Full Circle Tote

A new loom with 16 shafts and a book about network drafting resulted in a bag woven with circular shapes.

About this Project

After acquiring a 16-shaft table loom from a dear friend and learning about networked twills, Regina McInnes thought she would like to give weaving circular shapes a go. She came across Alice Schlein’s book Network Drafting: An Introduction, which explains the theory in great detail and provides examples and drafts for eight or more shafts.

She adapted one of Alice’s designs for this project, using twelve shafts for the circular design and an extra four for a border. After sampling a simple prototype, she moved on to her final design—dividing the warp into stripes that were bounded by dark lines, with each stripe containing a column of circular motifs.

Contents

• Project Instructions PDF
• Tote WIF

Details

Structure
Networked twill.

Equipment
16-shaft loom, 20" weaving width; 12-dent reed; 1 shuttle; inkle loom; belt shuttle.

Yarns
Warp: 22/2 cottolin (70% organic cotton/30% organic linen; 3,230 yd/lb; Venne), #7099 Black, 105 yd; #6003 Brick Red, #2009 Orange, #1013 Golden Yellow, and #5033 Mint Green, 150 yd each. 8/2 cottolin (60% organic cotton/ 40% linen; 3,360 yd/lb; Maurice Brassard), #1152 Vert foncé, #8263 Brun chocolat, and #1757 Vert émeraude, 150 yd each.
Weft: 22/2 cottolin, #7026 Charcoal, 716 yd.

Dimensions
Width in the reed: 19⁴⁄₁₂".
Woven length: 52".
Finished size: (after wet-finishing and sewing) two bags, 11" × 9" × 4" plus 22" handles; or one bag and one towel, 16½" × 24½".

• 
• 

Photos by Matt Graves

---

Visit our help article for more information on WIFs, including what they are and how to use them.