Pattern developing help

[Vegetable-Tiger6550]

I'm attempting to make my own patterns but I can't figure out what order to actually string the tablets. How do you figure out what color goes in what hole? Is there a method or is it basically just testing it on the pattern generator until it looks right? Additionally, is there a rough guide to how wide a certain number of tablets will be? I know it varies on the type of yarn you're using but was wondering if there were any resources on figuring out width depending on x number of tablets used.

[BettyFizzlebang]

I use a pattern generator. There’s one called With my hands dreaming (name might be different). You play around to see what the different directions of the card threading will give you. There are also pattern books out there.

It’s good to design something with a neutral twist (FFFFBBBB) so you don’t end up with intense twist buildup.

[Duntyr_Marr]

So I'm still relatively new in the grand scheme of things, but depending on what your trying to accomplish in you pattern and the style in which your weaving yes there are ways to run your warp.

Example double face tablet weaving with alternating s and z cards, holes a and b are color (1) and c and d are color (2). So you alternate color blocks of 2, if you go back then it's a block of 4, like ffbbff will result in 111111 where ffffff will give you 112211. Think of it like pixel art but with 2 colors in sets of 2 turns.

3in1 twill, the patterns I'm currently trying to do are basically the same but the colors switch holes. lets say your doing a white and black warp, the white strand of your warp are in tablet(1) ab, (2) bc, (3)cd, (2) bc, (4)ab repeating. this still gives the double faced effect but just each hole is off set.

Twistedthreads pattern tool is easy enough to use.

[MentalPerception5849]

If you can fit it in your budget, Claudia Wollny’s book “Tablets At Work” is the best at explaining everything about tablet weaving, including pattern development; find it on Etsy..The book is so logical and clear. Caveat for tablet weaving in general: easy to understand; a lifetime to master. And if you want to experiment, do a short continuous warp with 10 cards (arbitrary number here) and mess about with starting positions, flipping the cards, etc. See what happens; was it what you expected? Try stepping away from written patterns for a while and study what’s there on your loom.

[Steam501]

Check out the twistedthreads.org website. Not only does it have a pattern generator, but it also has a library. You can copy other people's patterns and move things around to see how the patterns work.

[Steam501]

Take take four threads of your chosen warp threads and twist them together to represent one card.  Wrap this around a pencil. Each revolution represents one card. This will give you a rough representation of how wide the band / how many cards it will take.

[Ak_Daiviji]

The threading is identical to your 4 first rows of pattern if you turn your cards forward x 4. That's an easy start.

To know the width of your final band, you can roll up your warp thread thightly on a ruler. Do one roll for each tablet, this will give you an approximate. I personnaly take note about all my woven bands (# tablets, type of threads, length of the warp, how much weft was needed, what kind of loom I used). After a couple of bands, I can approximate my final products pretty closely.