One of our favourite designs is our Ebb Tide pattern. It’s a shadow weave that reminds us of the rivulets of water winding their way across the sand when the tide goes out. We’ve used it for scarves, shawls and baby blankets, and for a long time we’ve wanted to weave throws with it too. But scaling the design up to that size on our pedal powered looms is a major technical challenge. We’ve been scratching our heads for years about how to do it, and finally we’ve cracked it. Here’s how …
In a pickle with pick repeats
This might get a bit technical, but we’ll try to keep it simple. Our looms are Griffith Rapier Handlooms, built by Griffith Textiles near Newcastle. They were originally designed for weaving Harris Tweed – something we can’t do because we’re not based in the Outer Hebrides – but they’ve been serving us faithfully here on Skye for many years.
Each of our looms is set up to weave patterns with a 16-pick weft repeat maximum. In plain language, that means after every 16 weft threads going across (the ‘picks’), the same lifting sequence of warp frames repeats. This has nothing to do with colour, but with the structure of the cloth – how the threads cross and interlace. For example, a herringbone pattern looks intricate but is actually only a 4-pick repeat.
Our Ebb Tide pattern has a 16-pick repeat and works beautifully for lighter fabrics. But using the same 16-pick structure for a throw or blanket would have made the fabric too tight and stiff, not soft and flowing as it should be. To fix this, we decided to double up the weft threads and weave a hopsack variation of the pattern. That meant the repeat had to expand to 32 picks – but our looms were only ever built to handle 16 at most.
Doing without a dobbie
For years, we’ve been puzzling over how to get around this limitation. Many modern looms, even handlooms, use an electronic system called a dobbie to lift the frames in different sequences. But we love that our looms are pedal-powered, driven entirely by our feet – no electronics, just mechanics.
In our case, the pattern is controlled by a tappet chain – a loop of shaped metal pieces (tappets) that lift or leave down the warp frames in a set order. For a simple 4-pick herringbone, for example, the chain would tell the loom to lift frames 1 and 2, then 2 and 3, then 3 and 4, then 4 and 1 – and back to the start.
To weave the 32-pick Ebb Tide throws, we needed a chain eight times longer than a herringbone repeat. So, we built an extension to carry the extra weight and added more tappets and fittings. Craig, a very kind and resourceful local high school teacher, redesigned the part that guides the chain through the mechanism and 3D printed a new version for us. It can now carry the much heavier chain – and works beautifully.
On a roll
After all that effort, the modified loom runs perfectly. We’ve already woven several rolls of the new Ebb Tide throws, and the first ones (in grey and white) are already in the shop – and flying off the shelves! We’re now working on a blue and grey version too.
Whether or not you’ve followed every bit of this technical story, we hope you enjoy the results. These throws aren’t just beautiful – they’re also woven from 100% local Isle of Skye wool, making them something we’re truly proud of.
Get a closer look at the process in our short video below. And see the finished product in the Throws & Blankets section of our online shop.
Weaving Ebb Tide Throws