Tips Pages

Tips Pages

Table of Contents:
Weaving a Nice Selvedge
Keeping Track of How Far You Have Woven
What To Weave In Between Two Towels?
Why You Should Sample a/k/a My Sad Tale
Below is a collection of tips from experienced weavers. Most often, these tidbits of wisdom are what I have been told in response to a question I -- a beginner -- have asked. Everyone has their own way of doing things, so these suggestions may seem contradictory. Read through them, try them, and use what works for you! Do you have a question you would like the "pros" to answer? Email me with your question and I'll do my best to round up an idea or two! And many thanks to the experienced weavers who have allowed me to share their ideas with you here.

Weaving a Nice Selvedge

 Buy and weave with an end-feed shuttle. Yes, they are pricey. Nevertheless, they will save you many hours of frustration over trying to get your selvedges nice without one. You will have plenty of challenges along the way without this one. Yes, there are people in the world who make beautiful selvedges without an end feed shuttle. They are not beginners. You are. Bite the bullet and spend the money. It will be worth it many times over.

Change the order in which you execute the steps of weaving. Treadle--Throw your shuttle--Pull the beater forward--Change sheds--Now push the beater back. These sequence of weaving steps results in less abrasion on your warp threads and also results in a nicer selvedge. I don't know why. It just does.

Another idea for the order of your weaving steps. Throw your shuttle--beatandchange--throw your shuttle--beatandchange. In other words, simultaneously change your shed as you pull the beater toward you. Requires more coordination, but your body develops a "memory" for the steps. I'm told by a successful production weaver that this is his secret to great selvedges.

Don't mess with your weft yarns. It's like cooking -- a watched pot never boils. Messing with your weft yarns at every shot does more harm than good. Throw your shot. Concentrate on your rhythm. Don't touch that weft yarn! Let that end-feed shuttle I told you to buy do the work.

Weaving a Nice Selvedge   Keeping Track of How Far You Have Woven
What To Weave In Between Two Towels?    My Sad Tale


Keeping Track of How Far You Have Woven

 It is always better to devise a way to measure from the beginning of the weaving rather than in 12" increments. That is, using a ruler rather than a method like running a cord along side the weaving means that any small error in the ruler gets repeated each time and multiplies into a large error.

It is ok to unwind what you have woven to measure it. I know there are some who might think that you can't do this. It doesn't affect the tension on the warp. And it is better to measure the woven part flat, rather than trying to measure around the breast beam, which may give you a longer measure.

Cut a piece of string or whatever an inch longer than the desired length of your finished object. Just before you begin weaving, tie the string onto one of the warp ends near the middle of the warp. You can quickly flip this string up and see if you're approaching the desired length of your woven object.

A weaver who makes long shawls and ruannas shared this method: Before I start weaving I lay out the number of yarn markers I will need for the appropriate length (I use old, colorful or opposite colors of what I am working on...old samples work well) for the first pieces. For example, for a 90" piece I will put out 6 yarn markers to insert at every 15" (this is an arbitrary number that works well for myself). I tie one marker every 15 " in the left edge and leave 4"-5" hanging so I can refer back, and check the number of markers as I weave. When I insert the last marker, I know I have reached the 90" point and can start over again for the matching/next piece.

Use packing/shipping paper that is 36" wide between layers of your warp. Mark the paper off in yards. Reinforced the leading edge of the paper with packing tape and punch two holes (one on either side) through the tape and put a loop of string through each hole. The loops hang off the apron rod when you first start winding. Keeping an eye on the edges of the paper (making sure the edges of each successive layer exactly overlap the previous layers), ensures that the paper is going on straight and even.

I bought a bunch of those plastic tape measures the last time they went on sale at the local fabric store (were 50 cents each...) As I work, I pin it along on the woven cloth, unpinning as it rolls onto the cloth beam (so the measure does not get rolled in, too). This way, I measure individual items (placemats, towels, etc) or yards of cloth as I go, so I know when to change colors, etc.

Watch out! Plastic measuring tapes will sometimes shrink. One weaver decided to check an old one once and believe it or not, it was 2" shorter than it was supposed to be.

I measure my weaving in 13 inch feet, which allows for the loom tension and gives a pretty good idea of the finished length under strong tension. I tie loops through the right selvedge, 1 knot for the first 'foot',, 2 for the second, 3 for the third, etc. If I'm weaving many yards, I change the color of the loop every yard, because many knots is too long a loop and they may then get in the way. I use thrums for this.

Using a measuring tape, I measure to 18" of woven fabric, then take about a 6" piece of brightly colored mercerized cotton, which I double, and put the loop of this doubled cotton under the right selvedge thread and pull the tails of the doubled cotton through the loop, securing it this way to the selvedge.(Larks head knot.) It neatly measures half-yard increments for me as I weave to my projected dimensions, and I keep the looped threads on throughout the weaving project and even after I take it off the loom and also through the wet finishing. This way I can determine what the yarn measured while under tension, off tension, and after shrinkage. It's a good double-check of your sett as well, and the looped threads usually slip off with little effort.

Weaving a Nice Selvedge   Keeping Track of How Far You Have Woven
What To Weave In Between Two Towels?    My Sad Tale


What to Weave In Between Two Towels?

 So, you've decided to weave some dishtowels, say 4, and you've wound on a warp long enough to weave all 4 towels. Good start. Now you know you have woven far enough to finish 1 towel (because you've been keeping track like the tips on this page told you to) and you need to leave some empty space for the ending fringe on the towel you are finishing and the beginning fringe of the second towel you are about to start weaving. What, if anything, should you weave in between these towels? Read what experienced weavers have to say on this subject.....

