Using Fiberworks PCW4.

2 Silver

Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

for Windows®

© 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Software License
© 2014 Fiberworks
Computer software is protected by copyright. Your purchase of the software grants you license to use the
software under the terms described below.
1) You have been assigned a registered user number with your purchase. This user number appears on
the printed invoice sent to you by Fiberworks, and on the program CD if the software was delivered on CD.
Keep this number accessible: it may be required if you need technical help, for future upgrades or if you
transfer ownership.
2) Fiberworks is not liable for any damage in consequence of use of this software. Liability is limited to
refund of the purchase price only in event of dissatisfaction with the performance of the software.
3) You may install the software on any and all computers that you own, and use the software for your
personal use only. Use of the software installed on computers that you own by another individual on an
occasional and non-lasting basis is also accepted under these terms.
4) Each copy of the software must be validated by entering a code obtainable from Fiberworks. These
codes are unique to each computer that the software is installed on.
5) Your valid registration gives you the right to purchase upgrades to the software at a price lower than for
purchase of a new copy. By upgrading, you relinquish rights to the previous version. If you upgrade to a
new version, you may not sell or otherwise transfer license to use the software to another user without
relinquishing your own license and registered user number. "Transfer" of the software includes transfer of
a CD containing a current or superseded version of the software, transfer or sale of a computer with an
active copy of the current or superseded software on the hard disk, or any other means of electronic
duplication of the software that makes it available to another user.
6) In the event that you intend to cease use of the software altogether, you may transfer your registration to
another user by sale or gift. Fiberworks should be notified of the transfer of registration so that the new
user can gain upgrade rights. The user relinquishing the registration then ceases to have further rights to
use or upgrade the software.
7) In the event of abuse of these terms, Fiberworks reserves the right to revoke a registered user number.
8) Your continued use of the software implies your acceptance of these terms.
Please abide by the spirit of good craftsmanship and do not copy this program. We work very hard to give
you the best software we can.
You may freely distribute any unvalidated copies of Fiberworks PCW that function only in Demo mode. If
you need brochures or advertising material for your friends or weaving students, we will be happy to send
them to you.

Bob Keates and Ingrid Boesel Fiberworks PCW

PO Box 649, Ganges
Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 2W2
Canada
Email: info@fiberworks-pcw.com
Website:http://www.fiberworks-pcw.com
Manual revision date: 2012/11/03

© 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Table of Contents
Installing and Validation 1
Getting Started 3
Elements of Fiberworks Screen Display 4
The Fiberworks Drawdown Frame 6
Mouse and Keyboard 8
How to Draw 11
Adding Colors to your Design 13
File Menu 15
How to Open and Save Files 16
How to Print 19
Your Preferences 25
Edit Menu 27
Select, Cut Copy and Paste,Drag and Drop 30
Interleave, Overlay, Transform 34
Insert, Delete threads, Unlink 37
View Menu 40
Cloth Menu 42
Modify Colors 44
Notes and Records 45
Warp Menu 46
Sidebar: Entering thicknesses Thread by Thread 48
Repeats, Parallel Repeat 48
Redraw on Network, Network Drafting 51
Tieup Menu 53
Liftplans and Tieups 56
Shafts and Treadles 57
Treadling Menu 58
Add Tabby, Remove Tabby 59
Tools Menu 60
Block Substitution and Profile Drafts 61
Namedrafts 68
Window Menu 70
Context Menus 71
Sketchpad 72
Image menu, Regrid, Color reduction 74
Analysis menu, Fabric Analysis 77
Sketchpad Projects, Network Liftplans 79
Miscellaneous Windows Terminology 82
More on Folders 83
Resources and Technical Support 86
Index 88

© 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Navigating the Manual

Section 1: The basics: Draw, Save, Open, Print.
Section 2: The menu and submenus, and details of their use.
Section 3: Appendixes on Windows terminology, Folders and folder organization,
References and Resources. Books, links and software useful for Fiberworks
users.

Navigating the e-manual by links. Links are bold turquoise, italic and underlined. If
clicked, they will take you to the section named. We try to put the page number near the
link so that users of the printed manual can also navigate it.
Table of Contents. Both the e-manual and the printed manual contain a table of
contents at the front of the manual. Adobe Acrobat displays the Table of Contents in the
side bar. Each entry will take you to the page that is indexed in the Table of Contents. A
full index can be found at the end.
Chapters start with a pink bar with the title of the chapter. Headings within the chapter
are bold bluish green lettering larger than the paragraph font. Subheading are
black and bold. Paragraphs contain bold words are usually functions or items on the
menu.
A note is something we want you to pay attention to. It is usually slightly indented and
headed by bold red word such as Note, Hint or Tip.
Menu commands are indicated by the following format: File > Open Drawdown. This
means open the File menu from the menu bar, and choose Open Drawdown.

Help refers to pages that are displayed on-screen when you go to the Help item in the
main PCW menubar and select Help Topics, or if you press the F1 key within the
Fiberworks PCW program, or click a "Help" button in a dialog within Fiberworks PCW.
Help within the program is distinct from Silver e-manual included with your program.
Appearance of illustrations in the manual: Different versions of Windows may have
slightly different window framing styles and wording. The illustrations in the manual show
a mixture of Vista/Seven and older Windows classic styles. Different computer setups
may show dialogs with different images and colors.

© 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Installing Fiberworks Silver 4.2

Installation of PCW4.2 from CD

You may need to log on as administrator or to provide the administrator password to
install Fiberworks.
Windows 7: right click on the icon or file listing for Br4200setup.exe, then select Run as
Administrator. You will need to provide the administrator password. It is not sufficient
to simply be logged on as administrator.
Insert Fiberworks CD into your drive. The CD should start in about 10 seconds.
Follow the directions on the Installshield Setup screens. When you have finished,
you will see the shortcut icons on the desktop for the Silver program (PCW
Silver 4.2) and the Silver manual. The Silver manual is a PDF file, icon shown on
the right, and will open with Adobe Acrobat Reader. There should also be an
entry for Fiberworks in the Programs List of the Start menu.
Validation of PCW 4.2 Silver
Open the Fiberworks program either
from the desktop shortcut icon, or from
the Start Menu. You will then see a
dialog that shows Your program ID,
at the top. It is a 6 to 10 digit number
with a hyphen in the middle. This
number is unique to this particular
computer. If you install on another
computer with the same CD, it will give
a different program ID.
NOTE: Don’t copy the example on this
page. Use the Program ID that appears
when you start your own copy of
Fiberworks.
A previous Program ID, or a Program
ID from another computer, will not be
valid.
Copy your Program ID carefully, paste it into an e-mail message and send it to us at:
info@fiberworks-pcw.com. We will send you the Validation Code by email as soon as
possible.
If you are a new user or have upgraded from a previous version, contact us to purchase
your copy of the program. No validation will be sent until payment has been received.
Meanwhile, the program can be used in Demo mode. All features of the program are
available for you to try out, but it won’t print or save until it is validated.

1 © 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

When you receive your Validation Code, open the program, carefully enter the code into
the respective boxes in the lower part of the Validation dialog. Make sure that there are
no extra “0”s or spaces around the numbers you enter, and that there are no more than
3 digits in each box (see the dialog above). When done,
Close the dialog.
This message box should appear after the Validation code
has been entered successfully. Close the message box
with the OK button, then close the program by choosing
File > Exit. This will set the validation into the computer’s
memory. When you restart, you will then have full use of
the program, including Print and Save.
If a dialog appears that says that PCW has not been
validated, check that you have sent the correct Program ID, and that you have entered
the correct validation code. Then contact us. We may also have made an error.

Other Computers
If you want to use the program on more than one computer, install PCW4.2 Silver from
the CD, or copy the downloaded file Br4200setup.exe onto the other computer. (4200
refers to version number 4.2.0.0; the last two digits may change as revisions occur.)
Note: Each computer will generate its own unique program ID, and needs a
separate Validation code.
To get a validation code for the new installation, you will need to send the new Program
ID with your customer number, version of the program to be validated and the operating
system you are using. We will provide you with a new validation code. There is no
charge for additional computers if you are a registered user.
If your computer needs to be replaced, or repaired by replacing the hard drive, this will
generate a new Program ID, so again we will need your name and address, customer
number, and Program ID to issue you with a new validation.
Uninstalling Fiberworks
If you no longer require this program and wish to remove it from your computer, you may
use Add and Remove Programs found in the Control Panel to remove the program
from your computer if the original program was installed by Installshield Setup.
Installshield removes all files it installed, so don’t modify the sample files in the folder My
Weaving\Samples without resaving them with an altered filename.
Older copies of Fiberworks installed by WinZip should not interfere with the use of
Fiberworks Silver 4.2, but if you wish to recover space on your hard drive, you may delete
them. You will find them in the folder C:\Fiberworks rather than in Program Files.
Highlight the PCW program (Pcw.exe), the PCW help file (Pcw.hlp), Help index (Pcw.cnt)
and the PCW state file (Pcw.gid), drag and drop them into the Recycle Bin.

2 © 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Getting Started
Open Fiberworks and examine the various components of the window on your desktop.
If you work using the full screen you will see more of your design, the tool icon bar and
the color palette. Play with all the areas and examine all the menus. Press F1 for help as
you explore. You do not have to design a masterpiece in your first attempt. If you don’t
save it no one will ever know what you did on your first day.
Note: Some menu items appear in gray. This means they are inactive, or ‘grayed out’
because there is nothing for them to act on. For example, Block Substitution
needs at least a threading to use as a profile. Cut and Copy are grayed if there is
no selection, and Paste is grayed if there’s nothing in the clipboard to copy.

Fiberworks Program window

This shows the Title
Bar of the Fiberworks
program window
showing the title of the
active design.
In the top left hand
corner is an icon that
opens a menu allowing
you to close,
minimize, maximize, restore or move the open
window. At upper right are the minimize, full screen /
window and close buttons, shown in the styles for
different Windows versions on the right. Fiberworks
PCW4.2 will opens initially as maximized (filling the
whole screen). When maximized, the Restore button
takes the place of the Maximize button. Click Restore to
make a floating window that occupies part of the screen.
Click Minimize to take Fiberworks off the screen, but
leave it on the taskbar at the bottom of your screen with
the current work session intact. Click the taskbar button,
and Fiberworks will reappear on the screen.
The outer frame is the main frame window of the whole Fiberworks program (see it in
full on the next page). Within this frame are the frames of individual drawdown
windows. You can have any reasonable number of drawdown windows open at once.
The Main Menu Bar lies across the top of the main frame window just under the title bar.
File, Edit, View, Cloth, Warp, Tieup, Treadling, Tools, Windows and Help are all
found there. Click on each menu item and explore it. See the individual sections for full
descriptions of each menu item.

3 © 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Elements of Fiberworks Screen display

4 © 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Description of the parts of Fiberworks screen display

This is a Windows Vista or Seven view. Refer back to the figure on the page facing p.1
to see how it might look in XP or Windows Classic.
1. Title bar for PCW4.2
2. Main Menu bar
3. New, File Open, File Save toolbar buttons
4. Print button, links to Preview and Print menu item
5. Undo button.
6. Cut, Copy and Paste buttons
7. Selection button; used to select areas in drafts
8. Color Pickup button
9. Buttons controlling the draw modes
10. Insert and Delete buttons
11. Link / Unlink button
12. View of cloth, front / back, structure / color and interlacement
13. Add grid to cloth
14. Magnification buttons Zoomin, zoom out.
15. Buttons for expanding and compressing threading and treadling drafts
16. Help Query button, click so the cursor assumes the same symbol as the button, then
click on an area of the screen or surrounding frame to get help on that item.
At the bottom of the frame is the Status bar showing (L to R) hints or info, magnification,
cloth display mode, and when the frame is slightly wider, location of the cursor.
17. Active drawdown window showing its own title bar with name of design.
18. Working colors, the two overlapping squares at the top of the Palette bar. The upper
left square represents the main color, which can be applied by a single click of left mouse
button. The square on the right, partly covered by the main color is the alternative color,
which you can apply with a double click of the left mouse button.
19. Color Palette bar with 82 color chips. Symbols indicate the corresponding keystroke
that applies a given color. The two active colors described in section 19 are popped out,
while the remaining colors are recessed. Colors 6,7,8,9,0 are used in the active
drawdown. Each design window can display its own set of 82 colors in the palette bar.
20. Insertion point, in the threading at shaft 1, thread 1. Note the two small red arrows
pointing at the insertion point. This is where any keyboard entry will be applied. The
insertion point blinks to further draw your attention.

5 © 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Within the Fiberworks drawdown frame

1. Threading draft on shafts 1-8, showing 11 ends.
Reads right to left
2. Warp color bar, in the strip immediately above the
threading draft (default white)
3. Warp thread thickness bar, immediately above
color bar, (small toothed comb pointing up, default 4
units wide)
4. Current cursor position in numbers (end 9, shaft 1)
5. Tieup for 8 shafts and 8 treadles
6. Weft thread thickness bar immediately to the right
of the weft color bar (another comb)
7. Weft color bar to the right of the treadling area
(default bright blue)
8. Treadling draft showing 16 picks, immediately below the tieup
9. Drawdown area, which can be shown with or without a grid.
10. Insertion point, a blinking gray square, marked with tiny red triangles under end 9
and beside shaft 1. This is where keyboard entries will appear.
Threading, treadling, color bars, thread thickness bars, tieup and drawdown are all live
editing areas. The cloth drawdown area can be edited, with some limitations.
You may open as many designs as you like and each can be individually sized, and
contain different designs (or the same ones) views, colors, thicknesses or magnifications.
Each design window can be changed independently of the others. Each design window
consumes working memory and slows your system slightly. Try opening a large number
(50-100) of designs to see how your system is affected. Look at the Help / About
PCW... menu to check the resources in use on your system. Otherwise be conservative,
e.g. don’t open more than 4-12 windows for normal work.

Other parts of Fiberworks window

Scroll Bars on the design window make it easy to move your
viewpoint around when the design is too large to fit in a single
window. You may click on scroll buttons, the small arrows at the
ends of the scroll bars, to move in small steps, click between
scroll buttons and thumbspot to move in jumps, or click and drag
the thumbspot to move quickly and smoothly. The resize handle
exists so you can click on it and drag the window frame larger or
smaller. (Actually, you can click and drag anywhere along the
edge of the frame to change the size of the window).

6 © 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

The Tool Bar or Tool Box

This is normally found on the left of the main window (see p.4).
On small screens, it may run across the top of the window. It can
however be moved around the window. Click in an empty space
on the tool bar and drag it to the top or bottom border of the
medium gray area. The bar jumps into place seamlessly if placed
carefully. If dragged into the middle, the bar becomes a floating
tool bar, which can be dragged and resized to show 2, 3, 4, 5
rows of icons as shown on the right. This may be convenient if
your window is too small to show the entire toolbar. Next time
you open Fiberworks, the Tools Icon Bar will be back in the
default position, on the left or top of the screen.

Help menu
Help Menu has only two items. Help Topics and About.
Help Topics are on-screen tutorials that give short descriptions of the menu items and
common operations. There is an extensive How do I.... ? Section. The on-screen help
gives another angle on many topics, and is handy when you can’t find your manual.
You can also access Help at any time by pressing the F1 key. If a dialog or menu is
open, the help first displayed is usually targetted to that topic.

About PCW...
This dialog shows the name of the program.
The last two digits of the version may differ
as revisions are released.
Our URL: http://www.fiberworks-pcw.com
also appears.
If you have a problem, it would be helpful to
have the version number in this dialog
handy when you contact us.
The Resources box lists free physical
memory (RAM) and the percentage of RAM
in use. With this you can see if you should
be closing other programs before running a
complex print job, or not opening a lot of
different design pages.

7 © 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Mouse Actions

Mouse terms defined

The Cursor is the symbol that moves on the
screen, following movements of your
mouse. The cursor may take different
shapes that indicate its current function,
e.g. a pointer to point and select, a pencil
to draw, scissors for cut and paste etc.
Each cursor has a hotspot which designates where the action will take place on the
screen. Hotspots are invisible, but placed logically, as in the examples above..

Point: Place the active cursor hotspot over the target.

Hover: Set the pointer cursor over an object like a toolbar button and rest it there
for about a second. A text explanation of the item should pop up.
Click: Push and release the left mouse button while pointing at the target. This
is the most common action, and usually has some immediate effect.
Left Click: Most clicks involve the left mouse button unless otherwise stated. Used
to make menu items and toolbar or dialog buttons perform their action.
Double Click: Initiates an alternative action that differs from single left click. Windows
can be set up so that double click is necessary to open files from their
screen or folder icons. The cursor should not move more than a pixel or
two between clicks, and the two clicks must usually be less than half a
second apart, otherwise it registers as two separate single clicks. You can
adjust double click timing in the Windows Control Panel.
Right Click: Push and release the right mouse button while pointing at the target. This
initiates a different alternative action.
Click and drag: Place cursor over the target, push the left mouse button and without
releasing it, move the cursor, so that the point is in the new target area.
This is used for drawing, and for selecting areas.
Drag and drop: Refers to the action of clicking on an object to pick it up, holding the
mouse button down, dragging it elsewhere and releasing the mouse
button at the destination. A selected area can be moved from place to
place this way. Files can be dragged from one folder and dropped in a
different folder. Dropping a file onto a program icon causes the program
to open that file if the file is an appropriate type.
Scrolling: Many mice have a wheel between the left and right mouse button that
allows you to scroll without involving the scroll bars. Scrolling works in
the main design window to scroll up and down but not side to side.

