Twill Tapestry on loom
Right now I’m well-started on a twill-tapestry shawl project with tapestry motifs ornamenting the corners of a 2/2 straight twill fabric and showing a four-seasons theme. The motifs were designed on a computer screen brick grid, and row-by-row weaving instructions (“talim” in the Kashmir shawl weaving tradition) generated, using Stitch Painter software. Selections from my palette of single-ply wool yarns for warp and weft, weave comfortably at 20 ends per inch. I’m using a collection of small, improvised bobbins for the tapestry wefts, and a shuttle for the intervening plain-colour areas.
overview of the loom
- loom in profile
spring crocus with talim and design diagram
summer strawberry with talim and design diagram
crocus view from working side
strawberry view from working side
checking the front side
crocus front view
strawberry front view
crocus closeup
strawberry closeup
peter harris, tapestryweaver 
This is the first time that I have come across your work. I got to your site via a web search on “double weave tapestry”. I have woven twill, I have woven tapestry and I have woven inlay but I was unaware of this fantastic combination and how it relates to Kashmiri shawls. Have you (or anyone else for that matter) published on the “how to” and techniques of what you do. I live in Australia and it is a bit far to one of your workshops. I have recently returned from a trip to India and I just wish I had found your site before I went as it would have enabled me to have a better appreciation of a lot of the work that I saw.
Hello Martin,
Thanks for your comment on my posting “Talim and Twill Tapestry”. The project is an offshoot of my study of Kashmir shawl techniques, in which I have been trying to attract the interest of western, recreational loomweavers. My idea was that a mainly fabric-weaving project could be embellished with small areas of shawl-style twill tapestry that would show ingenuity and historical authenticity, and yet not disrupt the fabric nor take forever to do. The traditional shawlweaving techniques include: a graphed design that is converted into row-by-row, step-by-step instructions (“talim”); a straight 2/2 twill weave structure; and weaving back-side-up on the loom in order to manage the tapestry wefts and link them by double-interlock. Please browse the articles posted on the “Published Articles” page of my website for more recent interpretations and explanations of these characteristics, but probably the most directly instructional article would be an older one, “The Weaving of Kashmir Shawls”.
All the best, Peter.