ALTERNATING TREADLES FOR BLOOMING LEAF

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

In the earlier overshot treadling, just one treadle was pressed for each block. It was repeated until it was as high as the original draft demanded.
Here, however, instead of overshot treadling, I have alternated pattern treadles. But like the overshot treadling, I have used the same color weft, green, throughout.
For a feel of how the two treadlings compare, here is once again the overshot treadling.

There are two main differences in the two drafts:

1. The first (top) draft is about twice as long as the second draft.
2. The blocks in the second (bottom) draft have greater clarity than the blocks in the first draft.

The first drawdown is longer for the simple reason that there are twice as many treadles per treadled block as there are in the second draft.
In the second draft, the draft with overshot treadling, I have treadled each block with 6 treadles. The exception is the point twill section where I used 2 treadles per treadling block. That treadling section is clearly visible across the length of the draft at its very center where the treadled blocks get much shorter.
The greater clarity of the second draft is simply a function of the treadling.
Here is a second version of treadling with alternating treadles. This time I have used two colors for the pattern wefts, green and brown, alternating the colors as I alternate the treadles. The empty spaces between blocks and groups of blocks is still there.

This is becoming more interesting to me. Something I can play with both in terms of the threading blocks and the treadling blocks.
One thing I must point out is that in no case has either of these drafts been treadled literally tromp as writ.
Treadling tromp as writ means to treadle the treadles in the order of the threading. That has happened. But if you look at the threading blocks, you see gradations in the width of the blocks in the non-point twill sections (groups 2 and 3 and 5 and 6) in the drawdowns. This gradation is not mirrored in the treadling.
Related Post: Tromp as Writ

“Alternating Treadles for Blooming Leaf” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on August 27, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.