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 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Mouse Action In the Design Window In the Color Palette

Single left click (Left button Makes a black mark in draft Selects main color
on the mouse clicked once.)
Applies main color in warp
or weft color bar
Doubles a thread thickness
Double left click (Left button Makes a white mark in draft Selects alternative color
on the mouse clicked twice or erases black
in close succession.)
Applies alternate color in
warp or weft color bar
Halves a thread thickness
Single right click (Right Calls up context sensitive Calls up Color Modify dialog
button on the mouse, pop up menus for the color chip selected
clicked once.)
Click and drag (Click on Creates drawing rectangle No assigned action
the start of the object, and (red) and selection
without releasing the button, rectangle (blue) in
drag the mouse to the end threading, treadling, tieup,
of the object, and then color bars and thickness
release the button.) bars.
Double right click No assigned action No assigned action

Some people can’t get the hang of a double click, so there are two solutions to this
problem:

Either: use Shift left click which assumes the role of left double click. Hold the Shift key
on the keyboard down as you click the left button Right mouse button action remains
unchanged.

Or: use the Mouse Action, Right click erases setting in File Preferences (p.25).

The Single Left Click behaves as usual. It will make a black mark in the draft, will apply
the main color in the color bar and doubles the thread thickness and will select the main
color in the palette.

The Single Right Click assumes the role of left double click, and will erase an entry in
the draft, apply the alternate color in drafts, select the alternate color from the color
palette and halves the thread thickness.

Shift Right Click assumes the normal role of right click and pops up the menus. Hold the
Shift key on the keyboard down as you click the right button.

This setting of mouse action minimizes the number of times you have to use shift while
clicking the mouse.

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 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Keyboard Actions
Many functions in Fiberworks PCW 4.2 may be controlled by the keyboard, as well as by
mouse. Any part of the design screen is accessible from the keyboard. The insertion
point (described on pages 5 and 6) designates where the keystroke will be applied.

Navigation
The arrow keys move the insertion point around within any one component of a draft,
e.g. Within the threading draft, within the warp color bar, etc
Ctrl + arrow keys jump the insertion point out of one draft and into another. The direction
of the arrow points to the part of the screen that the cursor moves to. For example,
Ctrl+ moves the cursor from threading draft to warp color bar, and then to threading
thickness bar, or from treadling to tieup. Ctrl +  moves from threading to tieup.
Home: Jumps one screen width of draft right if the threading is wider than the window.
End: Jumps one screen width left.
PgUp: Jumps one screen up if the treadling is taller than the window
PgDn: Jumps one screen down
Ctrl + Home: Moves the insertion point to beginning of threading.
Ctrl + End: Moves the insertion point to end of threading.
Ctrl + PgUp: Moves the insertion point to the beginning of the treadling.
Ctrl + PgDn: Moves the insertion point to the end of the treadling draft.

Note: Actions that need a modifying key to be pressed at the same time as another key,
are written as two symbols joined by a + sign. For example Ctrl +  means press the
Ctrl key and  key simultaneously rather than Ctrl key, + key and  key one after the
other. You don’t press the + key at all! Modifying keys are Ctrl (Control), Alt and Shift.

Typing In Drafts
The keyboard can be used to create drafts
by typing in sequences of shaft or treadle
numbers. The keyboard represents shaft
or treadle numbers greater than 9 as
shown on the right. Colors are typed in
using the symbols next to each color in
the palette bar.
If your keyboard has a numeric keypad, you can also use double digit entry: press
scroll-lock to enter this mode, and use the numeric keypad. Every two digits typed
represents a shaft or treadle number, e.g. 01170218 sets shafts 1,17,2,18 into the
threading. You have to type 01-09 for shafts 1-9 to stay consistent with the two digit
mode. The insertion point automatically advances with each shaft or treadle entered.

10 © 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

How To Draw
The most common way to enter drafts into a design is by using the drawing tools.
They are on the Tool Bar and in the Edit menu. Draw Modes include straight draw,
point draw, line draw and freehand draw. When a drawing tool is active, your mouse
cursor appears as a pencil in the drafts. If you see an arrow pointer or other cursor
shape, you are using a tool other than the drawing tool.
To enter threading, treadling or tieup, you may use single clicks of the mouse one square
at a time. This is a good way to fix a design or to enter a new design where you have to
make many small changes, and can be done with any of the four draw tools.
Drawing can be more
efficient by using click
and drag. Select the
draw mode that you
want to use, click at the
start of your drawing
area, and drag out a
rectangle. In drawing
mode, the rectangle will
show a red outline. This
rectangle fills itself with
the designated style.
In the figure above, the
point draw tool is
selected (the Point Draw
toolbar button appears depressed, #1), and the rectangle fills itself with point draw (#2).
The drawing starts in the square where the mouse button was clicked down. The height
of the points is controlled by the height of the rectangle, and the number of ends threaded
by the width of the rectangle. So long as you hold the mouse button down, the rectangle
remains fluid, and can be made taller or shorter, wider or less wide until you get the draft
you want and you can release the button. In the
example, the mouse button was clicked down at
top right, and released at bottom left. The track
of the mouse simply makes a diagonal across
the rectangle (dashed line at right). It is not
necessary to try to trace out the line of the
actual threading.
If you click down at bottom right and track the
mouse out to the top left corner, the points now
face upwards; if the button is released on shaft
4, then the rectangle and the points inside it are
now only four shafts high.

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Experiment by trying each of the draw tools in turn: straight draw (shown below left),
point draw (shown on p.11), line draw and freehand draw, dragging the draw area from
top to bottom, or bottom to top. Make the
rectangles different sizes and start them on
different shafts. Any of the four draw tools can
be used in threading, tieup or treadling. Straight
draw and point draw are generally the most
useful for normal weaving drafts, where
diagonal line are common. Line draw and freehand are
more useful for profile drafts (see p.61).
Even with these simple tools, surprisingly complex
looking drafts can be drawn quickly. On the right is an
example of an overshot draft, which could be drawn as
shown with either the point draw or straight draw tool.
Try it - you’ll like it!
If you make an error, undraw, or erase entries in the
draft by double clicking* on the offending black square.
If you double click and drag out a rectangle, the
contents of the rectangle will blank out. Alternatively,
you can simply draw over the section with the error. In
threading and treadling drafts, the new entry will
replace the old, because each thread is controlled by
only one shaft or one treadle.
The tieup or (liftplan p.56) behave slightly differently,
because a single treadle can be tied to many shafts, so
more than one black square can be placed in each
vertical column. So in the tieup, drawing over an error adds to the error instead of
replacing it. Instead, remember - double click* to erase or draw white over black.
* If you find double clicking awkward, see p.9 for alternatives.
Another easy way to create drafts is to use the keys on the main
keyboard or on the keypad. Make sure the insertion point lies at the
start of your draft (see p.10 for navigation by keyboard), and then
type the sequence 1 3 2 3 1 4 2 4 1 5 1 2 5 .... The insertion point
advances left with each keystroke, so there’s nothing to interrupt the
flow. Great for lace weaves or Summer and Winter! See p. 10 for
how to type numbers greater than 9 with a single keystroke.
The same can be applied to treadling and tieup. In the treadling, the
insertion point advances down. In the tieup, the insertion point does
not advance, since you are allowed to tie more than one shaft to each
treadle. To get the result shown in the tieup example on the left, first
move the insertion point in the leftmost treadle, and then type 1 2 3 5
2 where  represents the right arrow key.

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 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Adding Colors To Your Design

There are three main ways to add colors. Mouse, Keyboard and Menu. Each is suited to
particular tasks. When first beginning to work with colors, zoom in, so that the color bar
is large enough to show each warp end clearly. (Until you get used to it.)

Applying color by mouse

Using the mouse to add color is very simple. Make
sure that one of the draw mode tools is selected.
The cursor should look like a pencil as it moves over
the drafts. “Paint” by clicking the mouse with the
point of pencil cursor positioned in the warp or weft
color bar. Click the left mouse button to apply a color to the warp end at the pencil point.
Click and drag to sweep across several warp ends to paint a band of a single color.
The color that is applied is determined by the two overlapping
colored squares at the top of the color palette. These are the
working colors as far as the mouse is concerned. The upper left
square is the main color (cyan in the example) and shows what will
be applied when you click once into the warp or weft color bar. The
lower right square (magenta in the example) is the alternative color and is what will be
applied if you double click (or use one of the alternatives to double clicking, p.9).

To change the working colors:

A single click on any of the color chips in the
color palette puts that color into the main color
square. Now a single mouse click into warp or
weft color bars will apply the new main color.
Any threads that you colored previously remain
as they were.
A double click on any of the color chips in the
palette puts that color into the alternative color
square. Now double click into the warp or weft
color bar to apply the new alternative color.
In practice, many people find it’s easier to keep
selecting different colors with a single left click than to fuss with double clicks.
The two working colors are made to appear in the palette bar as if they pop
out, like color 3 in the example, whereas the unselected colors appear
recessed. This helps you to identify the currently selected working colors.
See also: Cloth>Modify color on p.44 to see how to obtain a color
that is not in the current color palette.

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 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Why don’t I see colors in the cloth drawdown?

By default, the drawdown displays cloth structure with black warp and white
weft. If you want to see the color in the cloth now, click this toolbar button. See
View / Color View on p.40.

Adding Colors Quickly

For complex color sequences, the keyboard can actually be faster and more efficient than
the mouse.
First, make sure the insertion point (the little blinking gray patch) is positioned where
you want colors to appear. If it is not in the warp or weft color bar, the keyboard will do
something else than apply color. Use the arrow keys as described on p.10 to move the
insertion point.
Next to each color in the color palette, there’s a symbol showing you the keystroke
associated with that color. The left column are all unshifted, and the right column
represents keys with SHIFT applied. Note that CAPS LOCK only works on the
alphabetical keys. The symbol order matches key order on a standard North American
keyboard. See File>Preferences (p.25) for how to adjust for other keyboard layouts.
As you type, the insertion point will advance, leftwards for the warp color bar, or
downwards for the weft color bar. If there’s already a color on a particular thread, a
keystroke will type over it (as will applying color by mouse).
Exercise: To see the difference between the two ways of entering colors.
Desired color order: 1111212122222w2w2wwww3w3w3w3333 3

By Mouse: Left click on color 1 so that it becomes the main color. Double click on color
2 to make it the alternate color. Double click and paint the first 17 threads a
solid area of color 2. Go back and add the main color 1 with single clicks
where needed.
Then click on color w to make a new alternate color and 3 for the new main
color. Double click and fill the next 19 threads with color w. Go back and
add the main color 3 with single click where needed.
Keyboard: Now compare to keyboard entry. Type 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 w 2 w 2 w
w w w 3 w 3 w 3 w 3 3 3 3 3 into the color bar. Both ways give you the
same complex color order, but the keyboard is much easier and faster in
this case.
Adding a simple color order
The Warp > Colors or Treadling > Colors menu items (p.46-47) apply one or two colors in
four of the most common used color sequences. This is quick and easy to use. Although
not as versatile as the mouse and keyboard entry it is most useful for color and weave or
double weave work.

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The File Menu

The File menu controls opening, saving and printing
drawdown files. In addition, Preferences controls various
aspects of how the program works for you. The File
menu can be accessed by keyboard Alt + F or by
clicking the mouse on the main menubar.
New Drawdown
keyboard: Ctrl + N toolbar
Opens a new blank drawdown with the default settings
as determined by your Preferences. When designs are
created with New, they get a temporary title Pcw1, Pcw2,
etc, which becomes the filename unless you do
something about it. Change filenames with Save As.
Open Drawdown
keyboard: Ctrl + O toolbar
Opens a drawdown from an existing file. For details, see
How to Open Files, on p.16.
New Sketchpad
keyboard: Ctrl + K toolbar*
Opens a new blank sketchpad grid. When designs are created with New, they get a
temporary title Sketchpad1, Sketchpad2, etc, which becomes the filename unless you do
something about it. Change filenames with Save As.
Open Sketchpad
keyboard: Ctrl + J toolbar*
Opens a sketchpad from an existing file. The sketchpad uses standard Windows bitmap
file format, .bmp. The toolbar icon is active only when a sketchpad is the active window.
If a drawdown window is open, use the menu or keyboard to open a sketchpad.
Close
Closes the currently active drawdown window, the topmost if you have a stack of
windows open (not the whole Fiberworks program). If you try to close a design that has
not been saved since the last modification,
you will be prompted to Save As.

Save keyboard: Ctrl + S toolbar

Save As For details on Save and Save As, see How to Save on p.17.

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Preview and Print keyboard Ctrl + P toolbar

Print Direct, Print Setup For details, see How to Print on p.19.
Preferences Setup Fiberworks to suit your needs, see Your Preferences on p.25
Weave In Fiberworks Silver Plus, this gives access to the Weaving window to
operate computer assisted looms. In regular Silver, it is just a reminder that you can
upgrade if you need to.
Recent files 1 2 3 4 This lists files that you have recently saved and closed, and gives
you one-click access to reopen them. To change the
number of recent files that are shown in the File Menu,
see Your Preferences.
Exit Closes all designs and the program, with a prompt
for each unsaved designs. You may click on Yes, which
gives you the Save As dialog; No, which shuts down the
program without saving; or Cancel, just in case you
changed your mind.

How to Open Files

File Open: keyboard shortcut Ctrl + O toolbar button
To open a design that is stored on
your hard drive, external drive or USB
memory stick, choose the menu item
File / Open. A dialog comes up that
has several elements. At the top is
the Look In text box that allows you to
set the location where you expect to
find your file. Click in the small down
pointing arrow on the right of the box
to choose the drive and folder where
the designs are saved.
The large white area below the Look
in: area contains a list of the designs
of the chosen File type; currently, this
is set to PCW 4 Files (*.dtx). There are
more than three files in total, so the
scroll bar on the right allows you to
scroll through the list to see other files.
The icon near the top right allows you to choose other ways of displaying files, so
that more files can be shown at one time.

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You can also open files directly from a open folder. Either drag the file icon and drop it
an open Fiberworks window or on the Fiberworks program icon on the desktop, or double
click* a .dtx file icon. This only works with .wif files if you have designated Fiberworks as
the program that opens them.
*Your copy of Windows could be set up in one of two ways which differ in how you open
programs from desktop icons or files from a folder. Use the method that you are familiar
with on your computer.
Either: rest the mouse cursor on a file to select it, and click to open.
Or: click on a file to select it and click the open button to open it.

Fiberworks can interpret three file types in Open Drawdown:

dtx is the Fiberworks version 4 filetype, only used by Fiberworks
wif is the weaving interchange format used by a variety of weaving programs.
des is the Fiberworks version 3 filetype, used by earlier versions of Fiberworks.

To open a different type of

file, click on the down pointing
arrow to the right of Files of
Type. A drop down box
appears with 3 choices.
Choose the filetype you want.
Open Sketchpad allows you to open Windows Bitmap files, file type bmp. However, the
color content is reduced to no more than 82 colors when these files are opened in
Fiberworks. There is also a limit for sketchpad size of 1,000,000 pixels.

How to Save Files

Save: Fiberworks PCW4 is able to save dtx or wif files from a drawdown window, and
bmp bitmap files from a sketchpad window.
There are also two ways to save in the File menu, Save or Save As.

Save: keyboard: Ctrl + S Toolbar

Use Save after you open an existing file, make changes but do not wish to change the
file’s name or location. This will overwrite the existing file, replacing its contents with
whatever is on your drawdown screen at the time you save.
Save As: keyboard Ctrl+Shift+S
Use Save As when you want to save a design with a new name to preserve the original,
or put it into a different location, or if you want to save it as a different file format.

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File/Save As allows you to

specify the location of the
new file in the Save in: box
just below the title bar. Click
on the small down pointing
arrow on the right of the
box. A list of drive and
folder locations will drop
down (see lower figure).
Some folders may be closed
up: these can be expanded
as needed to reveal more
folders contained within.
Folders are explained in
more detail on p.83.
Choose the drive and folder
where the design should be
saved. The folder will then appear in the Save in:
text box. The large window will show all files of the
chosen type in the chosen location.
See also More on Folders, (p.83).
If you are saving a drawdown, look at the bottom of
the dialog to see the Save As type: The default file
type is PCW4 files (*.dtx), which is the standard
PCW4 file format. If you want to save in the other
available format, WIF file, click in the small down
pointing arrow on the right of the Save as type: box
to choose WIF Files (*.wif).
Note: You cannot save your files as DES
files

If you are saving a sketchpad image, the only filetype available is Windows bitmap
.bmp. Files are saved as a single pixel for each grid square. The sketchpad grid is not
saved in the file.
For bitmaps that originally contained more than 82 colors when first opened, ‘x1’ is
automatically appended to the filename. This ensures that you won’t overwrite the
original full-color version of the file when you save it.

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How to Print
There are two methods to print your designs. Preview and Print allows the selection of
size and placement on the page, and the number of pages to be printed. Print Direct fits
the contents of the active design onto one page with no adjustments, quick but inflexible.

Print Setup
Go to File > Print Setup to select
paper size and orientation before
going to Preview and Print.
Print Setup dialog has three areas.
Printer allows you to choose a
printer and its Properties.
Properties lets you adjust such
functions as contrast, brightness,
color rendering, resolution and print
quality. Exact details vary according
to the model of printer you have.
Paper lets you choose paper size and where the paper comes from.
Orientation allows you to choose between Portrait and Landscape.

Preview and Print

Keyboard short cut Ctrl+P Toolbar button
If you want to control print size or placement on the page, you should use Preview and
Print, which gives you What you see is what you get control. The Page Setup dialog
appear alongside the preview, and has a variety of settings. These settings will change
the preview as you make adjustments, so you know what to expect when you print.

Preview Window
Some
drawdowns
may require
many pages to print out. The Preview Window has a toolbar that allows you to review all
your printed pages. Next Page, Previous Page and Two Pages lets you scan through the
various pages that will be printed and see how they will look like with the current settings.
Zoom In and Zoom Out let you view the pages at different magnifications. These don’t
change the size of the design on the page, but allow you to view the page at different
magnifications. Close returns you to the active design window without printing.

