FABRIC SIMULATION/APPEARANCE

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I have not liked the way my weaving software represents the design of the fabric as it will look when woven. It is not just a matter of color interaction. The pattern wefts are never close enough together and so the image on the screen always looks a bit strange to me. So I went through a rather elaborate convolution with my weaving software to simulate what it would look like.

I have called this a simulation because I have made changes in the treadling that make the draft unweavable. Its only function is to create the right appearance.

What you see above is what I came up with. I was pleased.

But then I did this.

Here is how I did it:

1. I copied the draft
2. I pasted it into Paint Shop Pro
3. I saved it as a jpeg and edited it.
4. I opened Windows Live Writer and brought it into the page for this post.
5. In WLW, I enlarged it.

It so happens that I used a draft with a different order of treadling from the one I used in the first image. But even so, it is clear that producing an image of crackle more in keeping with what the woven fabric is going to look like is far easier than I had thought at first.

And so the title I have given to the image is deceiving. This is not really how the fabric appears in the software. It is how the fabric appears after copying the draft from the software into another program (in this case, Windows Live Writer), and then enlarging that image.

If I am not interested in editing the image in graphics software, I can simply copy the image into a Word document, perhaps the document I am keeping my records in for that particular project, and enlarge it there. Very simple.

I am thinking that doing doing this will be especially useful in drafts where there are few or no repeats in the threading design, and even more useful when the treadling of the blocks varies a great deal. This piece is only six inches wide and with only one repeat. My next piece may be 18” or more wide, probably with few repeats in the threading, if any. I am getting eager to move on to this piece, but there is still much to do.

Related Post:
Playing with Color
PixeLoom, Paint Shop Pro and Gradated Warps
Viewing Weaving Drafts

“Fabric Simulation/Appearance” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on June 22, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina