WeaveMaker User's Manual — Using Repeat Blocks
Each of the repeat block types offered by WeaveMaker is used here to construct a familiar fabric. The discussion emphasizes blocks in the threading, but the same technique works in the peg plan or treadling as well (repeat blocks are not used in the tie-up).

There are seven kinds of blocks which differ in how they copy to the right and left.

The next three sections illustrate the basic operation of each type of repeat.

Each repeat is represented by a small icon which reminds you of how that particular block style does its repeats. The small “backwards L” figure in the icons helps illustrate how the repeats work.

For example, in the first icon each of the three L’s is in the same orientation, suggesting a repeat in which each block is an exact copy of its neighbor (straight repeat). The second icon (the figure) shows a repeat in which successive copies of the block are flipped right to left (horizontal mirror).

The third type of repeat flips successive images top to bottom (vertical mirror). The last four types of repeats (the ones with the arrows) shift each repeat by one or more threads up or down (drifts).

The first two drifts (without the “N”) drift by 1 each time they repeat. The last two drifts (with the “N”) drift by an amount you specify.

Straight Repeat
A straight repeat copies what you do, over and over, to both left and right.

Horizontal Mirror Repeat
A horizontal mirror repeat flips its copies left-to-right at each repeat. It also eliminates one thread right at the point where it repeats.

Vertical Mirror Repeat
A vertical mirror repeat flips its copies top-to-bottom at each repeat. The block is repeated as a whole; nothing is deleted along the edge.

Drift Repeat
A drift repeat slides each copy up or down by one harness (up in one direction; down in the other).

When a drift repeat runs out of harnesses, the repeat “wraps around,” as this example shows.

Drift by N Repeat
The drift can also shift each repeat by more than one har-ness (these have an N in their symbol).

Straight Draw Threading
You can create a straight draw threading with three mouse clicks:

Click with the pencil tool in the topmost square of the block to produce a straight threading (the dashed line and the gray have been removed to make this illustration clearer):

To see why this works, note that the block in this case is just one grid square wide but covers all harnesses. So it looks like this after the top square in it has been clicked:

But this is a repeat block, so whatever you do in it gets cop-ied to both right and left. In this case copying to the left isn’t possible, but copying to the right is. The copies are not exact copies, because you selected the fourth kind of repeat ( ), which shifts the squares down by one grid position in each copy made to the right (the shift is upwards in copies made to the left). So the sequence of copies looks like this:

Eventually the repeat has to wrap around because it reaches the bottom edge of the grid. This sequence of events leads to the “straight draw” threading.

Basket Weave
Here is a typical threading for basket weave:

This can be built from a repeat of a 4 by 4 block. Using the straight repeat block tool (), set up this block:

Blacken the four squares of the basket weave threading in the block. WeaveMaker copies this throughout the rest of the threading:

Hound’s Tooth
The illustrations at the bottom of the page show the repeat blocks used to construct a hound’s tooth pattern. The warp and weft are identical. A repeat block covering 8 threads is used; note how the colors are repeated.

 

Herringbone
Consider the threading and peg plan for the herringbone fabric shown below. The threading is built using the horizontal mirror tool ( ), while the peg plan is very easily done with the tool, as illustrated immediately below.