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Page Setup dialog

The Page setup dialog accompanies the
Print Preview window and works with it,
allowing you to set up the appearance of the
weaving draft or its components on the page
by adjusting size and the placement.
At the top, is a drop-down box which lets
you choose what components will be
include in the printout. Next, you can place
the design title at head, at foot or omit it.
A set of check buttons give you additional options:
On-screen view only prints only the portion of the drawdown
that was visible in the drawdown window. If you choose this
option, resize the drawdown window to show only the part you
want to print before going to Preview and Print. Leave this
option unchecked if you want to print your entire design,
including parts that extended beyond the visible screen area.
Numeric makes threading, treadling and tieup print with
numbers rather than plain black squares (unless the scale is
minuscule).
You can include or omit the warp and weft Color bars, include or omit weaving records
(Notes, Color Use and Heddle counts; see Cloth>Notes and records, p.45).
Set scale allows you to choose among Fit Page, Fit Width or Fit Height,
which preset magnification to make the image fit, or you can set an exact
number of ends per inch.
Four controls allow you to set each of the margins.
At the bottom is the tally of number of pages needed for the printout. Beware of setting
too low a number of ends per inch, making the printout spread over many pages. A 600
end warp at 12 epi extends over 50 inches, and covers many pages. The page counters
change background color to alert you to the amount of paper and ink you may be using!
Lastly there’s a button that limits a multipage printout to Page 1 only. This simply stops
printing after page 1, unlike Fit to Page which changes ends per inch to make it all fit.
The Preview only shows an approximation of your page. It will show the layout of the
page, as well as colors and format. However, the screen resolution is only 96 pixels per
inch, whereas printers may have 300 or more pixels per inch, sometimes a lot more. The
result is the actual printout can render much finer detail than the screen. Don’t get unduly
concerned if your drafts appear very ragged, with lines missing here and there in the
grids. Use Zoom In to get a better idea of the image, but even so Windows does not
provide enough zoom to really see how the printer will handle the fine detail.

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Print Direct keyboard short cut Ctrl+Shift + P

The entire contents of your current drawdown window will be printed, with no
adjustments. Margins will be 1”, and the magnification will be set to make everything fit if
at all possible. If your design has 2000 ends and picks, Print Direct will print the entire
design on one page at 300 ends per inch, which could be pushing the limits of what your
printer can reproduce. To get the printed result you want with all the adjustments, you
should use Preview and Print.

Printing
The print dialog will appear after
you choose Print Direct from the
File menu, or click the Print
button from the Preview and
Print toolbar.
The Printer selection allows you
to choose which printer to use,
and control whatever special
properties it offers such as print
quality. This is similar to what is
found in the Print Setup dialog.

Print Range allows you to limit

the number of pages printed, or to select a subset of pages to print. Lastly you can set
the number of copies.

When you click OK, the actual printing will start, maybe with a bit of a delay as Windows
gathers up its resources. Printing is a memory-intensive job, and other activities may slow
up for a minute or two.

A really bad idea

It’s a really bad idea to change the paper size and orientation after doing preview and
print, because all the formatting is calculated on the page size and shape that was
selected before the preview. Although there are no options to make these changes in
the Print Dialog itself, some Printer Properties dialogs allow you to make these changes.
It may work, but the result is best described as unpredictable, and after all, it’s your
paper and your ink that will be used up.

If you change your mind about paper size or orientation during the preview, close the
preview, go to Printer Setup in the File menu, change the paper size and orientation,
and return to Preview and Print.

Fiberworks will accept no liability for excessive paper or ink use!

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Printing Problem: Areas of empty space in the final print

When using Include Screen View Only there may be areas of “unwoven” warp or weft.
These may be empty areas or areas of color below and to the left of the design when in
Print Preview. These areas may print when Include screen view only is chosen.
Solution: Resize the window to exclude unwoven areas, or print the whole
design, whichever is more suitable.

Printing Problem: Screen colors don’t match printer colors

Print a yourself a chart of reference colors, by making a design with blocks of colored
threads. Change the colors to see which ones render well on your printer.
Printer inks are not the same as screen colors. Pigment on paper differs from phosphor
glowing on the screen, just as crayons are different from watercolors. The gamut, or
range of colors that a printer can reproduce is often inferior to the screen. Red on the
screen may be vastly different than the red from your printer. You can make small
adjustments to the screen to better reflect some of the printer colors but then the blue
may be off. So you may have to just live with the differences, by designing specifically for
the screen or for the printed page.
The expensive and time consuming solution: Software is available to adjust
the color balance of your screen to match the printer. Essentially this means
reducing the gamut of your screen to have the same limitations as your printer.

Tips and tricks: How to make graph paper

Printing a threading and treadling draft with plain graph paper instead of cloth, can be
done in a fast easy way. First open the design, click on the grid tool, click on the Color
view tool. Go to Warp / Color Fill and set all warp ends to white and the Treadling / Color
Fill and set all the weft picks to white. The design screen should now show a draft with
threading, treadling and tieup, and an empty grid in the place of the cloth. The design
really is there, but it shows white warp and white weft.
Go to Preview and Print, and in the Page Setup dialog select Full Drawdown and Set
scale and adjust ends per inch as desired. Click on Print.
This will print the threading, tieup and treadling drafts, but leave the cloth drawdown as
an empty grid. Use this for your students if you are teaching drafting.
To make plain graph paper, repeat the above set of directions but set Cloth only instead
of Full Drawdown in the Page Setup Dialog.
Go to Preview and Print, select Screen view only, and adjust Set scale. Then go to Print
Options and ask for Cloth only. Click on Print and away you go.

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Summary of Printing

Printing from Preview and Print

1. Make your screen show the cloth drawdown the way you want it to print, e.g. Warp
drawdown, interlacement, Rep or whatever. If you plan to use Screen view only,
set magnification and resize your drawdown window frame to include exactly the
area you want printed.
2. Select File / Print Setup (optional, these settings usually do not need to be changed)
a. Select printer, resolution, color mode
b. Select paper size
c. Select orientation, portrait or landscape
Click OK
3. Select File / Preview and Print
a. Format the design with the Page Setup dialog
b. Click on Print in the preview window
4. This opens the Print dialog
a. Select which pages to print
b. Select number of copies
c. If more than one copy, select collation style
Either print pages 1,2,3 etc in order, then 1,2,3 etc again
Or x copies of page 1, x copies of page 2, x copies of page 3 etc
(Quicker printing, but you have to sort the pages.)
Click OK to print now.
You may change the printer in step 4. If you select Properties at step 4 and change the
paper size or orientation, formatting will not be what you expected. We suggest you do
not do this in step 4, but at step 1.

Printing order of multiple pages

For two pages across and two pages down, page 1 will
contain the tieup. The diagram on the left represents the
order that the pages are printed.
For more details go to Preview and Print. (p.19)

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Printing with Print Direct

1. Select File / Print Setup (Optional)
a. Select printer, resolution, color mode
b. Select paper size
c. Select orientation
Click OK
2. Select File / Print Direct
(the design will fit to page, with 1” margins and there will only be one page)
3. This opens the Print dialog
a. Only All will be available, i.e. one page.
b. Select number of copies
Exercise: Explore the Print Functions.
Either create a design of about 60 to 100 ends and picks, or pick something from the
Samples folder to test the different printing options. This will give you a good idea of what
Fiberworks and your printer are capable of.
Use Preview and Print, change the Page Setup settings. Try several variations of Set to
Scale, Fit to Page, Fit Width and Fit Height. You don’t have to print all of them, just see
what the effect is in the preview window. Try various margin settings.
Resize the active design window. See what happens when Screen View only is selected
a) when the design is too large to fit the drawdown window (use a high magnification
number) or b) smaller than the drawdown window (use a low magnification number).
Check the Preview screen, and try various different options.
Change from structure to color in the drawdown window. Try color with and without the
grid. Try it with interlacement view. Choose back of cloth. Make thick and thin threads.
Print the various views and print options and compare.
Try Print Direct with the same design. Save it and then make your design larger by
repeating the threading 2 times. Print Direct again. Now make the treadling 3 times
larger than it was and Print Direct yet again. See the differences! Try a really really large
design and Print Direct.
Using your best results, change the properties of your printer, by changing resolution or
print quality, dithering or color pattern (if available), change contrast or brightness if your
printer can control this. (Note the original setting so you can change them back.)
Compare everything carefully. Write settings on each print and file for future use. Use
the Cloth>Notes and Records to do this.

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Your Preferences
To make Fiberworks function the way your want, go to the File menu and open
Preferences. The preferences dialog has three tabbed pages:

New Design Settings

On this page, you can set
standard characteristics for new
drawdown frames which are
created whenever you go to
File>New. These settings do
not affect drawdowns already
on the screen.
(1) Set your preferred initial
number of shafts and treadles.
If you sometimes need different
numbers, you can change
settings for individual designs
from the Shafts and Treadles
item in the Tieup menu.
(2) Indicate the loom action
you want. Use Sinking shed for counterbalance looms. Choose Liftplan for dobby
looms or table looms. If you typically treadle with both feet and use skeleton tieups a lot,
select multipedal. If you select it, the disadvantage of multipedal is that drawing over an
existing treadling with the mouse will add to rather than replacing any existing drawing,
and the insertion point won’t advance automatically if you use the keyboard.
(3) Select how the cloth drawdown is to display in color. Interlacement is probably the
most generally useful unless you specialize in something like rep or double weave.
(4) Select one of the standard color palettes.
(5) Select special display characteristics. See the Edit menu for what Unlink implies.
Weft drawdown: if selected, structure view shows weft over warp; if not selected, warp
over weft is shown.
Start up in color: if selected, the initial display of the cloth drawdown is a color view, if
not selected, a structure view is used.
Grid in cloth: If selected, a square grid is superimposed onto the cloth drawdown.
Threading, tieup and treadling are always drawn on a grid.
(6) Select the initial magnification. Magnification 8 is average, but go up to 10 or 12 if
eyesight is an issue , or down to 6 to fit more drawdown on a tiny screen.

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Initial Print Settings

Switch pages in Preferences by
clicking the tabs across the top of each
page. Click on the middle tab to view
the Initial Print Settings.
Settings you make here will determine
how the Page Setup Dialog (p.20) will
start up when you do Preview and
Print. Refer to the options in the Page
Setup dialog.

Miscellaneous Settings
Click on the tab for the Misc.
Settings page.
The first option adjusts the response
to certain keystrokes so that
keyboards with foreign key layouts
will adhere to the layout of shaft and
treadle numbers used by Fiberworks
(p.10). Users of North American or
UK keyboards do not need to change
this setting.

Number of Recent Files refers to the

list of recently used files that appears
at the bottom of the file menu (p.15).
Having a file listed here gives you the
convenience of being able to reopen a
file on one click. By all means increase the default number if it does not make your file
menu too long and unwieldy. If the box at the right is checkmarked,, the file you closed
last will automatically reopen when you next start Fiberworks. This is a convenience if
you are working on a project, or weaving a given design over several days.
Mouse action lets you choose between the standard way of using the mouse in
Windows, (Left double click erases), or the alternative, Right click erases, which
minimizes the use of double clicks. Refer to p. 9 for details.

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Edit Menu
Many of these items are also represented as
buttons on the toolbar.
Undo keyboard: Ctrl+Z toolbar:
You can Undo the last actions taken in the design to
go back and correct a mistake, up to 31 steps
back.
Cut keyboard Ctrl+X toolbar:
Copy keyboard Ctrl+C toolbar:
Paste keyboard Ctrl+V toolbar:
Transparent Mode
These items are described in more detail on p.30.

Interleave Paste
Described in more detail on p.34
Paste As Overlay
Described in more detail on p.35
Transform described in detail on p.36

Drawing mode submenu

Allows you to select one of the four drawing tools. Since
these are mouse related tools, it makes more sense to
select them by clicking their toolbar buttons.

Straight Draw toolbar:

Creates straight draw (in the weaving sense), so
shafts or treadles progress in simple diagonals. Use the
mouse to control the height of the rectangle outline,
dragging the mouse to the opposite corner. You don’t
have to trace the individual steps of the
threading.
Point Draw toolbar:
Creates point draw (in the weaving sense), so shafts or
treadles progress in alternating diagonals.

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Drawing mode submenu continued:

Line Draw toolbar:

Draws a stepped line along the diagonal of the rectangle
from where you clicked down to the current cursor location.
This style can be used for profile drafts.

Freehand toolbar:
Draws directly into the threading or treadling draft. Unlike the
previous modes, in this mode you have to track the mouse
exactly on the line you want to draw. This style is used
mostly for profiles.

1:3 Network toolbar

Draws onto a network based on a 1:3 twill initial. The mouse
should follow the overall shape of the line you are drawing, as
for freehand mode. The actual threading appears on the next
higher network line above the line you trace with the mouse.
See p.51 for more information about network drafting. Network
lines are shown in pale gray in the illustration, but they do not appear on the screen.
This is one mode where you would not want to click one square at a time, since drawing
does not take place exactly on the mouse hotspot.

Select keyboard CTRL+R toolbar

This tool allows you to select a rectangular area in threading, warp color
bar, treadling, weft color bar or tieup. The selection rectangle is
outlined in blue to distinguish it from a red drawing rectangle. Click
down in one corner and drag out until the rectangle covers the desired area.
The contents of the selection rectangle can then be used in Cut, Copy or
Transform operations. Cut, Copy and Transform are inactive (grayed out in menus and
toolbar) if no selection has been made. These topics are described in more detail on p.30
and 36.
To use the Select tool, click the toolbar button. The cursor will become a pointer
instead of a pencil to indicate that the mouse is selecting rather than drawing. While the
cursor is a pointer inside the drawdown frame, you can’t draw, apply color or change
thread thickness with the mouse. When you have completed whatever task required the
selection tool, click a drawing tool when you need to draw again.
Note: The cursor is always a pointer in toolbars, dialogs and menus, even
when a drawing tool is selected.

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Select All keyboard Ctrl+A

This brings up the dialog on the right, allowing
you to select All of the threading, All the warp
colors, All of the treadling in one operation
without drawing rectangles. It is also the only
way to copy multiple components of the design
in one operation, e.g. Threading and Warp
Color and Warp Thickness. (Selection
rectangles can only be drawn in a single area, and can’t span both threading and warp
colors). It is the only way the Color palette of one design can be copied easily.
Selections made this way can then be pasted into another design (see p.31).

Pickup color toolbar

This tool is used to re-select a color that’s already present
in warp or weft color bars. When the tool is active, the
cursor becomes an eyedropper
Position the eyedropper on the warp or weft color you want
to reselect, click, and that color becomes the main working
color; double-click to reselect the alternative color. Use
when the palette contains several similar colors, and you
can’t remember which was used previously.
After you have clicked a color, the drawing tool previously
used is restored. You must click the pickup color tool again
if you need to select another color.

Copy Image keyboard CTRL+M

This copies the entire graphic image within the drawdown window frame, which can then
be pasted as a graphic into programs such as Photoshop®, Microsoft® WordTM, Paint
Shop Pro or Windows Paint. Adjust the size of your window frame and set magnification
to include just what you want in the Fiberworks window beforehand.
You can use Windows Paint to clean up or remove details you don’t want to include, and
to save the image as a bmp bitmap (use the 24-bit version), tiff file, or png file. 256 color
bmp and gif are not recommended because they may degrade the color. Jpg is not
recommended because it introduces artefacts. You can find Windows Paint in your
Windows Start Menu: go to Start Menu > All Programs > Accessories > Paint.
Be cautious about resizing the image after it is pasted, because not all programs handle
resizing well. Resizing at screen resolution may result in a degraded image. To check,
zoom to a high magnification in the destination program, e.g. 400%, and see if the image
improves.

Insert, Delete threads, Unlink are described in more detail on p. 37.

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Select, Cut, Copy and Paste

Many weaving drafts contain repeating features, and Copy and
Paste are highly suitable tools to speed up drafting.
The process can be summarized:
1) Select a feature to be copied: the select tool does this by
outlining the feature in blue. The feature may be a block of
threading, treadling or tieup, or a color sequence or a sequence of
thread thicknesses.
2) Cut or Copy; click Cut if you want to move the selected
feature - the original block is emptied. Click Copy if you want
to reproduce the feature - the original block remains in place.
3) Click Paste. This places a copy of the selected feature at
the insertion point. In the threading, the insertion point marks the
bottom right corner of where the pasted block will appear. In the
treadling, it marks the top left corner.
4) Click Paste again (as many times as desired). The insertion
point automatically advances leftwards in the threading or
downwards in the treadling.
When you Cut or Copy a block, or color sequence, or sequence of
thread thicknesses, the information is transferred to an internal
location known as the clipboard. When you Paste, this information
is reproduced in your draft at the insertion point.
 If no selection exists (no blue rectangle in the draft), you can’t cut or copy, so
the Cut and Copy toolbar buttons and menu items are inactive and shown in
gray (grayed out).
 If there’s nothing in the clipboard, then the Paste button and menu item are
inactive and grayed out.
 If the insertion point lies in an area that can’t accept the pasted block,
then the Paste button and menu item are inactive and grayed out. For
example if a color sequence is copied from the warp color bar, and the
insertion point lies in the threading draft, you can’t paste the colors there, so
the Paste button and menu item are grayed out.
 You can copy from the threading and paste into a treadling or vice versa.
 You can copy from the threading or treadling and paste into a tieup. You
can copy from the tieup and paste into the threading, however only the lowest
shaft in each vertical column will be recorded.
 You can copy a block from one drawdown window and paste to another.

