CHANGING WEFT YARNS WHILE WEAVING

I am going to talk about two different processes in this article about changing weft yarn as you are weaving. There are two main reasons why you would do this. One is if you want to have weft stripes - horizontal stripes of different colors in your finished weave. The other is going to happen much more often - you are weaving and your shuttle runs out of yarn.  Now you have to start a new shuttle with that same yarn. I will take each of these separately.

 FIRST - COLOR YARN CHANGE FOR STRIPES:

 When you want to make weft stripes in your weave, you need to be able to change from one color yarn to another while you are weaving and you want the change to take place at a selvedge and you do not want the change to show. This is how I do that. I am right handed and feel most comfortable working at the right selvedge so what I am showing here is worked on the right side of the loom. There is no reason why you could not do this on the left side of the loom or alternate side to side if you want to. How long you make your stripes is up to you. How to determine how many rows of weft each stripe is, is simple. Get a "click counter" - these are sold for knitting. It is a push button counter - push the button and the number on the counter advances by one. They also have a reset to set the counter back to zero. These should not be expensive. I have one that is plastic and small.  If you decide you want each stripe to be 25 rows, with the counter set to zero, click once each time you pass the shuttle to weave a row. When you get to 25, stop, reset the counter, make your color change and weave another 25 rows.  You could do this with a paper and pencil and put a line every row - and count the lines.  The clicker is easier. 

So lets begin:

In this BLACK yarn is the OLD COLOR and BLUE yarn is the NEW COLOR.  I will refer to these as OLD AND NEW.

1)  You are ready to make your new stripe. You have woven the length you want your current stripe to be and you want to now start a new color stripe.  Take your shuttle with the OLD color yarn which you are now weaving with - and before you pass it through the shuttle CUT the yarn leaving about 7 inches left hanging down the side of the selvedge you are at. Open the shed. Put that tail of yarn into the open shed and lay it down on the warp - at a 45 degree angle up toward the other side. Now take that tail and tuck it down between two warps to under the warp under the loom.  Go into the two warps that are about an inch into the warp. You will be making the color change in the first inch of the warp from the selvedge.

The photo above shows the OLD weft through the warp and hanging down. Give it a pull while holding the weft at the selvedge warp to get it nice and straight and even - but keep it at the 45 degree angle.

2) Take you shuttle with the NEW weft and put it through the same open shed from the same direction. Let a tail stick out the selvedge that you went in from. You want a tail about 6 inches (just so you have some yarn to work easily with - don't be stingy with the yarn - a little wasted yarn makes somethings a lot easier to do. Take that tail INSIDE the open shed and tuck it down between two warp yarns to below the warp under the loom. Here you see that the warp went down between the fourth and fifth warp threads - you don't want to be too close to the end warp but close enough so that this change will be hidden when you continue weaving

 Here you see NEW yarn going down between two warp threads and below the warp. Now this is the important part and what will HIDE the change - though when you do it you will say - that will never hide the change I can see it clearly right in front of me! Well - give it a chance. TAKE THE TWO YARNS - OLD AND NEW AND CROSS THEM SO THAT THE OLD YARN IS GOING TO GET PUSHED TO BE NEXT TO THE OLD YARN IN THE ROW BELOW IT AND THE NEW YARN WILL BE NEXT TO THE NEW YARN IN THE ROW YOU ARE GOING TO WEAVE ABOVE IT. Pinch the warp at the selvedge and give each tail of yarn a little tug so that it is up at a 45 degree angle toward the other side and so that it becomes slightly snug. Close the shed by putting the heddle in NEUTRAL.

This is what your two tails look like under the loom.

  3) BEAT FIRMLY WITH THE HEDDLE. Push both yarns into the weave and you want the OLD yarn to be on top of the OLD yarn in the row before! 

 

 

And you are thinking, I CAN SEE IT! I CAN SEE IT!  Just wait!

4) Keep weaving. The yarn in the photos is thin yarn - #3 knitting yarn. A thicker yarn blends even better - but this works with thick or thin yarns. Here, below, is what you have after a few new rows of NEW yarn.

