Weaving your Project

After tying on, start to weave with the same or a yarn of similar diameter. We call this weaving the header. Your main goal is to smooth out the spaces between the bouts from tying or lashing onto the front apron rod. It's also a good opportunity to establish the weaving width of your project (allowing for 0.75" draw in) and to experiment with sett.

Many times, such as on the Paradise Scarf, the pattern calls for hem stitching. Hem stitching is a method of sewing to secure the first few woven rows such that the weaving is secure and will not unravel from the warp. Hem stitching will be covered in another video. If a woven piece is going to be hemmed, there are other methods to secure the warp after the cloth is removed from the loom. Methods include securing the edges with a serger, a zig-zag machine stitch, or even fabric glue.

When you start weaving your project, you'll want to be mindful of your sett. The ends per inch (epi) has already been established by the heddle you chose for weaving the project, so your main focus here will be the picks per inch (ppi). Picks per inch is the number of picks (or rows) you've woven in an inch of weaving and it effects the hand (or drape) of the finished fabric. There will be some variation as you weave, and you might not get exactly the number of picks per inch recommended by the pattern, but you should aim to be close to the target and consistent as you weave. As you're weaving, you should be able to see small squares of light between the warp and the weft after you beat--even if you're trying to weave a thick, dense cloth--because your warp is under tension. The squares will shrink a little after tension is relaxed and will shrink even more after you wet finish (wash and/or felt) your piece.

Another thing to be mindful of is your selvedges (the edges of your fabric). While you weave, your total draw in--the width in reed - the width at the fell of the cloth (where your cloth forms as you weave)--should be about 0.75" or less unless your pattern says otherwise. This keeps the abrasion on the warp ends at the edges to a minimum and helps prevent them from breaking while you weave. To help manage the draw in, do not lay your picks straight across the warp as you weave-- the weft needed to make it all the way across the fabric is a little more than the width of the cloth, because it goes over and under the warp once you beat. Instead, either leave your yarn at an angle before you beat (the angle will change from weaver to weaver and from fiber to fiber, but I usually start with about a 45* angle and go from there) or put a "weaver's mountain" in the middle of the row (which looks like you have a hill of weft in around the middle of you work), the height and steepness of which will also need to be adjusted from weaver to weaver and fiber to fiber. So long as you're vigilant of your selvedges as you weave, the method you use won't impact your final product, so you can feel free to try out both methods as you weave.