WET FINISHING

This brief article contains links to the two extensive articles on wet finishing. Wet finishing is an important process in creating woven cloth. When the cloth comes off the loom what you have is a net of yarn. The process of wet finishing converts the net into cloth. The yarn relaxes, the weave pulls together, and when dry the result is woven cloth. All weaves using any yarn fiber should be wet finished. Some will say that acrylic does not need to be wet finished. Acrylic will relax and the weave will come together just as a weave of any other fiber.  There is a definite positive difference before and after wet finishing. 

 Each of these articles has step by step directions to follow: 

 

ARTICLE ONE - WET FINISHING BY HAND

https://rigidheddle.blogspot.com/2018/04/wet-finishing.html

ARTICLE TWO - WET FINISHING BY MACHINE

https://rigidheddle.blogspot.com/2020/01/wet-finishing-by-machine.html

 When wet finishing by machine timing is critical - especially time in the dryer. 

THINGS TO KNOW WHEN DIRECT WARPING

 There are some things that should be more clearly stated about direct warping that go beyond the back process and often are left out all together.  One of the first things to understand is that when direct warping - whether you are using a single vertical peg, or a horizontal rod as I have described in the article on this site, "Another Way to Direct Warp", multiple pegs, or hybrid warping using a warping board to direct warp - is that all you are doing when you bring the yarn from the loom to the warping peg (etc.) is measuring the yarn to weave the length you want your weave to be on the loom.  That length of warp on the loom is not the length of warp you want your final off the loom length to be. It is longer to account for shrinkage, waste, fringe, tie on, etc. This length is calculated as part of your project calculations with a weaving calculator.  To get that length that the calculator gives you for your warp you need to measure the distance from the warping peg to the position of the apron rod in the back of your loom at which you will warp to.  With a single peg - measure from the center of your loom - to the peg. 

When you warp to a single peg your warp is creating a V shape with the point of the V at the peg and the top of the V at each end of the warp on your heddle. Geometry tells us that the distance from the point of the V to the center point between the two legs of the V at the top of the V is shorter than the the length of each arm of the V. (This can be confusing at first - so take a moment to read that last sentence again and let it sink in.) What does this mean? It means that the warp at the center of the loom is shorter than the warp at the ends - and this distance right and left of the center of your heddle gets longer. You want all of the warp yarn to be AT LEAST the length of the  center of the heddle to the peg. This means you will have longer warp on the sides - but that is necessary when warping with a single peg - or your warp will be too short for your project.  Are you wasting some yarn? Yes. Is there a way around that? Not if you warp to a single peg. With a horizontal rod to warp to you should have equal lengths of warp from heddle to rod. With a warping board for hybrid warp, you will still have the V. With multiple pegs, you will have less of a V though you will create multiple Vs warping to multiple pegs and yarn length will still vary but not as much.. 

 When new weavers direct warp - and some experienced weavers as well who have not figured out this next thing - they often find the warp peg come flying off the table it is attached to and the peg and the yarn come at them at the loom resulting in warp tangled on the floor. Sometimes the warp can be salvaged and sometimes it can't. This happens to many - it happened to me on my second project ever and it happened twice during that warp. The first time I could salvage the yarn. The second time I could not.  Why does this happen? There is too much tension on the warp between the loom and the peg. 

There is no need to have tension on the warp when you are warping to the peg! As we just established above you are measuring the yarn when you warp to the peg. If there is tension on the warp, the warp acts like a spring - if you pull a spring too much it wants to spring back! The peg will only take so much before the warp wants to pull it in the direction from which it is being pulled - and it is going to go flying.  To prevent this there are two things you can do - one is to clamp the peg on the far side of the table and never the side closest to the loom. Closest to the loom if the peg is pulled it has nowhere to go but at you. On the other side of the table when it is pulled it will first pull itself into the edge of the table it is clamped to. But sometimes even that will not stop it and it still comes flying off with the warp. Or the pulling causes the warp to travel up the peg and come off the top.

One other thing that happens when there is too much tension on the warp from the loom to the peg is that you are stretching the yarn. Again, think of the yarn as a spring. As it is pulled it gets longer - much longer than the spring is when it is not being stretched from pulling. And since you are measuring the yarn to the peg, what is happening with the yarn under tension is that when you take the warp off the peg to wind it on the back beam as soon as it is off the top of the peg, the warp yarn RELAXES! And it gets SHORTER! Oops! What you thought was 90" long was stretched to 90" long and it really is 85 inches long or shorter! Your warp is too short for the length of the project you intended to weave, and you won't know it until you get near the end of your warp on the loom while weaving and you are no where near the length you thought you would have.

There is no reason for the tension. It is OK for your warp to sag from the loom to the peg AS LONG AS it sags consistently from one end of the heddle to the other.  This is not a problem. It may be a little longer than you need BUT LONGER IS BETTER THAN SHORTER when it comes to warp! 

But the books say to wind the warp onto the back beam under tension! Yes, it does but you have not been winding on yet - you are just measuring your yarn from the loom to the peg while you warp. When you have warped all of the slots and take the warp off the peg to wind it onto the back beam THAT IS WHEN YOU PUT THE WARP UNDER TENSION. 

When you are more experienced these things start to click and make sense. It really is simple but you don't usually see this in a book or even in the videos showing direct warp to a rigid heddle loom. 

What else can go wrong?  Lets go back a little - before you have warped the loom but are about to start. Look at your loom. The heddle is generally located not at the center of the loom but more toward the back of the loom frame. The space from the heddle to the back of the loom is shorter than the heddle to the front of the loom. SHORT END IS THE BACK OF THE LOOM. LONG END IS THE FRONT OF THE LOOM. THE BACK OF THE LOOM IS THE WARP END. THE FRONT OF THE LOOM IS THE WEAVING AND FINISHED CLOTH END. Before you warp make sure your loom is facing the correct way. AND when direct warping you put the FRONT of the loom toward the warp peg. You bring the warp from the ball of yarn around the back APRON ROD (the apron rod is the dowel or flat "stick" that you attach the warp to) through the slot in the heddle and over to the direct peg - put ir over the peg and come back to do this again for the width of your warp in the heddle.  So now you know what is the back of the loom and what is the front of the loom. You do not want to weave from the back of the loom - the space between the heddle and the beam is just too short.  Weaving is done on the front of the loom - the long part of the loom.  

ALWAYS WARP SO THAT THE YARN IS CENTERED ON THE HEDDLE. (When you get a new heddle the first thing you should do is take a marking pen and make a mark on the heddle frame at the center of the heddle - either that will correspond to a slot or a hole.)  Do not warp with the yarn on one side of the heddle and the rest of the heddle is empty. As you weave you are weaving with the warp under strong tension between the beams. If you are not centered you are pulling he beams on the side the warp is on and the empty side is going to try to flex - which can break the beam. When planning out where your warp will go on the heddle - with the heddle off the loom and in front of you on a table, start at the middle slot and count out to the right and then to the left to find the starting warp slot and the ending warp slot with the center slot in the middle. This means when you count to one side, count the center slot BUT when you count then to the other side do not count the center slot it is already counted - start in that direction with the slot next to the center slot. A simple tip is to take a piece of yarn and tie it around the top of the frame of the loom through the starting slot and another through the ending slot. On the loom when warping start at one marked slot and stop at the other marked slot. If you often use the same widths to weave on that heddle - keep the marking yarns tied on  - use a different color pair of yarns for different weaving widths and make a note of which is which width. (Sounds like it is part of a song in the Wizard of Oz! 😀 )  And before I start singing - we will move on. 😉

