Barbara Schutzgruber – Storyteller & Weaver

Having finished my first gamp (see January’s blog The Thrill of Twills) I now had 4 weeks to weave 4 more – each using a different tie-up. A ‘tie-up’ is how the treadles are attached to the shafts.

By changing which shafts are attached to any given treadle (outlined in red) new patterns can be woven even though the yarn threading (yellow highlight) and the sequence for pressing down the treadles (blue highlight) stays the same.

Seeing each new pattern emerge as I continued weaving my 5 gamps using different tie-ups was magical.

Both sides of the fabric look the same with some of the tie-ups.

But others have an obvious difference – especially if light and dark yarns were used.

Seeing and feeling the woven cloth is very different from looking at the patterns with the computer program.

Our group met one more time via Zoom at the end of February to share our gamp photos. It was inspiring to see the creativity and variety. All in all I have 320 samples to choose from for future projects and plan to weave several more gamps using the 10 other threadings we were given but I did not use this time.
PLUS if I use different yarns…..the combinations are endless!!!

Thank you Michigan League of Handweavers
and Martha Town for this workshop.
I am Thrilled with Twills!!!