Tutorial 4 of 6

The Yarn Palette

The Yarn Palette section in the properties panel shows all the colors in your draft. Each color represents a different yarn. You can add colors, remove them, or change existing ones to build the colorway for your project.

Screenshot: Yarn Palette section with several colors

Setting the Active Color

Click a color in the palette to make it the active color. The active color is what gets applied when you assign colors to threads. A color picker lets you choose any color you want — pick from the palette or enter a specific value.

Screenshot: color picker open with active color selected

Coloring Warps and Wefts

With a color active, you can assign it to individual warp and weft threads. The color strips along the edges of the canvas show the current color of each thread. Click on them to apply the active color. Build up stripe sequences by alternating colors across your warps and wefts to create plaids, stripes, and color-and-weave effects.

Screenshot: color strips along warp and weft edges with a stripe sequence

Recoloring

To change a color across the entire draft at once, use the recolor action in the Yarn Palette. This swaps every thread using the old color to the new one — no need to repaint individual threads. Useful for trying out different colorways on the same structure.

Screenshot: before and after a recolor operation

Yarn Thickness

Each color in the palette has a thickness multiplier. Adjust it to make certain yarns appear thicker or thinner in the flat yarn view. This lets you preview how mixed yarn weights will look in the finished fabric — a thick accent weft against a fine warp, for example.

Screenshot: yarn thickness controls in the palette

Flat Yarn View

Switch the drawdown display mode from grid to flat yarn in Display Settings. Grid view shows structure as black and white cells. Flat yarn view renders each crossing with the actual warp and weft colors, and respects yarn thickness settings, giving you a realistic preview of the fabric surface.

Screenshot: flat yarn view showing colored yarns with varied thickness

Sett and Density

EPI (ends per inch) and PPI (picks per inch) are set in the Loom Setup section. While they don't change the structure or colors, they affect how the flat yarn view renders density and how PDF exports scale to real-world dimensions. Set these to match your intended weaving sett for the most accurate preview.

Screenshot: EPI/PPI fields and their effect on flat yarn rendering

Buy a full license with all advanced features unlocked for $79 — direct editing, block substitution, draft optimization, and more. Please email [email protected] for more information. We bill via PayPal.