Thank you so much to everyone who has shown their support for my self-published beginner's guide to tablet weaving over the last 7 months. It is now discontinued as I work on revising the typescript for delivery to a mainstream publisher. At the end of the 2 year or so process, it will be available again in its new incarnation in bookshops and via major online retailers. I look forward to spreading the the joys of tablet weaving to more people!
I have something very exciting to share with you! Since March I have been in negotiations with an independent publishing house about bringing my self-published book Tablet Weaving in Theory and Practice: From the Beginning to mainstream bookshops. I'll be reworking and revising the typescript, then they'll take care of editing, layouts, typesetting, proofing, printing, distribution, and all the other myriad things that have to be done to bring a book to market. I'll share news about our progress here, along with announcements about publishing dates when the time comes.
What does this mean for you as a reader? Most importantly, I'll be taking down the self-published edition of my beginner's guide on 24/06/26 at 12 noon Irish time (GMT+1), so if you want a copy, please grab one before then! Any copies (pdf or hard copy) bought before the deadline will be sent out by Blurb as usual. All my other books self-published through Blurb will remain available as before, as will my free content.
I plan to continue sharing information about tablet weaving here, on Instagram (where I'm @tabletweaving), and on YouTube. I will also keep publishing my free tablet weaving drafts for you to play with and will be continuing to work on this year's self-published book on the side, although that might take a bit longer to be ready than previously planned!
For me, weaving can be a form of meditation. The careful and rhythmic movement of my hands helps me to slow down and breathe, so there are times when I need to weave something straightforward and theraputic. This band came from that need in the days after we lost someone from my circle. I didn't know her as well as others, but she was loved by many and well-liked by even more and will be deeply missed.
This is a very simple weave. Just thread the tablets and turn them forward each pick until you have a build-up of twist behind them, then turn them backward each pick to weave it out (or flip them and continue turning them forward). Once you have the rhythm in your fingers, you can let your mind roam free.
As with all of the free drafts/patterns on this site, you are welcome to weave them, sell bands woven using them, and use them to teach other weavers, just as long as you state where you found them.
Sometimes my little corner of Ireland is so very grey and rainy that I just need to play with colour. This band borrows the motif from the narrow Oseberg band rendered in King Cole Merino-Blend 4ply in the colours white, cranberry (red), cinnamon (orange), mustard (yellow), grass (green), sapphire (blue), and blackcurrant (purple). The sample band is 6.5cm wide to give it a soft drape and make it suitable for use as a trim. You'll need to pull the weft in tighter than I did if you want it to be suitable for a belt. It's a soothing weave as all the tablets are turned together in the same direction, but you will quickly get a build up of twist, so reverse your turning direction or flip your tablets and continue turning them forward to weave it out.
I wove the sample band for this draft in King Cole Merino-Blend 4-ply in the colours mustard (yellow), sapphire (blue), and cranberry (red), with a mustard weft to refer to the classic Kryptonian colours. The band is twist-neutral for the pattern tablets. I highly recommend using a row counter of some sort as the sections where the pattern tablets all turn together are not the same length for each direction. This was done to make the colour of the S switch between yellow and blue. If you would prefer a shorter pattern repeat, weave only picks 1-48, but be aware that you will have a slight build-up of twist for each repeat.
As with all of the free drafts/patterns on this site, you are welcome to weave them, sell bands woven using them, and use them to teach other weavers, just as long as you state where you found them.
For the beginning of 2026, Tablet Weaving Draft Designer has an exciting new capability: Idling Packs! When a group (or pack) of tablets is intentionally left unturned and other tablets are turned, the idled tablets' threads will float over or under the weft (depending on their position in the tablet) instead of twisting around it.
Under "Show grid" in the Display section of the Control Panel, you will now find a new tick box labelled "Show idling". When this is enabled, it adds a row of letters below the threading diagram. The default is "T" (twining), which causes the threads to behave in the same way as before, and it can be cycled between that and "O" (odd) and "E" (even) by clicking on the letters. The draft used as the example on this page is called Lattice which a free draft from this site.
Setting a tablet to O will cause it to only turn on odd numbered picks/rows when turning forward and setting it to E will cause it to only turn on even numbered picks when turning forward. When a tablet is turned on a pick, there will be the usual slanted oval in that box of the turning diagram, but when it is idled, there will be a new symbol: a vertical oval. For the first pick of the draft, only the boxes representing twining tablets and those turning on odd rows will have a symbol in them to make it clear to see that the even group are not turning. It is helpful to separate the tablets into an E pack and an O pack (and a T pack if you're using one) so you can turn all the tablets from that pack together. If you aren't using twining selvedges, always pass the weft from the side of the band whose outermost tablet has just turned. If your draft has an odd number of tablets, you will need to asign the final tablet to the E pack.
