Skill Guide: Color-and-Weave

Color-and-weave is one of my favorite techniques because it’s super simple but looks complicated. To quote Madelyn van der Hoogt, “Color-and-weave (loosely described) is any single-layered structure where your eye sees a pattern created by one colorway created by both warp threads and weft threads vs another colorway created by both warp threads and weft threads.” While a twill pattern uses two colors, one in warp and one in weft, color-and-weave uses two (or more) colors in warp and weft. How those colors interact is what creates the patterning.

Log cabin, checks, and houndstooth are all color-and-weave patterns—and all can be woven in plain weave—no pick-up or multi-shaft looms required. Color-and-weave is about how you alternate your color choices, so picking the right colors for the job makes a big difference. For this skill guide, we’ll look at the basics of color-and-weave, including some possible patterns and how yarn color choice impacts your final design.

Contents include:

• Examples of color-and-weave
• Continuous-strand weaving
• 6 patterns
• Log cabin at a new level
• Projects to try
• Next steps: level up

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