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When you cut or copy, what goes into the clipboard is the underlying weaving
information, not the graphic image. Since programs like Photoshop®, Microsoft®
WordTM, or Windows Paint don’t understand the weaving information, they can’t
reproduce it and their Paste won’t work from a Fiberworks Copy. Use Copy Image
(p.28) to copy the entire graphic image from the drawdown window.
If you don’t want the entire drawdown image, paste into Photoshop or Windows Paint
first, and then copy just the part you want. Windows Paint is present on all Windows
computers: go to Start Menu > Programs > Accessories > Paint.

Transparent Mode toolbar:

Transparent mode determines how Paste behaves in
tieup and liftplan drafts (Liftplan: see p.56).
Unlike Cut, Copy or Paste, which bring about an
immediate action, Transparent mode is a toggle that
controls subsequent Paste actions. When transparent
mode is off, pasting into the tieup or liftplan applies
both the black and the white components of the
pasted block, covering any black originally in place.
When you click Transparent mode on, the button takes on a pushed in appearance,
and stays that way until you click it again. If you paste into tieup or liftplan with
transparent mode on, then only the black is applied, and the black portions of what you
pasted over show through the white parts, so white is transparent.

Orientation of the pasted block

Threading, tieup and treadling each have an orientation set by the
directions that shaft, treadle end and pick numbers progress. For
example, threading progresses from right to left, shafts progress
from bottom to top, treadles from left to right, and picks from top to
bottom.
Since cut and paste copies weaving information, not the graphic
image, a motif will reorient when you paste from threading to tieup
(left-for-right flip) or from threading to treadling (flip and 90o turn).

Paste after Select All

Select All allows you to select an entire threading, treadling, etc in
one operation without using the Select and Copy toolbar buttons.
Use the toolbar Paste button to paste, but be aware that, after Select All, Paste
becomes Paste All. The Select All threading replaces the entire threading. If the
threading you pasted into started with 1000 ends and the threading that was copied by
Select All only has 10 ends, you will end up with just the 10 ends.

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Select, Drag and Drop

Drag and drop can be regarded as a short cut version of cut, copy
and paste. Start by clicking on the Select tool and drawing a
selection rectangle around your chosen block. Click down again
inside the blue rectangle: the cursor will change into scissors
while you continue to hold down the mouse button. This signifies
cutting action.
Continue to hold down the mouse button and drag to a new
location. The blue rectangle and its contents will move with the
mouse cursor, leaving a blank area behind. This represents a
move operation.
When the block is in the desired position, release the mouse
button. The is the drop step of drag and drop. You can repeat this
to move once more if you change your mind. A move can be done
so long as the blue rectangle surrounds your block.
Tip: After you paste with the Paste toolbar button as described
on p.30, the pasted block remains inside a blue
rectangle. If the pasted block has landed in the wrong
position, simply click inside the blue rectangle and
move the block to where you really wanted it.
If the blue rectangle has disappeared, use the select tool and
redraw it. Now hold down the Ctrl key with the left hand as
you pass the mouse cursor over the selected block. The cursor
should change into the copy cursor:
Still holding the Ctrl key down, click down inside the blue
rectangle and drag it to a new location. The contents of the
rectangle remain in place, while the mouse drags a new copy
of it to another location. This represents a copy operation.
Release the mouse button when the block is in the desired
position. Drag and drop while holding down the control key
again, and again and again ... Each time you release the
mouse button, you leave behind a copy of the original block in
a new location. This is ideal for drafts which are not easily
drawn with the automated mouse drawing tools, like Summer and Winter.
Select, drag and drop is also useful for
repeating color sequences. Outline a block of
color in the color bar, hold down the Ctrl key,
click, drag, release - click, drag, release - and
so on.

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A last word on selection rectangles

When the Select tool is active, the toolbar button appears pushed-in and the
cursor appears as a pointer. In this state, the mouse is used to select areas
outlined in a blue rectangle, rather than for drawing which normally uses a red rectangle
outline. The red drawing rectangle disappears when you release the mouse button, but
the blue selection rectangle stays in place. This allows subsequent actions to make use
of the selected block, for example cut and copy or drag and drop.
 Pass cursor over the selected block without clicking - cursor becomes scissors.
 Hold Ctrl key and pass the cursor over the selected block - copy
cursor appears.
 Click mouse outside selected block - the original blue rectangle
disappears and the square that was clicked is now outlined in blue.
The insertion point moves to the square that was clicked. If you
hold the mouse button down and drag rather than releasing
immediately, you draw a new selection rectangle. The first point
clicked is the anchor point and always forms one corner of the
rectangle. The point where you release the mouse becomes the
diagonally opposite corner.
 Hold Ctrl key down and click outside an existing selected block.
The rectangle expands to include the spot you clicked. This is
useful if you want to select a large area, and have to scroll the
window contents to see the other end of the block.
 Click mouse down inside a selected block and drag. This begins a
drag move operation. The block moves leaving an empty space.
 Hold Ctrl key, click mouse down inside a selected block. This
begins a drag copy operation. The original block remains behind
and a copy is dragged away.

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Interleave Paste
To interleave means to combine two threadings and create
a new threading by taking threads alternately from each
source. If we define these as threading A (colored red for
illustration purposes) and Threading B, the new threading
takes odd threads from B and even threads from A.
The process is as follows:
1) Select and copy threading A
2) Go to threading B and select Edit > Interleave Paste.

This brings up the Interleave dialog which offers

the following controls:
The A / B ratio can be varied :so that
different numbers of threads from A or B
can be interleaved.
If the length of the two threading are not
equal, the shorter threading can be
repeated to match the longer.

Placement determines how A and

B are assigned to shafts:
 If A overlaps B, A and B share
the same shafts.
 A can be placed above or
below B
 A and B can interpolate, so A is place on odd
shafts and B on even shafts or vice versa.
The threading sequence can start on B if the box is
checked, otherwise it starts on A.
The slider allows you to adjust the exact position of
the A threading sequence relative to the B threading.
Treadlings, including liftplans, can be interleaved in the
same manner as threadings.
Color sequences can also be interleaved: copy the A warp colors and paste into B. For
color-only interleaving, the Placement control has no effect.

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Paste As Overlay
Paste as overlay is a set of special paste modes
for combining two liftplans.
1) Select and Copy liftplan A.
2) Go to liftplan B and select
Edit > Paste as Overlay. This
brings up the Overlay dialog.
The overlay mode governs
how the two liftplans combine:
Black dominant adds the black components together,
allowing them to cover white. This is essentially the
same normal paste with transparent mode (p.33).
White dominant allows white squares to cover black
squares. If you draw a shape in liftplan A, and paste
onto a pattern in liftplan B, you get a cutout of the
pattern matching the black component of the shape.
Inverting shows black if one of A or B is black, but
shows white if both A and B are black or both A and B
are white (the black regions of A invert the color of B).
Cutout region A from B eliminates the black portion of
shape A from pattern B, so you get a cutout of the pattern
matching the white component of the shape. This is the
opposite of what White dominant does.
Cutout region B from A eliminates the black portion of
shape B from pattern A. Use this for cutouts if A is your
pattern and B your shape.
If you use the same shape (1), a cutout prepared by cutout
region (2) is complementary to a cutout prepared by the
white dominant method (3). This allows you to combine
two different weave structures in a predetermined shape
(4), a feature used in network drafting (p.51).

A:B side by side places the two liftplans in

parallel tracks side by side, which increases
the number of shafts needed. (B:A side by side
places B on the left and A on the right).

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Transform
Transform manipulates the contents of a blue selection rectangle. The
menu item is unavailable and grayed out if no selection rectangle exists.
Different dialogs appear, depending on where the selection rectangle is
located.
In threading and treadling, you can Reverse, Rotate by 180o and Invert.

Shift and Cycle move the block, Up, down (Dn) left (L) or right (R) as
selected in the lower part of the dialog. Shift moves the entire block
through the draft in the direction that has been selected. In the Shift Left example, each
click on the shift button moves the thread on the left outside the block to the opposite
side of the block. The result is that the block “walks” left.

Cycle moves the internal contents of the block. Cycle left moves the leftmost thread
inside the block to the opposite side, so the contents of the block shift within the block.
Cycle up moves the topmost shaft inside the block down to the bottom.

Selected blocks in color bars allow you to Reverse, Shift and Cycle Left and Right.

Shift or Cycle up can give unexpected and interesting effects!!

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Transform in the Tieup

More transformations are possible in the tieup, because the
tieup can have multiple shafts per treadle, whereas threadings
only have one shaft per warp end. The added degree of
freedom allows for 90o Turns Left or Right, and for Change
Face, which exchanges black for white in the selected block.
These transformations can also apply to a liftplan (p.56).

Insert, Delete threads, Unlink

Found a mistake in a draft? It’s easy to correct if the number of threads stays the same -
just draw over or type over the offending section. Otherwise, Insert allows you to add
extra threads in the middle of a draft, and Delete threads allows you to remove
unwanted threads from the middle of a draft.
Insert keyboard: Insert toolbar:

Delete threads keyboard: Delete toolbar:

Read the toolbar buttons as push threads apart
to make a gap for Insert, or pull threads out and
close up the gap for Delete.
First move the insertion point* onto the thread
you want to remove or where you want the extra
thread to appear. The insertion point is usually
wherever you last clicked or released the mouse
button. Each click of the toolbar button or each
keystroke either adds one empty thread (Insert
key or button) or removes one unwanted
thread (Delete key or button).
Note: Each insert keystroke adds one empty thread. The insert key does not work like a
text program where it toggles between Insert and Typeover modes.
* To locate the insertion point by mouse, click on the intended thread, on an existing
black square if a drawing tool is active, or anywhere if the Select tool is active, or see
p.10 for how to move the insertion point by keyboard.

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If you have to insert or delete two or three

threads, click the button or type the key two or
three times. (There is always Undo, p.27, if you
go too far!) If you have to insert or delete a large
number of threads, there’s a better way.
Outline a block with the Select tool that encloses
the number of threads you want to insert or
delete. Click the Insert button or type the Insert
key to fill the outlined block with empty threads,
and push existing threads over off to the left.
Click the Delete button or type the Delete key to
delete the outlined block and close the gap.
In the treadling, Insert pushes threads below the
insertion downwards, and Delete works by moving
threads below the deletion up to fill the gap.
In the tieup, Insert adds a new treadle, and pushes the
remaining tieup rightwards. Delete removes a treadle,
and the remaining treadles move left to fill the gap.
The backspace key can also be used: in the tieup it
has the same effect as left arrow key followed by
delete, so it deletes the treadle left of the insertion
point. In the threading, backspace moves right one
step, then deletes. In each case the move is one step back in the draft sequence, then
delete, where back means towards warp end 1 at the right end of the threading, towards
treadle 1 at the left end of the tieup or towards weft pick 1 at the top of the treadling.
There is no mouse equivalent of backspace. Backspace is most often used when you
are typing in a sequence and hit a wrong key. Then backspace takes you back to delete
the key that you have just mis-typed.
Other useful editing keys include the + key and the – key. + marks black in threading,
treadling and tieup at the current insertion point, just as if you clicked the mouse on the
insertion point. You don’t need to press the shift key for +, because Fiberworks interprets
= as equivalent to the + key.
The – key (minus key) marks white or erases black at the current insertion point without
closing the gap. The + and – keys are particularly useful in the tieup. The insertion
point advances up one shaft at each keystroke, and after the topmost shaft, it moves
back to shaft 1 on the next treadle.
The + and – keys are the only keys that respond when the insertion point lies in the
cloth drawdown. If Warp Drawdown is selected, + sets the warp thread on top at that
point, and – sets weft on top at that point. The opposite happens weft drawdown is
selected. The insertion point does not move automatically in the cloth drawdown, and
you need to use cursor arrow keys to move it.

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Unlink toolbar:
Inactive active
A warp thread, is represented by three components, shaft number
threaded, color, and thickness. Normally (unlink inactive) the warp
thread is treated as a unit, so if you insert or delete in the threading
draft, the corresponding warp color and warp thickness are inserted
or deleted at the same time as the shaft number. In the example,
the fat mauve thread is on shaft 5, and contains the insertion point
in the draft. With unlink inactive, Insert adds a new thread, normal
width, white, shaft number blank, and the fat mauve thread on shaft
five moves right. Delete takes out the mauve fat thread on shaft 5,
and the gap is closed.
Nothing seems to happen when you click the Unlink button or select
it in the Edit menu, but unlink is now in its active state. There is a
check mark in the menu and the toolbar button stays pressed-in..
With Unlink active and the insertion point in the threading, click
Insert. A space appears in the threading draft under the fat mauve
thread, and the thread on shaft 5 is now deep purple, normal width. If
you clicked Delete, shaft 5 is taken out, and the fat mauve thread is
now on shaft 6. The active unlink button breaks the link between
threading, warp color and warp thread thickness. Insert and delete
act only in the threading draft, and the warp colors and thickness
sequence remain unchanged.
With unlink active and the insertion point in the warp color bar, click
Insert. A white thread is added to the color sequence above shaft 5,
and but the thread remains fat. The mauve color is pushed left.
If you clicked Delete, the mauve color is taken out, and the fat
thread on shaft 5 is now deep purple. Insert and delete act only in
the color bar when the insertion point is located there.
With unlink active and the insertion point in the warp thickness bar,
click Insert. The fat thread is pushed left, and the mauve thread on
shaft 5 is now normal width.
If you clicked Delete, the fat thread is taken out, the thread on shaft
5 is normal. The removal of the fat thread moves the thin thread
that was on shaft 8 one place right to shaft 7.
Insert and delete into Treadling, weft colors and weft thicknesses
are also controlled by Unlink.
Active Unlink only affect Insert and Delete functions, and drawing or
typing numbers into drafts behave as normal.

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View Menu
Many of these items are also represented as buttons on the
toolbar.

Zoom in keyboard: Alt + toolbar

Zoom out keyboard: Alt – toolbar
These two buttons control magnification on-screen. Click
Zoom in to make things appear larger, but you will see fewer
threads in warp and weft. Click Zoom out to stand back and
view more of the cloth, but individual threads will be smaller.
You can draw and edit at any magnification. When fully zoomed
out it can be difficult to know exactly where the mouse cursor is
pointing or where the insertion point lies.
See also the Magnification control on the status bar, p.41.

Color View toolbar off state active state

When this button is off, the cloth drawdown
displays structure view, in which black
represents a warp thread on top (warp
drawdown) and white a weft thread on top,
without regard to the actual color of the
thread. When the button is clicked to give
its active state, the cloth drawdown
displays in color. See also the Cloth Menu
for Cloth display modes (p.42).

Back View toolbar front

view back view
If you click this button, the cloth drawdown displays the back of the
cloth, either in structure view or color view, depending on the state
of the Colorview button (see above). Strictly speaking, it’s the mirror
image of the back, because we should also flip left for right. It’s not
an issue if your design is symmetrical about the center.

Toggle Interlacement toolbar

This button determines whether your standard color view is the flat format shown above
or an Interlacement view in which you can see both the color of the thread and whether
it is warp or weft. For more on Cloth display modes, see the Cloth Menu, p.42.

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Grid In Cloth toolbar

Click this button to put a grid over your cloth drawdown.
The grid shows up in structure views of the drawdown, or
the normal color view. It does not show in the more
complex color views, where the grid would be confusing.
Threading, Tieup and Treadling drafts always show grids.
See also the Cloth Menu for Cloth Display Modes, p38.

Compact toolbar

Expand toolbar
Use Compact at high magnifications when threading and
treadling are taking up too much area on your screen.
Compact shrinks the threading to half height and the
treadling to half width, so you can see more of the cloth drawdown. Use Expand at low
magnifications to double the height of the threading and double the width of the
treadling, and thus magnify the tieup. This makes it easier to see where the cursor is
placed when editing at low magnifications.

Toolbar Select this menu item to show or hide the toolbar (details on p.4-5).
Status Bar Select this menu item to show or hide the status bar.
The status bar runs across the bottom of the main Fiberworks window frame. The left
end gives information about newly opened drawdown windows. This area is also used to
give hints, so the text may change from time to time. If you rest your mouse on a toolbar
button or highlight a menu item, this area gives information about that item.
Towards the middle of the status bar is a patch labelled Mag=. This gives the current
magnification on a scale 1-16. Click on this patch, and it expands to show a slider.
Click and drag the slider’s pointer to change magnification. This is an alternative to Zoom
in and Zoom out buttons described above.
Further right, there’s a patch indicating the current Cloth Display mode, shown as
Interlacement in the figure on the right. This patch is also clickable, and allows you to
change modes. At the
extreme right are numbers
giving more information
about the current view in
the drawdown window.

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Cloth Menu
This menu controls attributes of the cloth drawdown, including
color information.
The first six options represent the different Cloth Display
modes that show color. One of these modes will display when
the Color View button (p.40) is in its active state.
Normal cloth shows the color of the thread visible on the
surface of the cloth, front or back , depending on the state of
the Back View button, p.40. This rendering of the sample
appears flat.
Interlacement also shows the color on the surface, but
distinguishes warp and weft, and is shaded to give the
appearance of depth. This is the most generally useful view.
Rep/Warp Faced, Weft Faced, Bound Weave and
Double Weave also render particular methods of weaving.
They don’t create the structure for you, but if you have
prepared an appropriate woven structure, these modes will
display it more accurately.

These images
show the same
sample of
double weave
rendered in
different modes.

A Rep sample::
The weft consists of
alternating thick and
thin black threads,
which appear too
prominently in
normal and
interlacement
modes. In Rep
mode, warp is
emphasized and
weft is hidden.

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A bound weave sample: interlacement shows fat warps and narrow weft. In actual
weaving, normal width weft threads are beaten very densely to hide the warp. The effect
is shown in the weft faced mode, and with greater emphasis in the bound weave mode.