Also before you start weaving, you may notice that the heddle (on some looms) is different on one side from the other side. On some rigid heddle looms the heddle is bumped out on one side. On other rigid heddle looms the heddle is flat on both sides. So which is the front of the heddle and which is the back?  With a heddle that is flat on both sides it does not matter. But guess what? On a heddle with the bump out on one side and flat on the other it also does not matter.  Kromski looms and Ashford looms have heddles made with the bump out on one side of the plastic of the heddle - it is in the area of the hole. One thing that this does is strengthen the plastic around the hole. Yarn passing through the hole constantly is not going to wear through that thicker plastic that forms the bump. But is there a front and back and a right side and a wrong side to use to beat with? Not really. Some will say the name of the company that made the heddle is on the front of the heddle. Hmm? Kromski puts the name on the heddle on the same side as the bump out. Ashford puts the name of the heddle on the flat side of the heddle. Which one is right? It is really a matter of personal preference. My own preference is to beat with the heddle with the bump out. I find that it pushes the weft row more directly than the flat side BUT am I right? Some like using the flat side.  Are they wrong? Some looms only have a heddle that is flat on both sides. Is that a problem? NO! There are as many using the bumped out side to beat with as there are those using the flat side when their heddles have two different sides. (An interesting side note - Kromski's 10 dent heddle is flat on both sides. When I asked them about this they had no answer as to why the 10 dent is flat and the 5, 8, and 12 dent heddles are bumped out on one side.) So decide for yourself if you have a bumped out heddle on one side. Try a project one way and another project the other way - and see which you prefer or conclude that there is no preference. 

OK - here is something that comes up in discussions often. You will see in books and in videos on direct warping that it is said that when you put the yarn around the apron rod to put it in the slot you MUST alternate the yarn going over and under the apron rod - first over, then under. When I first started weaving I was making myself crazy making sure that I got this right - checking with each warp slot that I passed the loop of yarn through. GUESS WHAT? The yarn goes this way whether you think about it or not. It can only go this way - over and under alternating - it does it itself. If it is not, you did something wrong in bringing the yarn from the ball to go around the apron rod and through the slot. It really cannot go any other way if you are warping correctly. 

 When you wind the warp onto the back beam, you are winding the apron rod on with the warp tied on  to it and with the warp UNDER TENSION (how you put the tension on is another article in itself), you must put a warp separator under every layer of warp that you wind on. Warp separator can be as simple as sheets of brown package wrapping paper. A warp separator must be thick and it must not compress so that the one layer of warp sinks into the war layer below. Thin paper - even thin cloth  is not a good warp separator as it will push in with each warp under tension and push into the row below and maybe even rip the paper. The purpose of the separator is to keep each layer of warp apart and not mixing into the layer below.  Some use flat strips of wood put in between the warp as it is wound on. Some use the rubber no slip shelf liner - the one with the bumps on the surface of rubber. Many use the package wrapping paper which is sold in office stores or even Walmart in the stationary aisle. That paper lasts for a long time and many weaves.

There is such a thing as double warp. I am not going to go into how that is done but know that it is two warp threads in each slot and each hole. The yarn that this is done with MUST be thin enough to fit doubled in a slot and in a hole. Don't force it in - it will just rub and break as you are weaving. A beginning weaver should not be doing double warp until they have a lot of experience with single regular warp.

What can go wrong while warping? 

 If you find that there is not enough warp yarn on the ball after you have been warping and then passing  the loop through the slot in the heddle does not make it to the peg, stop and bring that loop back to the loom. Pass it back through to the back of the heddle and tie it onto the apron rod. Get another ball of warp yarn and tie the end on the apron rod and keep warping, Make sure you are starting in the now empty slot that you found the warp was too short to make it to the peg. It is always good to have another ball of yarn on hand - for warp and for weft.

Before you take your warp off the warping peg, go across every slot and make sure you have not missed any slots that needed a warp loop going to the peg. It is far easier now to fix this than later.

When tying on the warp to the warp apron rod - at the start of your warp or at the end - or in between - make sure your knots are strong and cannot come loose. A loose knot here will cause problems when you get toward the end of the weave. Double - even triple knots are good! 

When you have tied your warp to the front beam, every bundle of warp that is tied on must be equal in tension to all of the others. Go along the bundles and the warp behind the heddle with two fingers and tap gently. Every bundle must feel the same tension. If not you will have problems when you weave. It can take multiple adjustments back and forth across the warp bundles to get them even. Time spent here with this will save problems later.

 

Once you have finished warping go and read my article on weaving a header. That is the next thing you have to do before you start weaving with your project yarn! 

 

WET FINISHING BY MACHINE

In April 2018, I wrote a wet finishing article. In that article I wrote all about wet finishing - BY HAND. As at that time, that was my preferred method. I had some rather nasty experiences using the washing machine and dryer to wet finish and decided that to avoid problems that could ruin all of the work that went into creating the weave - why take any chances. I still believe that wet finishing by hand is a preferred method - especially for some very delicate weaves or fibers that are more likely to shrink or felt when felting is not desired.

I have heard from so many weavers on the various weaving groups that I am on talk about how good wet finishing by washer/dryer can be - so I decided I would do some experimenting and come up with a method that works well - works quickly - and so far has not ruined anything I have tried it on.

What you will need -

WASHER  (top load, front load, agitator, no agitator - it should not matter. I am using a top load with agitator.

WASHING BAG - fine mesh bag with a zipper or draw string. I have two - a medium size one, Pictured here - for scarves and small to medium weaves - and a large one for shawls and table runners.

SOAP I am still using BABY SHAMPOO. It if it is delicate enough for a baby it is delicate enough for what we weave on our looms.

LAUNDRY SOFTENER I am still using Downy.

DYE CATCHING SHEETS  Use with any yarn that might have colors that will run.

CLOTHES DRYER

DRYER BALLS  Wool or plastic balls with nubs that are made to be tossed into a dryer.

SOFTENER SHEETS (optional)

TABLE OR FOLDING DRYING RACK  Pictured is what I have been using - purchased at Costco and used with the wire shelf that I talk about in my first Wet Finishing article.

Here is what I have come up with:

1. SET WASHER TO DELICATE.

2. SET TO MEDIUM LOAD TO HALF FILL WITH WATER - I USE COLD WATER. WARM TO HOT WATER CAN SHRINK NATURAL FIBERS. AGITATION IN HOT WATER WILL FELT WOOL AND SOME OTHER NATURAL FIBERS.

3. SET WASHING DIAL TO EXTRA LIGHT (on our washer this washes, rinses, and spins for about 20 minutes). This should be the LEAST of the wash time settings.

4. START AND FILL WITH WATER.

5. ADD A SMALL AMOUNT OF BABY SHAMPOO.

6. ADD SMALL AMOUNT OF DOWNY TO SOFTENER CUP (per washer instructions).

7. PUT WEAVING IN WASHING BAG TRYING TO NOT GET IT AS EVEN AS POSSIBLE AND CLOSE BAG.

8. PUT WEAVING BAG IN WASHING MACHINE INTO WATER.

9. THROW IN DRYER SHEET.

10. START WASHER.

Your washer may have different ways to set these settings. The most important part is to let this wash in the machine for no more than 20 to 30 (AT THE MOST) minutes.

11. WHEN DONE TAKE OUT OF WASHER AND OUT OF BAG IMMEDIATELY.

12. PUT WET WEAVING INTO DRYER - LAY IT IN SO THAT IT IS AS FLAT AS POSSIBLE IN THE DRUM.

13. SET DRYER TO DELICATE.

14. SET DRYING TIME TO THREE (3) MINUTES (this is vital). NO MORE THAN 2 TO 3 MINUTES TOTAL IN DRYER! I HAVE BEEN FINDING THAT TWO MINUTES WILL LEAVE THE CLOTH LESS DRY WHICH IS GOOD. YOU WANT THE CLOTH TO COME OUT DAMP. TIMING IN THE DRYER (AS WELL AS IN THE WASHING MACHINE) IS CRITICAL!


