Advancing Twill

Most of my weaving projects presented in blogs use a type of twill weave. Most people think of twill as a weave structure that produces straight diagonal lines. True. However, twill weaves have huge potential, as they are simply weaves with floats of two or more threads. The weft can pass over two or more weft threads, or the weft can pass over two or more warp ends. Add weft pick after weft pick of different float patterns, and the varieties are pretty well endless.

Alderman (2004) regards twill as the "simplest weave structure based on floats" and considers twill the basis for many other weave structures. I find twills very versatile in the variations they create, expanded even further with colour effects. As well, the need for only one shuttle to create such rich cloth is an added advantage.

Advancing twills take the twill concept a step further. The threading advances from 1234 1234 to 12345. Then the next group of threading is 2345 2345 23456. And so on to 81234, then repeat. The pattern is shown in the heddles:

Advancing twill is fun to work with and to weave. Here are some reasons why:

The next two photos are examples of "tromp as writ" which is weaver lexicon for treadling the weft in the same order as the threading of the warp. This produces diagonal squares with soft lines, as predicted by the threading order which is so obvious in the heddles above. I was excited to discover this.

I'm almost finished a second batch of towels in advancing twill and I look forward to other projects using this fascinating weave structure.