In this series I'm sharing ways to read, interpret and apply liftplans. Last time we turned a double weave liftplan into a skeleton tie-up for a block design on a jack loom. Can we make the same approach work for a countermarche loom?

Yes, indeed, and that’s what this episode is about.

By the way, if you're new to this series and want to catch up, links to previous episodes are at the bottom of the page.

We're not going to start from scratch again, but will take last week's finishing point as our starting point.

Zooming into the top right-hand corner, this was the 10-treadle tie-up we developed.

By combining the treadles on the left with the treadles on the right, we can make all four of the double weave design elements which appear here: a solid layer of grey on the face of the cloth; a solid layer of pink on the face of the cloth; wide blocks in grey and narrow blocks in pink; wide blocks in pink and narrow blocks in grey.

To accomplish this on a countermarche loom we do face a challenge, but it may not be the challenge you are expecting. Before we start I want to clear up a myth about countermarche tie-ups.

It is often said of countermarche looms that you need to tie every shaft to every treadle. This is a common misconception about countermarche weaving. It is not true. 

Yes, you heard me correctly. You do not need to tie every shaft to every treadle. The correct alternative goes like this:

When you weave, every shaft must be either raised or lowered.

However, when you weave, you can depress more than one treadle. We can use a skeleton tie-up and a two-footed treadling as long as the treadle combination we depress

1. accounts for every shaft
2. does not attempt to raise AND lower the same shaft

The tie-up we created for a jack loom satisfies point 2 easily, because we deliberately separated the treadles into two groups: those acting on shafts 1 to 4 and those acting on shafts 5 to 8. 

We make the combinations we need by choosing one treadle from each group, so there is no risk of a clash e.g. by trying to raise shaft 4 with one treadle while also attempting to lower it with another.

However, it does not yet achieve point 1 because not every shaft is accounted for.

Let’s address that now, starting with the treadles that act on shafts 1 to 4:

We can add an X to all the blank squares inside the orange box. This will indicate that these shafts need to be tied to go down, while the black squares still indicate shafts that need to be tied to go up.

We can apply the same process to the treadles which act on shafts 5 - 8. Note that in both cases we leave the other four shafts completely unattached.

With this tie-up, as long as we always depress one treadle from the group on the left and one from the group on the right, all our shafts will be accounted for when we weave. Point 1 is satisfied. But there’s a snag.

I've dusted off our core liftplan from last time. Looking back at the shaft combinations we need to make, which ones can we achieve with this tie-up? 

We can use this set of lifts as a checklist. On the left in the diagram below is the core liftplan. At the top on the right is the tie-up we've just made. Below the tie-up I have indicated which treadles need to be depressed to make the shed indicated on the left. 

For instance, the top row requires us to raise shafts 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8, and hence to lower shafts 2 and 4. By using the left foot on treadle 4 we will raise shafts 1 and 3 and lower shafts 2 and 4. By using the right foot on treadle 8 we will raise shafts 5 to 8. Yep, we can check this one off the list.

However, the second row poses a problem. We only want to raise shafts 5 and 7, which means we will need to lower shafts 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8. Treadle 6 will do the work of raising 5 and 7 and lowering 6 and 8. However, there is no treadle on the left which will lower all of shafts 1 to 4.

This is the unique requirement of the countermarche loom. As well as a treadle to raise all of the shafts in one layer, we also need a treadle to lower all of the shafts in one layer. With two layers to control in this way, we would need two more treadles to complete the tie-up.

If you have a 12-shaft loom then it is likely that you'll have 12 or 14 treadles and be able to accomplish this for an 8-shaft double weave. However, if you are limited to 10 treadles you will need to make some changes. 

Each double weave design element requires two treadles in addition to the plain weave treadles, so the most straightforward option is to choose a design which uses only three of the four possible design elements we identified above. For instance, if we decided not to have the grey layer apppear all the way across the face of the cloth, we could change treadle 8 to lower the warp ends on shafts 5 to 8 instead of raising them. It would then serve as a partner to treadle 3, enabling us to weave all four picks that keep the pink layer on the face of the cloth.

The classic double weave designs of ‘checkerboards’ and ‘windows’ can be each be achieved with just two out of the three design elements available in the tie-up above. 

However, it is also worth noting that our outermost treadles (which are currently tied to raise and lower the blocks) could very easily be changed to serve an alternative function. Switching two ties from raise to lower on the very leftmost treadle, and two on the rightmost treadle from lower to raise, would give us that fourth option. So if you are willing to make these small adjustments from time to time during the weaving, then it is possible to use all four of the design elements.

For those countermarche weavers who may be feeling skeptical, let me assure you that I have used this tie-up many times - and this general approach even more often. Be aware, though, that when you put it into practice you may notice that your treadles don't appear as ‘orderly’ as they normally do. Take it slowly, making sure that your shafts and lamms are aligned before you attach the treadles; and when you start to weave you should find that everything responds as usual to your treadling.

Whether you have 12 treadles or not, the draft shown here is a useful guide to what is required for double weave on a countermarche loom.

It isn't possible to make a full record of a countermarche tie-up in a .wif file, so if you click the image above to download the draft you'll find it appears to have two empty treadles! However, you know the secret now and I have also annotated the image to show where the Xs lie.

We've come quite a long way from our liftplan basics now, haven't we?