The Thread Head's Page,
or More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Mox Nix Overshot

LOOMS - Everything is woven on four-harness, rising shed (jack) looms. These are the “little rocking looms” of the Appalachians. Each loom is threaded for a different size or pattern. For example, the long Lee’s Surrender runners, throws and coverlet sections are woven on my mother’s Herald. There are two Norwoods, each 46" in the reed, a 50" Cranbrook and a small Harrisville with a 22" reed used for the 13"x13" squares and the table mats. All the looms have sectional warp beams with 1" spacers and 15 dent reeds sleyed double.

SHUTTLES - I use 11" AVL end delivery shuttles and plastic bobbins hand wound on my Mother’s metal bobbin winder.

YARNS - The warp and tabby threads are 16/2 unmercerized cotton. The pattern weft is two ply wool, either 2/8's Heather from Jaggerspun or Shetland from Harrisville designs. Both the cotton and wool shrink well when fulled in hot water.

PATTERN DRAFTS - The Lee’s Surrender pattern is almost ubiquitous, found anywhere and in any area where overshot was woven. A combination of “leaves” or “bowties” and a table of “snowballs” it occurs under may names and in many variations. I use the name attached to this pattern in Virginia and adapted from one found in Marguerite Davison’s “Handweavers’ Pattern Book” 1944 and currently back in print. If you harbor Southern sympathies concerning the Recent Unpleasantness, call this pattern Bowties and Snowballs. Both patterns are threaded differently in different looms to square up correctly and are lengthened or shortened accordingly. The drafts are also modified while weaving depending on the wool yarn used as the Harrisville is slightly fatter than the Jaggerspun and even within the Jaggerspun as Lava is thinner than Oatmeal. I actually make these changes in my head. when I start a new piece. Warning - the following sections on Warping and Weaving can make a non-weaver’s brain seize up.

WARPING -All of the looms have sectional warp beams with one inch spacers. As we warp at 30 threads to the inch, 30 cones of cotton are placed on a home-made rack and threaded through a tension box attached to the back beam. These groups of thirty threads are tied to the warp beam and hand wound on. Depending on the loom, it takes 85 to 155 wraps to fill the 1" section. Threads are wrapped in tape, cut off and pinned to the wound section. This is repeated across the beam until all the sections are filled. The largest loom has 46 sections and the smallest 15. Since a dummy warp was left in the reed and heddles, I only have to tie on the new warp and pull it forward through the reed and tie the new warp on. This involves tying 1380 weaver’s knots on the Herald. It takes a full day to wind a warp and another to tie all those knots. Warping in this way is hard on the back, hands and nerves. The larger looms need to be warped two or three times a year. This is the slow non-fun part of weaving, and is seldom figured into the total weaving time a piece takes. Floating selvedges are 2/8 cotton weighted with spring clamps from the hardware store.

WEAVING - on to the fun part. Each piece requires 1" of cotton tabby weave which is turned up for the hem on the finished pieces. Pieces are separated by two shots of wool which provide a cutting line after the pieces have been fulled. The four harness looms have six treadles, two for the cotton tabby and four for the wool pattern shots. I weave with two shuttles - one carries the wool and one the cotton. They alternate - one shot of each. Weaving with more than two wool colors requires changing shuttles every time the color changes, thus the extra charge for multicolor pieces. I have tied up the treadles so that the four pattern harnesses are in the center and the two tabby harnesses are on the outside right and left. I beat with the shed open as overshot is a very dense and snugly woven weave structure. I usually can weave two coverlet halves or eight table squares before I must cut the cloth off for fulling. The process is as follows - step on a pattern treadle, throw the wool shuttle from one side to the other, beat with the shed open, step on a tabby treadle, throw the cotton shuttle, and beat with the shed open. Repeat 10 times for one inch of cloth.

FULLING - After the pieces are cut off the loom, they are put into the washing machine with hot water and a tiny amount of dish soap. Pieces are agitated a minute or so and spun out. They are then blocked out on the dining room floor much like a hand washed wool sweater. When dry they are cut apart and turned over to my mother, Bette or my aunt, Marion to hand hem. Coverlet sections and pieced by me. The fulling process shrinks both the cotton and wool and slightly felts the wool. A table square that was 32" wide in the loom finishes at 29". All of the warping weaving, fulling, hemming, tagging, and shipping is done by Jain.