Add Tabby

Found on the Tools Menu

What Is Tabby?

Tabby — also called plain weave — is the simplest weave structure: over one, under one. Many pattern weaves like overshot, Summer & Winter, and Monk's Belt require tabby picks between their pattern picks to hold the fabric together. Without tabby, the long pattern floats would make the cloth loose and unstable.

Add Tabby automatically inserts alternating tabby picks using the Tabby Treadles between your existing pattern picks, saving you from having to add them one by one.

Add Tabby Dialog

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Opening Add Tabby

• Ribbon: Design tab > Add Tabby button

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The Add Tabby Dialog

Treadle Source

The first choice is where the tabby treadles come from:

Use Existing Treadles Choose this when your tie-up already has two treadles configured for tabby (plain weave). You specify which two treadle numbers to use:

• Tabby 1 Treadle — The treadle that raises odd shafts (1, 3, 5...)

• Tabby 2 Treadle — The treadle that raises even shafts (2, 4, 6...)

By default, these are set to the last two treadles in your draft, since that's where tabby treadles are commonly placed. Simply change these if they are on different shafts.

Add New Treadles Choose this when your tie-up doesn't have tabby treadles yet. TempoWeave will create two new treadles and automatically configure their tie-up connections for plain weave (odd shafts on one, even shafts on the other). You choose where to place them:

• Add at Right — Adds the two new treadles to the right of your existing treadles (default)

• Add at Left — Adds them to the left, shifting your existing treadles over

• Add at Far Left and Right — Places one tabby treadle at each end

Apply To

Controls which picks receive tabby:

All Picks (default) Inserts tabby between every pick in the entire draft. This is the most common choice.

Pick Range Inserts tabby only within a specific range of picks, leaving the rest of the draft unchanged. When selected, two fields appear:

• From pick — The first pick in the range (1 = the very first pick)

• To pick — The last pick in the range (defaults to your total pick count)

This is especially useful for:

• Adding hems — Insert tabby at just the beginning and end of your draft to create plain weave hems. Run Add Tabby twice: once for picks 1–10 (top hem), then again for the bottom range (bottom hem).

• Partial tabby sections — Some designs call for tabby in certain areas but not others, like a sampler with different structures in different sections.

• Transitional areas — Add stability where the cloth changes from one structure to another.

Insert Position

Controls whether the first tabby pick goes before or after the first pattern pick:

• Before First Pick — The very first pick in the result will be a tabby pick

• After First Pick — The first pick stays as your original pattern pick, with tabby inserted after it (default)

Tabby Color

Sets the color for the inserted tabby picks:

• Currently Selected — Uses whatever color is currently selected in your palette (default). This is the most common choice — typically a neutral background color.

• Adjacent Weft Color — Each tabby pick takes the color of the pattern pick next to it. This creates a less visible tabby that blends with the pattern picks.

Tabby Pick Thickness

A slider (1–16) that sets the yarn thickness for the inserted tabby picks. Defaults to the thickness of your first pick. This is useful when your tabby weft is a different weight than your pattern weft — for example, a fine tabby ground with a heavier pattern weft in overshot.

Existing Pick Thickness

A slider (1–16) that sets the yarn thickness for your original pattern picks. This lets you adjust the pattern weft thickness at the same time. Defaults to the current thickness.

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Step-by-Step Example: Adding Tabby to Overshot

1. Design your overshot pattern with threading, tie-up, and treadling

2. Open Add Tabby from the Design tab

3. Choose Use Existing Treadles if your tie-up already has tabby treadles, or Add New Treadles if not

4. Leave All Picks selected

5. Choose After First Pick for the insert position

6. Select your tabby weft color in the palette, then choose Currently Selected

7. Adjust the Tabby Pick Thickness if your tabby weft is a different weight

8. Click Apply

Your treadling is now doubled — every original pattern pick has a tabby pick next to it, alternating between the two tabby treadles.

Step-by-Step Example: Adding Tabby to a Specific Area

1. Design your pattern as usual

2. Open Add Tabby from the Design tab

3. Set your options (treadle source, color, thickness)

4. Select Pick Range where tabby is needed (for example From pick: 1 and To pick: 12 )

5. Click Apply — tabby is added at the top of the draft only

6. Open Add Tabby again

7. Select Pick Range and set the range to cover the last 12 original picks at the bottom

8. Click Apply — tabby is added at the bottom

You now have plain weave hems at both ends with your pattern untouched in the middle.

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Tips

• Undo works — If the result isn't what you expected, Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z) reverts the entire Add Tabby operation in one step.

• Liftplan mode — Add Tabby requires treadle-based treadling. If your draft is in liftplan mode, convert it to tie-up first (Design tab > Convert to Tie-up).

• Check your tabby — After adding tabby, use Float Check (Project tab) to verify there are no unexpected long floats. Properly configured tabby should produce floats of 1.

• Remove Tabby — Made a mistake or want to try different settings? Use Remove Tabby (Design tab) to strip out the tabby picks and return to your original pattern picks.

• Pattern + tabby is traditional — In overshot, the pattern weft is typically thicker and the tabby weft thinner. Use the thickness sliders to reflect this difference and get a more accurate preview.

• Multiple tie-down picks — In some drafts, more than two alternating picks are required for the tie-downs. In this sitution, use Combine Weft on the Design Menu under Weft Advanced.

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Quick Reference

Setting	Default	Options
Treadle Source	Use Existing	Use Existing / Add New (Right, Left, Far Left & Right)
Apply To	All Picks	All Picks / Pick Range (From–To)
Insert Position	After First Pick	Before First Pick / After First Pick
Tabby Color	Currently Selected	Currently Selected / Adjacent Weft Color
Tabby Pick Thickness	Current thickness	1–16
Existing Pick Thickness	Current thickness	1–16