 And you are still thinking - who is he kidding, I can still see the change!  

5) Take your fingers and put your thumb at the selvedge on the NEW yarn, pinch it gently to your fingers under the NEW yarn (SHED IN NEUTRAL) and just manipulate the NEW yarn at the edge down slightly to close in what may be visible. Get it even and straight - get the NEW yarn to move into line with its first row.  Now, KEEP WEAVING the NEW YARN.

 I don't see the change any more. YOU know it is there. If you look really closely you can see somewhat what you did to make the change. Give this when it is off the loom and wet finished and they will not see the change. If you point it out to them, they may see it. But it is highly unlikely. 

When you are ready to make the next stripe do the same thing all over again. If you are changing with two stripes in alternating of the same colors or if you are putting a different color into every stripe, it will still work. 

When you take this off the loom, wet finish. I don't care what fiber(s) it is - always wet finish. Once it is completely dry you are going to eliminate the evidence. Lay the cloth flat with the tails facing you. Take hold of one of the tails and hold it up - not tight but to keep where it meets the cloth up from the rest of the cloth. You are going to snip (cut) the tail off. I do this with what is called a cuticle scissor. It is small and has a small pair of sharp blades that are curved UP.  This scissor in the photo is 3.5" long. The sides at the finger holes are 2" apart. You should be able to find these in a pharmacy or pharmacy department of a discount store - often with the cosmetics or nail care.  I happened to buy these a Farmer's Market in the Amish area of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania for 3 pairs for $5.

Take the bottom of the curve just above the cloth but close to the cloth - and clip off the tail. JUST be careful not to clip anything that you should not be cutting! The yarn - after wet finishing is all part of the weave and will not come undone. 

YOU ARE DONE changing weft colors when weaving.

 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

SECOND: STARTING A NEW SHUTTLE WITH THE SAME YARN IN THE SAME COLOR

Starting a new shuttle with the same yarn is even easier - and is done the same way. The difference is you are going to do this change longer and toward or in the center between the selvedges (end warps).

THIS NEXT SECTION IS AN EXTRA - AS THIS COMES UP ALL THE TIME AS A RELATED QUESTION:

When you start to see that your shuttle is running out of yarn, if you have a second shuttle the same length, stop weaving and go and wind more yarn on that shuttle. IF your weft is a solid color weft or a patterned weft that is random and it does not matter if you continue with weft from another section of the yarn - just wind one shuttle from the end of the ball where you left off winding the first shuttle. 

 IF your weft is variegated colors or patterns of colors - or you have a self striping weft and you want to continue with the matching part of the yarn that continues where your shuttle weft ended,this gets a little more time consuming. Ideally for this type of weft, if you have several shuttles the best thing to do is when you wind the first shuttle when that shuttle is full, you continue to wind the rest of the shuttles right then. After winding the first shuttle - (let's say you have 4 shuttles to use) - you would mark that first shuttle #4. Keep winding shuttles - the next  shuttle is marked #3. The shuttle wound after that is #2. The last shuttle you wind is #1.  You will start weaving with SHUTTLE #1. The next shuttle you will use when #1 runs out is #2, and so on. 

Do you see that you are using these shuttles in the reverse order in which they were wound? What this does is it takes the yarn left on the ball or skein and when starting to wind with that end it puts it in place to be the very last of the yarn when that shuttle is emptying.  By reversing the order of the shuttles you wind, you will match up the end of one shuttle with the yarn at the start of the next.  