15. SET DRYER TO "LOW".

16. TOSS IN DRYER BALLS.

17. CLOSE DRYER DOOR - AND START.

SET A TIMER FOR 2 TO 3 MINUTES IN CASE THE DRYER RUNS OVER THAT TIME.

18. AFTER NO MORE THAN THREE MINUTES REMOVE WEAVING FROM DRYER - IT SHOULD STILL BE DAMP!

l9. LAY WEAVING OUT FLAT ON A TABLE OR DRYING RACK. STRAIGHTEN IT OUT SO THAT THERE ARE NO FOLDS - FRINGE IS EITHER LYING FLAT AND NOT UNDER CLOTH  OR HANGING OFF THE ENDS OF THE TABLE OR RACK.

20. LEAVE ON RACK OR TABLE UNTIL COMPLETELY DRY.

IF YOU ARE WET FINISHING COTTON MAKE SURE TO EITHER KNOT THE BOTTOM OF EVERY FRINGE BEFORE WET FINISHING OR TWIST FRINGE AND KNOT THE BOTTOMS OF THE TWISTS. COTTON TENDS TO UNRAVEL ON RAW ENDS WHEN WET FINISHING. (This is for both machine wet finishing or hand wet finishing.)

AFTER WET FINISHING CLIP ANY TAILS LEFT WHILE WEAVING.

That is it. So far there have been no problems. No wrinkles left in the cloth. No set in folds have occurred. With a fine enough mesh washing bag, no fringes have escaped and wrapped around the agitator.

Regardless - when I sell a weave, the tag says "HAND WASH COLD, LAY FLAT TO DRY".

Key things - delicate, wash no longer than 20 to 30 minutes (closer to 20 the better), dry only to damp - NO MORE THAN THREE MINUTES, lay flat to fully dry. Do you have to use softener or baby shampoo - no. Use whatever you want - I find these work. For a very soft yarn you may not want to sue any softener at all.

IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE FIRST ARTICLE PLEASE DO SO.

Yes, the Kromski Heddle Does Stay in the Up Position on the Loom

I often see comments about how someone's Kromski heddle on their Kromski loom will not stay in the up position on their loom. I have answered this many times and it is time I wrote an article about it.

The Kromski heddle and heddle blocks are designed to hold the loom solid in the up position IF the tension on the warp is fairly tight. Not break the beam tight but it is best described as drum tight. That is a term I have used when teaching miniature punchneedle embroidery which also needs to have the cloth in the hoop "drum tight". On the hoop it is easy to explain - tap on the top of the cloth in the hoop and it sounds like a little drum. With the loom, the warp is not going to make any sound if you tap on it, but if you push gently down on it about an inch down there should be resistance. Here is a photo with my fingers pushing down on the warp when the heddle is in the up position -

You see just three fingers lightly pushing down. On just the warp threads it pushes only slightly further (a photo did not show this well). Getting the tension here is not hard. Wind the warp to put some tension on it. Put the heddle heddle up. If it does not stay up by itself or it falls, increase the tension on the warp to the point that the heddle is solid on the top of the blocks. Like this -

See how the warp holds the heddle in place. And see that there are on need for rubber bands wrapped around the top of the heddle block and there is certainly no need for cutting into the notch on the top of the heddle block! Wow! Somethings that I have heard people do rather than get the heddle to stand as it was intended to.

Once it is staying up there, if you feel there is too much tension, then open a pawl (front or back) and move the ratchet one or two notches less. Put the pawl back on the ratchet to lock it and put the heddle back up - if it stays fine. If not, the tension has to go back to where it was - one notch at a time if you lowered it more than one notch.

One thing to know about putting the heddle in both the top and bottom positions is that you pivot the heddle into place. See how the bottom of the heddle frame sits in the notch in the photo above. Put it there first on an angle with the top of the heddle toward you and push the top of the frame up to put the loom straight on the block. It will move against the back of the notch and stay there.

For putting the heddle in the bottom position it is the same thing - with this same tension, put the TOP corner of the heddle frame on the top notch - both sides at the same time - always - and have the bottom of the heddle frame coming toward you. Have your thumbs push the top of the frame toward the back of the loom so that the bottom of the heddle swings into place to the bottom of the heddle block - and it will make a sound "SNAP" - you might even say "Pop" as in Pop Goes the Heddle. 😄 It makes a very definite connection - and stays there!  I love the sound the heddle makes when it snaps into place on the bottom position.

Here is the heddle in the bottom position -

So - it really does work. Don't crank up your tension to the point that it will do damage - but the tension has to be correct for the Kromski heddle to stay solidly in place - up or down! And each time you advance the warp you are releasing the tension to wind the cloth on the front beam and when done you need to return the tension to where it was.

When you finish weaving for the day - or will be away from the loom for several hours, take the tension off the warp - just enough for the warp and cloth to go slightly slack - not too much! This will reduce any stretch on the warp and also any stress on the loom while you are not weaving. 

WET FINISHING

SINCE THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN I HAVE WRITTEN A NEW ARTICLE ABOUT WET FINISHING BY MACHINE. PLEASE CONSIDER THE NEW ARTICLE AS A CONTINUATION OF THIS ARTICLE. - - - WET FINISHING BY MACHINE


I have been trying to put articles on this site in the order of start to finish when weaving, but wet finishing is a question that comes up from new weavers quite often, so, therefore, I am going to skip all the way to the end of the weaving process and share what I do to wet finish my weaving.

Wet finishing is the process of turning what is basically a woven net coming off the loom into cloth. One very wise weaver who is not identified - and maybe after I say that, this weave  will comment here "That was me!" (not "me") - that "IT IS NOT CLOTH UNTIL IT IS WET FINISHED". Wet finishing goes all the way back in the history of weaving which is a Very, Very long time. Essentially, wet finishing is getting the finished weave soaking wet. When the weaving is wet finished, the fibers and yarn relaxes. The weave comes together. Things in your weaving that looked not as good as you expected while it was on the loom sometimes correct themselves and look fine. The spaces that you saw between the warp and weft close up - depending on the weave. The size of the weaving changes - generally a  little smaller - even for fibers like acrylic that don't shrink. The cloth is said to "full". It becomes cloth.

Some say that acrylic is not effected at all by wet finishing and I have to disagree. I use a lot of acrylic yarns and there is a big difference for the better between the weave coming off the loom and the after it is wet finished. It does full. It does change size slightly. The yarn does relax. The weave does come together.

There are many methods to this. The current master of wet finishing is Laura Fry, who has written a book and has a video class available on her methods. This is just a preview of that class. I have watched several videos, collected a lot of forum and weaving group comments about how to wet finish and I have my own variation of what I have learned. I know that others have different methods.


One can wet finish by hand or use a washing machine. I have tried using the washing machine with various fiber weaves and I infrequently now use the washing machine and for just about everything - unless I get foolishly courageous and decide to "take one more chance" - I HAND WET FINISH.

I just started writing about experiences using the washer/dryer to wet finish and decided that I would not confuse the readers and just stick to a method that will work - wet finishing by hand.

This is what I do to wet finish. Again, others do it differently. This has worked for me.

1. Fill a plastic tub that fits in your sink with enough water to completely cover the weaving.

A dish washing basin works well - and comes in a large and small size. I found one in Walmart - they are not hard to find. To use hot, warm, or cold water depends on your fiber and what you want to happen with the yarn and the weave. Generally you go by the label that came with the yarn with its washing/care instructions. Natural fibers that shrink such as wool, cotton, and all the rest, if you use warm to hot water the fiber will shrink. Sometimes you want the fiber to shrink. If this weaving is going to be washed by the owner, and you do not shrink it, chances are that when it is washed later it will shrink. Most weaving calculators (like ours) take shrinkage into account when determining the warp and weft amounts and lengths. You may decide that you don't want it to shrink at this point and then use cold water. Some natural fibers, such as wool, felt. Think of felt that you buy for crafts and that is what your weave will look like after it is felted. If you use hot water and when the cloth is in the water you agitate it, the fibers will felt. Agitate it a lot and it felts a lot. Some projects call for felting as an effect in the finished project. How do you agitate the fibers? I have a joking comment to make but I will refrain. Move your hand around quickly through the water and move the weaving around a great deal with a lot of motion. This only happens with fibers that felt. For a man-made fiber like acrylic, you can use hot, warm, or cold water and it will not make any difference. I just use warm water for my comfort with my hands in the water when I use acrylic yarn.

