Basic weaving lesson #1

The first thing in starting a weaving project is deciding on what you are going to weave and then do the designing.   Most designs that I do I get out of weaving books.  I am not good enough to design my own yet.

 Once the designing is done then you pick out the yarns that you will be using.  There is a lot more to learn about design and yarns and for me I would have a book in trying to explain to you what is involved.  I am using a cotton that is 20/2 which means in basic terms the size and ply of the yarn.  I am using two ends because the piece that I am making calls for 30 threads to the inch, the video will explain what this means, and it will be approximately 18 inches wide.  This is the yarn that I will use to make the warp, which means that there is a warp thread and a weft or filling thread in each project, and you start making your project by winding what is called the warp.  The warp goes on the back of the loom.

I put the yarn ends over the back of my loom to wind on the warper, because it keeps the threads from twisting and getting caught.

 This is what is called the cross in the warp.  It keeps the ends (threads) in order for me when I take the warp to the loom.   It also helps me keep track of how many inches I have warped.  This project is going to be a coverlet sample and it is going to be approximately 18 inches wide.  In the next picture, that is my warper.  I wind the yarns for the coverlet sample with all the threads that I need to make it 18 inches wide and as you can see I am going around the warper and that tells me how long I will make the warp. I am winding a 6 yard warp.   So, when I take the threads to the loom and set the loom up, I will have an eighteen to nineteen inch wide sampler and each sampler will be approximately 1 yard long which will allow me to end up with approximately 5 samplers.  When a project is on the loom it is under tension, so when it comes off you have some shrinkage because the filling takes up warp and then the relaxing of the fabric once it is off the loom and then when it is finished.  So, you want to always wind extra in a warp.  Same with the width.

I did have a video of me warping, but the video didn't want to down load.  When I wind on the warp I go around until I have the width in inches on the warper.   The ties you see on the warp is what I use to keep the warp from getting all tangled when I take it off to put on the loom.  I will try to down load the video later today.  This is just the beginning.  I will have your next lesson soon.

Have a great day.