BUT what if you don't have a lot of shuttles.  What you have to do then if you have only one or two shuttles is to go to the ball of weft yarn you wound your first shuttle with and wind your shuttle again - or a second shuttle if you have one - and when you are done winding - you are going to have to take the yarn off that shuttle and wind the shuttle again this time starting to wind with what was the very last wind you did when you just wound that shuttle. (Confusing - yep - follow it through - you just wound the shuttle to start weaving again because your shuttle ran out of weft. The new yarn you will start with is the wrong variegated or self-stripe to match where your weft ran out. BUT the yarn that you started winding with is exactly what you want to have come off that shuttle first.) So to make this easier - you need something to wind the yarn from that you just wound on the shuttle. A piece of cardboard - another shuttle - that is easiest - anything good to wind yarn around.  Get the end of the yarn from your just wound shuttle and start winding off the shuttle onto the cardboard - whatever - make sure that this yarn end will go under the rest of the yarn being wound on. Once all the yarn is off your shuttle take the end that came off the shuttle last and start winding a that same shuttle again - starting with that end.  You will be reversing the order the yarn was on the shuttle when you wind now.  What was the weft end on the ball that you started winding with will now be the end now that you will start weaving with. That is the end that matches the end of the weft that ended your first shuttle - and what you need to match to start weaving again.  As I said above, this is only needed if you do not have a solid color weft - as with a solid color weft - any part of the yarn will match where you ended up when the shuttle ran out of yarn.

GET READY TO START A NEW SHUTTLE

1) The weft is just about run out on your shuttle. You want enough OLD shuttle yarn to go 3/4 of the way across the shed with enough for a tail of at least three or four inches long.  You just put your shuttle through, and if you see that there is not enough weft to weave another row, get the rest of the weft yarn off the shuttle and cut it so that you have weft 3/4 through the open shed and the extra for the tail.  TAKE THE END OF THE YARN FROM THE OLD SHUTTLE YOU JUST CUT OFF AND PUT IT THROUGH TWO WARP THREADS DOWN BELOW THE WARP UNDER THE LOOM.

 What you see above is how your shed should look with the end of the weft yarn from your shuttle after following STEP 1.  (The white paper is under just to make the yarn more visible in the photo.) Notice the yarn is up on a 45 degree angle - with the tail under the warp. 

2)  Take your NEW shuttle and pass it through the same open shed from the same side you went in with the end of your last, now empty, shuttle. Bring the shuttle all the way out of the shed on the other side - but leave its end coming out of the side it went into the shed. Put your new shuttle down and out of your way. TAKE THE END OF THE NEW SHUTTLE YARN AND TUCK IT DOWN BETWEEN TWO WARP THREADS ABOUT TWO INCHES  BEFORE WHERE THE OLD SHUTTLE YARN IS TUCKED DOWN BELOW THE WARP. Make sure the weft tail is about four inches down below.

Above you see the NEW and OLD weft tucked down below. At this point if you followed Step 2, this is how your weft should look. Note again that the weft is up at a 45 degree angle - and the tails are below the warp. 

3) Before you beat, take hold of the OLD yarn tail and pinch the end warp it comes over and give a tug on the tail. Do the same with the NEW yarn tail - this time holding onto the tail under the warp and give a tug to the weft coming our of the shed that you are going to be weaving with soon. Make sure the two weft yarns in the shed CROSS OVER each other. This locks them in. Put your heddle in NEUTRAL!

NOW BEAT PUSHING THE TWO YARNS TOGETHER AND INTO THE WEFT ROW BELOW!

Above the shuttle is off to the left side of the loom. The shed is closed - heddle in neutral. The new shuttle yarn has been started. The two yarns are together in the weave where the change was made. It has blended together. The change is not visible. 

4) KEEP WEAVING! You are weaving with the new shuttle. If your shuttle runs out again - do the same thing! 

When you take this off the loom, wet finish. I don't care what fiber(s) it is - always wet finish. Once it is completely dry you are going to eliminate the evidence. Lay the cloth flat with the tails facing you. Take hold of one of the tails and hold it up - not tight but to keep where it meets the cloth up from the rest of the cloth. You are going to snip (cut) the tail off. With several changes of shuttles you will have several tails to clip off. Use the curved scissors I recommend above. Again, do not cut anything that is not supposed to be cut!

AND YOU ARE DONE! You have ended the OLD shuttle and started a NEW shuttle with the same yarn. Do this as many times as the shuttle runs out.

 

 

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!