After posting about adding pom poms to a weave, I received a lot of questions on the spiral pattern in my circular weave. It’s a really fun pattern and the best part is all you have to do is the twill weave. The circular warps are what make it spiral, so I really like using this technique.
If you’re interested in circular weaving, I posted how to warp up an embroidery hoop here. You obviously can use whatever thread weight you want, but personally I found that bulky threads show the spiral best. Here are the steps to making your own spiral pattern:
step 1| the twill weave follows a basic over two warps, under one. To begin, I started my weft thread over two warps, leaving about 2-3inches of yarn tail. I recommend weaving towards the outer portion of your warp threads because the center threads can be jumbled. Your warp threads on the outer portion of the loom will be aligned correctly, so it’s a good place to start your pattern.
step 2| after you have woven a few warps, pull your weft threads down to the middle. Use the tip of your tapestry needle to push the threads tight to the center.
step 3| continue following the two over one under pattern until you are satisfied with your design. I have found that the spiral is harder to see at first, but after you get past the center area it grows nicely. Something else to note, the pattern also gets loose as you continue towards the outer ends of the warp threads.
This is one of those big visual impacts for a fairly easy technique, which are my favorite.
Interested in more circular weaving techniques? Here are all my circular tutorials including how to start one on an embroidery hoop.
I really love the twill weave lately, I’ve been adding it to a lot of weaves. Have you tried the twill weave in your circular or regular weaves? If you’re on Instagram, don’t forget to tag the weaves you’ve made using my tutorials #TWLtutorial so I can see what you’ve made. I love to see how creative you all are and I’ve also have been having a lot of fun sharing your tags on my IG feed.
Happy Weaving!
Kate
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Sarah O'Neill
June 17, 2016 at 4:28 amDear Kate,
Thank you VERY much for showing us how to do the circular twill… it’s utterly fantastic! I am new to weaving and I really appreciate your website and blog. Without wanting to sound too gushing or overly dramatic, it has been a bit of a lifesaver for me. So, THANK YOU for giving me a ‘way-in’ to weaving.
With all good wishes,
Sarah
Kate
June 17, 2016 at 7:03 amThanks Sarah, I’m so happy that you’ve found my blog helpful 🙂
Diane
November 13, 2016 at 1:16 pmI’m having a problem with the spiral on my 75 warp circle loom. When I start a spiral twill weave, one under/two over, I’m always off a warp or two after the first round. Any thoughts?
Kate
November 15, 2016 at 9:18 pmHi! Actually to get the twill to spiral you will need an odd number of warp threads, so if you have 75 then it should work really well. When you come around the circle for the second row, your twill should be off by one stitch. This will make the spiral because each row will be shifted by one. It might look weird at first, but weave a few rows and see if it starts to look right. Also, let me know if you’re still having an issue after you try weaving a few rows and I’ll try to help figure out what went wrong.
Diane
November 20, 2016 at 12:07 pmThank you, Kate. Perhaps the spiral only works if the weaving begins with the spiral. I’ve been trying to start the spiral after weaving plain weave. I’ll keep trying to figure it out. I enjoy your website.
Sheramy
November 30, 2016 at 5:14 pmHi! Thank you for all of these posts. I was having the same problem as Diane, but I figured out it’s because the 1×2 pattern won’t work on a warp sett that’s divisible by 3. Try 2×2 or 1×3. It should work.