Weaving in Sangre del Sol: A Very Long Adventure in 3/1 Twill

Wow, I have not had a real post on this blog since June, and that's a real shame. Unfortunately real life has become too hectic to be able to spend much real time with weaving.

I have actually had the same project warped on the loom for the past few months and just yesterday managed to finish it up. This was definitely the most difficult project I've worked on, but one which came with a lot of fun and a healthy dose of frustration. The project was my very first attempt at 3/1 twill.

A Little Introduction to 3/1 Twill

3/1 Twill (sometimes called 3/1 broken twill for reasons which mystify me) is a technique which was widely used in period to for diagonal patterns. Somewhat paradoxically, it's both one of the oldest and most complex tablet weaving techniques. To understand this technique, it's necessary to first understand just what the name 3/1 twill means, as it is very descriptive of the structure of the weave.

Simply put, twill is any woven fabric which is structured by passing a weft over and under warp threads. Twill fabrics are often described with a fractional number such as 2/2, 3/1, etc. This number refers to the number of weft threads that the warp thread passes over then under. This will define the overall structure of the twill. In the case of 3/1 twill, the 3/1 tells us that the warp threads pass over three weft threads and then under one, repeating.

3/1 Twill creates a diagonal pattern. Here red is the warp, blue the weft.

If we look at a cross-section of the textile, it becomes more clear how the 3/1 twill fabric is structured. Notice the same warp thread goes over three warp threads and then under one. Adjacent warp threads are staggered such that the weft is completely hidden and only the warp can be seen.

Cross-section of 3/1 twill. Only top threads shown for clarity

In addition, this technique requires that adjacent tablets alternate the threading pattern such that they are staggered to each other. This results in an effect where there are smooth diagonal lines at about a 45° angle.

Card sequence for 3/1 twill

The Ugly Process

The pattern I selected to weave to learn the 3/1 twill technique is the historical Hallstatt 1 pattern. This motif dates back to the 4-8th centuries BCE and were discovered in a salt mine near the town of Halstatt, Austria from where it gets its name. I chose this pattern because I find it extremely beautiful and in the tradition of me biting off more than I can chew, it is also extremely difficult to weave. I tend to learn very well from complex projects, so it worked out in the end.

The original Hallstatt 1 band. Image courtesy of the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien.

Luckily, I was able to find a pattern by the wonderful Aisling. Thinking that this would be a simple case of "follow the pattern", I warped my loom (that in itself was quite a task) and began weaving. Much to my surprise, I found that the pattern that was coming out was a) twined in the wrong direction and b) scrambled on one side.

That's not quite right ...

Problem a) was corrected easily enough by flipping the cards laterally. Turns out that the way some people define S vs. Z twining is directly opposite of what others do. This is very confusing and maybe I'll make a post about it in the future.

Problem b) took quite a bit more investigating. I got some help from the wonderful folks at the Historical Tablet Weaving facebook group who explained to me that the threading pattern for the cards I used must be incorrectly set up. I figured out that the threading of the cards was done correctly, but the starting position of the cards had to be figured out separately. I did some deep thinking and studying of the pattern and managed to come up with a threading pattern which I thought would work.

Original threading pattern used ...

... and my updated version

Once I made those two adjustments, the weaving started to produce the correct pattern. Now it was only a matter of getting used to this method. Many scattered hours of weaving, un-weaving, shouting in frustration, and cheering when things went right and I managed to complete this project.

The Finished Product

I am very proud of the finished product. There are a few spots which I wish would've come out cleaner, but overall, it's a very beautiful band. I finished it off with braiding of the hanging warp threads. This will definitely be a show piece rather than one to be used on any garb.