2. I add a capful of baby shampoo to the water. If you put this in while the water is going in, it will mix itself.

Some use other soaps. Some use nothing. Some use special soaps made for yarns that is sold in knitting and weaving stores. When I started I used just regular clothes washing Tide. I then decided that if baby shampoo was good for baby's hair it has to be good for any fiber that I am going to wet finish. A big bottle of the non-name brand is just as good as the name brand, more expensive bottle.

3. If your weaving is not already in the basin, put your weaving in the basin. Obviously, if what you have woven will not fit in this basin or in the sink, get a larger basin and use that out of the sink. I have heard that some use the bathtub.

4. This is when the motion you want to use for the yarn you are using comes in - as I described in Number 1 above. Swirl the yarn around in the water. (If agitating - agitate now.) Just move the yarn around so that it all gets wet and all of it comes into contact with the soapy water. The yarn will absorb the water fairly quickly. I am not that concerned with washing the yarn. Some do say that the yarn should be washed. Other than a hand-spun, homemade yarn direct from the animal, I don't see the yarns I am using being that dirty that they need to be washed for a prolonged period of time. Longer does not hurt. I do this step for about FIVE minutes. If you are felting, the time will be longer to the point of felting you desire. If you are shrinking you would also increase the time.

5. Take the cloth into both hands and pick it up from the basin. Let it drip out either into the basin or the sink from your hands - just enough so that when you put it down on the side for a moment while you prep for the next step it does not flood the counter. I put down a towel to put it on. Put the cloth down.

6. Empty the basin into the sink. Turn on the faucet and rinse out the basin to get all of the soap out and when all you see is clean water and no suds in the basin, turn off the faucet. Put the basin back into the sink and fill it with clean water - no special temperature - cool is fine.

7. Put the cloth into the basin and swirl it around for its FIRST rinse. Again, not long. Just a few minutes is fine.

8. Repeat steps FIVE THROUGH SEVEN for the second rinse.
At this point the water should be clear and stay clear.

9. Repeat Step FIVE TO SIX, but now I add on partial cap of Downy Fabric Softener. Have it mix into the water and mix it a little by hand. PUT THE CLOTH INTO THE FABRIC SOFTENER WATER. Swirl it around to get the cloth submersed into the water mix. Set a timer for 20 to 30 minutes and go take a break.

10. During your break take two large bath towels or "bath sheets". I use white to not transfer any dye in the towel to the  weaving. Put the towels flat on a table - you want the towels to be longer than the total length of your weaving - so if it is a short weave then one towel may do it. If it is very long you may need a very long table and more than two towels. Tables are just so long so hang it off the ends of the length of the table - cover the floor for drips.

11. When you come back after the timer goes off, remove the cloth from the water. Allow it to drip in your hands. I gently squeeze to get the bulk of the water out but do not wring it out. Carry it over to the towels you set up in Number 10.

12. Lay the weaving on the towel FLAT. If the towel is wider than the weaving - and with a scarf it often is, place the woven cloth toward one edge and fold the other edge of the towel completely over the cloth. If there is not enough towel to fold fully over the weaving, then don't fold it. Start at one end and roll the cloth up into the towel, trying to avoid having any of the cloth wrinkle of fold on itself. Roll it up so that you are left with a long roll of weaving stuffed towel - like a cake roll. I then squeeze the towel gently to absorb some of the water inside. The towel is then set aside and you set a timer again for twenty to thirty minutes. DO NOT let the weaving stay in the towel for more than 30 minutes - when I have, it comes out wrinkled.

13. When it is time, take the towel roll over to a table that is empty. You are going to now unroll the towel and get the weaving out and lay it flat on the table. This is for the final dry. It often comes out of the towel just damp. I have not had it come out still soaking. Make sure the weaving is laying out nice and flat and leave it there until dry. You may wish to come back as the top seems to be dry and turn it over to expose the bottom to the air more.

14. I have come up with a way to make the drying time a little quicker and if not quicker there is no need to turn the weaving to expose the bottom to air. I went to a home store - Home Depot - and bought a six foot long and 16" wide plastic coated wire shelf used for closets. Also buy a package of the little plastic tips used on the sharp ends of the wire where the shelf was cut at the factory or the store to length. I place this up on two plastic "milk" crates. I found some small ones of these in Walmart during school supply season that were a dollar each and I have two spare if I need to get a second 16" wide wire shelf for weaving wider than 16". When I use only one shelf I stack two for each end just because I have them. Put the crates on the table. Put the wire shelf up on the crates - balance it so that it is sturdy. Lay the weaving on top of the shelf - let the fringe hang down below. You are now drying both sides at once.

15. How long does it take to dry? This depends on the air it is drying in. In the winter with the heat on and the air being drier, it can be totally dry in four or five hours. In the summer with the humidity it can take over night to into the next day to be totally dry.

IMPORTANT NOTES -

FRINGE

There is always a question about finishing your fringe before or after wet finishing. I have done both. Many say always finish the fringe before you wet finish. I know that I am gentle with the fringe and the cloth as I wet finish by HAND - and make sure the fringe does not get tangled - which it wants to do.  Some yarns will un-ply at unfinished ends during wet finishing. Cotton is one that will often do this. Finish your cotton fringe always before wet finishing or at the very least tie a knot in the bottom of every fringe if you plan to just have plain fringe or will take care of fringe finishing later. If in doubt, finish the fringe before you wet finish.

FIXING UNINTENDED FLOATS

Examine your weaving before wet finishing for any mistakes made - floats - warp or weft threads not caught into the weave and stick up across the weaving where it should have been woven in. I am not going to explain the process to fix these now but FIX ALL FLOATS BEFORE WET FINISHING.

CUTTING WEFT TAILS

As you changed colors of weft or ended one shuttle or bobbin and started the next, you left weft tails hanging down from the weave. DO NOT CUT THESE OFF UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE WET FINISHED THE CLOTH.   Once the cloth is completely dry cut those off close to the cloth but always making sure you don't cut the weaving at the surface.

ASSEMBLING 

If you are joining two pieces of weaving together, do that before wet finishing.

HEMMING TO NOT HAVE FRINGE

If you are going to cut off the fringe and hem your cloth so there is no fringe on an end, DO THAT BEFORE WET FINISHING. There is a specific method to do this - I am not including that at this time in this article.

I HAVE HEARD...

Have you heard about putting your weaving on the floor of the shower and turning on the water and walking all over it? Like I said early on, there are all different ways that people wet finish. (If not everything else , do take off your shoes before doing this.) 😃 

 

+++++++++++

Don't be put off by all of the steps. It does not take that long to wet finish your weaving. There is more "wait" time than there is active time doing it.



PART TWO - WET FINISHING BY MACHINE

FIRST WEAVE A HEADER

After you have tied your warp onto the front cloth beam and are ready to weave, before you start weaving with your project yarn, you need to do something about those triangular bundles of tied on warp that is pulling your warp to follow those triangles. To fix this, before you start weaving with your project weft yarn you need to weave a header. The header will straighten all of the warp from your heddle to your apron rod with the bundles tied on. Weaving a header is simple.