In the text version of the draft, this idling is represented with "I" rather than the usual "F" (forward turn) or "B" (backward turn).
To change your turning direction and weave out twist behind the tablets, turn the next pack of tablets forward as before, then pass the weft through the shed and turn THE SAME pack backward and pass the weft again. For the next pick, turn the other pack of tablets backward and resume alternating your turning between the packs as before. Tablets in pack O will now turn on even picks and tablets in pack E will turn on odd picks. Tablets marked T continue turning on every pick as usual. To prevent the weft from pulling through the threads of the outermost tablets after the direction change, either switch those tablets to the other pack or cut your weft and pass it throught the shed in the opposite direction to before.
Egyptian Zigzags has 154 drafts in total (not including the reconstruction band), but many are have a vertical line of symmetry running down the centre which would look odd with nine groups of four pattern tablets rather than the original ten that the drafts were designed for. To prevent this, I've limited the pool of drafts to the remaining 64, which still gives plenty to pick from.
It's time! It's finally time! This year's book is Tablet Weaving in Theory and Practice: From the Beginning, which is a beginner's guide to tablet weaving. You can find it by clicking here, or by clicking on the picture below, in the usual hardcover, softcover and pdf editions. From the Beginning has 8 new drafts to weave, each included to help you learn essential skills, and covers everything from selecting yarn, to measuring out a warp, to different tensioning methods, to weaving, to wet-finishing, to different finishing and sewing techniques for bands.
You could say that I started writing this one back in 2012 when I first started submitting articles on tablet weaving tips and tricks to my local SCA newsletter. I was collecting up my ideas from around 2015 onwards for what I intended to be my first book. During the process of trying to find a publisher for it, I decided to test things out by publishing a suite of designs I'd come up with when I'd injured an elbow and couldn't weave. That became Tablet Weaving in Theory and Practice: Warp-Twined Angles which debuted in 2018. When I finally came back to the beginner's guide project in January 2025, I threw out quite a lot of what I'd previously written (why past-me needed to try to classify every possible fibre yarn could be made from, I will never know) and massively expanded many of the sections. The way I think about and understand tablet weaving has evolved over the years and I like to think that this has turned out to be a much better book due to all the delays.
As I now have a significant body of work to draw from, I was able to use my designs for all but one of the examples I included (many thanks to Mervi Pasanen of Applesies and Foxnoses fame who allowed me to use a section of a band from Tablet-Woven Treasures as an example of Finnish double turns). You may notice that Lattice, my most recently published draft, turns up as an example too. I'm also lucky enough to be part of several thriving tablet weaving communities online. When the book had passed the initial round of copy-editing (many thanks to G, my wonderful copy-editor!), members of the Ravelry tablet weaving group very kindly volunteered to test-read it for me, which the text greatly benefitted from.
During a series of videos I made for Advent last year, I showed a band each day including a few that I've never published the drafts for. One of the most requested out of the unpublished drafts was this one. It uses a tablet woven structure commonly called "Anglo-Saxon" technique, despite the key historical example having been proved to be medieval. You can read more about the original fragment in work done on it by Shelagh Lewins by clicking here. Instructions for dealing with the notation that Tablet Weaving Draft Designer uses for idling tablets can be found here.
Apologies for the radio slience over the past few months. I've been deep in writing the next book in the series (still am, but at least two thirds of the way there now) and it's been tricky to motivate myself to doing any additional writing.
I've shared a few details in a few places, but I can officially say that this year's book will be a beginner's guide based on the way I understand tablet weaving. It will act as a bridge for the absolutle beginner and advanced beginner to make the other books in the series more accessible. I have another book project I've been playing with too, but that's gone on the back burner until this one is out in the world, hopefully around November.
Speaking books, Blurb, my publisher, is having a 20% off hard cover and soft cover books (use the code AUGREAD20 at check out by 11.59pm local time on 19th August 2025 to get the discount). If you're in the US, Blurb is a print on demand service and will use their printer closest to you (just make sure you select your location flag in the top right corner of your screen), so there's no need to worry about tarrifs or customs fees. You can find links to all my books by clicking here.
