What method do you use for fixing broken warp threads or fixing knots found in the Warp if you did not cut them out when putting the warp on the loom?

 

Charlene

Comments

Joanne Hall

The easiest way is to cut a long length of the warp thread and replace the knoted or broken one.  Attach it to what you have woven by using a pin and tie it to the remaining warp thread with  a bow back at the warp beam.  It is best to avoid dangly things at the back of the loom.  Just remember to re-tie the new warp thread as your bow gets within  a foot of the shafts.

Joanne

caloosa (not verified)

Thank you Joanne, sounds like a simple solution.  Better than the complicated one.

kerstinfroberg

start weaving with the replacement end in place, for a few picks:

The whole process is described on my website, here - except I don't advocate the bow-tie (but that is because I nearly always take the old end back as soon as it is long enough).

This saves you from having to needle-weave the ends in, later.

laurafry

I've used Kerstin's method and it's great.  :)

cheers,

Laura

Karen (not verified)

I am weaving a 32" wide overshot project. I am weaving 4 - 110" panels for coverlets for 2 antique beds that I have. I used different cones of 10/2 cotton when I wound my warp. One of the cones must have been bad, because I keep getting broken threads within the last 3" of the left side. It did not help that I had to unweave 3". At this point, I know I can't have 12 things dangling from the back of the loom, all close together. The bow tie method might work, but will the bow ties get tangled? I've never done a supplemental warp, but would it work in this situation? Thanks in advance for any advice. Karen

Dena (not verified)

I try to stay away from dangles (ie: film canisters) in the back of the loom.  They tangle with each other, twist around, even if there's only one and I feel like you're not assured even tension with the remainder of your warp.  If you've got many broken threads and you're using the "bow tie in the back" method, you can combine a few threads into one tie if they're close together.  And...I almost always wait until I'm between pieces to work the initial thread back in.  It makes for a cleaner finished piece.

kerstinfroberg

or you could (still if they are close enough togeyher) unwind from the individual "dangle" and re-wind them all together onto one dangle (like a cardboard tube) and weight the tube?

Karen (not verified)

The broken threads are all within 3 inches, and I have a nice sturdy 6 in. tube, so I will try the tube method. I will wait until I am between pieces to work the original threads back in. Thank-you both, so very much. Karen

Kade1301

Up to now I've always made sure to wind my warps without any knots (except at the end points, obviously). Now my warps are getting longer, and I'm warping with more threads at once (and not from 1000-yard cones but much smaller, uneven handspun balls), and often enough one thread runs out well before the others - generally at 8 m (for a 10 m warp). And I find taking off these 8 m, tying on a new ball and rewinding the warp incredibly time-consuming. So I wonder whether it wouldn't be easier - or at least quicker - to just knot on the new thread whenever the old one runs out and deal with the knot when I get to it in the weaving?

How do you deal with this situation?

kerstinfroberg

Kade, I agree - deal with them when they are there. (A guildmate made oodles of towels with "weftovers" - * warped until the bobbins ruon out, knotted, repeated from * - AND left the knots. Most ppl never noticed... )

 

Kade1301

I had to knot on some ends because I simply didn't have enough yarns, and I did wonder whether anybody would notice a knot among the uneven, nubby, hairy angora weft. But I was afraid it might make itself felt as a hard lump, or even come apart, so I did take them out. So now I'm no longer afraid of doing so...