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Introduction to Weaving |
I attended a 3 week workshop back in 2005. I knew immediately that weaving was for me. The first thing which needed to be done was obtain a loom. I purchased a David 90 8-shaft floor loom from Louet-- a Dutch manufacturer of weaving and spinning equipment as well as a supplier of yarns.
The loom came partially assembled.
The castle was already complete with the shafts but the front and back beams,
the cloth and warp beams, the treadles and the brake were waiting to be
assembled. Luckily I had some help from my son Andrew and husband Yannis.
Of course something was left for me to do and here I am tightening the screws on
the treadles. These screws will facilitate tie ups to the shafts.
Before the loom can be warped, the warp threads have to be counted and measured.
For a project of 6 dish towels, 489 threads, each 7
yards
long were required. This warping mill, also from Louet, makes it possible
to measure the threads and keep them all neatly in order.
Once the warp is measured, it is made into a chain and taken to the loom.
There are different ways to warp the loom. (As you can see the word 'warp' can
be used as a noun or as a verb). We chose to warp it from the front of the
loom to the back. This entails first passing all the threads through the reed,
then through the heddles on the shafts, and finally attaching it to the
warp beam. In the photo to the left you can see that the warp has passed through
the reed and the heddles. It has also been attached to the warp beam.
All the threads were in their proper order and were slowly gathered onto the
warp beam. The front ends were then tied to the front apron bar and
evenly tensioned. Only then could I start weaving.
When a person weaves he/she can only see 12-15 inches of the woven fabric.
It is not until the fabric is removed from the loom,
can
a person get a good idea of what has been accomplished. Here is a photo of
the full length of the six towels. It is over 6 yards long. The towels
then had to be cut apart, edges sewed on the machine, hemmed, and washed.
Only after the woven piece has shrunk can it be called finished. My
cat, Samantha, is very inquisitive about anything new.
To the right you can see two of the finished towels. The weaving structure
is known as M&O. It used 6 shafts which enabled me to have plain weave
selvedges. The warp is laid out in stripes which fall symmetrically right
and left of a center broad stripe. The weft alternates between two colors.
To see other finished projects click here