WeaveMaker User's Guide: Repeat Blocks

Introduction
A repeat block lets you draw a partial threading or tie-up or treadling and have it copied over and over, automatically and quickly, throughout your design. Repeating a block is the basic way you build patterns by hand in WeaveMaker. The size and extent of the repeat are under your control, and you can use as many different repeat blocks as you wish within a single design.
If you already know about blocks and want detailed infor-mation on using the block tools, you can skip ahead to Section 6: “Block Tools”. Examples of using repeat blocks to build some familiar patterns is given in “Using Repeat Blocks” section.
The 3 by 3 cell straight draw threading illustrated below is an example of a block.

Such a block can be automatically copied (by WeaveMaker) to form the threading illustrated below.

In fact, any rectangular array of cells can be a block. WeaveMaker lets you mark out an area (using the marquee tool) to be a block. This marking persists until you dismiss the block.
Repeat Block Example

The illustrations on the facing page show a threading grid with 25 threads and 8 harnesses. Part of the grid (6 threads wide) is outlined with a dashed line (second illustration) created with the marquee tool. The outlined area is the block.
The plain block, as drawn by the marquee tool, is then converted into a repeat block (third illustration) by clicking on the repeat rectangle in the Tools window. The appearance of the gray “wings” alongside the marquee is confirmation that this is a repeat block. In the gray area, WeaveMaker repeats everything done within the block.
Select the pencil tool and move it over the grid. You’ll find it has three properties:

Clicking on a square in the block area fills in the square.
Filled-in squares within the block are repeated to the edge of the grid (that is, throughout the shaded area in the above figure).
Clicking again in any filled-in square erases it and its copies.
Suppose that with this pencil you mark three cells in the block (the ones which are blackened in Here is a 25 thread portion of the threading grid: The marquee tool marks out a plain block: which is converted to a repeat block: Now anything drawn in the repeat block: …gets repeated in the shaded sections the fourth figure below). Notice that the cell you clicked, and the ones at regular intervals to the right and left, are blackened. This kind of magical graph paper would make drawing designs quick, precise, and fun.
Any actions you take inside the block are automatically repeated throughout the gray part of the grid.

There are several variations on the straight copying illustrated here (the repeats can be reflected in various ways, or they can creep up or down). These options are taken up in detail in the next section.
Please see "Basket Weave" and "Houndstooth" for examples of using blocks to create some common fabric patterns.