Many early Harrisville Designs looms were "direct tie-up", meaning they were outfitted with an equal number of harnesses and treadles. While this style of loom is easy and intuitive to learn on, it can be cumbersome to treadle when weaving more complicated drafts. Adding two additional treadles allows more than one harness to be tied to each treadle. This allows for easier treadling and opens the weaver up to more complicated drafts. Adding two additional treadles allows more than one harness to be tied to each treadle. This allows for easier treadling and opens the weaver up to more complicated drafts. We'll use the plain (or tabby) weave as an example: A plain weave is achieved by lifting harnesses 1 and 3 for one pick and harnesses 2 and 4 for the next. With a direct tie-up loom, this is done by using two feet to treadle for each pick. With a multiple tie-up loom, harness 1 and 3 can be tied-up to one treadle and harness 2 and 4 to another. This means that only one foot is used to treadle for each pick. Our older 22" and 36" direct tie-up looms can be converted to multiple tie-up using our Treadle Conversion Kit.