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, fill and shift your treadling. Most operations work on a selected region and support both treadle mode and liftplan mode.
To see videos of these operations, see this collection of weft operation videos: Weft Operation Videos
Location
Ribbon: Design tab > Weft dropdown menu
Right-click: The weft header area also offers these operations in a context menu
Making a Selection in the Weft Header
Most operations on this page need an active weft selection. A few mechanics make selecting cleanly easier:
Drag in the weft header to mark a pick range. Region vs Full Shaft/Treadle mode is controlled by Settings → Default Selection Mode, and Shift+drag inverts whichever mode is the default for that one selection.
Drag past the visible edge to extend off-screen. The canvas auto-scrolls to follow the pointer so you can select picks that aren't currently in view. Speed ramps up the further past the edge you drag.
Shift+click an existing same-canvas selection to extend it to the clicked point — standard macOS convention. The original anchor and the Full/Region character are preserved; only the end of the selection moves. Useful when you want to select a long range: drag the start, scroll manually to find the end, then Shift+click it.
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.
In multi-treadle mode, all treadle bits for the selected picks are cleared too — so a pick that had several treadles pressed at once becomes fully empty, not just its first treadle.
Requires an active weft selection.
Paste Overlay
A second paste option, available on the Home ribbon next to Paste. Behaves like a regular Paste except in multi-treadle and liftplan modes, where it OR-merges the clipboard's treadle or shaft bits with whatever is already at the destination instead of overwriting. Existing pick colors and thicknesses are left untouched, so you can stack a second pattern of treadle bits on top of an existing pick without losing what was already there.
Outside of multi-treadle / liftplan mode (and for Warp, Tie-Up, and Drawdown pastes) Paste Overlay acts identically to Paste.
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
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.
Reverse
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 reversed 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.
Mirror Selection
Appends a reversed copy of the selected picks immediately after the selection. The last pick of the selection serves as the pivot of the reflection — it appears once in the result, not twice. If your selection contains picks A-B-C, the result is A-B-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.
Drag-and-Drop Selection
After selecting a range of picks in the weft header, you can click inside the selection and drag to relocate (or duplicate) those picks anywhere else in the weft. Four modes are available, chosen by which keys you hold when you drop:
(none — plain drag)
Cleared in place (left blank, surrounding picks stay put)
Overwritten — whatever was at the destination is replaced
Ctrl (or Cmd on Mac)
Left in place — duplicate (the picks stay where they were)
Overwritten
Shift
Cleared in place
Inserted — picks at the destination shift down to make room
Ctrl+Shift (or Cmd+Shift)
Left in place — duplicate
Inserted
Notes:
You can also change treadles during the drop. Drag from treadles 1–4 over to treadle 5, and the dropped picks will be re-anchored to treadles 5–8 (the same band width as the source).
Single-cell selections don't arm a drag. A 1×1 selection — typically the leftover of a previous click — is treated as "no selection," so a fresh click starts a brand-new selection rectangle instead of dragging that one pick.
Color and thickness travel with the picks when their Sync toggles are on. With Sync off, the dropped cells inherit only the treadling (color/thickness at the destination is unchanged).
Multi-treadle mode is always overlay at the destination. In multi-treadle drafts, picks can have multiple treadles pressed at once, so the destination drop is additive regardless of modifier — any treadles already pressed at the destination pick stay pressed; the dropped treadle bits are added on top. On a Move, only the treadle columns inside the selection are cleared at the source — other treadles in those source picks keep their assignments.
Undo restores everything in one step. The Undo history entry names the mode (e.g., "Copy weft picks (insert)") so a Ctrl+Z is unambiguous.
Treadle Mode vs. Liftplan Mode
Some operations behave slightly differently depending on your draft 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
Select a region of the weft header by clicking and dragging
Open the Weft dropdown on the Design tab (or right-click the weft header)
Choose the operation you want
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:
Treadle the first half of your pattern (e.g., picks 1-12)
Select those picks in the weft header
Choose Mirror Selection from the Weft menu
The treadling extends with a reversed copy (picks 13-23 mirror picks 11-1; pick 12 is the pivot and isn't duplicated)
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:
Select the picks you're interested in
Choose Change Face from the Weft menu
Every raised shaft becomes lowered and vice versa — the drawdown shows the back of the cloth
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
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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