The Threading Window

The draft of the design is entered in the Threading Window. The Threading window displays a grid which is the width of the design and the depth of the number of shafts being used. For example, if the design repeat is 240 ends and uses 16 shafts, the threading grid will be 240 squares wide and 16 squares high.

When a change is made in the Threading Window, it will update the Design Window immediately.

Entering the draft in the Threading Window

There are two ways to enter the draft:

• Enter the draft manually by clicking in the relevant squares in the Threading Window. You are only able to select one shaft per end because on the loom, each end is threaded through only one shaft.
• Enter the draft as an algebraic formula. Each shaft is referred to as a letter, i.e. shaft 1 = a, 2 = b, 3 = c and so on. This reference key is displayed on the left side of the grid in the Threading Window to help remind you which shaft is which.

The following method describes how to enter a basic formula to create a straight draft:

1. Go to Window Menu > Weave > Threading or click on the Threading button in the toolbar. The Threading Window will open, displaying the selected number of shafts and ends in the form of a grid.
2. Click on the Reveal Drawer button in the Tools Palette. The Formula Drawer will appear on the right side of the Threading Window.
   
   
3. Enter the threading formula required in the formula drawer. For example, on a design with 8 shafts and 160 ends, to create a straight draft, the formula would be: 20(abcdefgh). To create a point draft with the same number of shafts and ends, the formula would be: 10(abcdefghgfedcbah).

Repeating the draft

Rather than calculating the formula for the whole design, it is possible to enter part of the draft manually and repeat it automatically across the whole threading window. Mixed drafts can also be created using this method.

1. Enter the desired draft in the first few ends of the Threading Window e.g. ends 1-16.
2. Select these ends by dragging along the squares just below the grid area. The selected area will be highlighted with a bold red outline.
3. Click on the Repeat button in the Tools Palette. The draft will be repeated continuously across the whole Threading Window.

Alternative repeating method to repeat the selected pattern across a portion of the Threading

1. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 above and then hold down ^ (control key) on the keyboard, click anywhere in the Threading Window to access the contextual menu and select Repeat. The software will automatically calculate how many repeats of the selected area are needed to fill the rest of the draft.
   
   If your design is 240 ends and repeats on 24 shafts, the repeat window will display 10, because it will take 10 repeats of the threading sequence to cover the full width of the design.
2. However, if you only want to repeat the selected threading sequence across half of the draft for example, change the number in the window to half of the number displayed (5 in this case) and then click OK. The sequence will automatically be repeated across the first half of the Threading Window.
3. The second half of the draft can be entered as you wish with a different sequence, or perhaps the reverse of the first half. In which case you could select the whole of the first half, copy and paste it, flip it horizontally and then move it across, for example.

Create a mixed draft in repeat

1. Enter the first full repeat of the draft. For example, to create a mixed draft with 16 ends of straight draft and 16 ends of satin draft, repeating continuously across the design, enter the straight draft first and copy and paste it as necessary to fill the first 16 ends. Then enter the satin draft in ends 17 – 32 in the same way.
2. Select ends 1 – 32. The selected area will be highlighted with a bold red outline.
   
   
3. Click on the Repeat button in the Tools Palette.
   
   

The mixed draft will be repeated continuously across the whole Threading Window.

Translating the Threading to a formula

It may be necessary to translate the draft for an existing design into a formula - to give to a mill, for example. This can be done simply using the formula drawer in the Threading Window.

1. Click on the Reveal Drawer button in the Tools Palette to open the formula drawer. The drawer will display the draft in algebraic form.
   
   
2. Go to Edit Menu > Select All (⌘A). The formula will become highlighted.
3. Go to Edit Menu > Copy (⌘C).
4. Launch a text editing package such as TextEdit, Pages or Microsoft Word.
5. Create a new document in the text editor and go to Edit Menu > Paste (⌘V). The formula will appear on the new document and can now be printed or saved to disk.
   
   

Editing selections within the Threading Window

To select everything in the Threading window do one of the following:

• Go to Edit Menu > Select All (⌘A).

To select nothing in the Threading window do one of the following:

• Go to Edit Menu > Select > None (⌘D).

To select all the shafts in a certain area of the threading:

Drag horizontally just below the grid area of the window. The bold red outline will indicate the area being selected.

To move the selected area:

Click inside the selected area and drag away from it and release the cursor within the grid area of the Threading. The pattern inside the selection will be moved to the new position.

To make a copy of part of the Threading:

Select the area to be copied with the Lasso Tool and go to Edit Menu > Copy (⌘C). Go to Edit Menu > Paste (⌘V) and click inside the selected area, then drag the copy to a new position in the Threading Window.

For more copies of the same area, select Paste (⌘V) again and move the new copy to another position, then repeat as necessary.

To flip part of the Threading:

Select the area to be flipped with the Lasso and go to Edit Menu > Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical. The selected area will be flipped by the orientation chosen.