Bound Weave and weft faced cloth display modes are also useful for showing
supplementary weft and polychrome patterns as well as normal bound weave..
Warp Drawdown and Weft Drawdown
represent the two options for views that
emphasize woven structure rather
than color in the cloth. Whichever
option is selected in the menu here will
display when the Colorview toolbar
button (p.40) is off.
Warp drawdown shows black where
warp covers weft, and white where
weft threads cover warp.
Weft drawdown is the opposite, and
shows black where weft covers warp, and white
where warp threads cover weft.

As a quick alternative to the Cloth menu, the status

bar contains a clickable patch that pops up a menu
containing the various cloth display modes.

Select Color Palette

This option lets you select alternative color palettes.
Palette selection should be done before adding colors
to your design, because the warp and weft threads in
your design will take on the colors in the new palette if
you change palette after the design is finished.
Switching palettes at this late stage can sometimes be
interesting though!

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Modify Colors
This menu item brings up the Modify Colors dialog. You can also
bring up this dialog by right clicking* any of the color chips in the
color palette, or by right clicking the main and alternative working
color squares at the top of the palette. The dialog allows you to
change any of the existing palette colors to something totally new.
Colors can be specified by three numbers, Hue, Saturation (sat.)and
brightness (bright), each represented by the three colored scales in
the dialog. We use brightness for luminous media such as the screen;
it is equivalent to the term value which is used for opaque media such
as pigment on paper.
Hue is the position on the color wheel on a scale 0-360 where red is
0, yellow is 60, green is 120, cyan is 180, blue is 240 and magenta is
300. To change a setting, click in the rainbow-colored scale at the
point representing the hue you want. The white slider will move to the
tip of your mouse pointer, and you can drag the slider back and forth
to make further adjustments. A numerical value of hue shows in the
box above the scale, and you can make fine adjustments to this value
directly. This applies to the other two scales as well.
The saturation scale takes on the hue you have just selected. Click
into the saturation scale, which runs from pure white (0%) to the pure
hue you selected (100%). Intermediate points represents tints of that
hue.
The brightness scale takes on the tint just selected, and runs from pure black, 0% to the
unshaded tint (100%). Intermediate points represent tones. Click into this scale, and
you have the final color.
The three boxes at the bottom show the color specification in terms of Red, Green and
Blue components (RGB), each on a scale 0-255. To reproduce a color exactly, record
either its numerical hue saturation and brightness or its RGB numbers. These numbers
can be typed into the boxes directly if desired.
The modified and original color show at the top of the dialog, along with a Revert button
in case you went wildly wrong or hate the result.
If you have a cloth sample in the active drawdown window and adjust one of the colors
that is present in the sample, you will see the changes happening live in the sample as
you adjust the scales in the dialog. This helps in color design, since you can see
immediately how well your new color works with the other colors in your sample.
The Modify Color dialog answers the question ‘How do I use a color that’s not in the
color palette?’
*If your mouse is set to draw white and erase with the right mouse button, use
Shift Right click (see p.9 for details).

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Notes and Records

This menu item opens a dialog box containing three tabbed panels.

Notes, allows you to create a text record of your weaving project. There is a template
with a standardized format of weaving records for you to fill in, or you can simply type in
your own notes. Right click anywhere inside the editable area to get a simple edit menu
with Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste and Select All.
Heddles used per shaft is the middle tab, and provides an automatically generated
listing of number of heddles need. You can’t edit this page, but you can copy from it to
paste into another program such as WordTM or ExcelTM.
Thread counts by color provides an automatically generated listing of number of warp
and weft threads by color. Color descriptions can be in Hue-Saturation-Brightness values
or RGB values. You can’t edit this page, but you can copy text from it to paste into
another program such as WordTM or ExcelTM.
All three panels can be printed, either appended to your drawdown printout or separately.
See the Page Setup Dialog, p.20. You can’t edit this page, but you can copy from it to
paste into another program such as WordTM or ExcelTM.

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Warp Menu
This menu controls attributes of the threading.

Warp Fill
Warp Fill allows you to fill the threading draft with 4 standard
threadings. You can set the number of repeats or the number of
threads to fill. You can Add to end of an existing threading draft,
or Replace all.

Straight draw in the warp places shafts in ascending order,

e.g. 1 2 3 4 . . . .
On reaching the highest shaft, the sequence starts at shaft 1
again. Direction of threading is always right
to left.

Straight reversed starts on the highest shaft

and proceeds in descending shaft order,
e.g. For eight shafts, 8 7 6 5 . . . . On
reaching shaft 1, the sequence starts at the
top again.

Point draw places shafts in ascending

order, and on reaching the highest shaft, switches to
descending order. On reaching shaft 1, the sequence
switches back to ascending order, and so on.

Rosepath places shafts in ascending order, and on

reaching the highest shaft, uses the shaft 1, then resumes in
descending order starting from the highest shaft,
e.g. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 2 3 . . . .
This creates a slightly higher point in the weaving.
The same fill operations are available in the Treadling
menu.

Warp Color Fill

Warp Color Fill provides a quick way to fill a warp color bar either with a single solid
color or two selected colors in simple repeating patterns
For more complex repeating patterns, use either the drag and drop method shown on
p.32, or use the Warp Repeat dialog described on p.48-49.

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Select the repeat pattern and thread

colors in the Thread Colors dialog.
Click the list box at the top to choose
a pattern: use All threads for a
single color, and the various A-B
combinations for two-color patterns.
The most useful are probably A-B
and A-B-B-A. These are good for
many color and weave effects.
Colors are selected from the two thumbwheels, one
for color A, the other for color B. The color B wheel is
inactive if All threads (single color) has been selected.
To turn the thumbwheel, click on a band of color and drag it up or down, or drag the
slider just to its right. The color in the square patch in the middle of the wheel is the color
that will be used. The selected colors appear in the preview patch on the right.
The colors on the thumbwheel are the same as those in the color palette. Unfortunately
the main color palette is not active when this dialog is visible, which makes this process
necessary.
Colors appear in the warp color bar when you click OK. The colored region extends to
infinity, so you can add to the threading after applying the color pattern. You may need to
Unlink the colorbar from the threading if you need to insert or delete threads (p.39).

Warp Thickness Fill

This allows you to fill a draft with a single thread thickness
or a simple repeating pattern of two thicknesses. For more
complex patterns, use Warp Repeat, p.48-49 or drag and
drop.

Click the list box to see the patterns, which are exactly the
same as for the Color Fill dialog. The most useful patterns
are probably A-B and A-B-A. These are good for many thick
and thin threadings. Use the spin buttons (p.83) to increase
or decrease the number value, or just type in a number.

The numbers express thread thickness in relative values, not absolute ends per inch,
because of variable magnification of different people’s screens. A thickness value of 4
represents a ‘normal’ thread. You can set an exact number of ends per inch when you
print, in which case threads with thickness value 4 will be printed at the right width.

Thickness 2 is a half width thread, thickness 8 is double width, thickness 12 is triple

width, and so on to a maximum of 64 (16 times normal).

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Sidebar: Entering thicknesses into a draft on a thread by thread basis

Thread thickness can be set on a
thread-by-thread basis, either by mouse or
by keyboard. With the mouse, click into the
thickness zone. The thickness zone lies
above the warp color bar and to the right of
the weft color bar. A drawing tool must be
active and the cursor must be a pencil to
make changes to the draft. Make sure the
pencil point is in the thickness zone and on
the thread you want to modify.
 A single click doubles the current
thread width.
 A double click* halves it.
 Click again on a doubled thread and it
becomes 4x normal.
 Double click on a double-width thread, and it shrinks back to normal, and so on.
*If you use right click to erase and to apply the alternative working color, use right click to
halve the thread width (see p.9 for details).
On the keyboard, first set the insertion point into the
thickness zone and move to the thread you want to modify
(see p.10 for how to move the insertion point by keyboard,
or click the mouse on the spot you where you want it).
Then type in numbers using the same keyboard layout
that you use for threading and treadling drafts (p.10), 4 for
normal, 8 for double etc. The insertion point advances with
each keystroke. The keyboard offers greater scope for
variation than the mouse, such as three-quarter width (type in 3) or triple width (type in w,
which represents 12). Maximum thickness number is 64, represented by upper-case F.

Warp Repeat
Any component of the threading
(threading draft, warp colors or
thickness) can be expanded by
repeating in one of seven different
ways. The repeat can apply to the
whole threading as it currently exists,
or a preselected block.

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To repeat existing threading components, make sure that the box labelled Repeat
selected block is either grayed out or not checked. To repeat a selected block from
the threading, draw the selection rectangle before opening the Warp Repeat dialog, and
then make sure that the Repeat selected block is check-marked.
Next, put check marks next to Draft, Colors or Thickness, depending on which
components you want repeated. You can repeat individual components, or any
combination of two or three components. These options allow you to repeat patterns of
color or thickness that are too complex for the simple Color Fill or Thickness Fill.
Then select your Repeat type from
the drop-down list, examples on the
right. The original motif being
repeated is shown here in red (for
illustration purposes), and the first
repeat is in blue.
If the last thread of one repeat unit
ends up on the same shaft as the first thread of the next
unit, the units overlap one thread so that you don’t get two
threads together on the same shaft. In the examples, this
has happened with mirror repeat.
When the motif being repeated does not occupy all the
available shafts, repeats that invert or step up will use all
the available shafts. If you want the six shaft motif to stay
within a six shaft limit, outline the motif in a blue selection
rectangle six shafts high, and put a check-mark in Repeat
selected block.
Drop, Advancing and Descending repeats make the motif
shift up or down on each repeat. Drop repeats shift by
exactly half the number of shafts, so in this eight shaft
example, the shift at each repeat is four shafts. After the
second shift, the repeat unit returns to the original level.
If the shift would have put a thread onto shaft 9 or higher,
the pattern ‘rolls over’ back to the bottom: shaft 9
becomes shaft 1, shaft 10 becomes shaft 2 and so on. For
Descending repeats, if a thread is shifted below shaft 1, it
‘rolls back’ to shaft 8.
The Advancing and descending repeats are shown in the example shifting by one shaft at
each repeat. The Step by control lets you choose other step sizes.
Set the number of repeats required. In weaving terminology, four repeats means the
original plus three copies. The required number of threads is calculated for you.
Click Apply now to see the effect in your design. If you don’t like it, Undo, and try
another setting.

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Parallel Repeat
Parallel repeat takes an existing threading and
repeats each warp end, shifting the repeat up by a
certain number of shafts. The result always doubles
the number of warp ends.
Add shafts above doubles the number of shafts;
if the original threading was on shafts 1-8, the
repeat appears on shafts 9-16. The shift is
always equal to the original number of shafts,
so the repeat forms a track parallel to and
always above the original. This effect is used
for four-color double weave.
Extended Parallel places the repeat within the
same range of shafts as the original. The
amount of shift can be varied, the default shift
being half the number of shafts of the original.
In the example, the repeat is shifted by 4 shafts
on an 8-shaft threading. Repeated warp ends
that run off the top wrap around to the bottom.
This effect can be used for shadow weave.

Make Symmetrical
This is a quick version of Mirror repeat described above. It takes your existing
threading components, flips the sequence left for right and appends the flipped
version to the original to make a symmetrical sequence.
The sequence 1 2 3 4 5 6 becomes 1 2 3 4 5 6 5 4 3 2 1.
It acts on the entire threading, not selected blocks.
Set check marks in the boxes to apply this to the individual
components, threading draft, warp colors or thicknesses, or
to any combination.

Reverse Sequence
This operation takes your existing threading components,
flips the sequence left for right and replaces the
original, rather than appending. It acts on the entire
threading, not selected blocks. The sequence 1 2 3 4 5 6
changes to 6 5 4 3 2 1. Set check marks in the boxes to
apply this to the individual components, threading draft,
warp colors or thicknesses, or to any combination.
The two dialogs above are identical other than title bar. This illustrates the different
appearance of Windows Classic (upper version) versus Vista (lower) dialog styles.

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Redraw on Network
Use this menu item to create a
network draft from an existing
pattern line drawn in the threading.
The Redraw on Network dialog lets
you apply shaft reduction if needed,
and choose the style of network.
Network drafting allows you to
introduce curved motifs in your design
while requiring a relatively modest
number of shafts to weave. The
process starts with a hand-drawn line
referred to as a pattern line.
Before opening the Redraw on
Network dialog, use the freehand tool
drawing tool (p.28) to create the
pattern line. Drawing on a larger
number of shafts than you intend to
weave can give you better control;
avoid too many steep sections that skip
shafts.
Options for shaft reduction:
Telescope reduces a 16-shaft pattern
line to 8 shafts by redrawing the
contents of shafts 9-16 on shafts 1-8.
Digitize reduces by dividing shaft
number by a factor; to reduce from 16
to 8, divide shaft number by 2 and round up to the next higher integer.
You can telescope or digitize a threading without imposing a network: click the button
labelled no network.
The network is constructed by repeating a fundamental unit called the network initial,
so that it fills the threading draft. The resulting network is shown in gray in the illustrations
here (network lines don’t show on the computer screen). With a 4-shaft initial and a
16-shaft threading, each warp end has 4 possible shaft
positions that lie on network lines. Given a compatible tieup,
the network represents safe shaft positions for each warp
end that assure that the resulting cloth will have a cohesive
woven structure. A choice of six network styles can be
selected from the dialog, with varying heights (not all styles
allow heights of 2 or 3). Four shaft networks based on a
simple left or right twill are the most commonly used.

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Initial Styles
Select a style and height
and click the Apply button
to preview the network draft.
Click Undo if you wish to
explore other options. The
style of initial chosen affects
the length of float; simple
4-shaft twills give floats of 3.
Larger initials make your
woven motifs more jaggy.
The example on the right shows the
telescoped pattern line from p.51
drawn on a 4-shaft right twill network.
A magnified view shows what is happening in the network draft.
The pattern line is shown in red for illustration purposes, and
the network as dashed lines. Where the pattern line does not
lie on a network line, it is promoted up to the next shaft position
that does lie on a network line. The resulting threading follows
the general shape of the pattern line, but every warp end is
threaded on a shaft where cohesive cloth structure is assured.
In some places there is no network line above the pattern line.
Where this occurs, the threading wraps around to the bottom
to find the first network line. Safe wrapping is subject to a rule
that the initial height must divide exactly into the number of
shafts to be successful. If the initial does not divide exactly,
wrapping makes discontinuities in the cloth. To avoid wrapping,
it’s sometimes necessary to limit the height of the pattern line:
Max height of pattern line = shafts on loom - height of initial + 1
Click the button marked No rollover if you are reducing shafts to a number that is not
divisible number by the height of the initial.
Compatible tieups
The integrity of the woven cloth depends on a
compatible tieup. Test rectangles or squares the
size of the initial drawn randomly on the tieup
should always contain weavable structure. The
example far right fails for a 4 shaft twill initial
because test squares contain shafts always lifted
or never lifted; if used it could give long floats.
A network threading can be woven with simple twill treadling, advancing twill, or as drawn
in. Treadling sequences involving combined liftplans are explored further on p.80.

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Tieup Menu
This menu controls attributes of the tieup.

Twill Repeat
This menu item will
repeat a pattern that you
have drawn on the first
treadle, and on each
new treadle, shifts the
pattern up or down by
one or two shafts. The
result can be applied,
previewed and undone if
not satisfactory.
Enter the pattern for the first treadle before going to Twill Repeat. Make sure that the
remaining treadles are blank. Start with at least as many treadles as shafts. Go to
Shafts and Treadles (see below) to change the number of treadles if you need to.
Go to Twill Repeat and choose your options: Step up or Step down are shown on the
right. The tieup will change as you click, so you can see if the result is what you want. For
normal twills, use one step. For
flat twills (twill line in the cloth
drawdown less than 45o) choose
two steps, but the right half of the
treadling is redundant and
duplicates the left half. For flat
twills, you only get half the number
of unique treadles.
For steep twills (twill line in the cloth
more than 45o) start by drawing your
basic treadle pattern into the first two
treadles. Make sure you have
enough treadles - double the number
of shafts. Go to Twill Repeat, choose
Step up or Step down as you wish, choose one step for steep twill, and let’s hope you
can deal with the number of treadles on your loom. If you use a dobby loom or table
loom, you can convert the tieup to a liftplan (see below).
If you choose the two step option with two initial treadles, you get a fancy twill, with
the number of unique treadles equal the number of shafts, and a normal 45o twill line.
If you can weave from a liftplan, you can also experiment with 3 or 4 initial treadles.

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Repeat by quarters
This menu item will repeat a pattern that you have
drawn into the lower left quarter of the tieup. You can
adjust how each quarter appears so that the quarters
are not mere duplicates.
On the right we show how to create a modified turned
twill tieup. The initial is shown in red for illustration
purposes. Start by drawing the basic unit in the lower
left quarter. Go to Repeat by Quarters, click on turn
90o. Repeats are generated clockwise from the
bottom left, each turned 90o relative to the previous.
Then at Change face by quarters, click to check-mark
the boxes for top left and bottom right .
Quarter repeat tieups are typically used in two block
twill designs; a simple example is shown on the
right. The initial quarter is not limited to four shafts -
use six shafts if you have a twelve shaft loom, or eight
if you have sixteen shafts.

If you have a twelve or sixteen shaft loom,

you can create an eight shaft quarter
repeat as illustrated, then expand to twelve
or sixteen shafts and create a more
complex tieup using copy and paste or
drag and drop from the original quarters.

Change Face
This function switches the black and white marks in the
tieup. Shafts that were originally tied to the treadles are
now not tied and those that were not tied, now are tied
up. If you weave with the new tieup, you will be
weaving with the opposite face of the cloth on top. Do
this on unbalanced weaves to reduce the number of
shaft you have to lift.

