Sunday, March 15, 2026

2/1 Twill on Rigid Heddle


I was sure it could be done, but after one full day and a sleepless night, I could not visualize how to effect a twill weave structure on my two-heddle rigid heddle loom. Although I'm trying to limit my internet time (to preserve my mental well-being!), the first thing I did the next morning was hit YouTube. I found a clear and easy to follow video from "Rigid Heddle Weaving in Brisbane" which told me everything I needed to know. She suggested warping in colour bundles of six threads to make it easier to understand the threading process which, I must admit, sounds daunting but is actually quite simple, so I dragged out all my partial cones of ancient dye lots and went a little mad with stripes. This is a 2/1 twill, meaning that the weft thread goes under one and over two in a progressive diagonal over three repeating passes of the shuttle. It is delightfully easy to weave. My plain coloured warp was a bundle of 65" super-long thrums from a project I'd cut off the floor loom early for some reason, and were the perfect length for two towels, allowing for loom waste. As I understand it, a 2/2 twill cannot be woven without adding a third heddle or using a pickup stick. That's fine. I'm happy with 1/2.

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