Create Double Cloth

Weave a flat design as two layers with a fold

Any flat woven cloth can be translated into a double cloth with a fold on the left by using this utility on the design menu:

Create Double Cloth Icon

First, design your cloth as if it were to be woven flat at full width (without a fold). Before clicking Create Double Cloth, be sure to save your draft—this action transforms the draft. It’s best practice to save the full-width draft under a different name than the double-cloth version. That way, if changes are needed later, you can easily edit the original and regenerate the double-cloth draft.

Example:

• A simple twill pattern requires 4 shafts and 4 treadles, with 800 warp ends sett at 20 epi, giving a width of 40 inches in the reed.

• When woven double, the draft will require only 20 inches in the reed, but it will use 8 shafts and 8 treadles.

Design for Blanket before folding double

Closeup of Design

Options for Double Cloth Fold

After clicking the Create Double Cloth icon on the design tab, the above options are shown. Choosing fold on left and clicking ok transforms the draft into the following that will weave with a fold on the left and sett at 40 epi, requires double the shafts and treadles. The difference in the Tubular option is the shuttle sequence of T-B-T-B rather than T-B-B-T.

Closeup of Generated Draft Folded Double

Generated Draft Folded Double

The generated draft weaves the bottom layer with shafts 5-8 and assumes a treadling sequence of TBBT.

The project information cloth construction settings now move from Normal cloth to the following:

Cloth Construction Details - After Creating Double Cloth

View your new blanket using Cloth Sim on the View Menu:

Double woven cloth viewed with Cloth Sim

NOTE - if your cloth, prior to creating the folded double cloth, requires two shuttles, the shuttle sequence needs to be altered. We are working on an option for a future release that will ask if you plan to weave with 2-shuttles so that the treadling will work correctly.

Hints for Managing Double-Folded Projects

1. Start Flat Always design and save your project as “Flat”, as if you were weaving the full width.

2. Plan Warp Ends Ensure the total number of warp ends is even.

3. Check Project Dimensions Use the Project Settings → Dimensions to view the predicted final size, calculated using your Flat version of the design.

4. Calculate Yarn Requirements Determine yarn needs in the Project Settings using the Flat version as well.

5. Save Before Folding Always save any changes to the Flat version before clicking “Create Double Cloth.”

6. Save Folded Version Separately After creating the double cloth, immediately do a Save As with a name that clearly identifies it as the folded version. This makes it easier to return to the Flat version for edits and regenerate the folded draft if needed.

7. Plan for Stripes When designing stripes, check the Warp Winding Plan on the folded version. Depending on how the color changes were placed in the Flat version, folding can create numerous extra color changes in your warp chain. A small adjustment in stripe width on the Flat design can often eliminate many unnecessary color changes when winding for the folded project.

Create a Folded Double Clotoh