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Turn Drafts
This menu item takes a threading
draft and converts it to a treadling
draft, and converts the treadling
draft into a threading draft. If
unequal, the number of shafts
and treadles are switched.
The effect on the sample is to
turn 90o anticlockwise leaving
the same face of the cloth up.
This is a useful trick for multicolored supplementary weft structures, such as overshot and
Summer and Winter, provided you have enough shafts on your loom. All the multicolored
pattern threads are in the warp, and you just add ground weave in the weft, so the piece
can be woven with one shuttle.
Note: If a treadling uses more than one treadle per pick, it cannot be turned.
Liftplans must be converted to standard tieup (see below). Multi-pedal (skeleton
tieups) treadlings must be converted to liftplan, then back to standard tieup.
Having enough shafts is a potential problem in these cases.

Sinking Shed
Select Sinking shed to represent the action of a counterbalance loom. Treadling pulls
warp threads down instead of up, leaving weft exposed on the surface instead of warp.

Allow Multipedal Treadling (use skeleton tieup)

Select this option if you plan to use a skeleton tieup*. No immediate action takes place,
but when you draw into the treadling, more than one pedal is allowed per pick.
 If you put in a treadle in the treadling draft, it adds to what has been drawn already
instead of replacing it.
 The insertion point does not advance automatically if you type in treadle numbers.
 You can’t change face with a skeleton tieup.

*Skeleton tieup
Where a simple tieup may be divided into tabby
and pattern groups of treadles, for skeleton tieup
of tied weaves, there are tabby, tiedown and
pattern treadles. Only one treadle is used per
pick with the simple tieup, but with the skeleton
tieup, pattern picks use one tiedown and one
pattern treadle per pattern pick (or more
pattern treadles if you can manage it). For six-block summer and winter, simple tieups
need 14 treadles, skeleton tieups only need 10.

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Tieup mode converts a liftplan to normal tieup and treadling

Liftplan mode converts tieup and treadling to liftplan

Liftplans and tieups

On a conventional loom, one treadle can control several shafts. The tieup represents the
way treadles are linked to particular shafts, but the number of treadles is limited.
On a table loom or a dobby loom, shafts are controlled individually, either by levers on
the front panel, or by pegs in the dobby bar or by computer controlled solenoids. There is
no tieup, and each pick can show exactly which shafts are lifted. Many more
combinations of shafts are possible with a liftplan - 254 combinations on an 8 shaft
loom, 65534 on a 16 shaft loom. This allows for long non-repeating patterns.

Interconversion of tieup-treadling and liftplan

Starting with a tieup and treadling, select Liftplan in the Tieup menu. Conversion
happens immediately and without problems, for both simple and skeleton tieups.
Starting with a liftplan, select Tieup in the Tieup menu. Conversion occurs with the
following qualifications:
 The end result is always a simple tieup and treadling, and a skeleton tieup can’t be
regenerated.
 It is not always possible to convert, if the liftplan has more shaft combinations
than the maximum number of treadles available.
 An original treadle order may not be maintained. Treadles are numbered in the
order that they are found in the liftplan. If the original treadling started 4 3 2 1, and
is converted to first to liftplan and then back to tieup and treadling, the new treadling
sequence will be 1 2 3 4. The new tieup is constructed so that the cloth drawdown is
unaltered.

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Example of conversion to liftplan and back to

tieup. In the conversion back to tieup, the first
pick becomes treadle 1, and the second pick
becomes treadle 2. These repeat until pick 6,
when a new combination of shafts becomes
treadle 3. This used to be treadle 1 in the
original tieup and treadling.
The first time a particular shaft combination is
found in the liftplan is shown numbered in red.
These become the treadle numbers in the new
treadling (far right). For illustration purposes, the
corresponding marks in the new treadling are
also shown in red.
Tieup is also rearranged so that the cloth
drawdown should remain unaltered through both conversions. If a conversion from
liftplan to tieup requires more shafts than are available, you will be warned. If you
proceed regardless of this warning, there will be gaps in the converted treadling.

Shafts and Treadles

This menu item allows you to adjust the number
of shafts and treadles in a drawdown window
that is already open*. Drag each slider to the
number you want. Normally, when you adjust
the shafts slider, the treadles slider will match the
change. Once you have set the number of
shafts, if you still need to adjust the number of
treadles, drag its slider to the desired value. The
shafts slider will stay where you set it, and does
not follow the movement of the treadles slider.
You can also make fine adjustments with the
spin buttons in the two boxes that report shaft and
treadle numbers.
If your design is a liftplan, there are no controls to
change or report the number of treadles. The
width of the treadling/liftplan draft is always the
same as the number of shafts, since each pick
contains exactly one shaft per square in the grid.
Changes take effect when you close the dialog.
*File>Preferences only sets the number of shafts and treadles for creating new
drawdowns with File>New, and does not change drawdowns that are already open.

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Treadling Menu
The Treadling menu controls attributes of the treadling.
Menu items Fill, Colors, Thickness, Repeat, Parallel Repeat,
Make Symmetrical, Reverse sequence and Redraw on Network
behave exactly as for their equivalents in the Warp Menu (p.46-52)
except that they apply to treadling rather than threading.
Details will not be repeated here.

Weave As Drawn In
Select this menu item to copy components of the threading into
the treadling. Click check marks into the boxes to select any
combination of threading draft, warp colors or thicknesses to copy.
Weave As Drawn In is also known as Tromp as Writ
Click Exactly as Drawn for most cases, where you want
to copy the exact threading sequences. Click Overshot
Style for overshot, where normally you need to copy the
block sequence, not the actual threading.

An example of Weave As Drawn In,

Exactly As Drawn is shown above.
On the right is an example of Overshot
style Weave As Drawn In.

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Add Tabby
Select this menu item to add tabby to your
design.
Several variations in pattern-ground sequence
are possible, as shown in the drop-down list. The
sequence AxBx, representing Tabby A, pattern,
Tabby B, pattern, is the most frequently used.
Other choices in the list vary the placement of the
ground weave and the ratio of pattern to ground.
Other options include placing pattern before the first
tabby, or placing tabby B before tabby A. This is an
Apply and Undo dialog, meaning that you can preview
the effect and try out the different options without
closing the dialog.
The default is to append tabby treadles to
the end of the tieup (shown in red for
illustration purposes). A box can be
checked if you want tabbies inserted at
the start instead.
Fiberworks generates the tabby treadles
automatically by analyzing the
threading. Not all threadings produce
a clean tabby. Gaps in the threading can
create problems for this analysis.

Remove tabby
This menu item analyzes the threading
to calculate the tabbies, and if present,
removes them from your design.
Before removing tabbies, it shows you a
preview and asks you to approve the
change. If no tabby is found, a warning
is shown.

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Tools Menu
The tools menu gives access to tools that act on the whole design.

Float Search
This tool searches for and allows you to change long floats. There
are separate searches for warp and weft floats, and only the visible
surface is searched, since in some situations, floats on the back
surface can be tolerated more than on the exposed surface. To
search the other face, click the Back View button (p.40) on the
toolbar, then do warp or weft float search again.
Floats of three threads or less are ignored.
The longest float found is reported at the left end
of the status bar, along with its location. The
float is also outlined in the cloth drawdown in light
cyan (see below on the right). If the long float is
currently off screen, it is scrolled into position so it’s
visible on-screen. If the cyan outline is hard to see
in a color drawdown, it may be advisable to switch to a
structure view. (Click the Color View button off; see
p.40).
It’s now up to you to fix the float if you think it’s too
long. If a drawing tool is active, (pencil cursor), you can
click or double click directly anywhere in the float to
change the thread interlacement. Float search also
places the insertion point on the target float: + or - keys
change the thread interlacement at the current insertion
point (use arrow keys to get to the best place to
change). Corrections made in the drawdown area
actually adjust the tieup or the liftplan, which can
affect things elsewhere in the drawdown, and this can
sometimes have undesired effects. In the example
above, it’s probably necessary to rethink the threading
and treadling to fix all those long floats. There are too
many consecutive threads on the same narrow range of shafts for this particular tieup.
If there are two or more floats the same length as the longest float, the one closest to
the start of threading and treadling is reported first. In many cases, the next float is a
repeat of the first, and when you fix the first instance the other floats are fixed as well.
When you have fixed the longest float, you can repeat the search for the next longest.
Float search will give deceptive result with overshot and related weaves where tabby has
been omitted from the drawdown.

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Block Substitution
Block substitution allows you to
expand a profile draft (see sidebar
below) by replacing the blocks of the
profile with a weave structure of your
choice.
Start with a profile draft which has
at least a threading, or better, with
full threading, tieup and treadling.
You can use any design as a profile.

The block substitution dialog starts with a list of

available weave structures. The list is long, so
structures are grouped by type, e.g. Lace weaves,
tied weaves etc. To open a group, click the [+]
symbol next to its name. The list expands: if you want
to close it up again, click the [-] symbol.

Sidebar: Profile Drafts

A profile draft uses the general form of a full weaving draft
with threading, tieup and treadling or liftplan and drawdown
representing the overall layout of a weaving design, but
giving no details of how threads actually interlace. Unlike a
full weaving draft, the columns and rows represent blocks
of unspecified weave structure rather than individual
threads. A block may contain multiple units of multiple
threads.
The profile itself need not be weavable and may appear to
contain horrendous floats and unwoven areas.
Many weave structures present themselves in two forms, one representing ground and
the other pattern, so white areas of the profile drawdown indicate the ground version of
the structure, and the black areas represent pattern. The distinction between ground and
pattern can be sometimes be emphasized by use of colors in warp or weft. Block
substitution fills the blocks of the profile with a weaving structure of your choice,
following the layout of the profile. Each block will then contain multiple threads making up
units of the weave structure.
Pattern may appear in the weft, as in overshot and tied weaves, or the distinction
between pattern and ground may be arbitrary as in twill blocks or double weave.

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Block Substitution
Step 1: Prepare a profile draft. For a first time effort, keep it
simple.
Step 2: Click open a group such as Tied Weaves
Select a weave structure, for example Summer and Winter.
Several treadling variants are listed. Make sure Threading,
and Treadling are check-marked. Use colors is optional.
For a six block design in
Summer and Winter, 8 shafts
and 14 treadles are needed on
Normal Tieup. This can be
cut to 10 treadles if the
Skeleton tieup option is taken
(see p.55). You could also
choose liftplan.
Note: if your profile is a liftplan
or if the profile uses skeleton
tieup and multipedal treadling,
the block substitution must be
made as a liftplan.
Step 3: Click Apply to preview the
profile.
The Preview dialog has buttons to
change Color View, Back View and to
Zoom In or Zoom Out.
The Treadling repeat allows you to
stretch out a weaving by repeating
treadling units. This particular treadling
consists of a pair of picks repeated to give the basic
four thread unit.
Tabbies can be added if desired (not all structures
need them). Tabby sequence, AxBx means tabby A
first, a pattern shot, tabby B and another pattern
shot. The tabby list box contains sequence variants
which place pattern first or tabby B first. Tabbies are
often not shown in drawdowns so that the pattern
components stand out. Also the proportions of
supplementary weft weaves are better represented
with tabbies omitted. If the drawdown seems to
have astonishing warp floats, you really do need to
include the tabby when you weave!

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Change Face brings

the opposite surface of
the woven cloth to the
top. If you change the
face of the profile,
pattern and ground
change places. If you
change face of the
cloth, warp and weft
exchange places.
The difference in effect
is most pronounced for
lace weaves, where
ground is composed of
plain weave, and pattern
is composed of warp or
weft spots.
For other weave
structures, pattern and
ground differ by showing
weft emphasis versus warp emphasis. For these structures, the two different change
face effects are not as extreme, but there is often some difference.
The Preview dialog is a ‘live’ dialog: changes made to the dialog settings show
immediately in the preview. Try different variations to see what works best for you.
Step 4: If you are not satisfied, click Try Another, which takes you back to the original
profile and list of weave structures, or cancel to change the profile.
If you are happy with the result, click OK. The fully substituted weaving draft is
created in a new window, leaving your profile draft intact in its original window.

Sidebar: Unit weaves and block weaves

Unit weaves consist of blocks containing specific numbers or warp or weft threads, that
weave together in one of two ways which can be described as pattern or ground. The
integrity of these blocks is independent of adjacent blocks. This means that the blocks of
unit weaves can be assembled in any combination, including runs of the same unit of any
length, without excessively long floats or discontinuities in the woven cloth. The tied
weaves, twills, double weave, Atwater Bronson and Huck blocks are unit weaves.
For block weaves which are not unit weaves, interlacement of blocks is not independent.
This may limit which blocks may be adjacent to each other, or may make long floats in a
run of the same block, or may disallow some combinations of blocks in the profile tieup.
Most classic weaves, Bronson Spot, Huck lace and Huck Spot are block weaves but
not unit weaves. Some profiles may not work well with these non-unit weaves.

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Editing your own blocks

To edit your own blocks, either choose the Blank (at the top of the list of weave structure
groups, p.61), or select an existing weave structure and use it as a template to modify.
Then click the Edit Blocks button.
Threading, tieup and
treadling appear in
the usual format, but
without a drawdown,
and the threading
and treadling are
subdivided into
blocks. If you have
preselected a weave
structure, that system
of blocks is shown,
otherwise threading
and treadling will be
blank. Use the zoom
in/zoom out buttons to
control the scale.
Zoom out if you need
to see more shafts.
Start by adjusting the
max shaft and ends per unit as needed, then click the Apply button in the Threading
blocks box. Do the same for max treadles and picks per unit in Treadling blocks.
The double unit button doubles up the basic non-repeating
unit: if you click Double Unit in the Treadling blocks box,
this will give the normal 4-pick treadling unit for Summer
and Winter.

Editing block by block

Edit the block structures by clicking with the mouse (double click* to erase). After the first
click, you should see a blinking insertion point, which allows you to use the keyboard as
well as the mouse if you prefer. The tieup shown is derived from your profile tieup, but
you can edit it as you please.
* Use right click if you have set right click to erase in your mouse preferences (p.25).
The A block of each series is nearest the tieup. If you run out of blocks in the visible
area, use the scroll bar or zoom out. Click OK when done.
Note: Don’t click the Apply buttons after you have invested a lot of effort into editing
block by block! The next section explains what may happen.

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Using the automated features

Many block series are systematic in their
progression, and this allows for a certain amount of
automation. Start by editing the A blocks of
threading and treadling block series the way you
want each series to start; A blocks are next to the
tieup, but make sure threading is scrolled all the way
to the right and treadling all the way to the top.
First set the number of Ties in the threading. Tie
downs are shafts that remain unchanged in the block
series, for example shafts 1,2 and 3 of Single 3-tie.
Next set the Advance per block. This is the amount
that the pattern component shifts up as you progress
from block to block. In the example, Ties is kept at 3
but advance is changed to 2. When you click Apply,
the A block that you edited is taken as the template,
and the remainder of the series is generated
automatically.
The automatically generated series overwrites any
changes you might have made in blocks B and
higher. If you want to make additional changes, do
so after clicking Apply.
The same process can apply to treadling blocks. Set
the number of ground treadles, set the advance, click apply, and the series is done.
Taqueté
The Block Preview dialog includes a button marked
Taqueté, which is active when Summer and Winter
related structures are selected. However, to produce the
taqueté effect requires preparation in the profile.
The effect is achieved by making pairs of blocks
complementary to each other, so when one block
weaves on the top face, the other does not.
To produce two-color taqueté, the profile must be
prepared with alternating colors in the weft, and the
paired weft blocks indicated by the braces must be
complementary to each other: the first weft block
weaves on 1,2,3 while the second weaves on 4.
For three color taqueté, weft blocks must be arranged in
complementary triplets, and only one member of the
triplet can come to the surface at any one warp block.

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Profiles prepared in this way display well in weft faced display

mode. Weft is packed densely when weaving, and warp can be
set more widely spaced than normal to give the right
proportions. Warp colors do not appear on the face of the cloth.
It is quite legitimate to have one member of the pair of blocks
weaving on all blocks and the other on none, to give a solid
color from selvedge to selvedge. Both blocks will interlace when
the summer and winter structure is added. This won’t display
properly in the profile though, because the empty block is
treated as a gap.
The samples below show this profile substituted as Summer
and Winter, without the Taqueté option on the left and set as
Two-color taqueté on the right. In the sample on the left, the
treadling blocks are woven separately, four picks of the first block followed by four picks
of the second block and so on; interlacement is dubious at best. In the taqueté sample,
the threads of the first two blocks are interleaved with each other, 8 picks that alternate
between first and second block, followed by 8 picks that alternate between third and
fourth block and so on.

Each alternating pair of threads in two color

taqueté is called a passé. Only one thread
of the passé shows on the surface at any
point, because weft should be packed
densely enough so that the long float rides
over and hides the shorter float of the
opposite color. The surface should appear
like weft-faced plain weave.
In multicolor taqueté, each passé is
composed of one thread of each color.

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Fold double
Any pattern up to 8 shafts can be folded on itself to Fold Double,
Tubular or Separate layers. This is a quick easy way of making
that wide afghan on the narrow loom. Fold double needs double
the original number of shafts and treadles. If you have a four shaft
loom, you can only weave plain weave folded double, but with any
color sequence you like. If you have an eight shaft loom, you can
fold double any four shaft pattern. To fold 8-shaft designs double,
you need a 16 shaft loom.
Fold Double is double wide, open on the right, with one shuttle using the following order:
top, bottom, bottom top. For the opening on the other side go to Warp / Reverse
sequence after Fold Double has been completed.
If your draft has 99 ends, then there will be 49 ends in one layer and 50 in the other. Odd
numbers are preferable in double wide fabrics. The two modes below may have even
numbers of warp threads in each layer.
Tubular is closed both sides with one shuttle used in the following order: top, bottom,
top, bottom.
Separate layers is just that, and needs two shuttles, with shuttles used in the following
order: top - shuttle 1, bottom - shuttle 2, top - shuttle 1, bottom - shuttle 2. The two layers
can have different weave structures (easiest if they share the same tieup) or color design.
The layers do not exchange, nor are there stitchers to hold the layers together.

