Introduction to designing and weaving a tartan fabric on a small weaving loom kit.

We often use our square frame weaving loom kits when designing and sampling new scarf weaving patterns including those with a tartan design. One of the key benefits of sampling in such a way is that it allows us to check colours, designs and setts and doesn't use up too much yarn. This blog details the process of designing and weaving a tartan fabric on a square loom. We hope that if you are learning to weave you will find this blog interesting along with finding some of the weaving hints and tips useful.

What is a tartan and how is it woven?

A tartan fabric is one which has a pattern of stripes running in the direction of both the warp and the weft. Historically, tartans were woven as 'clan tartans' which were designs that represented certain Scottish clans and families. Traditionally woven with wool these fabrics were originally handwoven luxury fabrics. Tartans have a symmetry in both directions so the patterns repeats in both the warp and the weft.

Where can you look up different tartan designs?

You can design you own tartan but the Scottish Register of Tartans website is a terrific resource allowing anyone to look at the register of thousands of tartans which includes those registered with the Scottish Register of Tartans since its introduction on 5 February 2009.

Step 1 - Choosing the loom and planning the design

I decided to use a TabbyandTweed 20cm square frame loom. This loom has 58 slots. I decided that I wanted to have a few repeats of the design. I chose to have 5 repeats of an 11 thread pattern so using up 55 of the slots.

Step 2 - Choosing the wool yarn and designing on paper

I decided that it was important to use some contrasting colours in the tartan. I like to include a pop of colour in my weaving which doesn't have to be many threads but is a yarn colour which contrasts well with the other colours. I therefore chose the lime green for the pop of colour against the pinks. I used some coloured pencils and some square paper to experiment with different designs, finally settling for the design shown.

Step 3 - Threading the different yarns

As I was using 3 different yarn colours I threaded each coloured yarn through the top left hand hole at the same time.

Step 4 - Warping the loom

I took each yarn in turn and using my hand drawn plan I warped across the loom. Once I had tied on the first yarn I then turned to do the same thing with each of the other two yarns.

Step 5 - Securing all the warp threads on the weaving loom

Once all the three yarns had been used to warp the loom the threads were secured in the adjacent hole in the corner of the loom.

Step 6 - Hemstitching on a little loom

When weaving a sample, coaster or bookmark on a small loom I like to secure each end with a hemstitch. The image below shows the hemstitching process. If you are interested in learning how to hemstitch then you might find this hemstitching blog helpful.

Step 7 - Weaving a 2/2 twill

Tartans are traditionally woven with a 2/2 twill design. This means that each weft thread goes over 2 warp threads then under 2 warp threads with this weaving pattern being repeated across the width of the loom. This pattern is then offset by one warp thread for each subsequent weft row.

Step 8 - Removing the fabric from the loom and washing

Washing a woven fabric is an important step. The washing turns the loose interlaced warp and weft threads into the fabric where the threads have been fused and felted together.

The final weave shows the tartan with quite a small pattern repeat. I decided I liked this pattern but upon reflection think that for a scarf it might be nicer to have some larger repeats of some of the colour blocks, perhaps of the plum yarn.

Weaving kits are available in our TabbyandTweed website shop for UK delivery and our TabbyandTweed Etsy shop for delivery elsewhere.

Interested in learning to weave? Then our workshop page has all the details found by clicking the link here.

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