Doubleweave Windows on a Rigid Heddle Loom

Adventures in Doubleweave 

Squares and Checks

Here are a few doubleweave projects featuring squares or checks. Be forewarned, this technique can be time consuming but yields awesome results. 

You will need a rigid heddle loom with two heddle capacity. There are many sites out there that have diagrams to show you how to thread two heddles. You will also need four pickup sticks. 

Threading two heddles for multiple colored stripes can be tedious, especially when using two 10 dent heddles 😉 but the effect is well worth it. 

In this technique you will essentially be weaving two layers separately and then interchanging the layers for your pattern. 

Here is the loom warped in cream with three shades of blue that are blended to form a gradient. 

For the pickup sticks, put both heddles in the down position. Starting at the right of the loom, pick up every other thread beginning with the 2nd thread. Picking up from the front of the heddles is easier than from the back. Turn your pickup stick on edge and then insert another stick into the shed formed behind the heddles. Now pull out the stick in the front. 

Place both heddles in the up position and slide the 1st pickup stick directly behind the heddles

Now insert another pickup stick into that new shed and slide both sticks to the back of the loom.

To insert the 2nd pair of pickup sticks, place both heddles in the down position again. Starting at the right of the loom, pick up every other thread beginning with the 1st thread, or if it's easier for you to remember, every thread that wasn't picked up on the 1st stick. Place both heddles in the up position, and again, slide the pickup stick to the rear of the heddles and insert your final stick into the new shed. 

Here is a view of all four pickup sticks in place.

You can see that the color layer is manipulated by the 1st two sticks and the cream layer is manipulated by the second two sticks. 

By using cream weft on the upper layer and baby blue on the lower, you can make a fabric like this.....

With the same warp and a plain weave 

(both heddles up and both heddles down) you can also make this fabric. Note the difference in width....

Another example in different colors

Give it a try!