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Namedraft
This is a popular way to create new overshot
designs for four shaft weavers. This tool allows
you to create an overshot pattern that represents
a name or phrase of importance to you. You can
choose any of the six different coding schemes to
translate text characters into shaft numbers, and
choose rose or star tieup.
Step 1: Start with a blank drawdown window, go
to Tools > Namedraft.
Step 2: Type a name into the indicated text box.
You may use characters, numbers, spaces and
punctuation in your phrase, up to 40 characters. Short names (less than 8 characters)
need to be expanded somehow or the result will contain very short repeats. Avoid long
strings that repeat the same characters, because they end up on the same shafts and
give long floats.
Step 3: Choose one of the 6 coding schemes by
clicking one of the buttons A to F, and choose your
tieup. This gives you 12 different possible basic
designs.
Step 4: To make a complete weaving draft, choose
from the options in the drop down list. The first two
options (One repeat) give a namedraft design that
can be used as a profile draft. You can then use
Block Substitution (p.61-67) to create weaving drafts
based on structures other than overshot.
The remaining options give a full symmetrical
overshot design. The repeats and reversals
provide different ways to assemble the basic
namedraft sequence.
Use the zoom tools to change the view while
working. Click OK when you are satisfied.
If by mischance you started namedraft in an
already occupied drawdown window, the new
namedraft will be created in a new window.
The sample shows the namedraft of
Fiberworks PCW with the settings shown
above, viewed as a Weft Drawdown. Easy and
fun to do.

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Shaft Shuffler
The shaft shuffler is a tool that allows you to rearrange the order of shafts and treadles
in an existing weaving draft. It coordinates changes in threading and tieup so that the
drawdown remains unaffected, and when used in the treadling, coordinates changes with
the tieup.
When you select the Shaft Shuffler, the mouse cursor turns into a double pointer
when it lies in the threading. When the cursor is in the treadling, the arrowheads
face left and right.
Click down on a shaft that you want
to move and drag it to the new
location. When you click down, a
red line marks the shaft that is being
moved. Every warp threaded on
that shaft is moved at the same time.
In liftplan mode, shifting a shaft
adjusts the liftplan simultaneously so
that the drawdown remains unchanged. If
you click and drag within the liftplan, the
threading will be adjusted also.
While the shaft shuffler is active, drawing
or selecting is temporarily suspended.
Click on a drawing tool or the selection
tool when you want to resume normal
work.

Export to Sketchpad
Export to sketchpad takes the weave structure as represented by warp drawdown or
weft drawdown, whichever you have selected and copies it into a sketchpad window. The
color drawdown is not exported; even if color is currently displayed, the structure
drawdown is still exported.
If the design has never been associated with a sketchpad, a new sketchpad opens
immediately.
If the design was first created in a sketchpad, and
then made into a drawdown by fabric analysis
(p.77), a link exists between the drawdown and
the original sketchpad. A dialog will appear
allowing you to export to a new sketchpad, or to
update the existing sketchpad. This allows you to
shuttle a design between drawdown and
sketchpad as you develop it.

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Window Menu
The window menu helps you organize your open
drawdown windows.

Open Windows List

The most useful feature is the list of currently open
drawdown windows at the bottom of the menu. Click
on any window title in the list to bring it to the top.
If you have more than nine windows open, the last
item on the list is More Windows. Click this to open
a complete list of open windows.

Cascade
Arranges all your open windows in overlapping
tiers that cascade down from the top left
corner of the main Fiberworks window frame.

Tile, Tile vertical

These menu items arrange design
windows in non-overlapped tiles within
the main Fiberworks window frame.
Tile preferentially subdivides the area
horizontally. Tile vertical subdivides
preferentially vertically.

Arrange Icons
Takes any windows that have been
minimized and places them in a row
across the bottom of the main Fiberworks window frame. This is a tidy-up operation that
helps you find designs the may have been scattered around the window frame.

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Context Menus
Context menus are menus that pop up when you click the right*
mouse button in a draft or drawdown area. They contain items also
found in the main menus, but chosen to be relevant to the location
or situation, thus they are context sensitive.
* Use Shift right click if your preferences (p.25) are set to
make mouse right click undraw or erase (p.9).
The example on the right would appear if you click in threading or
treadling when a blue selection rectangle exists. This implies
that the selection tool is currently active
Get Draw Tool retrieves the drawing tool you used last used.
Cut, Copy Transform are the same as the Edit menu.
Repeat is the same as Warp or Treadling menus
Blank out leaves the selected rectangle empty, without closing the gap, unlike Delete.
Delete, Insert and Unlink are the same as the Edit menu.
Extend selection allows you to increase the size of the current
selection rectangle. Click on one of the direction arrows to extent the
selection to the limit of the draft. If the selection is in the threading,
Right arrow extends to the start of the threading, Left arrow extends to
the end of the threading. If you are in the treadling draft, Up arrow
takes you to the start, down arrow takes you to the end.
You can also extend a selection rectangle by holding down the Ctrl
key and click on a point outside the existing section rectangle where
you want it to expand to (p.33). There’s no easy way to shrink a
selection rectangle without starting the selection again from scratch.

The menu on the right appears when the selection tool is active,
but no selection rectangle currently exists. Here the final three
options allow you to create a new selection, from the start of the
draft to the current insertion point, or from the insertion point to the
end, or all threads in the draft that contains the insertion point.

Other context menus exist for other areas, but the menu items are
all the same as their equivalents in the main menus.

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The Sketchpad
The sketchpad allows you to do free-form design on a grid.
There are simple tools to draw, copy, and paste in
monochrome or color.
The sketchpad can be used in any of the following ways:
 For fabric analysis and free form design of motifs to be
woven. This process is limited to monochrome designs that
analyze as a structure drawdown. The analysis can
generate a weaving draft or a profile draft.
 To design liftplans, making use of an alternative and more
versatile set of drawing tools. A rectangular block can be
copied from the sketchpad and be pasted into the liftplan
and vice versa. This is strictly monochrome
 Preparing cartoons for tapestry, drawloom, beading or
pickup weaving. This can be done in full color.
 Any other process where designing on a grid may be useful.
Use the New Sketchpad item in the File menu to create a new blank sketchpad.
Use the Open Sketchpad item in the File menu to open an existing sketchpad file.
Sketchpad uses a standard Windows bitmap .bmp file format in 256 color mode. You
can open any Windows .bmp file that is less than 1000x1000 pixels. When opened in
PCW, the image is reduced to 82 colors. Files which have lost colors get ‘x1’ appended
to the filename to protect against overwriting the full color original.

Edit menu
Menu items Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste, Transparent Mode,
Select, Pickup Color and Copy Image are the same as
described on pages p.27-32. Unlike the drawdown window,
the sketchpad operates purely as a graphic, so selected
blocks that you Cut or Copy to the clipboard are in bitmap
format that can be pasted into other programs.

Delete, Delete Unselected

These two menu items clear an area marked by a blue
selection rectangle without placing data on the clipboard.
Delete (keyboard shortcut Del) clears everything inside the
selected rectangle, Delete Unselected (keyboard shortcut
Ctrl+Del) clears everything outside the rectangle.

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Transform
The Transform dialog contains
items mostly similar to those in the
drawdown version. Some
differences include:
 Transform can act on the whole
sketchpad without a selection
rectangle as well as acting only
inside a selection rectangle.
 Smear shifts the image by one
grid square in the direction set
by the radio buttons, and superimposes the shifted image
onto the original. The illustration far right shows the motif from
p.72 smeared 1 step up.
 Echo shifts the image two grid squares at a time in the direction
set by the radio buttons, and superimposes the shifted image
on the original so that a one step gap remains in between the
original and the copy. If you click Echo a second time, a triple
image will appear, each copy spaced one grid square apart.

Drawing mode
The sketchpad has a variety of drawing tools found in the
Drawing Mode submenu and also on the sketchpad’s version of
the toolbar. These tools behave much like similar tools in
Windows Paint. The mouse cursor looks like a pencil for all the
drawing tools.
The Pencil draws freehand in the current main color from the
color palette, while the Eraser draws in the alternative or
background color (normally white). For the Line tool, click at one
end of the line, drag to the opposite end and release.
The Arc tool draws in two steps (see figure below right). First
click, drag and release to produce a line. The red rectangle
remains in place, indicating that there is more to do. In step
two, click just to the side of the line and drag away from it. The
line will bow outwards in the direction that you drag. Release
when you have the right shape.
For the rectangle tool, click and drag to the corner
diagonally opposite in the rectangle, then release.
For rounded rectangle, circle/ellipse and diamond
tools, drag to the diagonally opposite corner of the
rectangle that encloses the shape you are drawing.

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There are two tools that fill an area with color:

Fill a patch puts the current main color from the color palette into any single patch of
color. The fill effect replaces the color in all grid squares that touch each other along an
edge. Grid squares of the same color that only meet at the corners are not considered
to be continuous, and the fill effect will not spread past such points.
Global fill puts the
current main color
into all squares of
the same color as
the grid square you
click into, whether
they are touching or
not.

Image menu

Items in the image menu control various aspects of

the sketchpad contents as a whole.

Sketchpad size
This dialog allows you to set the height
and width of the sketchpad grid. The
sliders set values in steps of 8 quickly,
but you the spin buttons give you fine
control over exact size.
The maximum single dimension of a
sketchpad is 4000, and the maximum
area is 1,000,000.
The Aspect ratio control lets you set
non-square grid ratios. However,
there’s no provision in the .bmp file
format to record aspect ratio, so if you use this to alter the aspect ratio, it has to
be readjusted each time you re-open a file.
If you change the aspect ratio with a design already in the sketchpad, the
design will become taller or fatter in proportion to the cell ratio. If you want to
change aspect ratio of the grid cells but leave the proportions of the image
unchanged, use the Regrid menu item.

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Regrid Toolbar shortcut:

This menu item allows you to take a continuous
image and superimpose a grid over it, reducing
the numbers of rows or columns making up your
image.
Move the slider left to make the grid coarser; use
the spin buttons in the Scaling % box for fine
control. The buttons labelled Align grid set
exactly where the new gridlines cut the image,
which can affect how well the regridded image reproduces fine details in the original.
Experiment by clicking each button several times to find the best resulting image.
You may also set the Aspect (ratio of cell width to height). Changing Aspect ratio in the
regrid dialog maintains the visible proportions of the original image.

Auto Color Reduction Toolbar shortcut

Use this dialog to reduce the color complexity of
an image. If you are using the sketchpad to
prepare a cartoon, your objective should be a
moderate number of colors that you actually
have available as yarn.
For fabric analysis, it’s necessary to reduce to a
single pattern color, usually black, and a single
background color, usually white.
This is a ‘live’ dialog, so you can see what’s
happening to your image as you adjust the slider
controls.

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Reduce colors by dragging the sliders downwards. Each slider reduces colors by a
different set of rules:
Near Black takes the color closest to black, and changes it to pure black. As the slider
moves down, progressively more colors become black until only the lighter tints and
tones remain.
Near white take the lightest color present and makes it white. As the slider moves down,
progressively more colors become white until only the darker shades remain. Combined
used of the Near Black and Near White sliders will reduce any image to black and white.
The relative positions of the near black and near white sliders will determine the
proportions of black and white in the final image.
Similar color evaluates pairs of colors, and
the two that are most similar are then
blended to become one. As the slider
moves down, progressively fewer colors
remain.
Least used evaluates each color for
frequency of use. The least used color is
then changed to the color most like it. This
is often a good way to simplify an image. It
should be used cautiously if the least used
color happens to make up an important
highlight or accent.
The illustration shows an image regridded
to 50 pixels across and reduced to 12
colors.

Manual Color Reduction

Use this menu item to reduce the color
complexity of an image that has too many
colors to weave. The dialog gives you
direct control over which colors you want
eliminated.
The color chips show you the colors
present in the sample. Active colors are
shown recessed:
Find a color you intend to keep and click
on it so its patch appears raised:
Now click and drag the raised patch to cover a color you want to eliminate. The
eliminated color appears flat, and its patch is divided in halves. The upper
half shows the original color, while the lower half shows its replacement.

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Analysis Menu

These menu items relate to fabric analysis and creation of

full weaving drafts from the sketchpad image.
The classic starting point is a fabric sample which you dissect
pick by pick, noting down each warp thread interlacement,
warp over weft marked in black and weft over warp left in
white. The resulting structure drawdown can then be
analyzed, and threading, treadling and tieup or threading and
liftplan are derived from it. The process can also extend to
images drawn on the sketchpad grid. To serve as a structure drawdown, the image can
contain only one image color, normally black, and one background color, normally white.
Your loom has a limited number of shafts and treadles, so you need to avoid overly
detailed images. Simple hand drawn motifs generally work better than trying to squeeze
something out of a complex image.
When you analyze an actual fabric sample, you know that that it was originally woven, so
it must have cohesive weaving structure (unless you made errors in your dissection).
When you design free-form, cohesive weaving structure must be introduced. A simple
way to do this is by treating the initial weaving draft generated by the analysis as a
profile draft. Proper weaving structure can then be introduced by block substitution.
Count Shafts and Treadles toolbar shortcut
Include Border
When you select this item, a report shows the
number of shafts currently required. This is a
precursor to actual analysis, allowing you to
refine your design to match the capabilities of
your loom without leaving the sketchpad. If you
intend a block substitution step, allow for the
extra shafts your final weave structure requires.
The number of shafts is determined by the
number of vertical columns in your design that contain unique patterns of black and
white squares. Eliminate unnecessary chaff outside the area of your design by
surrounding the main element in a blue selection rectangle and by using the Delete
Unselected menu item (Edit menu, p.72). Symmetrical motifs require fewer shafts
because the right side repeats whatever was on the left. If you have too many shafts,
look for unnecessary details that can be eliminated, or make the whole design smaller.
Number of treadles is determined by the number of horizontal rows that contain unique
patterns of black and white squares. If you can weave from a liftplan, the number of
treadles is not critical, and you can exploit this to add more variation into your design.
If you click Include border, this adds one extra shaft and treadle to allow for a border.

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On the left, a fruit motif has a leaf

that destroys the symmetry, so that
20 shafts would be needed. Red
outlines show problem areas that
increase the total number of shafts
required. By shrinking the leaf down
to the outline shown in gray, the
motif now requires only 14 shafts
Make drawdown
Toolbar shortcut
This menu item carries out the
actual fabric analysis. In the left
column of the dialog, set any
options required, then click the
Make New Drawdown button.
If the sketchpad image was derived from an
existing drawdown (see Tools, Export to
Sketchpad, p.69), the sketchpad is linked to that
drawdown. You can then choose to Make a new
drawdown or update the existing drawdown.
The resulting drawdown does not contain
weavable structure, but can be used as a profile for block substitution.

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Sketchpad project examples

Elaborating a simple motif

Step 1: Draw a simple motif in the sketchpad. Count shows that 13 shafts are needed.
Step 2: Make a drawdown. When this was extended by repeating threading and liftplan,
the gaps between trees leave bare-looking spots.
Step 3: Development phase: marks (circled in red) were placed in the drawdown where
smaller trees could be added to fill the gaps. The result was exported to sketchpad.

Step 4: New trees drawn in sketchpad.

The marks placed in step 3 show where
the new trees must appear to maintain
the existing symmetry. If you have
shafts to spare, it would be possible to
place these extra trees asymmetrically.
Step 5: Make Drawdown, updating the
existing drawdown. Then make repeats
in threading and liftplan.
Go to Block substitution and add a
weave structure.

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Combining liftplans for network drafting

With network drafting, two liftplans compatible with the network initial (see rule for
compatible tieups p.52) can be combined along an arbitrary boundary between the two.
The sketchpad is the ideal workspace for creating these combinations, since the various
components can be assembled in a single sketchpad window, simplifying copying and
pasting operations.
Start by setting the sketchpad size (Image>Sketchpad Size) so the height is equal to the
height of one repeat of the liftplan. Set the width to five times the number of shafts. This
gives you room to work with different components side by side in the same window.
Liftplans created in the normal drawdown window can be copied and pasted into the
sketchpad, or you can draw the liftplan directly in the sketchpad. Paste the two liftplans
you wish to combine side by side in
the sketchpad, separated by two
empty grid squares.
Now draw a pattern line (p.51), and
surround it with a selection
rectangle that has the same width
as the liftplans. Go Edit>Transform
and Smear right until the pattern
line is broad enough. Copy the
smeared pattern line, paste it
beside the original, then with the
blue selection rectangle still
surrounding the pasted copy, go to
Edit>Transform and Change Face
to get the negative of the broad
pattern line.
Set Transparent Mode (p.31), then
paste the broad pattern line onto
your first liftplan, and paste the
negative pattern line onto your
second liftplan.
Tip: If you mark one red square just
outside the top left corner of each
component, this helps you to line
things up when pasting.
Select each liftplan in turn and go to
Edit>Transform and Change Face.
You should now have two cutouts of the original liftplans that exactly fit each other.
Select one and paste over the other, taking care to align them so that there is no gap.
Copy the combined liftplan and paste it into the treadling draft of your drawdown window.

