becker's are the same. I'm sure once I start weaving on the drawloom it will all sink in.

I've also looked at a couple VAV articles JoAnne sent. Though I still don't understand why the long eyed heddles are needed, I'll use them and I'm sure it will all become clear.

Sara von Tresckow

Erica,

If you go one step further with your study of Becker, you'll notice that he has TWO projects using 4 shaft looms with rising shed AHEAD of his drawloom version of Taquete.

You'd be very wise to try both of them first. You will also find out what isn't clear in the diagrams, that you'll need to change your pulls EVERY ROW to get a fancy pattern. On the drawloom, you need one set of cords drawn when inserting color A and the opposite set of cords drawn when inserting color B. And the weave proceeds pick and pick A,B,A,B.

Yes, many centuries ago people took that kind of time. 

Erica J

Thanks Sara,

I understand that your advice is to do this on a table loom first, but I am very committed to learning this method as early weavers learned it. It honestly is an important part of my research process. 

I do really understand your point of view, but would appreciate it if you would stop trying to talk me out of what I have already decided to do. I value your experience and input, but this time I'm not changing my mind. That's not to say I will never weave taquete on one of my table looms, it's just not the process for this project. I want the full medieval experience on this one. :)

Cheers,

Erica

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