You will need something that is NOT your project yarn to do this. Any scrap yarn can be used. It is best that it is thicker than your warp yarn. Some have even used rolled toilet paper to weave a header. The header is going to be removed when your weaving COMES OFF THE LOOM so you want to use something that is going to be easy to get out. I use something called Mason Twine. This is a polycord that is used in construction to lay out brickwork or pavement. It is inexpensive. It can be found at home stores like Home Depot or Lowes. Any hardware store should sell this. Walmart sells this in the aisle near hardware that has rope. You get a lot on a roll.  It looks like this on the spool -

This is cord is slick. It slides easily and when it is time to pull it out, it just slides right out.  When you cut this cord it is best to seal the end so that it does not unravel. Just put the end of the cord near a flame for two seconds and it will start to melt. That's it. 

To measure how ,much you will need unwind the cord from the roll over your warp. Go across your warp eight times plus an extra inch or so each time to have enough cord. You now have enough cord to weave your header.

You are going to start about two or three inches above where your knots are on the warp beam. Adjust the tension on your warp to weave - same as if you were about to start weaving with your project yarn. 

With the mason twine I find it does not stay on a stick shuttle very easily, so I use the stick shuttle to push the yarn through the open shed using the slot of the shuttle to hold the yarn as it goes through. 

1. Open the shed. Take an end (doesn't matter which) of the header yarn or mason twine and push the end through the open shed to the other side with the end of a shuttle. Grab hold of the end as it comes through and pull it through. You want almost the entire length to come through the open shed. Leave a tail with the opposite end hanging out from the side you started on. Straighten the cord or yarn across inside the shed. Close the shed to neutral. DO NOT BEAT.

2. You are now on the other side of the warp with the long cord. Do as you did in STEP 1 going back the other way. Open the shed, push the end through getting most of the yarn out the other side. This time DO NOT pull the cord/yarn that goes over your warp end  to the other side so that it tightens against the end warp thread. Instead leave a loop hanging out. DO NOT BEAT.

3. Repeat STEP 2 twice more but with the fourth row of this header yarn. Here is what this will look like at this point - 

4. NOW you are going to BEAT all four rows at the same time.  If the first row does not move, don't worry about it. Make sure the other three rows get up against each other and MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A STRAIGHT LINE OF CORD/YARN ACROSS THE WARP.  You see below what this looks like now - and you can see that the warp yarns above this start of the header are coming to straight with even spacing. But not completely - yet!

5. Now you should be on the same side you started on when you started your header. You are now going to start weaving with the header cord or yarn normally. 

I still leave a loop on the ends. I do not want the warp to be pulled in on the ends. I weave about four rows. Above you see the next row being put in - at an angle as you would do when you weave.

6. Keep weaving with your header cord/yarn until you see all of the warp nice and straight above the header to the heddle. I like to come back to the side I like to start to weave at. For me, I like to start on the right side of the warp with the heddle in the up position. If you start differently get your header yarn/cord to stop at the side you like to start weaving. If this means you have a lot of header cord/yarn left over, you can just leave it and it will wind up with the cloth or you can snip it off. Be very careful with scissors around your loom. You DON'T want to cut any warp threads. 

When you look above you see nice straight warp and even spacing. You are now ready to weave with your project yarn!

No matter what pattern you will be using for your weaving, start with a header first - no pattern - just plain weave.  If you don't weave a header you are going to find that your angled warp is going to make your beginning weave very uneven. 

When I start weaving after I weave my header, I move up a couple of inches from the header before I start weaving with my project weft. I do this to leave a space between the weft and the header so that when I hemstitch the end of the yarn on the loom (hemstitching article coming) the wrap will pull together in the hemstitch and allow for a nice tight stitch.

Some have other ways do create a header. Some use sticks that are woven into the warp. This can also work. For an rigid heddle loom, I have found that weaving a header as in this article is easy - and works every time.

DIY Bobbin Winder for Boat Shuttle Bobbins for Under $2 or Less!

A boat shuttle can be a fun accessory for a rigid heddle loom. They are used instead of the usual stick shuttle that comes with rigid heddle looms. With a rigid heddle loom they do have some drawbacks as they can only hold as much yarn as will fit on a bobbin and with the usual knitting yarns used by many to weave as weft on their rigid heddle looms they do not hold very much of that yarn and that means ending and starting a new bobbin frequently as you weave along with the many end and start ends you will have when your weaving comes off the loom. They are great, however, with thin yarns and you can get a good amount of finer yarns on a bobbin that will keep you weaving.

I am not going to go into buying a boat shuttle. One thing that you need to know before buying a boat shuttle is how large top to bottom is your open shed in either the up or down position of the heddle. The boat shuttle must fit through this opening with room to spare so that it will go from one side of the loom to the other as you weave. So before buying a boat shuttle measure the open shed and buy a boat shuttle that will easily fit and not be tight against the top and bottom of the shed as it passes through. There are several boat shuttles that will fit and one of the companies even makes a boat shuttle that they call "slim" that should fit a rigid heddle loom.

But once you have your boat shuttle you need to wind the weft yarn onto the shuttle's bobbin. This can be done by hand but while some do it, it is not practical. You would rather spend the time weaving. You want to wind the bobbin fast. There are manually cranked and electric motor winders sold - and they are expensive. But most have around the house a common tool that is perfect for winding a boat shuttle bobbin - an electric variable speed drill. Good for all kinds of projects around the house. And it is good for winding bobbins - but you need a secure way to get the bobbin onto the drill.

Here is a bobbin carrier that will cost you less than $2 at any home or hardware store. You will need:

1 six inch dome head screw bolt 1/4" in diameter
1 nut to fit bolt
1 small washer to fit bolt
2 larger washers to fit bolt

 

The bobbin for my boat shuttle is four inches long. The screw bolt is six inches long. This allows two inches to be tightened securely into the drill chuck. Boat shuttle bobbins can be different lengths. If your shuttle uses longer than a four inch long bobbin you would just need to get a screw bolt two inches longer than the bobbin length.  Also check the hole diameter in your bobbin. If it is wider than 1/4" then get a bolt that will just fit in - don't get a bolt that is much smaller than the hole in the bobbin. If you do, it will not wind evenly as it turns on the drill.

Here is how this will go together -

The small washer goes on first. This is to give a flat base to sit against the top of the screw. One of the large washer's goes on next. Then the bobbin is slid on. Next goes the second large washer goes on, Then put the nut on the bottom of the screw and tighten the nut against the washer to hold the bobbin securely on the bolt. Do not over tighten. Do not use any tool. Just turn the nut on with your fingers.

Put the end of the screw (not the dome end into the drill chuck and tighten the chuck. A variable speed drill will turn faster or slower by how much you hold the trigger in. You are going to start winding your yarn onto the bobbin SLOWLY.  First - with no yarn pull the trigger of the drill and see where you want to hold the trigger in to get a slow and steady wind. Also take note of the direction the drill is going. Most of these drills are also reversible so if you want it to turn the other way there will be a switch to do that. Take the end of your yarn and wrap it around catching the end under one of the hand wraps you do here at the top of the bobbin and make sure you are wrapping the same way the drill will turn. Now pull the trigger just a little and get the bobbin turning and you will have your yarn now winding on the bobbin.

 As it is winding hold your yarn with one hand while you hold and work the drill with the other. Move the yarn from top to bottom and back again along the bobbin as the drill turns and wind the yarn evenly along the bobbin. Once you have the wind going evenly you can squeeze the drill trigger harder and increase the speed - but don't get carried away! Once the yarn comes toward the top of the ends of the bobbin stop. Your bobbin is wound!

 This yarn is a #3 crochet cotton/wool blend. The thickest yarn I will use with the boat shuttle is a #1 knitting weight sock yarn. Anything thicker and I will go back to using a stick shuttle.

Cut the yarn between the screw and the ball. Take the screw out of the drill - just reverse how you turned the chuck to tighten it so that now you loosen it. Take the nut off the bolt, slide down the lower washer and slide off the bobbin. You are now ready to weave!

It is a good idea to buy a number of bobbins. They are often sold by the dozen. You can then wind all your needed bobbins for your project right at the start and have them ready to slide onto the shuttle when one ends.