80 © 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Importing a photograph and creating a cartoon

The cartoon can be used for tapestry, needlepoint, beading or other textile based
imagery.
Step 1: Choose and prepare your
photograph. Photographs usually
come as jpeg or .jpg files, and with
multimegapixel cameras, dimensions
are too big for Fiberworks.
Open the original photo file in imaging
software such as Adobe Photoshop
or Paint Shop Pro. If you have none of
these tools, every Windows computer
has Windows Paint. Go to Start
Menu>Programs>Accessories>Paint.
Resize the image so that it is less than
1000 pixels in its longer dimension,
and resave it as a Windows bitmap
(.bmp), If you are offered a choice of
color depth, choose 24 bit or 32 bit.
You want to weave this on a warp of
92 threads with 16 colors., and the
original is 300 pixels across and
thousands of colors.
Open the .bmp by going to
File>Open Sketchpad.
Go to Image menu, Regrid, and
adjust the slider until your image
size is 92 across. If you are
beading, you might want to
choose an off-square aspect ratio.
Go to Image, Auto Color
Reduction. Set the Least used
slider down until key highlights are
lost. Back off a bit to restore them.
Set the Similar Color slider down.
You should be able to reach about
18 colors without serious loss of
detail. Adjust Near White and
Near Black until you have just 16
colors. Print out the result.

81 © 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Miscellaneous Windows Terminology

Dialog boxes:
These appear when you select
certain menu items. You use
them to set up the action you
want to perform. A normal dialog
box requires you to complete the
setup, then click the OK button,
and after the dialog box goes
away, you see what happened.
A live dialog box performs
actions on the drawdown while
you make your settings;
sometimes there is an Apply
button to make settings take
effect, and sometimes an undo button also. In most cases, Windows gives dialogs total
priority, and things like palettes, menus and toolbars are not accessible while the dialog
box is on the screen.
Dialogs may contain any of the following control elements:

(1) Tabbed dialog A dialog with multiple pages containing different features. Click the
tabs across the top to open the different pages

(2) Drop-down List Box: commonly found in dialogs where you need
to select one out of a list of items. They start out looking just like
buttons, but the little triangle at the right end of the button indicates
that they can be expanded. Click the triangle to expand the list, then
click on the item in the list that you want to select.
The Windows XP version of the list box
looks more like an edit box (6)

(3) Buttons: initiate actions indicated by the text in the button. Some buttons may
contain an icon instead of text.

(4) Radio buttons: Small round buttons in groups. Vista style XP style
Used for selection, the selected item is indicated by a central dot. Only one item in the
group can be selected at one time. If you click another radio button to select it, the first
radio button loses its dot. (They behave like the station selector buttons in car radios).

(5) Check Boxes: small square buttons, singly or in groups for selection or to indicate a
program state or a behaviour. Click to select. More than one check box can be selected
at a time. Vista style XP style

82 © 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

(6) Edit Box with Spin Buttons:

rectangular box containing a numeric
value and two small embedded
buttons.
Edit boxes without spin buttons are used to enter
text. Usually boxes you can type into have a white
background. Click on the box so a text cursor appears
in it, then you can type.
Edit boxes with gray or colored background can’t be typed into,
and are there to report information back to you.

Slider: A control that allows you to adjust a

number value quickly. Click the pointer and drag
it to the right position. The slider is often
accompanied by an edit box that reports the
number value. You can use the spin buttons for
fine control.

More on Folders

When you save your designs where do they go?

If you don't know where they went, how will you find them again?
Any time you save a design, you should also decide where on your computer the file will
be placed. If you ignore this, your files end up randomly scattered all over your hard
drive. Your hard drive contains tens of thousands of files relating to all the different
programs on your computer, so files easily get lost if you don't pay attention to where
they are being placed. When someone says "the computer lost my files", the truth is that
they lost them by not keeping track of where the files went.

Folders allow you to group related files together.

Instead of placing every file on the hard drive in one long list, the contents of the hard
drive are subdivided into groups of files called folders, by analogy with the folders in an
actual file cabinet. Folders are each identified by name so they can be found easily.
Windows creates a number of standard folders for you: Program Files is where the
actual application programs are stored, the folder called Windows contains all the
components that make Windows itself work and Documents (Vista and Later) or My
Documents (XP and earlier) is where you should store the work that you create on
application programs such as Fiberworks or Microsoft Word or Photoshop etc.

83 © 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

A file contains each item of the work you create, e.g. a weaving design, a photo, a letter
etc. Files are indicated by icons associated with the program that created the file.
A folder, indicated by the icon , is a list of files. Folders can contain other folders as
well as files.

Folders can contain more folders

Your Documents folder (My Documents in Windows XP) may contain thousands of
files, so to maintain organization, more folders can be created within the Documents
folder. Each of those folders can contain work files or yet more folders. When you install
Fiberworks, the installation automatically creates a folder called My Weaving within
Documents, and then creates folders named My Designs and Samples within My
Weaving. My Designs is where you should save your own designs, and Samples
contains example design files provided by Fiberworks.
On the right is a partial list of folders in the Documents folder, as seen
in Windows Explorer. Folders can be identified by a yellow icon:
Pictures has a special icon to distinguish it. The [+] symbol next to My
Weaving indicates that it contains more folders. Click on this symbol
to show the folders inside My Weaving.
The list has expanded to show My Designs and Samples, which are
contained within My Weaving. Icons for My Designs and Samples
are offset a little to the right to show that they are contained within My
Weaving, and not part of the main list of folders in Documents.
There's a [+] symbol next to My Designs, showing that it contains
more folders, and a [-] symbol next to My Weaving. The [-] or symbol
can be clicked to collapse the list and hide My Designs and Samples.
My Designs has been expanded to show that two new folders
have been created, tied weaves and twills, and two additional
folders, Double Two Tie and Summer and Winter within tied
weaves. This scheme of folders within folders lets you create a
variety of folders to cover all different categories of files, and to
keep what you don't want to see out of sight. These folders could
make a start for saving your weaving files in an orderly manner.

84 © 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Finding a Folder when you want to open or save a file

The folder where your file is going to be
opened from or saved in appears at the top
of the File Save Dialog (p.18). If this is the
right folder, you can go ahead and type in
the title for the file, and Click Save. If not, you need to navigate to the appropriate folder.
The File Open Dialog is similar, except the box is labelled Look in: instead of Save in:
Backtrack to an inner level folder
To see where the current folder lies, click on
the control triangle on the right end of the
Look in/Save in box. A list of folder locations
will drop down. You should now see that the
folder Summer and Winter is contained in the
folder tied weaves, which is in turn contained
in My Designs, and so on, all the way back to
the Documents folder. If you see the folder
that you want, e.g. My Designs, click on it, and
it becomes the chosen location to open or save

You could also click the backtrack button as an easy way to get from Summer and
Winter to My Designs. Each click takes you back one level in the folder chain. One click
takes you back to tied weaves and a second click, back to My Designs.

Finding a folder contained in the current folder

Folders contained in the current folder are found in the list of files underneath the Look
in/Save in box. Folders are marked with the folder icon , whereas files have different
icons. Click on the folder you want and click Open. Repeat if the folder you want is two or
more levels down. For example, follow steps 1-5 to reach twills from My Weaving.

Creating a new folder

In the File Save dialog, first click the
New Folder button.
An entry for the new folder appears in
the list of files, ready for you to type the
folder name.

85 © 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Resources

Designs on Disc
Books & Drawdowns: thousands in color. Compiled by Eleanor Best
Drafts for 2-24 shafts in WIF format. CD-ROM or Zip disc.
e-mail: EnGBest@aol.com
BESTUDIO, 7130 Eastwick Ln, Indianapolis, IN, 42256, USA.

Weaving Organizations
Complex Weavers. International organization of weavers interested in unusual and
interesting cloth.
http://www.complex-weavers.org

Handweavers Guild of America. Publishes of Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot. Hosts

Convergence in even number years. Many member services.
http://www.weavespindye.org

Ontario Handweavers & Spinners. Membership benefits include The OHS magazine -
Fibre Focus, Home Study Weaving Course.
http://www.OHS.on.ca/ffhomes.html

Great Books for PCW4 Owners

Coe, Marg. Fit 2 Be Tied - a Digital Approach. Coe Produced 2010, 5200 N. Mt Lemmon
Short Rd., Tucson AZ 85749; www.coeproduced.com
Coe, Marg. 2 Be Tied or not 2 Be Tied - e-Weaving Tutorials. Coe Produced 2012, 5200
N. Mt Lemmon Short Rd., Tucson AZ 85749; www.coeproduced.com
Coe, Marg. Designing 4 the Future - a Digital Weave Primer. Coe Produced 2012, 5200
N. Mt Lemmon Short Rd., Tucson AZ 85749; www.coeproduced.com
Coe, Marg. 4-8 . . . Weave!. Coe Produced 2013, 5200 N. Mt Lemmon Short Rd., Tucson
AZ 85749; www.coeproduced.com
Inouye, Bonnie. Exploring Multishaft Design. Weavingdance Press, 2000.
ISBN: 0-9678489-0-3.
Contact by, e-mail: bonnieinouye@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/bonieinouye
Keasbey, Doramy. Designing with Blocks. Alta Vista Press, ISBN: 0-9611136-1-8
Available from your favorite weaving supply shop.

Schlein, Alice. Network Drafting, an Introduction. Bridgewater Press 1994.

ISBN 0-9644474-0-1 www.aliceschlein.com

86 © 2014, Fiberworks
 Using Fiberworks PCW4.2 Silver

Books, continued
Schlein, Alice. The Liftplan Connection. Greenville South Carolina 2010.
www.aliceschlein.com

van der Hoogt, Madelyn. Complete Book of Drafting. Shuttle Craft Books/Unicorn Books,
1993. ISBN: 0-916658-51-1
Available from: Unicorn Books 800-289-9276. (Retail: $23.95)
Email: unicorn@unicornbooks.com or phone: 1-800-BUY-YARN ext 0.

Technical Support
If you can’t find it in the manual either hard copy, on this e-manual, or in the help files try
our website.
Website: http://www.fiberworks-pcw.com
If all else fails, please contact us.
Email: info@fiberworks-pcw.com
Phone: 250-931-5988
Have your registration or customer number handy for help by phone, fax or email.
Remember, if you don’t tell us, we don’t know that you may have a problem. We will
probably be able to help.

Have fun designing with Fiberworks PCW. Have fun weaving your designs.
Occasionally let us know what you are doing. We would love to have a picture of your
work with a draft. Perhaps, we can put it up on the Web!
Once you are warped, what’s weft
Bob Keates and Ingrid Boesel, Fiberworks
Fiberworks
PO Box 649, Ganges
Salt Spring Island, BC, V8K 2W2
Canada

phone: (855) 222-6959 (toll free) (250) 931-5988 (land line); (250) 538-7559 (Cell)
email: info@fiberworks-pcw.com
Web page: http://www.fiberworks-pcw.com

Happy Virtual Weaving

87 © 2014, Fiberworks
 Index

Add Tabby 59 Digitizing, shaft reduction by 51

Allow Multipedal Treadling 55 Double click 9,26
Alternat(iv)e color 4,5,13 Double digit keyboard entry 10
Analysis menu, sketchpad 77 Double Weave Display mode 42
Arrange Icons 70 Double Wide 67
Arrow keys 10 Drag 8,11
Ctrl+arrow keys 10 Drag and drop 8,32
Backtrack button (Folders) 85 Color sequences 32
Bitmap 15,72 Copy versus Move 33
Block Substitution 61 Ctrl drag 33
Change face 63 Drawdown
Editing your own blocks 64 Back view 40
Preview 62 Color View 40,42
Block weaves 63 Grid view 41
Bmp filetype 15,17 Interlacement View 40,42
Bound Weave display mode 43 Structure view 40,43
Cascade (open windows) 70 Warp Drawdown 43
Click 8 Weft Drawdown 43
And drag 11 Drawdown frame 6
Change Face 54,80 Drawdown window 4,5
Check box 82 Magnification 40,41
Close window button 3 Drawing tools 11,27,73
Cloth Display modes 42 Arc 73
Cloth Menu 42 Fill tools, Patch and Global 74
Color bars, warp and weft 13 Freehand 12,28,73
Color Fill dialog 47 Line 12,28,73
Color Palette, selecting 43 Point 12,27
Color Palette bar 4,5,13 Rectangle,Ellipse,Diamond 73
Color Reduction, Sketchpad 76 Straight 12,27
Colors Drop-down list box 82
Adding to drafts 13 Dtx files 17,18
Keyboard entry 14 Echo, Transform in sketchpad 73
Modifying 44 Edit box, spin buttons 83
Viewing in drawdown 14 Edit menu 27
Colors used, thread counts 45 Empty space in printout 22
Compact view, of drafts 41 Erasing 9,12,26
Context menus 71 Expand Drafts 41
Control key 10 Export Drawdown to Sketchpad 69
Copy (Edit menu) 30 Export Sketchpad to Drawdown 77
Copy cursor 33 Extend Selection 33,71
Copy Image 29 Fabric Analysis 77
Ctrl key 10 Fiberworks Program Window 3
Cursors 8,32 File menu 15
Cut (Edit menu) 30 File Open dialog 16
Delete, in sketchpad 72 File Save dialog 17
Delete Threads 37,38,39 File types 17
Delete Unselected 72 Float Search 60
Demo Mode 1 Fold Double 67
Des files 17 Folders 17,83
Description of screen display 4,5 Creating, Navigating 85

88
 Index

Freehand draw 12,51,73 Network Initials 52

Getting started 3 New, creating new drawdown 15
Grid in drawdown 41 New Design Preferences 25
Graph paper 22 New Folder Button 85
Grayed out 3 New users 1
Heddles used per shaft 45 Notes and records 45
Help query button 4,5 On Screen View only, printing 20
Help Menu 7 Open drawdown file 16
About 7 Open Windows List 70
Help topics 7 Other Computers 2
Hue, Saturation, Brightness 44,45 Overlay 35
Image Menu, sketchpad 74 Page Setup dialog 20
Importing bitmap images, sketchpad 81 Palette bar 4,5
Insert (edit menu and button) 37,38,39 Parallel Repeat 50
Insertion point 4,5,6,12 Passé, in taqueté 66
Installation 1 Paste 30
Interlacement display mode 42 After Select All 31
Interleave Paste 34 As Overlay 35
Keyboard 10 Dragging after pasting 32
Modifier keys 10 Orientation 31
Navigation 10 Transparent mode 31
Non US layouts 26 Pattern Line 51,80
Numeric layout 10 Pencil cursor 11
Line draw 12 Pickup Color tool 29
Left click 9 Point draw 12
Liftplan 56 Preferences 25
Combining for Network drafts 80 Keyboard layout 26
Conversion to tieup 57 Mouse action 26
List box 82 New Design 25
Magnification, drawdown window 40 Miscellaneous 26
Slider control 41 Printing 26
Status bar 41 Preview and Print 19
Main color 4,5,13 Print Direct 21
Main Menu bar 3-5 Summary 24
Make Symmetrical 50 Print Settings (Preferences) 26
Maximize window 3 Print Setup 19
Minimize window 3 Page Setup dialog 20
Modify Colors Dialog 44 Paper orientation 19
Mouse Printing 19
Click actions 9 Color mismatch 22
Cursor 8 Ends per inch 20
Double click 9 Graph Paper 22
Hotspot 8 Preferences 26
Preferences 26 Set scale 20
Terms defined 8 Summary 23
Wheel 8 Profile Drafts 61
Multipedal Treadling, Allow 55 Program ID 1,2
Namedraft 68 Radio buttons 82
Navigation by keyboard 10 Recent File List 15,26
Network drafting 28,51,80 Red-Green-Blue Color model 44

89
 Index

Redraw on Network 51 Tieup 6

Regrid, sketchpad image 75 Change Face 54
Remove Tabby 59 Compatible with Network 52
Rep Display mode 42 Liftplan 56
Repeat by Quarters 54 Skeleton 55
Repeats 48-49 Tieup menu 53
Restore window 3 Tile, Tile vertical 70
Reverse Sequence 50 Title bar 3-5
Right click 9,26 Toolbar 4,5,7,41
Rising Shed 55 Transform 34
Scissor cursor 33 In the tieup 35
Scroll bars 6 Transparent Mode 31
Scroll button 6 Treadling Add Tabby 59
Thumbspot 6 Treadling draft 6
Second Computers 2 Treadling menu 58
Select tool 28 Treadling Repeat dialog
Select All 28 See Warp Repeat 48-49
Select Color Palette 43 Treadling thickness dialog
Select, Drag and drop 32 See Warp Thickness dialog 47
Selection rectangle 30,33 Tromp As Writ 58
Cut 30 Turn Drafts 55
Copy 30 Twill Repeat 63
Dragging 32,33 Typing into drafts 12
Extending 33 Undo 27
Shaft Reduction 51 Uninstalling Fiberworks 2
Shaft Shuffler 69 Unit Weaves 63
Shafts and Treadles, number of 57 Unlink 39
Shift key 10,14 Validation 1
Shift left click 9 View menu 40
Shift right click 9,26 Warp color bar 6
Sinking Shed 55 Warp Colors dialog 47
Skeleton Tieup 55,62 Warp drawdown 43
Sketchpad 15,72-81 Warp Faced display mode 42
Sketchpad Size 74 Warp Fill 46
Slider 41,57,83 Warp menu 46
Smear, Transform in sketchpad 73,80 Warp Repeat dialog 48-49
Spin Buttons 83 Warp Thickness dialog 47
Status bar 4,5,41 Warp thread thickness bar 6
Cloth Display mode 43 Weave As Drawn in 58
Magnification control 41 Weft color bar 6
Cursor location 41 Treadling colors dialog
Straight draw 12 See Warp Colors dialog 47
Tabbed dialog 25,45,82 Weft Drawdown 43
Taqueté 65 Weft-Faced display mode 43
Telescoping, shaft reduction by 51 Weft thread thickness bar 6
Thread counts by color 45 Wif files 17,18
Thread thickness Window Menu 70
Entering thread by thread 48 Windows terminology 82
Thread thickness Fill Dialog 47 Working colors 4,5,13
Threading draft 6 Zoom In, Zoom out 40

90