Thrill of the Twill Workshop

– Advancing Twills, Networked Twills, Corkscrew Twills and Echo Weaves

Presented by Robyn Spady – September 7-9, 2018

Reviewed by Carrie Gordon, an experienced spinner, dyer, a NEW weaver and a member of COSW since the early 1990’s.

Our adventure began with the “homework” Robyn sent, prior to the workshop. As a new weaver, I faithfully followed her directions for the 4-shaft single color warp. This was a totally new adventure for me, my first weaving workshop.

Robyn brought a refreshing humorous approach to an advanced weaving technique. She started with a brief explanation of what twill is, how twill structure is used and what straight, point, extended point and various other types look like. She introduced the idea of weft moving up into spaces on the warp, eventually creating boundweave.

From there, we learned about advancing twills where the threading (or treadling) steps up and forward, developing long threading sequences to make a full repeat. Magic! This concept is applied to point twills. After working through several exercises, we launched into Network Drafted Twills. The idea of drawing a line, then converting it into a threading and/or treadling pattern is mind warping.

Robyn led us into Integrated twills (Echo Weaves and Corkscrew) using two colors. WOW!! This is where the concept of thread moving into “space” on the warp came into play.

Robyn took the time to explain and encourage participants (new and experienced). She made the class accessible to all.

As a new weaver, I was astounded on how far “down the rabbit hole” I could go just on a 4-shaft loom. The combination of threading, treadling, tie-up and color is endless. This is just one small corner of the weaving universe.

Thank you for helping make the class affordable for new and experienced weavers!! Joining with the Klamath Falls guild added to the experience by meeting new weavers from outside our area. I totally enjoyed the adventure. Thank you ANWG!!

A variety of photos from the 2-½ days

Robyn’s examples