Every now and then, I'm feeling whimsical (who am I kidding, it's pretty much all the time!) and I want to weave something a bit different to the sensible book samples I've been working on. My husband has a green summer tunic for SCA events, but last year during a heat wave, he was wearing his thicker winter one and risking melting because his summer tunic didn't have any of my trim on it. The time has come to fix that! He's a big Legend of Zelda fan, so I wanted to work an element of that into it. Having pondered various options, I settled on the Triforce. Once I had drawn it out on graph paper for 3/1 broken twill double-face, the arrangement of the triangles reminded me of a historical band known as Hallstatt 123[1][2]. The band was excavated in 1990 in Hallstatt, Austria, and dates to the Early Iron Age. It is held by the Natural History Museum in Vienna (inventory number: 89.832). I worked the meandering line of the Hallstatt band into my design as it frames the Triforce nicely and is in keeping with the types of designs found in Legend of Zelda. I wove the sample band with King Cole Merino-Blend 4ply in the colours Buttercup and French Navy, with Buttercup as the weft.
The Triforce symbol does, of course, not belong to me and is a trademark of the Nintendo Corporation.
[1]Bichler, P. et al (2005): "Hallstatt Textiles" Technical Analysis, Scientific Investigation and Experiments on Iron Age Texiles. British Archaeological Reports, International Series 2005, 81-90 https://www.academia.edu/11916994/Tablet_woven_Ribbons_from_the_prehistoric_Salt_mines_at_Hallstatt_Austria_results_of_some_experiments
[2] Hartl, A. et al (2015):Reproducing colourful woven bands from the Iron Age salt mine of Hallstatt in Austria: An interdisciplinary approach to acquire knowledge of prehistoric dyeing technology. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 133 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275897796_Reproducing_colourful_woven_bands_from_the_Iron_Age_salt_mine_of_Hallstatt_in_Austria_An_interdisciplinary_approach_to_acquire_knowledge_of_prehistoric_dyeing_technology
As with all of the free drafts/patterns on this site, you are welcome to weave them, sell bands woven using them, and use them to teach other weavers, just as long as you state where you found them.
This is the first new band I've woven entirely at the new house we moved to in October! It's taken quite a while to finish thanks to my current never ending to-do list, but I'm hoping to get back into the swing of thigs soon as my naked loom is currently looking at me reproachfully.
I drew the original design for this draft back in March 2023 and when I came back to it, I added the little wave that the pairs of frogs are giving each other for a touch of whimsy. The green yarn I used is called Lime Sorbet and is by Mothy and the Squid on her sock yarn base. It seemed fitting as she's a bit of a frog enthusiast herself. Lime Sorbet is one of her summer yarns, but she currently has plenty of others currently for sale in pleasingly froggy colours.
This draft comes in two halves; Frog A and Frog B. If you weave both halves, you will have four fully twist-neutral pattern tablet frogs. The draft will still work if you only weave one of the halves, you'll just have a small amount of build-up behind the middle pattern tablets.
If you're reading this, it means that my next book is out! It's called Tablet Weaving in Theory and Practice: Egyptian Zigzags (click the link to go to the sale page over on my publisher's site) and is based around an Egyptian band (catalogue numbers ÆIN 958 and ÆIN 959) held by the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, Denmark, and has instructions for a direct reconstruction band plus drafts for another 154 designs in the same style.
ÆIN 958 and ÆIN 959 were skillfully woven in fine white linen and vibrantly coloured wool threads, with a combination of warp-twining and brocade work. Each of their selvedges is around 5.5mm wide, with their intricately patterned centre sections being around 17mm wide, to a total of around 28mm wide*. ÆIN 958 is around 48cm long and ÆIN 959 is around 48.5cm*. Both bands have significant damage to both their selvedges and brocade threads, with some sections missing entirely, suggesting that they saw significant wear before deposition, although the selvedge damage may have occurred after excavation, when they were removed from their original context in preparation for for sale*. Due to the absence of any context for the objects, we cannot be sure of their age, but they were proposed as being from the 7th-8th centuries in a museum catalogue from 1930 or from the 14th-15th centuries by Nancy Spies, herself an expert in tablet woven brocaded bands. (Statements marked with * are based on my personal observations of the bands)
The objects were woven with groups of 4 tablets turning togther for four turns for the majority of their motifs and I had a lot of fun with extending the technique to make new designs. All the extra drafts in Egyptian Zigzags are woven with 54 tablets (40 pattern tablets, with 7 selvedge tablets on each side), but I've reduced the number of tablets and changed up the colours they carry for the Bonus draft here. I picked red, white, blue and yellow as they were the selvedge colours of the original band. The Bonus draft is twist-neutral overall, as well as the two halves being twist-neutral, so you won't get a build up of twist if you weave the entire draft or if you only weave the first 24 or second 24 rows.
