How A Weaver Makes The Magic. – Part 2

In part 1 we covered the basic process of designing a basic pattern, figuring out how much material we needed and measuring the warp. Now we have to get it on the loom.

Step 4 It’s Off to the Loom We Go

You have your warp measured and now it is time to attach it to the loom.  There are several ways to get your warp on your loom and one really bad way.  Let me tell you this way first so you can avoid it.  You have all your warp wound around something, don’t just pop it off the pegs and drag it over to your loom. This is a bad idea! A really bad idea!  In our example we have 60 lengths of yarn and each one is 2 yards long, do you want 120 yards of tangled mess?

However you decide to measure your warp be kind to yourself and grab some spare waste yarn and tie those warp threads together every foot or so. Also tie a loop through the warp loop at the starting point and the turning point.  At the very least this should help to keep things in place and in order while you attach the warp to the loom.  If you have a very long warp most folks will take the starting loop and make a chain of the warp to keep everything tidy and easier to work with.  Think of this as crochet with your hands.

I won’t go into detail here as this bit will differ depending of the loom you are weaving on  (Inkle loom, Rigid Heddle, Table Loom, Floor Loom, etc. )and the method you prefer (front to back or back to front, etc).  Basically the object of this process is to take one end of your warp and attach it to the loom. Carefully wind it onto the loom and then (insert Step 5 here) tie the free end to the other side of the loom.

(In the photo above you can see the chain of warp on the right and I have the threads separated and secured so I can safely bring it to the loom.)

Step 5 Are We There Yet?

The answer is – No, not quite!  There is a part in between the tying the warp onto the front and back of the loom as noted in step 4.  This part will vary slightly depending on the type of loom you have.  The basics of weaving is the formation of fabric by manipulating threads over and under the warp.  Think back to primary school when you had to cut strips of paper and threaded them over and under to projects like paper placemats. On a loom we have heddles that do some work for us. They are usually made of either string, metal, or plastic and have a hole in the center and their job is to lift some of the warp for you. We can’t start weaving until we put the warp through the heddles.  No surprise but this is known as “warping the loom”.  You will sit at your loom and take the first warp thread and put it through 1 heddle. Then you do the same thing for all your warp threads until you have every one of them in a heddle.  

(In this photo I am pulling the warp through the heddles. There are actually little slots in these strings that you pull the threads through.)

I have two really good suggestions at this point. The first is to thread maybe 10 of them and stop and look at what you have done. Have you missed a thread? Did you thread two into the one heddle? Did you mix up the order of the threads? Oh there are so many things you may have done wrong and it is best to only have to take out a few than the entire warp.  The second  suggestion is this. When you have finished before moving on get up and look under and across your loom. Is there a thread hanging down?  If there is you need to fix it now. Yes, this can happen. Ask me how I know!

(Sleying the Reed)

Almost Ready!  The Reed has to be threaded. If you have a Rigid Heddle loom the heddle and reed are conveniently all in one.  Other looms this is a separate step.  The reed is like a grill with slots that the warp fits through.  It has two purposes. It helps to spread out the warp and keep all those threads where they should be. Secondly you use the reed during the weaving process to pack each new thread you weave into the previous threads.  This process of pulling threads through the reed is called “Sleying the Reed”.

You will be required to take a warp thread (sometimes more than one) that has already been passed through the heddle and slide it through a slot in the reed.  Do this for all your warp.

Tying On – Remember way back in step 4, well now you can tie on the warp ends to the loom.

(The Warp is now tied onto the front beam of the loom. In this photo I have some waste yarn woven at the start to help separate all the warp evenly before I start with my weft threads)

Step 6 It’s Time to Weave

Finally you are ready to do magic.  You are sitting at your loom and are ready but wait, what about the weft?  Those threads that you will be actually weaving with.  Right you need to wind on a portion of that yarn onto something so you can bring that yarn from one side of your warp to the other.  There are many different devices you can use and some are more commonly used for different loom styles.  Usually referred to as shuttles.

The weaving starts. Lift your heddle/s pass the weft from one side to the other, beat into place and then lift the heddle/s again and pass the weft back to the other side.  (The lifting and lowering of heddles will differ slightly depending of the type of loom but the idea is the same). Continue back and forth until you run out of space to move your shuttle.  At some point your woven cloth will advance forward and take up all the space. It is now time to advance the warp. This means you will have to release some tension off the back of the loom and wind it on the front until you have enough space to weave more.  Eventually you will reach the end of your warp and have no more thread left and you are done.  

Grab those scissors and carefully cut the threads off the loom  at the back where it is tied on and at the front you can untie the knots and release your cloth.

Step 7 Finishing Up

Your project is off the loom but you are not quite done yet.  If you have made an item like a scarf/shawl or anything else that requires a fringe you need to deal with this next.  If you have made something that you want to sew a hem then skip this bit and go to step 8.

There are different types of fringes (twisted, woven…) Your woven fabric will now have the ends of the warp loose on both ends, we need to deal with that so it doesn’t come apart.  I usually hemstitch my fabric while it is on the loom and decide later how I want it finished. The easiest thing to do is divide up those threads and tie overhand knots close to the fabric.  Trim off the ends to the lengths you wish and that’s it.  If you prefer you can twist those lengths together and do another overhand knot at the bottom.  

Step 8 The Washing Up and Drying Off

One last step, the washing up.  All those threads have been through a lot during the weaving process.  Stretched, handled and probably dragged on the floor at some point and they need to relax a bit.  Time for a bath!  How you do this will depend on your material.  Did you use wool or cotton or acrylic? Acrylic will probably not shrink much but if you used 100% cotton or wool it will.  A bit of shrinkage is not a bad thing, those fibres will close together a little bit and be better off.  This process is called wet finishing. When I make tea towels I actually toss them in the wash with a load of towels and I also put them in the washer too.  

Once dried you can do any hand or machine sewing of hems.

Pretty much every woven item will have little threads hanging out. If you had many colour changes as you wove you will have a lot of them.  Once your item has been dried it is time to snip off those little ends close to the fabric.  I shouldn’t have to tell you to be careful here!

The End