I use acrylic knitting yarn. I throw 2 shots of tabby (without beating) and then with shed closed I pull the beater forward. If it is at the end of one towel or cloth I pull it right to the web. Then I advance the warp the amount I want to leave between pieces, and throw 2 shots again in the same manner. This time I pull the beater slowly until I have the space left I want. Then I proceed weaving the next item. I have done this even with fairly long sections that will be fringed. When I remove the items I cut between leaving the amount on each piece required for the fringe and then either twist, knot or stitch the edge, whichever for the treatment I'm using.

When I was weaving a run of table runners, I inserted a piece of paper board (the type of stuff from cereal boxes etc) the width of the desired fringe in 1 tabby shed (changed from whatever the last shed on the runner was) and then changed the shed to the opposite tabby and inserted another piece of cardboard for the next fringe, and then changed shed for the weaving of the next piece. Changing sheds keeps the cardboard in place and you just leave it there until you are finished weaving. When the entire warp is off the loom you can cut the articles apart between the pieces of board. I keep the strips in my weaving bench and use them over anytime I am doing that type of thing.

Back in the days when I wove mountains of rag rugs with fringe, I cut up cardboard ceral boxes into 6" strips to use as spacers. I wove the header, put in 1 strip in each tabby shed and on to the next. Later, I cut between the cardboards and fringed. Quick and easy, cheap, too. The cardboard is sturdy enouph to beat on in rug weaving. Nowadays, when I weave 1 pillow cover, or something without fringe, followed by a different one, I use 2 shots of waste yarn in tabby sheds and cut between them after I've zigged on both pieces, either side of the tabbys. Minimal waste.

I usually use narrow strips of lightweight cardboard (gotten free from local printers shop) If I want a 2" space between items I use a 2" or 2-1" cardboards. I usually leave a 1" fringe on my handtowels so that gives me 1" for each. Just cut down the middle after taken off loom and washed. If you need more space, just insert enough cardboards to equal the amount of space you want to leave.

Try weaving 3 or 4 picks of contrasting color to hold in the end of the piece, then weave air and then weave 3 or 4 picks contrasting to start the next piece. It is cheap and quick. There really is no need to fill in all the blank space between pieces - just crank the warp forward. A word of warning: when all this blank warp gets to the cloth beam, you'll probably need to wind in some sticks or a round of packing paper to keep the side threads from falling off the roll of cloth.

I used old slats from mini blinds between my rugs. When I cut between the slats my fringe was ready to tie.

I use shoelaces sometimes and sometimes I use lengths of worsted weight cotton. That way I can just pull them out when I'm done and ready to do whatever with the fringe.

We took down some one inch horizontal venetian blinds from the kids' rooms, and I cut them apart and use them as spacers. If I want 6" fringe, for instance, I weave in six, do a couple of shots of yarn weft, weave in another six and start the next piece. I take the blind sections out before they go over the front beam, but the weaving in the middle has stayed in and is a good cutting line for even fringe.

Weaving a Nice Selvedge   Keeping Track of How Far You Have Woven
What To Weave In Between Two Towels?    My Sad Tale


Why You Should Sample a/k/a My Sad Tale

 There once was a project of rayon ... although the actual yarn type doesn't matter. The moral of my sad tale below is that beginners should make samples. Here's the story ...

I decided to weave to pieces of fabric that would later be joined together to make a Cocoon-style wrap. The finished piece were to be 20" wide and 38" long. The warp was a beautiful hunter green rayon and the weft was going to be two yarns carried together -- one was a multi-colored rayon slub; the other was a thing blue curly novelty yarn. There would be fringe on both ends of each piece of finished fabric. The threading was a straight draw and the treadling was to be plain weave. The warp was threaded at 12 e.p.i.

I wound a 3-1/2 yard warp which allowed approximately 12" for sampling at the front. That 12" turned out to be a life saver! First I started weaving a sample of the two-yarns-carried-together-weft. After a good two inches, I came to the conclusion that, frankly, I didn't like the way the fabric was turning out. So I decided to weave with the rayon slub yarn alone. After another two inches, I decided I really did not like the way this combination looked either because there was two much green warp and not enough multi-colored weft showing. So I decided to try some twill treadlings. At least that way I would not have to rethread! First I tried 2/2 twill -- too "twilly" looking. Then I tried a broken twill and a zig-zag twill. I did not like the looks of any of them. Finally, I crawled under my loom, change the tie-ups to the treadles and tried a 3/1 weft-faced twill. At last! Something that shows off the pretty multi-colored weft!

But wait! The story has just started. By now I had about a 10" sample, and my wise weaving instructor suggested that I cut the sample off the warp and wet finish it to see how the final fabric would look. So I proceeded to cut the sample off the loom and measure it. Let me start by saying that the sample was shaped like a trapezoid. The "beginning" end (tabby weaving) measured 19-3/4" but the 3/1 twill end (the treadling I ultimately decided to use) measured only 18-3/4". Another problem identified! The take-up was so severe that unless I added more warp ends, I would never end up with fabric that was 20" wide!

But wait! There's more! Remembering the words of the wise weaving instructor, I wet finished my sample by swooshing it in the sink with cool water and Dawn dishwashing detergent, then hanging it to dry. After wet finishing, I measured the sample again, only to find that it had drawn in even more! By now, the 3/1 weft-faced portion of the sample was only 17-1/4" wide(a total draw-in and shrinkage of approximately 20%) and the entire sample had also shrunk length-wise approximately 10%!

Needless to say, in order to salvage this project, it will be necessary to add warp ends. Hopefully, that will give my sad tale a happy ending. And what is the moral to this story? Sample first!!!!