It is easy. It works better than trying to chuck a pencil into a drill to hold a bobbin. (I tried that and was not happy with it.) And the price is right!

A Dowel Replacement on A Kromski Loom

Over time the tension on the warp may bend your dowel rods on your Kromski loom. This is not a big problem to deal with. Dowels are available in every home store and in some craft stores. There is nothing special about the dowels Kromski uses on their looms. They are hardwood dowels. You can use a bent apron rod BUT it is best to keep the distance from the rod to the heddle at an equal distance across. When I noticed the bend on one of my Kromski apron rod dowels after using it a few months, I went out to buy dowels to replace the bent dowel. I bought a same sized dowel - you will need to cut it to length - even a small hand saw can do this - and I decided to buy an OAK dowel. Oak dowels are slightly more expensive but worth having a harder wood.

Home stores should sell perfectly straight dowels - as they should sell perfectly straight lumber but that does not always happen. Take some time to find the straightest dowel the store has. Take it to a flat surface in the store - heavy oak plywood is often flat - and roll the dowel on the flat surface and see that that it rolls flat and does not bump up at any point along its length. It pays to take time to get a good straight dowel.

I thought that this was going to be final solution, but wood is wood and in humid areas and with tension being put on the dowels on the loom, even the best round dowel will eventually warp or bend. I looked at the apron rods that Ashford uses - they are not dowels. They are flat strips of wood. If used with the flat side UP - meaning the edge of the flat wood strip faces the heddle and not the larger flat surface of the wood. I went out and bought a 1/4" thick board in one of the Home Stores. These thin boards are considered "hobby" boards or wood. I cut a strip off of that board as wide as the dowel on my Kromski and I attached it with the existing TexSolv apron cords that I had put on (see the last article). It is very hard to bend a strip of wood along its edge.

I only replaced on dowel with this flat apron rod. The cloth beam apron rod Oak dowel that I replaced the Kromski dowel with has been fine so far. If it ever needs replacement, I have more of the flat board to make a flat apron rod for this side.

It works! It will require someone with a table saw to cut the strip of wood to the correct width and then the length needs to be cut the same length as the Kromski dowel.

Different Apron Cords on a Kromski Loom

Kromski several years back changed the apron cords on their looms. At one time you received a long strand of nylon cord and the Kromski instructions told you to cut the cord into equal lengths and form looms with the cord which required holding the cord ends together in a candle and hoping to get them to melt - which meant needing to do this for all cords to come out to equal length loops which is not always easy. Then they decided to change how to use this long length of cord and put a screw at each end of the warp and cloth beams and tied the cord between the screws and showed in their new instructions how to wrap the cord around the apron rods to form "V"s to hold the apron rod loosely in place.

This works if you are using their "warp helper" block to warp your loom but did not work well when I tried to use this when direct warping. The problem on a 32" wide loom was emphasized when the dowel rod would dip down on one end while warping the other end and across. Some love this new setup and if it works for you don't change it. But I struggled with this for several months and then went out looking for an alternative.

I could have cut the cords into pieces and used the old instructions which are still easy to find on the internet to cut and burn the loops together and use them as they used to be uses. But I really did not like that. I looked to see what other looms do. One other company uses a plastic band to hold the rod to the beam. Another uses something called TexSolv - a product commonly used in multi-shaft weaving. The feature of TexSolv is that it is nylon cord made up of a chain of small loops that make it easy to put an end through one of those loops, pull and have the length of the cord on the loom exact as long as you you put the cord end through the same loop counting up.

I decided that the TexSolv was a great way to put the apron rods onto the beams and I went out to find it. If there is no weaving store near you, several of the weaving websites sell TexSolv. Some have better prices than others. Be aware that this cord is EXPENSIVE. You can buy it by the foot and you can buy it on a spool. I decided - not being sure how much I would need and not sure if at some point I would want to replace the TexSolv cords with new ones - to buy a spool.

Schacht has an excellent video on how to put TexSolv cord on the apron rods and beams of their Rigid Heddle looms and this process is the same for the Kromski. Here is a link to how it is done -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPGVyv3z8T8

Here is how it looks on my loom. Compare this photo to the one above. The apron rod is securely tied to the beam. You will see the two end cords not around the dowel - this is to keep tension off the ends of the dowel when weaving less than the full width of the loom. All I need to do is slip those back over the ends of the dowel.The best thing is that it is so easy to get equal lengths cord that enable your apron rod that you warp and tie onto the same distance from your heddle across the entire length of the apron rod.

Here are some close ups and you can easily see how this cord is constructed with small loops.

A small investment made using the apron rods so much easier. And you can easily slip cords off the dowels for narrow projects to put even tension on the dowels.

A Simple Tip When Warping a Rigid Heddle Loom

My Kromski loom came with something that Kromski calls a "Warp Helper". It is a block of wood with a rectangular slot in the bottom and a hole through the top - for the apron dowel to slide through to hold the dowel while you warp. On my 32" loom the dowel both pulls this block off the edge of the loom that you are supposed to push it down on and the length of the dowel cannot be supported by a single block like this. I tried to make my own similar blocks and none really were very satisfactory. The idea is that the warp dowel needs to be held while the warp is being tied on to it. I have since watched Kromski's video on using this and saw that if one were warping on a warping board and then transfering the yarn to the loom to tie onto the warp beam, the Kromski warp helper will work, but when direct warping - which is so common with a rigid heddle loom - the block does not work well.

So what to do to hold the warp dowel when warping - and then again hold the cloth side dowel when tying on the warp on that side? The answer just came to me one day and it is SO simple that it is just silly that this is not shown all of the time!

I used rubber bands. Not special rubber bands but thick and strong rubber bands. These are the type of rubber bands that the post office uses. And they can be found where stationary is sold - Walmart, Staples, or other office stores or stationary sections in a bag of many for just a few dollars. You will get more rubber bands in that bag than you will ever need. Here in photos I can show you much easier what I am talking about.

You have your apron rod or dowel that you are going to tie your first warp thread on, and take a loop from that thread through your heddle slot to your warping peg and back again - but the dowel is just hanging there. Wouldn't it be easier if it was up and supported in front of you - straight across the back of the loom?  Take a look here -

Here you can see the apron rod for the warp - in the back of the loom. You are looking from the front to the back. See how the rod (what the warp loops around) is sticking straight across - with its cords stretched out behind it connected to the warp beam. Now look to the left of the photo from the end of the heddle back. Wait - here is a close up of that -

See the rubber band? So simple. There is a rubber band on each side of the loom. One end of one rubber band goes around the top of the heddle block and the other end goes around the end of the apron rod (or dowel). Do this on each side. Put the rubber band on, and crank back your apron rod to put some tension on the rubber band. Position the rod where it is comfortable for you to tie and wrap onto it as you warp. Can you believe how simple this is.

Now, once you have all of your warp on the warp apron rod, take the rubber bands off BEFORE you start winding your warp on the warp beam. This is easy to forget - but you will not be happy if you leave those two rubber bands in place. BUT just put them aside, you still need them!


The warp is all set on the warp beam. You have taken one warp out of each slot and put it in the adjacent hole. You are now ready to tie it on the front beam. And you are going to use your rubber bands again. You will do the exact same thing but now on the front dowel.

Take a look -  

It is hard to see but there is a rubber band on both the left and the right sides. Here is a close up of the right side.

With the dowel straight across and being held in place with the rubber bands, start tying your warp on the front beam. Here are close ups of the rubber bands going around the top of the heddle block and dowel end.

Once you start tying your warp bundles on to the dowel and you have enough evenly on both sides of the dowel to support the rod with the warp, you can take the rubber bands off. I have left them on until the end, but I have been finding that they might interfere with getting a good tension before you make your final adjustments of each bundle to get even tension on each. No matter what - you must take these rubber bands OFF BEFORE you start to make your adjustments of tension on each bundle. If you don't you will not have correct tension on your warp to weave with.

