Valley Yarns #305 Deck the Halls Towels

Valley Yarns Deck the Halls Towels

What Is Being Made

The Deck the Halls Towels pattern produces a set of four finished woven towels, each measuring 19" x 27¼". Designed by Anita Thompson, these holiday-themed towels feature classic Christmas colors—white, currant red, and elm green—combined in a sophisticated broken twill weave structure. The towels are suitable for display or gifting during the holiday season.

Weave Structure and Technique

This project uses broken twill, also known as crystal twill, as its primary weaving structure. Crystal twill is created by changing the direction of both the threading and treadling, which produces a distinctive pattern that resembles December snow and ice. The designer notes that true plain weave cannot be woven with the broken twill threading; instead, treadling shafts 5 and 6 produces a "near" plain weave for spreading the warp during the dressing process.

The pattern is designed for 4-shaft looms, making it accessible to weavers with standard multi-shaft equipment. The weaving requires multiple shuttles and bobbins to manage the color changes across the warp and weft.

Materials and Specifications

Yarn: Valley Yarns 8/2 Cotton, 100% unmercerized cotton at 3360 yards per pound. The warp uses 1850 yards of #8001 White, 430 yards of #3800 Currant, and 180 yards of #5934 Elm Green. The weft requires 859 yards of White, 525 yards of Currant, and 515 yards of Elm Green.

Equipment: A 4-shaft loom at least 25" wide, 3 shuttles, 6 bobbins, and 3 spools of sewing thread in white, red, and green to match the cotton for inner hem finishing.

Loom Setup: The warp consists of 492 ends (including 2 floating selvedge ends) at a total length of 5 yards. The sett is 22½ ends per inch, threaded 1-2 in a 15-dent reed, with a width in reed of 21.8". The finished towels are woven at 21-22 picks per inch.

Stitches and Threading

The pattern includes detailed heddle counts and a specific warp color order to achieve the broken twill effect across all four towels. The threading chart must be centered for the 21.8" width, and weavers follow the provided treadling sequences to create the color variations and directional changes characteristic of crystal twill.

After dressing the loom and tying onto the front apron rod, weavers treadle shafts 5 and 6 with scrap yarn to spread the warp before beginning the actual towel weaving.

Design Notes

The combination of broken twill structure with holiday-inspired colorways—white, currant red, and elm green—creates four distinct towels from a single warp. The crystal twill technique, with its directional changes, produces visual interest while remaining suitable for functional household textiles.