If you have been in the weaving world for a long time, you have probably come across weaving patterns that were referred to as “Bateman Weaves” or perhaps names such as Park, Extended Manifold, Multiple Tabby and more. The story behind these patterns and the man who invented them, is a fascinating one.

Dr. Bateman was a chemistry professor and taught in several universities, both in the U.S. and in China. But he also had a lifelong interest in weaving and when he retired, he and his wife moved to Seattle to be near their daughter. It was then that Dr. Bateman started his exploration of weaving structure and design. Originally he thought he would provide a reference to be used for classes in weaving and as a resource for weavers' organizations. However, after producing a large number of samples of twill, overshot, plain weave and more, his own inventiveness surfaced. Soon he was creating his own threadings and treadlings and giving them new names. The Bateman weave collection of woven samples was born.

Bateman kept extensive records about his various warps and all of the samples woven on them. There were 389 warps with six to twelve samples on each one of them. He built collections of samples and prepared them for traveling exhibits in the 1950's and 60's. After his death, Bateman's samples and written work were passed down to Virginia Harvey by the Bateman family. Virginia and Luise Ziegler worked on the collection for ten years. They edited, verified and mounted the samples. Virginia published six monographs about Bateman's work which are now out of print, hard to find and expensive to purchase. In the early 1990's she passed on the materials in her possession to the Seattle Weavers' Guild.

Today, Bateman's sample collections are held by the Seattle Weavers' Guild and the Montana State University. “Weaving Innovations” chronicles selected samples owned by the Seattle Guild with color photos of original samples woven by Bateman and a complete draft for each piece shown. These are just a small number of the total samples in existence. Using this book, you are free to use the drafts and copy the samples using the information included with each. But an even greater journey, is to use Bateman's threading and treadling systems to design your very own interpretations.

Dr. Bateman used an 8 shaft table loom for all of his samples. He designed drafts for four, six, seven and eight shafts. Many drafts are suitable for floor looms, but some samples use so many different shed combinations they need a table or dobby loom to recreate them. “Weaving Innovations” includes a few of the really big drafts and also a few adapted for use with multishaft looms (over 8 shafts). I found that there are still plenty of drafts in this book that can be comfortably woven on a floor loom. ( )

A full-color look at the patterns that Dr. William Bateman developed and studied over 50 years ago will help weavers think more innovatively about their craft. With hundreds of color draft diagrams and photos of Bateman's sample weaves, artists can experiment with his innovations on their own looms.

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