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Shadow Play Dish Towels | Project PDF + WIF

Project Type Towels
Loom Type Multi-Shaft Floor or Table
Number of Shafts 4
Number of Treadles 4
Weave Structures Shadow Weave
Magazine Issue Handwoven Fall 2025
Author Dorothy Tuthill
Format Project/Pattern

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About this Project

Shadow weave is a great structure for towels, creating relatively large patterns that magically seem to appear simply by alternating dark and light threads. Warps and wefts mostly interlace in an over-one-under-one manner, so the sett is the same as for plain weave, creating a strong towel that will easily reach inside a narrow wineglass.

This project includes treadling instructions for four towels on one warp. Patterning on the different versions is a delight to watch as you weave, and while the finished towels are all unique, they look like a cohesive group.

Whether you’re weaving them for your own towel collection or as gifts for friends and family, dish cleanup is an opportunity for handling and caressing some of our favorite textiles—our handwoven dish towels!

Contents

  • Shadow Play Dish Towels Project Instructions PDF
  • Towel WIFs

Details

Structure
Shadow Weave

Equipment
4-shaft loom, 23" weaving width; 10-dent reed; 2 shuttles; 7 bobbins.

Yarns
Warp: 8/2 cotton (3,360 yd/lb; UKI Supreme), Natural, 1,050 yd; #12 Dark Green, 210 yd; #49 China Blue, 320 yd; #57 Turk, 160 yd. 8/2 cotton (3,360 yd/lb; Maysville), #70 Dubonnet and #35 Copper, 160 yd each. 8/2 cotton, magenta, 160 yd. Note: The magenta came from the author’s stash. A close substitute is 8/2 cotton (3,360 yd/lb; Maurice Brassard), #5214 Magenta.

Weft: 8/2 cotton (UKI Supreme), Natural, 828 yd; #49 China Blue, 435 yd; #12 Dark Green, 90 yd; #57 Turk, 126 yd. 8/2 cotton (Maysville), #70 Dubonnet, 90 yd; #35 Copper, 165 yd. 8/2 cotton, magenta, 90 yd.

Note: Weft yardages may differ depending on weft color order choices

Dimensions
Width in the reed: 22 3⁄10".
Woven length: (measured under tension on the loom) 34" per towel, 136" total
Finished size: (after wet-finishing and hemming) four towels, 18" × 28" each.

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