Weft Options

What It Does

The Weft menu provides operations for manipulating the treadling (or liftplan) — the sequence that controls which treadles you press for each pick. These operations let you clear, change face, flip, reverse, mirror, and shift your treadling. Most operations work on a selected region and support both treadle mode and liftplan mode.

Weft Options

Location

  • Ribbon: Design tab > Weft dropdown menu

  • Right-click: The weft header area also offers these operations in a context menu


Operations

Clear

Removes all treadle assignments in the selected weft region. Every pick in the selection becomes empty — no treadle assigned.

In liftplan mode, all shaft lifts for the selected picks are cleared.

Requires an active weft selection.

Change Face

Toggles every cell in the selected liftplan region: raised shafts become lowered, and lowered shafts become raised. This shows you the other side of the fabric for the selected picks — effectively flipping between the face and back of the cloth for that section.

Liftplan mode only. If your draft uses treadle mode, this operation is not available — use Change Face on the tie-up instead.

Requires an active weft selection.

Flip

Reverses the pick order vertically within the selection — the first pick swaps with the last, the second with the second-to-last, and so on. Both the treadle assignments and the pick colors are flipped together.

In liftplan mode, the shaft lift rows are reversed in the same way.

This is the weft equivalent of reading your treadling sequence from bottom to top instead of top to bottom.

Requires an active weft selection.

Reverse

Mirrors treadle assignments horizontally within the selection. In treadle mode, this swaps high-numbered treadles with low-numbered treadles — treadle 1 becomes the highest treadle, and vice versa.

In liftplan mode, the shaft columns are mirrored left to right — shaft 1's lifts swap with the highest shaft's lifts.

This reverses which side of the fabric's structure dominates for each pick.

Requires an active weft selection.

Mirror Selection

Appends a reversed copy of the selected picks immediately after the selection. If your selection contains picks A-B-C, the result is A-B-C-C-B-A. Both treadling and pick colors are mirrored.

This is the quickest way to create a symmetrical treadling pattern. The weft automatically extends to accommodate the new picks.

Works in both treadle mode and liftplan mode. Requires an active weft selection.

Mirror All

Mirrors the entire treadling, regardless of any selection. Takes all picks from the first to the last and appends a reversed copy. The weft extends to hold the mirrored picks.

Works in both treadle mode and liftplan mode. Requires at least some treadling data.

Shift Right

Shifts treadle assignments one position to the right within the selection. In treadle mode, each pick's treadle number increases by one. In liftplan mode, shaft columns shift right.

By default, content at the edge wraps around to the opposite side. Hold Shift when clicking to prevent wrapping — content at the edge is lost instead.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Right Arrow (Cmd+Right Arrow on Mac) for wrap mode, Ctrl+Shift+Right Arrow (Cmd+Shift+Right Arrow on Mac) for no-wrap mode.

Requires an active weft selection.

Shift Left

Shifts treadle assignments one position to the left within the selection. By default, wrapping is enabled. Hold Shift for no-wrap mode.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Left Arrow (Cmd+Left Arrow on Mac) for wrap mode, Ctrl+Shift+Left Arrow (Cmd+Shift+Left Arrow on Mac) for no-wrap mode.

Requires an active weft selection.

Shift Up

Moves all picks in the selection one row upward. Pick colors move with their treadle assignments. By default, the top pick wraps around to the bottom. Hold Shift to prevent wrapping.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Up Arrow (Cmd+Up Arrow on Mac) for wrap mode, Ctrl+Shift+Up Arrow (Cmd+Shift+Up Arrow on Mac) for no-wrap mode.

Requires an active weft selection.

Shift Down

Moves all picks in the selection one row downward. By default, the bottom pick wraps around to the top. Hold Shift for no-wrap mode.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Down Arrow (Cmd+Down Arrow on Mac) for wrap mode, Ctrl+Shift+Down Arrow (Cmd+Shift+Down Arrow on Mac) for no-wrap mode.

Requires an active weft selection.


Treadle Mode vs. Liftplan Mode

Some operations behave slightly differently depending on your draft mode:

Operation
Treadle Mode
Liftplan Mode

Clear

Clears treadle assignment per pick

Clears all shaft lifts per pick

Change Face

Not available

Toggles all shaft lifts

Flip

Reverses pick/treadle order

Reverses pick/shaft-lift order

Reverse

Mirrors treadle numbers

Mirrors shaft columns

Mirror

Mirrors treadling + colors

Mirrors shaft lifts + colors

Shift R/L

Shifts treadle numbers

Shifts shaft columns

Shift U/D

Moves picks vertically

Moves picks vertically


How to Use It

  1. Select a region of the weft header by clicking and dragging

  2. Open the Weft dropdown on the Design tab (or right-click the weft header)

  3. Choose the operation you want

  4. The treadling updates immediately


Step-by-Step Example: Creating a Symmetrical Treadling

You have a treadling sequence for one half of a pattern and want to mirror it:

  1. Treadle the first half of your pattern (e.g., picks 1-12)

  2. Select those picks in the weft header

  3. Choose Mirror Selection from the Weft menu

  4. The treadling extends with a reversed copy (picks 13-24 mirror picks 1-12)

  5. You now have a symmetrical treadling pattern

Step-by-Step Example: Seeing the Back of the Cloth

You're working in liftplan mode and want to see what a section looks like on the back:

  1. Select the picks you're interested in

  2. Choose Change Face from the Weft menu

  3. Every raised shaft becomes lowered and vice versa — the drawdown shows the back of the cloth

  4. If you prefer the original, Ctrl+Z to undo


Tips

  • Undo works — Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z) reverts any weft operation.

  • Selection required — Most operations need a weft selection. Click and drag on the weft header to select picks.

  • Shift key controls wrapping — Hold Shift when clicking any shift operation to prevent wrapping.

  • Colors follow picks — Flip and Mirror move pick colors together with their treadle assignments.

  • Change Face is liftplan only — In treadle mode, use Change Face on the tie-up instead to achieve the same effect.

  • Shift for exploring — Shifting the treadling is a great way to explore pattern variations without redesigning.


Quick Reference

Operation
What It Does
Shortcut
Requires Selection?

Clear

Remove all treadle assignments

Yes

Change Face

Toggle shaft lifts (liftplan only)

Yes

Flip

Reverse pick order (top ↔ bottom)

Yes

Reverse

Mirror treadle/shaft assignments

Yes

Mirror Selection

Append reversed copy of selection

Yes

Mirror All

Mirror entire treadling

No (uses all data)

Shift Right

Move treadles/shafts one position right

Ctrl+Right (Cmd+Right)

Yes

Shift Left

Move treadles/shafts one position left

Ctrl+Left (Cmd+Left)

Yes

Shift Up

Move picks one row up

Ctrl+Up (Cmd+Up)

Yes

Shift Down

Move picks one row down

Ctrl+Down (Cmd+Down)

Yes

Add Shift to the shortcut for no-wrap mode (e.g., Ctrl+Shift+Right).

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