You can certainly use each rubber band many times but if you use two that have stretched out unevenly, you will put your dowel at an angle. Just take a look at how far each end of the dowel is from the heddle - the two measurements should be equal. A simple ruler put from the heddle to the dowel on each end will tell you immediately if you need to put these rubber bands aside and take two new ones. Those rubber bands are still good - for the usual uses for rubber bands.

This will work on any Rigid Heddle Loom - as long as there is part of the heddle block sticking up to put the rubber band around.

So you see, two simple rubber bands can make a job that potentially can be frustrating simple and easy!

STARTING A NEW PROJECT

When I am planning a new project to put on the loom, after I have decided what the project will be, I need to know how much yarn I need to have for the project. There are mathematical calculations to do that will make a close estimate to how much yarn the project will need for both warp and weft.  There are a lot of calculators out on the internet and in the calculations can be found in weaving books. Many weaving books will have a project planning sheet that will let you write in the numbers needed and will lead you through the calculations to do to get how much warp and how much weft the project will use.

These are all nice. I have tried several. I have a good background in math but sometimes the worksheets or written out calculations in books can be confusing. I like things nice and simple so I have taken the best of what I have seen and put together a computer Excel spreadsheet that does it all - and made this simpler than many I have seen and also uses calculations based on the weft yarn to be used that will more accurately give how much weft yarn is needed rather than a simple percentage of the warp yarn needed that is always a lower amount than warp - which I have sometimes found not always to be even close - and generally not enough weft, which means you can find yourself short. I will share that spreadsheet file with you in this article, but first you need to understand some of the numbers that it is going to ask you to enter.

First, you need to decide how long and how wide your finished project will be. This is simple enough and it is a decision that you need to make for any weaving project you want to weave. This is easiest done in inches and the spreadsheet will ask for this in inches.

ALL YELLOW cells are INPUT points - this is where you put in your numbers. ALL GREEN cells are ANSWERS! Ignore the white cells - they are there to see what is being used for calculations.

The next thing you need to decide on is what weight yarn you will be using. In knitting yarn there will be a number found on the yarn label such as #4 - which is worsted weight yarn or #3 - which is known as baby weight, sport weight, or DK weight (all the same), and others (from #1 to #7) The weight of the yarn will decide the heddle that you will use. Generally a #4 weight yarn uses an 8 or 7.5 dent heddle. You can use a thinner yarn in a heddle than the usual thickness it is made for, but you can't use a thicker yarn as it will rub and wear in the slots and holes as it passes through - if it fits through at all. A smaller thickness yarn is fine. The resulting weave will just be looser and that results in more drape in the final weaving - which can be a good thing. I am not going to go into all of the details as all of this is basic to learning how to weave. My intent here is to help and not to teach from scratch. In the spreadsheet the weight of the yarn is going to go into the epi and the ppi entries.

EPI - ends per inch and relates to WARP
PPI - picks per incn and relates to WEFT (A pick is a single passing of the shuttle from one side to the other.)

If you don't know the EPI, you can measure it easily. Take any straight ruler. Wrap the yarn evenly starting at an inch mark and wrap not too tight and not too lose to the next inch mark. Count the number of wraps and DIVIDE by TWO (2). The result is EPI.

NOW - I am going to share what I do. I decide what heddle I am going to use - let's say the 8 dent heddle that came with my Kromski loom and I know that the dent of this heddle means that it is 8 ends of yarn in one inch. Even if I am going to use a thinner WARP than the usual #4 which should come out close to 8 EPI (not always but close), the EPI I put in the spreadsheet will be 8. If I am using the same yarn for the weft, then the PPI that I put into the spreadsheet will also be 8. If you have a 7.5 dent heddle this would be 7.5 for your heddle. If I am using a thicker or thinner WEFT - I will measure this yarn on the ruler and use that number instead - why? Because this will effect the amount of weft yarn that will be needed.

When you enter the EPI you are going to get a calculated number of WARP ENDS which may be a number with a fraction. Since you can warp a fraction of a yarn, the calculator will automatically NEXT give you a whole number of warp ends - which will be HOW MANY SLOTS AND HOLES you will warp. NOW YOU KNOW HOW MANY SLOTS AND HOLES YOU WILL WARP.

Next you are going to put in the length you plan to weave - the finished length of the project. The spreadsheet is now going to calculate how much warp you need to buy. Remember all of these numbers are inches!

The spreadsheet uses a general 10% calculation for shrinkage and pull in. This is how much extra that the spreadsheet is calculating in for this. IF YOU NEED OR WANT A LARGER OR SMALLER PERCENTAGE FOR SHRINKAGE AND PULL IN, CHANGE THE % NUMBER TO WHAT YOU WANT. ALWAYS INCLUDE THE % SIGN WITH YOUR NUMBER.

YOU NOW KNOW HOW LONG EACH WARP YARN THREAD NEEDS TO BE. If you are direct warping, this is how MANY INCHES YOU NEED FOR THE REAR BEAM OF YOUR LOOM TO BE AWAY FROM YOUR WARPING PEG. (WHOLE INCHES WARP LENGTH)

At this point you get the AMOUNT OF WARP THAT YOU WILL NEED IN BOTH INCHES AND YARDS. As most yarns are labeled in YARDS, you now know how much WARP to buy.

NEXT the spreadsheet works on WEFT.


The length of your weaving has already been entered based on the above calculations and taking shrinkage into account. All you need to enter is the PPI. The amount of WEFT needed will then be calculated for you.

Understand that it is better to have more yarn than less. I always buy an extra skein of yarn more than the calculations tell me to buy. I buy in local retail stores that have no problem taking returns on yarn. If I can't return the yarn I have added to me stash for future use. Many yarns are in dye lots. This means that the yarn color when dyed may vary from one dye batch to another and those in the SAME DYE LOT will be the SAME. The yarn label will tell you the Dye Lot number or Code. Always buy the same Dye Lot number on the same color yarn that you buy for a project.

OK - Here is the link to the spreadsheet. When you go to the site the file is on, you will be able to download it to your computer. Please click on the DOWNLOAD Button on the top of the menu to the right. DO NOT USE THIS FILE ON THE SITE - EVEN THOUGH THIS IS POSSIBLE. NEVER SAVE OVER THIS FILE ON THE SITE YOU FIND IT ON. THIS SPREADSHEET IS FOR YOUR USE ONLY - DO NOT SHARE IT WITH ANYONE. IF someone wants it, send them to this article and they can download it themselves.

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE EXCEL, YOU CAN DOWNLOAD A FREE VERSION OF AN EXCEL OFFICE SUITE FROM LIBREOFFICE. 

Another TIP - Put the spreadsheet file on your cell phone. There are a number of free excel compatible Android or Iphone office suite apps that will open the file and let you do calculations right in the yarn store!


