I just took a project off the loom and discovered that there are few places where the weft shot didn't pull all the way against the selvedge, resulting in a few tiny loops here and there along the sides of the fabric. They must have curled under the cloth during weaving, because I never noticed them.
They're far too small to be able to thread onto a needle and tuck back in, but I think they're big enough that they're unlikely to go away during wet finishing... are there any time-honored tips or tricks for dealing with this problem?
Thanks!
I have a suggestion, not sure if it is time honored. I take a short piece and use a tapestry type needle and weave in a replacement thread on the row above and below. It replaces the oops thread and then I cut out the oops. I also check all my weft threads to be sure they have been woven correctly and fix ones that have gone astray in the same manner. I overlap the ends of the replacement thread slightly with the thread that is currently there.
Sorry I am not good with diagrams or I would draw an example. I don't think I have a program I could use to draw with either.
It is best to do the fixes before wet finishing.
Claudia
That makes perfect sense, Claudia. Thanks!
Are you using a boat shuttle? These loops can sometimes happen when you have too much yarn pulled out of the shuttle, so that when you throw it, the weft is not taken up. It can also happen when the shuttle is thrown slowly and does not get all the way across the warp.
Joanne
If the loops truly are "tiny" you may be able to use a tapestry needle to pull them in to the body of the fabric. Slide the needle under the first float of the weft thread and lift until the selvedge loop is closed. Then lift each successive float on the same weft thread in a similar manner, but raise each one less than the one before it. If you're lucky, this will distribute the slack across the face of the fabric until it's no longer perceptible.
I was able to smooth out all but one of the loops with mrdubyah's suggested technique, and for the other I used Claudia's. Now to finishing!
(Joanne, I was using a boat shuttle, and the loops were probably a result of both circumstances in a couple of places where I was fighting with a warp thread in the middle of the piece - I had it attached to an improvised string heddle and sometimes it wanted to sit high enough for the shuttle to sneak under it when it should have been going over it!)
