The gallery below contains the star fashion drawdowns for three threadings, one of each size category:

Small: Bagatelle
Medium: Blooming Leaf
Large: Keep Me Warm Nights

The first part of this page includes instructions for filtering and viewing the gallery so that you can answer the questions, which comprise the second part of this page.

Jump straight to the questions
Jump to the gallery filters

How to filter the gallery…

…to view only a subset of drawdowns.

The gallery can be filtered in two different ways: via the search field, which works on the filenames visible at the bottom of each drawdown, or by selecting the filter buttons. Only drawdowns which match ALL of the filters selected will appear. So, for instance, if you enter Bagatelle into the search field and select the regular and has background buttons, only Bagatelle drawdowns with regular tie-ups that have background blocks will appear.

The search field is a simple string matching without wildcards or and/or logic. Case is ignored.

Selecting a new filter button adds to rather than replaces the previous selection. You may need to deselect some or all buttons previously selected to get the expected results.

Note that many of the filters are mutually exclusive. If no drawdowns appear, chances are you’ve selected two mutually exclusive filters, such as regular and irregular, even and uneven, has background and no background, multiple tie-up buttons, a tie-up profile button with a conflicting tie-up number in the search field, or a button associated only with regular tie-ups and a search string associated with irregular tie-ups or vice versa.

Specific searches

To filter the gallery to a single threading, enter the threading name into the search field. You don’t need to type the entire name and case is ignored. E.g. Bagatelle, bloom, or keep

To filter to a single tie-up for all threadings, enter the tie-up ID into the search field.

  • For regular tie-ups, you can type all four characters of a regular tie-up or only a subset, but they must be contiguous characters without wildcards. E.g. PKEK, PE, PR, POKE.
  • For irregular tie-ups, you can type just the profile ID to get all the tie-ups with that profile. E.g. Tieup.128, Tieup.208. Note that this is equivalent to clicking the corresponding filter button.

    Alternately, you can include the specific tie-up ID for just one tie-up. E.g. 208.4, 128.14. Note that 0.1 (for example) will match tieup.0.1 but also tieup.0.10, tieup.0.11, etc. If you only want the first tie-up, use the first filter button.

To see just the first and last specific tie-up for irregular tie-up profiles – that is, only those tie-ups without any “blips” – use the first or last filter button.

To see only those drawdowns that have background blocks, select the “has background” button. You can filter this further to regular vs. irregular if desired. To see only those without, use the “no background” button.

Viewing the results at a larger scale

Once you’ve filtered the gallery to a subset of drawdowns that interests you, click on any one of the drawdowns to open it as a larger image. You’ll see a “filmstrip” of thumbnails below; these are the other images also in your filtered subset. You can click on the < and > icons to move between drawdowns, or type the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard.

To leave the enlarged display of a subgallery, click on the [X] button in the top right corner.

This page has more detailed explanations for the terms used on the filtering buttons.

Jump back to the gallery filters

These are the questions I’m most anxious for people to answer:

  1. Do you prefer the regular tie-ups? The irregular ones? Neither? Explain your preference or lack thereof. Read an explanation of regular vs. irregular here.
  2. Are there tie-ups that you like with any threading? If so, which are they and what do you like about the designs they produce? Are there tie-ups you don’t like with any threading? Which and why?
  3. Are there tie-ups that you like with some threadings but not as much with others? If so, which tie-ups are they? Which threadings do you like them with and why? Which threadings don’t you like them with as much and why?
  4. Do you prefer one style of halftone – pinstripe or checkerboard – to the other? Do you prefer designs that have only one kind of halftone or those with two kinds?

Please include as much insight into your reasoning as you’re up for!

I am limited in the number of drawdowns I can include in a single gallery, hence the restriction of the comparative gallery to just these three threadings. You may find it helpful to consider other threadings before answering, or to check whether your answers apply to the other threadings as well.

I hope to add a form to the site soon that you can use rather than sending emails but for now the best way to get this information to me is by emailing me at janet[@]weavingwithjanetdawson.com. Please indicate in the subject of the email that you’re responding to this survey.

Additional questions

The questions above are just the tip of the iceberg! I kept the list to a minimum to avoid overwhelming respondents. If you’re up for more questions and more detail, I’m also interested in other comparisons, such as:

  • In designs with even tie-ups, white and blue appear in equal proportions on both sides. In designs with uneven tie-ups, the proportions are unequal. Does equal proportion of white and blue enhance the design? Is it required for a design to be attractive? If not, what examples of designs with uneven tie-ups do you find attractive?
  • Some designs have background blocks on the side visible in the drawdowns and some do not. Those without background blocks have only pattern and halftone on the side shown in the drawdowns, and only background and halftones on the reverse side. Is having at least some background required for a design to be attractive? Does it matter which halftones are involved?
  • Designs with irregular tie-ups can be categorized in three ways: those where the pattern blocks are all connected (the “last” of each tie-up), those where pattern blocks all disconnected (the “first” of each tie-up), and those where pattern blocks are connected in some places and disconnected in others (everything between first and last). Do you prefer any of these types to the others? If so, why? What characteristics of each type do you particularly like? Are there characteristics of each type you don’t like?
  • Designs in the last category described above – the drawdowns between first and last for each irregular tie-up profile – also have “blips” in the halftones. Do the blips enhance or detract? Does the size of the blocks or the scale of the design affect your opinion?
  • Some designs have background blocks directly next to pattern blocks and others always have halftones between pattern and background. Do you prefer one to the other? Share examples of each type that you like or dislike.
  • Any other observations you have about which designs work best and which don’t.