THE LINK - EMAIL US WITH YOUR REQUEST

RH WEAVING CALCULATOR

First Project as a Learning Project

 NEW INTRODUCTION TO THIS ARTICLE:

A very first weaving project needs to be a learning project. The project's only intent is to learn how to weave on your new rigid heddle loom. As when learning anything new, one needs to start with the very basics. When learning how to swim one starts out in the shallow end of the swimming pool. One does not go directly to the high diving board, and jump into the deep end of the pool. Similarly, when learning how to weave you need to do a basic project with inexpensive yarn. Do not use your best handspun or that really nice, but expensive yarn that caught your eye at the last fiber arts show you attended and just had to buy. Buy a cheap yarn in two contrasting colors of the same yarn. One will be your warp yarn and the other will be your weft yarn. The two contrasting colors are to show you clearly as you are learning how the warp and weft yarns interact with each other as you weave. Weave a plain weave - no fancy pattern weaves! You want a simple and basic balanced weave in which both the warp and weft show equally in the cloth you are weaving. Do not warp the full width of your loom. Center a warp of no more than 10" on a wide loom or 7" on a narrow loom on your heddle.This learning project does not need to be long - you could do a short 48" weave to learn with or if you want go a full 72" which is the typical length of a scarf.  Use a yarn that matches the dent on your heddle. Many looms come in the box with either an 8 or 7.5 dent heddle - this heddle is perfect for a #4 worsted yarn. Some looms come in the box with a 10 dent heddle - this is perfect for a #3 Sport. DK, or Baby yarn. Your warp yarn must be strong enough to withstand the tension that needs to be put on it by the loom so that the weave forms correctly. Do this pull test - take the yarn at an end in two hands - pull your hands apart hard and with a snap. If the yarn breaks or starts to come apart - IT IS NOT A YARN TO USE AS WARP.  If the yarn is fuzzy or sticky, it is not a good yarn for warp or weft FOR A BEGINNER.

A first weave can be very frustrating - if you have too high an expectation of what it MUST be as you learn. Again, you are learning. The only thing to be expected is you learn to weave - and you will! Many first time weavers have been able to teach themselves with the help of a good book (Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom by Syne Mitchell is the best) and videos on YouTube. Now, if you ask what I am making, the answer is a learning project. What will it be when I am finished? You will know when you are finished. Don't start out with the idea that I have to make SOMETHING. That can only lead to frustration if it is not coming out exactly as you had pictured before you even warped the loom.  What is you make mistakes? So what! Mistakes are what we learn from. Don't rush through the project. Allow yourself time to absorb what you are doing and learning. And also this allows you to start to relax and enjoy what you are doing. What if it doesn't come out? Do not get discouraged. You will not be the first weaver - new or experienced  - to cut a project off the loom and start again. 

Most important - HAVE FUN!  Weaving can be addictive! It seems to be that more so than some other crafts and hobbies.  

ORIGINAL ARTICLE STARTS HERE:

When I was ready to start weaving my first project ever on the rigid heddle loom, I decided that this project was going to be a test project. I would use this project to try different things. I would try a firm beat, a light beat, and a medium beat. I would try a pattern in the warp. I would try something called hemstitching on one end (usually you hemstitch both ends). I will go into details about hemstitching in another article. When this test project came off the loom, I would try wet finishing the weaving to see what the result was.

*****A word about wet finishing. Weavers will tell you that when the weaving comes off the loom, it is NOT cloth UNTIL it is wet finished. Wet finishing brings all of the fibers together. How you wet finish depends on the fiber you wove with. Cotton is wet finished differently than wool. Acrylic is wet finished differently from either of those. Some will tell you that acrylic does not benefit from wet finishing - I disagree. I see a big positive change in acrylic after it is wet finished. Another article will go into detail about wet finishing.

I decided right from the start that I would keep a journal of my weaving projects. I used a basic word processor to do this and stared with my test project. It is because of that journal that I can share all of the details of that project with you here.

I have a large stash of yarns from a knitting machine that I have not used in years and also yarn from various other crafts. I had several balls of a commonly found cotton yarn called Sugar and Cream. You can find this yarn in almost every chain craft store, Joann's Fabrics, and Walmart sells this renames and packaged as Peaches and Cream (same exact yarn made by the same manufacturer with a different label and name. This is 100% yarn of worsted weight and 4 ply which is perfectly sized for an 8 or 7.5 dent heddle. I had enough solid Delft Blue for a 45" long  and a 12" width. I had enough variegated Blue Swirl for weft. Remember that the end result had no determined purpose other than to be a test of weaving. My intent when I started was to stop weaving when I reached 14" long and I would see when it came off the loom - and after wet finishing what the end result would really be.

There are weaving calculators. Most weaving books have a fill in form which specifies what to calculate when. The weaving calculators on the web are either used right on their own web page or downloaded to put into spreadsheet software. If you don't have spreadsheet software on your computer you can download a free - really free with no catch - office suite called LibreOffice which is Microsoft compatible and has a full spreadsheet program within. Using one of these calculators, I determined that I would need a full ball of Sugar and Cream for warp and almost a full ball - 31 yards for weft.

Warping would require that 96 slots and holes needed to be warped which means there would be 48 threads of warp in slots and 48 slots of warp in holes. The heddle is marked and this should be easy.  Determine the start and end slot to put the loops of warp threads through when direct single peg warping and I had to go seven inches from each side of the middle. Now, what I discovered doing this was that I was warping 98 threads. Why? Putting a ruler up against the heddle I could see that what should be an inch was not exactly an inch. This may have to do with the metric conversion from a European heddle made in centimeters to inches. This was not a problem. I just deleted one slot and hole on the end of the warp and finished the warp two threads short to make 96 threads. I also learned right then that to make really sure where you will start and stop use your markings on the heddle as a starting point and then just count the slots and holes to make sure they coincide with what the warp needs to be. I use a piece of yarn tied through the starting slot around the top of the heddle and another through the ending slot . This tells you immediately where to start and where to end when warping. On warp widths that I use often I keep that yarn tied in place.

I set the warp peg 45" away from the rear beam of the loom. I attached the peg to a wood snack table. I was not sure if this would work and on this project I found it to be OK - but with later projects this was a disaster waiting to happen. The best thing to attach your warping peg to is something that is either heavy and will not move or stationary.

I use a long cloth tape measure (one that is at least 120" long) to measure the distance from the peg to the back of the warp beam on the loom. These tape measures are not hard to find and Walmart has one for the best price.

Sugar and Cream yarn is sold wound on a ball and this is an easy yarn to pull off the ball as you go along to warp or wind your stick shuttle. There is no need to wind this yarn from a skein into a ball as is often done with yarn that is sold as a skein. This is another reason to use this yarn for a first project. The yarn is also strong and has little stretch. This makes this yarn very easy to weave.

With the loom warped, I saw that the 32" stick shuttles that came with my loom were a bit long for a 12" warped project to weave. They would work but a shorter shuttle would be better. I decided to make a 16" shuttle. I will do an article about how to make a stick shuttle with simple woodworking skills. If you know someone with a basement or garage workshop it takes very little time and money to make a shuttle.  Shuttles are for sale in all sizes from various weaving retailers on the Internet if you need to purchase shorter shuttles.

I wound the weft yarn on the shuttle and I was finally READY TO WEAVE!

Weaving was not hard and very relaxing. I tried different things as I went along. I started without hemstitching and with my first throw of the shuttle I left several inches of yarn hanging out to work in on the next throw from that side. This is simple. When you open the shed when you get back to that side, you tuck that tail into the shed and and then down between two warp threads to hand down under the loom. Then you take your shuttle and weave through the open shed. When you beat the yarn with your heddle that tail is locked in and will not be noticeable.

I really was enjoying weaving! When I reached the 14" of length that I intended to weave I decided to just keep going for as far as I could and still leave yarn at the end for fringe. The end would be hemstitched so when I was at the end I made sure that I had five continuous lengths of yarn the size of the width of the warp that I would use to hemstitch. Again, this will make more sense when I explain hemstitching in its own article.

When I took the weaving off the loom it measured 11 inches wide - from pull in which is common - and 25" long. After I wet finished this piece it became 23" long and 10.5" in width. The yarn pulled in and also shrank - cotton shrinks - approximately 8%. I also found that this yarn's dark colors - the dark blue in the Blue Swirl ran. Others report also that Sugar and Cream (and Peaches and Cream) dark colors will run. The result was not bad.

I found one warp skipped in one spot which can happen if the shuttle slips below a warp thread instead of moving over it. There is a way to fix this. It was only visible from one side and I left it.

Now what had I made. It looked good. It was too good to just set aside - and so, I had woven a short table runner which sits on our dining room table since. I loved weaving it and could not wait to start my next - real and not test - project.