Valley Yarns #186 Pinwheels Plus

Valley Yarns Pinwheels Plus Weaving Towels

What Is Being Made

The Valley Yarns Pinwheels Plus pattern produces a set of four finished towels, each measuring 18½" x 26". These homeware textiles showcase decorative pinwheel patterns created through the interplay of weave structure, tie-up configuration, and strategic color placement. The design creates visual interest through nested pinwheel motifs—smaller pinwheels appearing within larger pinwheel formations across the towel surface.

Weaving Techniques

This project employs twill weaving as its primary structure, a diagonal-line weave technique that creates texture and visual depth. The pattern utilizes a straight draw threading method, where threads are threaded sequentially through shafts 1 through 8 in order. The design demonstrates advanced color-and-weave principles, where the combination of thread colors and weave structure work together to produce the pinwheel effects rather than relying on complex threading alone.

Four distinct tie-ups are provided for this project. Three tie-ups are sourced from Carol Strickler's 8-Shaft Patterns book and represent classic color-and-weave pinwheel designs. The fourth tie-up is an additional twill configuration specifically designed for a zig-zag variation towel. Each tie-up, combined with straight draw treadling, produces different visual results from the same warp and weft color arrangement.

Stitches and Weave Structure

The foundation of these towels is twill weave, characterized by its diagonal line formation. Twill is created by offsetting the over-and-under pattern of threads by one shaft with each successive row, producing the distinctive diagonal ridges. The straight draw threading—passing threads through shafts in numerical order from 1 to 8—combined with different tie-up configurations, allows a single threading to produce multiple distinct fabric patterns. This efficiency makes the project ideal for producing a coordinated set of towels with visual variety.

Materials: Yarn and Equipment

The warp and weft both use Valley Yarns 8/2 Cotton, a 100% unmercerized cotton yarn with a yardage of 3360 yards per pound. Three coordinating colors create the color-and-weave effects:

• Admiral Blue (#2859): 1290 yards in warp, 1221 yards in weft
• Turquoise Blue (#2194): 640 yards in warp, 315 yards in weft
• Turquoise Green (#5424): 480 yards in warp, 315 yards in weft

The project requires an 8-shaft loom with a 23" weaving width capacity. Additional equipment includes three shuttles and three bobbins to manage the multiple yarn colors during weaving. A 15-dent reed or 10-dent reed can be used depending on available equipment, with threading adjusted accordingly (1-2 in a 15-dent reed or 2-2-2-3 in a 10-dent reed). Dark blue cotton sewing thread is specified for finishing the inner hems of the completed towels.

Specifications and Setup

The warp consists of 482 ends (including 2 floating selvedges) at a sett of 22½ epi (ends per inch), creating a width in the reed of 21.4". A total warp length of 5 yards accommodates all four towels in a single warp setup. The finished towels measure 18½" x 26", making them practical homeware pieces suitable for kitchen or bathroom use.