WeaveMaker User's Manual

Printing
WeaveMaker can print out fabric design specifications in a wide range of formats. It can create customized pages which closely resemble the typical forms one would have professionally printed.

Broadly speaking, there are two ways to approach printing of a fabric design in WeaveMaker. These are called “Custom Forms” and “Print Options.” Note that for printing a palette, you will always do so from within the palette window, not the "File" menu). It is also possible to combine some aspects of Custom Forms with Print Options. All these possibilities are more fully explained below.

Custom Forms
A “custom form” tells WeaveMaker exactly how the printout is to appear on a page. When you are using WeaveMaker with a custom form, you simply go to the Print command in the File menu when you are ready to print. Since WeaveMaker already knows how the page is to appear, you do not have to take time to specify the layout.

The description of the custom form is created in advance by the developers at Designer Software. Typically, a custom form is created on behalf of a customer who runs a business which already has an established way of printing out fabric design specifications, and wishes to have the software create a printed page closely resembling the one already in use.

To tell if you are using a custom form, look in the File Menu. If “Print Options” is grayed out, then you have a custom form installed, and you can go directly to Print Preview or Print. Custom form information is contained in a file named “Lay-out” in the Customize folder.

When WeaveMaker is launched, it first looks for a Customize folder, and then for a Layout file within that folder. If you move WeaveMaker to a new location on your hard drive, make sure you move the Customize folder along with it; otherwise, WeaveMaker will not be able to find the Layout file, and you will no longer be able to use your custom forms.

Print Options
Using the Print Options, you select information to be printed, and then WeaveMaker creates a printed output containing exactly that information. In addition to selecting what to print, you also can influence the appearance of the printed page, but the degree of control is much less than with a custom form.

Once you have selected your options, use Print Preview to see what your printout will look like, and finally use Print to actually print.

Hybrid Print Options
It is possible to have some parts of the printout controlled by a custom form, and other parts be controlled by the Print Options. A typical example would involve controlling the Summary information through a Custom Form, and having the remainder of the printout be controlled through the Print Options.

Creating a Custom Form
Custom forms are controlled by a Layout file contained in the Customize folder. Typically, a Layout file will be created by Designer Software. Please contact our Sales department for details.

Fabric Printouts Overview
There are various kinds of information which can be printed for a fabric design. You select what to print by checking any combination from the items listed down the left edge of the Print Options window. Examples of the available printout formats are illustrated here and on the following pages.

The printout starts off with an optional fabric summary. This gives an overview of the fabric dimensions and construction. You printout may not have exactly the same fields as show on this summary (you may have a custom layout that changes the appearance), but the information printed will be appropriate for your design. If you have included any written instructions for the weaver (in your public remarks window), they will print in the summary section.

Threading and Peg Plan
The threading and peg plan are printed next, as illustrated below.

Warp Yarn Description

The warp yarn description shows the yarns used in the warp. A very similar chart shows the weft yarns.

Warp and Weft Color Arrangement
The illustration at the left shows a typical warp color arrangement chart (with two colors and a repeat, in this example).

The weft color arrangement appears in a similar chart.

Drawdown
A drawdown can be useful to give the weaver a summary of the weave structure of the fabric. A typical drawdown is illustrated at at the left.

Diagram Symbols
When creating a diagram, WeaveMaker uses one of four possible ways of marking positions (solid, open, digits, X's). In the Print Options dialog, click on the “Items” popup to select the style you want.

Only one option can be in effect at a time. Here are examples of each marking option:

Diagram Sizes
Several diagram sizes are available, as controlled by the Size popup (and see illustrations below).

You can specify whether you want a heavy ruled line every 8 position (see the examples below): Suggestion: the “digits” option combined with a small grid produces rather tiny characters. Use this only on a very high quality printer for under-40 viewers.

Printing Warp and Weft Colors
Thread colors can be indicated by a letter code or with a grid. Check (in Print Options) the option you want (you may check them both if you wish to have the colors displayed both ways at once).

Below is an example of each, for a fabric in which each color is used on three successive threads:

Page Annotation
Each printed page can be annotated with the date, the name of the design, the save date of the design file, and a page number. These are controlled in the “Headers, Footers, Margins” section.

Put a check mark next to any combination of the annotation

Drawdown
Selecting “Drawdown” in Print Options directs WeaveMaker to print the entire drawdown, including threading, tie-up (if appropriate), treadling or peg plan, and the fabric drawdown proper.

This will likely take up multiple pages of output unless your fabric is quite small (under 50 ends and picks).

The pages are printed in such a way that they can be taped or glued together to produce a single large sheet which fully describes the fabric. The intent is to let you describe every detail of the threading and warp/weft color assignments, the treading or peg plan to use for the actual weaving, and show the fabric well enough to let the weaver or mill double-check their work as they actually produce the fabric. Here is an example of a full drawdown printout for a fabric of 24 ends and 24 picks on 8 harnesses and 10 treadles on a tie-up loom (for clarity, the thread color codes have been omitted).

Threading Diagram
Selecting “Threading Diagram” in Print Options directs WeaveMaker to print the thread-ing as a diagram.

The threading diagrams follow the same basic plan as do the peg plan diagrams, and have the same size, labeling, and formatting options.

Peg Plan Diagram
Selecting “Peg Plan Diagram” in Print Options directs WeaveMaker to print the peg plan as a diagram. What follows are samples showing the formats WeaveMaker can produce.

The diagrams below illustrate the basic forms of a peg plan diagram.

Pick #1 is at the bottom, harness #1 is at the left. After every four harnesses or picks there is a line; this alternates between being a thin line and a thick line, which helps your eye track through the diagram without error. Several sizes of squares are available.