Did you see Regina McInnes’s Full Circle Tote design in the Fall 2026 issue? If you’d like to weave circles like those but don’t have a loom with 16 shafts, why not try a set of towels on eight shafts?
Read on to learn more about this project, developed exclusively for the Fall 2026 issue of Handwoven, or head to the library to access the project PDF. Please enjoy this subscriber bonus project from the Fall 2026 collection.—Handwoven editors
About the Full Circle Towels
Not long after I learned to weave on a multi-shaft loom, I began thinking about creating curved lines and shapes. My desire to break away from straight lines led to explorations of different weave structures and techniques—crackle, overshot, other tied weaves, and twills all have scope to achieve curves.
Recently, I came across The Best of Weaver’s: Twill Thrills, which explores various twill techniques, including networked twills. I found myself enamored with one particular eight-shaft draft for creating woven circles and decided to adapt it for these towels.
You can take your towels darker or brighter, depending on the weft colors you choose.
I began by dividing the warp into stripes that were bounded by dark lines, each stripe containing a circular shape. For my warp palette, I chose colors inspired by a favorite painting of Australia’s Gold Coast hinterland rainforest.
After weaving the first towel with a dark weft, I went for a mix of bright oranges and yellows for the second towel’s weft, with a few dark picks creating a grid between each row of circles. The brighter wefts produced a cheerful cloth with the circles still clearly visible. It was exciting to see the colors interact, and I was so pleased with the result that I tied a new warp to the existing one, this time using various reds in the warp.
Weave it Yourself: Project Overview
STRUCTURE
Networked twill.
EQUIPMENT
8-shaft loom, 20" weaving width; 12-dent reed; 1 shuttle; 2 or more bobbins.
YARNS
Warp: 22/2 organic cottolin (70% cotton/30% linen; 3,230 yd/lb; Venne), #4006 Deep Navy, 218 yd; #5033 Mint Green, #5056 Olive, #5041 Brass, and #5040 Curry, 160 yd each; #6044 Burnt Orange, 80 yd. 8/2 cottolin (60% organic cotton/40% linen; 3,360 yd/lb; Maurice Brassard), #1152 Vert foncé, 160 yd; #8263 Brun chocolat, 80 yd.
Weft: Towel 1: 22/2 cottolin (Venne), #4006 Deep Navy, 396 yd. Towel 2: 22/2 cottolin (Venne), #7026 Charcoal, 48 yd; #2009 Orange and #6044 Burnt Orange, 87 yd each. 8/2 cottolin (Maurice Brassard), #1418 Vieil or and #431 Jaune foncé, 87 yd each.
WARP LENGTH
471 ends 2½ yd long (includes floating selvedges; allows 6" for take-up, 30" for loom waste). Note: Add 30" for each additional towel.
SETTS
Warp: 24 epi (2/dent in a 12-dent reed).
Weft: 24 ppi.
DIMENSIONS
Width in the reed: 199⁄12".
Woven length: 54".
Finished size: (after wet-finishing and hemming) two towels, 16½ x 25".
Weave it Yourself: Project PDF
Visit the Handwoven library to get the PDF for the Full Circle Towels.