As with all of the free drafts/patterns on this site, you are welcome to weave them, sell bands woven using them, and use them to teach other weavers, just as long as you state where you found them.
This draft is a reproduction of a piece of Bulgarian national dress. It is a variation on a school of designs generally called Kivrim that has been assigned to the Anatolian region of Turkey. Tablet weaving is an important part of folk costume in Bulgaria, providing many an intricately patterned belt or piece of trim. Bulgarica also happens to be the name of a genus of land snails, which I thought fitted the spiral nature of the motif rather nicely. I've included a picture/link to the original Bulgarian band on Facebook that inspired this one below. If you know anything more about its context, please do get in touch! Bulgarian tablet weaving is a rich tradition that I would love to know more about.
This design is a based on a band I wove back in 2011 (the black and white one in the picture above) to use up the last of the long-discontinued acrylic crochet thread I learned to tablet weave with. I set up a warp to weave two thread wide diagonal lines and improvised the design, changing the turning direction of pairs of tablets in a technique often known as Egyptian Diagonals (despite it being extremely doubtful that it has any historical link to Egypt). I had been planning to share it with you unedited, but when I came to draft it out in TDD, I found a number of odd decisions that could be improved on. The new version I'm sharing here has two more pattern tablets and 2 more picks, retaining the twist-neutral design of the original, while making it make rather more sense.
Counterchanged is a term used in heraldry to mean that two colours have switched position on either side of a dividing line, the motif colour becoming the background colour and vice versa. In combination with the weaving technique, it comes together to make a pretty fun design. The yarns I used in the sample band were King Cole Merino-Blend 4-ply in the colours black, blackcurrant, sapphire, grass, mustard, cinnamon and red, with black as the weft, the same as my Rainbow Triangles band.
If you would prefer a shorter turning sequence, repeating only the first 24 picks will give you just the simple rainbow diamonds and repeating only picks 25-48 will give you just diamonds on the background of diagonal lines.
As with all of the free drafts/patterns on this site, you are welcome to weave them, sell bands woven using them, and use them to teach other weavers, just as long as you state where you found them.
The motif in this new free draft is based on a section from an object refered to as the maniple of St. Ulrich (hence the name). You can find a picture of it here: https://www.meganmcnamee.com/projects/tabletweaving It has been dated to the 10th century and is held by the Church of Sts. Afra and Ulrich in Ausburg, Germany. The maniple (a type of priestly vestment) was tablet woven in green, red, and white silk with a combination of 2x2 diagonals, 3/1 broken twill double-face, and gold brocade. Celtic knots and hand motifs with inscriptions ("DEXTERA DEI" - Hand of God) are surrounded by lozenge-shaped frames formed from the interlacing designs you see here, albeit translated into a different technique and somewhat simplified.
Ulrich is twist-neutral for the pattern tablets, as I've included a reversed version of the pattern repeat as the second half (above the black line) of the draft. For the sample I wove 3 repeats of each half of the draft before moving onto the next half. If you'd prefer to weave just the first 48 picks, you'll get some twist build-up, but not a lot, as each pattern tablet only has 8 more turns in one direction than the other.
I wove the sample band in King Cole Merino-Blend 4ply, with the colours French Navy, Ivy and Mustard as the warp and Mustard as the weft. Be aware that other than green, these are not the colours used in the original object, they're just ones that I have a lot of and thought would look good together!
Sometimes drafts pop into my head fully formed, with a name and colour scheme, and sometimes it takes a few attempts to refine them and work out what they want to be. This is one of the first kind. It came about during part of the sample weaving for my next book, when my mind wandered, and was my treat for finishing the final sample.
It's twist-neutral for the pattern tablets, but you will get a build-up behind the three selvedge tablets on each side. I flipped mine every 64 picks during weaving to weave out the excess twist. The sample band for this draft was woven in King Cole Merino-Blend 4ply in the colours Bordeaux, white and rose petal. It is named for the hearts that appear above and below each knot motif.
If you're finding a 64 pick draft overwhelming, it will work just as well if you only weave the first 32 picks, repeating as many times as desired. If you go that route, there will be some twist build-up behind some of the pattern tablets.
