The display at St. Luke's are weavings woven in the COLONIAL OVERSHOT weave structure.  The patterns were created by city and rural folks from the early colonial period in the US, up until the end of the Civil War.  (the men usually did the actual weaving in the winter when there was less to do on the farm...the women usually did the yarn preparation, scutching the flax for linen, spinning the cotton and cleaning, combing and spinning the wool). There was very little spare time in "the good old days".

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The weave structure consists of a "pattern" shot, followed by a "binder" shot in the background color (color of the fringe).  Each weaving contains only 4 different rows to make the design.  the pattern develops depending on how many times each pattern thread is repeated before changing to the next pattern row.

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This is a unique weave structure of the North American colonists.  The majority of samples found have all been the USA.  Only a handful of samples in Europe.  Patterns were traded like recipes are today.

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These were initially woven so that the weaver (Jim Cecchetti)could see what the pattern looks like after following  the instructions found in the threading draft.  

You can purchase one of these weavings by making a minimum donation of $50. to St. Luke's Episcopal.Church in Dixon, IL and the proceeds will all go to the general fund of this Beloved Parish.

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