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This article is part three in a series about lace weaves — a magical way of interlacing threads and using skips and floats to create shape, pattern, and space. If you wish to rewind and start with article one on Canvas Weave, please use this link — and then follow up with Part Two before arriving back here to learn about Huck and Spot Bronson lace.
In this last article on lace weaves, we’re going to start by looking at Huck lace. Huck, AKA Huckaback, has two blocks on four shafts. Each block is made up of an odd number of threads that, in modern drafts, use shaft one or two. But if you start looking through older books, you’ll find plenty of other ways to express and weave this pattern (Davison, for example, has many variations!).
The two blocks of Huck lace are:
Block A (yellow): 1, 3, 1, 3, 1
Block B (purple): 2, 4, 2, 4, 2
Tabby (green): 1, 2
You’ll notice that this is almost the same threading as Bronson Lace — except when writing Huck Lace, the last tie-down end is missing. Like Bronson and Swedish Lace, the drawdown for Huck Lace looks like a hash mark #, but the lack of a pick that ties down each block means that blocks of Huck Lace cannot be repeated in the threading or treadling, as that would create doubled ends or very long floats, losing the lace effect.
Anne Dixon's The Handweaver’s Pattern Directory has several examples of the exciting effects you can achieve by varying your weft colors. When weaving Huck, you can choose to weave warp spots, weft spots, or warp and weft spots simultaneously.
You may wish to use a floating selvedge for this weave if your lace spots go right to the edge of your threading — I used four picks of plain weave at each edge and skipped the floating selvedge.
In my sample of Huck lace, I chose Beam 3/2 in Mist. While threading I created two different threading patterns, both bordered by four picks of plain weave at the selvedges:
I tried three different ways of treadling Huck Lace:
I sett my sample at 10 EPI, which yielded a stable cloth and well pronounced floats. I loved the second section’s lacy lattice effect — it looks and feels wonderful! The third section with color effects is nice too, though the back side, where you find weft spots, looks very different.
Last but not least, Spot Bronson is the final loom-controlled lace weave we’re looking at in this series. In my sample, Spot Bronson gives a sense of texture more than the open airiness of other laces, with a lively surface. Going back to Davison's A Handweaver’s Pattern Book, you’ll find Spot Bronson in the Barley Corn Weave chapter — with its alternate names of “Bronson,” “Gersternkorn,” and “Droppdräll.” It’s woven quite differently than in Dixon, showing just how flexible weaving structures can be. But more on that in a moment!
There are three blocks in Spot Bronson:
Block A (blue): 1, 2, 1, 2
Block B (orange): 1, 3, 1, 3
Block C (pink): 1, 4, 1, 4
As you can see from the three blocks, they each share a commonality: shaft one. This means that for any Spot Bronson draft you follow, ensure there are enough heddles on your first shaft to accommodate the ends in your project. It’s also wise to use the closest shaft to you as shaft one, so that the weight of all those ends are easier to lift or lower.
Because there are three blocks available, Spot Bronson can be threaded in a point order, giving you an advancing, twill-like line of spots across your cloth. You can also thread out of order, coming up with areas threaded as ABA or BCB. The main thing you cannot do in Spot Bronson is weave a true plain weave in between blocks — there is no tabby threading. You may weave plain weave bands across your web (I have at the start and finish of my sample), but not, for example, between an A block and B block. You also must use a floating selvedge.
To weave a Spot Bronson sample, I used Duet in Dusk and Marble, sett at 15 EPI.
In my threading, I created two evenly balanced threading areas.
In treadling, I followed the same pattern, weaving each parts in both Dusk and Marble to provide contrast. The Dusk on Dusk areas show the subtle pattern and texture I achieved, while the areas in Marble give you an idea of the pattern, which was quite challenging to photograph!
The Spot Bronson sample felt crisp and nicely textured in my hand; I felt like it would make a nice dish cloth, but could use more sampling and perhaps a closer sett for the pattern to appear stronger (at least for my taste!). I chose to weave Spot Bronson in the style presented in Dixon, but you can see how different it can appear in the free Droppdräll Towel pattern. Woven at a closer sett and with a different treadling pattern, I think this shows the versatility and exciting range of textures you can achieve with lace weaves — it doesn’t all have to be about creating space!
Whether it’s Canvas, Bronson, Swedish, Huck or Spot Bronson, the five lace weaves we’ve looked at in this series can create wonderful effects, from open and airy sections to wavy areas providing the illusion of shapes and curves, to toothsome textures. This introduction to lace weaves only scratches the surface of what’s possible with color, texture, and material. In my own work, I’ve used lace to weave airy curtains out of 16/2 cotton and workhorse soap bags with texture and drainage. Setting lace closer or farther apart can reveal very different textiles, so, like with all weaving, there’s much you can explore.
Sources:
Mastering Weave Structures by Sharon Alderman, Interweave Press, 2004.
A Handweaver’s Pattern Book by Marguerite Porter Davison, 1975.
The Handweaver’s Pattern Directory, by Anne Dixon, Interweave Press, 2007.
Amanda Rataj is an artist and weaver living and working in Hamilton, Ontario. She studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design University and has developed her contemporary craft practice through research-based projects, artist residencies, professional exhibitions, and lectures. Subscribe to her studio newsletter or follow her on Instagram to learn about new weaving patterns, exhibitions, projects, and more.
