Draft Patterns Weaving Techniques

Weaving Techniques || Weft over Diamonds

How to weave shapes with the weft over techniqueI’ve been having fun playing around with my coral beads lately, but now it’s time to give the reds a rest and have some fun with blue warps, which really help make my pattern pop.

As I talked about in my last post, I love the look & texture of the weft over technique. It’s fun to create shapes by simply passing the weft over the warp threads in different patterns. Today I’m exploring a three diamond shapes in a row pattern.


To make these three diamond shapes you’ll need at least 29 warp threads. In my weave I have more then 29 warp threads, so I placed my middle diamond in the middle of my weave and just did the basic plain weave on the extra warp threads on the sides of my weave. I’m only going to cover the three diamonds that take up 29 warps in this tutorial, so prep your weave up to that point and add any necessary steps to fill your weave.

Tip: I tied a string to the middle warp thread to mark it as where my middle diamond would line up. (and actually I had an even number of warp threads, so this one was not the exact middle, but visually it’s hard to tell). I then counted the warp threads on both sides to mark the middle of the other two diamonds. This helped me as I wove to make sure I was correctly counting my warp threads.

Before you begin…as always I recommend having some plain weave rows before and after your pattern to secure your warp threads. If you don’t want a plain weave row showing, you can use a very thin thread that matches the weft colors and won’t show as much. And of course you don’t have to put these plain rows in at all, I just have found it keeps my warp threads from moving after I take my weave off the loom.

I included my sketch of the diamonds that give you an idea of the shapes. And now to the pattern…

How to weave shapes with the weft over techniqueRow 1: (Diamond 1) begin creating the first diamond by weaving your weft thread with 1 under, 1 over, 2 under, 1 over, 2 under, 1 over, 1 under.

(Diamond 2 picks up at) 1 over, 2 under, 1 over, 2 under, 1 over, 1 under.

(Diamond 3 picks up at) 1 over, 2 under, 1 over, 2 under, 1 over, 1 under, 1 over, 1 under.

 

Cotton Warp Thread for Weaving

Row 2: (Diamond 3) return weave 1 over, 1 under, 1 over, 2 under, 3 over, 2 under, 1 over.

(Diamond 2 picks up at) 2 under, 3 over, 2 under, 1 over.

(Diamond 1 picks up at) 2 under, 3 over, 2 under, 1 over, 1 under, 1 over.

How to weave shapes with the weft over techniqueRow 3: (Diamond 1) weave 1 under, 1 over, 2 under, 5 over, 2 under.

(Diamond 2 picks up at) 1 under, 5 over, 2 under.

(Diamond 3 picks up at) 1 under, 5 over, 2 under, 1 over, 1 under.

Row 4: (Diamond 3) return weave 1 over, 2 under, 7 over, 1 under.

(Diamond 2 picks up at) 7 over, 1 under.

(Diamond 1 picks up at) 7 over, 2 under, 1 over.

Tip: From time to time, I pushed my marker thread up to check that I was keeping in the middle of the diamonds.  You don’t have to do this, but it sometimes helps to visualize.

How to weave shapes with the weft over techniqueRow 5: repeat of Row 3

(Diamond 1) weave 1 under, 1 over, 2 under, 5 over, 2 under.

(Diamond 2 picks up at) 1 under, 5 over, 2 under.

(Diamond 3 picks up at) 1 under, 5 over, 2 under, 1 over, 1 under.

Row 6: repeat of Row 2

(Diamond 3) return weave 1 over, 1 under, 1 over, 2 under, 3 over, 2 under, 1 over.

(Diamond 2 picks up at) 2 under, 3 over, 2 under, 1 over.

(Diamond 1 picks up at) 2 under, 3 over, 2 under, 1 over, 1 under, 1 over.

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Row 7: repeat of Row 1

(Diamond 1) begin creating the first diamond by weaving your weft thread with 1 under, 1 over, 2 under, 1 over, 2 under, 1 over, 1 under.

(Diamond 2 picks up at) 1 over, 2 under, 1 over, 2 under, 1 over, 1 under.

(Diamond 3 picks up at) 1 over, 2 under, 1 over, 2 under, 1 over, 1 under, 1 over, 1 under.

I love how the diamonds pop forward in my weave. Oh and if you’re wondering about that other pattern at the top, I’ll share that next week!

Happy Weaving!

Kate


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  • Marissa
    March 16, 2017 at 4:03 pm

    I found your site a few weeks ago and love it! I was looking for a weaving project for my sons class and wanted to incorporate recycling so we are using yarn made from t-shirts and thrift store yarn in funky colors on embroidery hoops. Thanks for the inspiration as great directions!

    • Kate
      March 29, 2017 at 5:30 pm

      That’s a great idea! Weaving can be really fun for kids, I hope they enjoyed it.

  • Nathalie Quêtu
    March 18, 2017 at 2:32 am

    Merci beaucoup pour ces explications, un pur bonheur de vous lire.
    Amicalement
    Nathalie

    • Kate
      March 29, 2017 at 5:30 pm

      Thanks!

  • Hanka
    March 23, 2017 at 6:59 am

    Hi Kate, thank you again for your lovely blog.

    If I may, I have a few beginner’s questions. I am sorry for writing them here but the posts under which they belong to do not seem to be open for comments, so here they are:

    1. How do I do plain weave on the circular loom? I understand the one under – one over technique but if I do it on a circular loom with even number of warp threads, the second row of plain weave will be identical to the first one and warp threads will be seen. I noticed that on your plain weave on the circular loom, the under and over weaves alternate from row to row. How do you do it?

    2. When I weave, I cut around 50 cm of yarn and once I run out, I weave in the both ends and continue with another string of yarn, and so on. Is there a better way to do it as this way leaves many tails?

    3. When I use hem stitch to finish my weaving, what do I do with the warp thread ends which remain after cutting the weave off the loom? Do I weave them in at the back?

    Thank you very much for all your help!
    Hanka

    • Kate
      March 29, 2017 at 6:34 pm

      Hi Hanka,

      These are great questions, that I’ll do my best to answer.
      1. Circular weaving is tricky because of the odd or even number of warps can effect how you weave. I try to warp an odd number when I want to do a plain weave, but that isn’t always easy. When I have an even number of warps and try to plain weave, I’ll just go under two warp threads to change the pattern and hopefully hide the two under as I weave around. I also try to change where the the two under happens so that it isn’t too obvious. Even number warps on a circular weave are really great for a twill weave https://www.theweavingloom.com/weaving-techniques-circular-twill/

      2. I do this too, but you can also do the weaver’s knot https://www.theweavingloom.com/weaving-techniques-another-look-at-the-weavers-knot/

      3. Yes I’ll weave them in the back or let them hang down like a fringe, depending on how I want the weave to look.