I have warped up my loom and started to weave. I have woven 20 rows or so and have come to move it on. As I did so I realised I hadn't warped over the front top bit. I thought when I was weaving the first few rows that the shed was bigger than I usually have but thought it was because the warp was silk thread and therefore different to the wool I usually use. However what will the effect of not warping over the fron top bit be? Can I continue as I am?

Many Thanks

Paul

Comments

Wed, 01/11/2012 - 19:26

laurafry

Not sure what you mean by "the front top bit" - can you post a photo? 

cheers,

Laura

Wed, 01/11/2012 - 21:17

mrdubyah (not verified)

If you mean you did not route the warp over the breast beam, then you should correct that before continuing.  For best results you should either unweave or cut off your 20 rows and tie on over the breast beam before continuing. 

Wed, 01/11/2012 - 23:04

paulz

Yes it is the breast plate - as found through a diagram. What happens if I carry on weaving. It took me ages to warp it all and get started.

Paul

Wed, 01/11/2012 - 23:28

thelmaweaves

On some looms the breast beam is detachable. You can loosen your warp, detach the breast beam and carefully slide it UNDER the warp threads and re-attach the breast beam with the threads OVER THE BEAM.  This should place your threads OVER  the breast beam.  If your breast beam is NOT detachable, you will have to either unweave, or cut off your 20 inches and re-tie on.  Hope this makes sense.

Sharon

Thu, 01/12/2012 - 03:31

laurafry

Ultimately it will depend on whether or not you are getting a usable shed and how much of a pain it is to insert the shuttle into the shed with the cloth not going over the breast beam.  You may find that as the cloth builds up the shed will become compromised and you may well regret not stopping and fixing it now before you have woven very much....

As a new weaver I forgot to go over the back beam, not once but twice - in a row!  In that case I was not getting any kind of shed at all so I had to fix it before I could begin weaving.  I was lucky in that the beam was only held in place with a couple of screws and by removing them was able to do as Sharon mentioned and just remove it, put it under the warp threads and screw it back into place.  :)

Have I ever done that again?  No!  :DDDD

cheers,

Laura

who is a rather slow learner apparently.....

Fri, 01/13/2012 - 06:12

paulz

Excellent idea to unscrew the breast beam and put the warp string over it and re-attach breast beam. However (and isn't there always a however) when I undid the screws (had to go next door to the neighbour to borrow his screwdriver as all mine were too wide)the left hand side of the breast beam was still firmly attached. On closer inspection found there was also a nail and it had been glued with very efficient glue.

New approach needed. I tied the warps over the breast beam with new pieces of string and cut the old pieces off. Voila - Job Done!

Paul

Fri, 01/13/2012 - 14:35

sally orgren

Most people forget at least once (or twice!) to bring the warp up and over the back beam before heading into the castle. I saw this example last summer at a historic site, and unfortunately, ALL the looms were threaded that way!

 

Fri, 01/13/2012 - 19:40

laurafry

Wow - guess they were weaving okay or someone would have fixed them.  

cheers,

Laura

Sat, 01/14/2012 - 00:45

r1mein54 (not verified)

I know of one instance where the person who is paid as and called a Director for a local historical museum only has a GED - no college and worked in a greeting card store. Most people do not know or don`t care to find out the correct way many things were used much less need to be displayed. I quit volunteering to help as he and the Museum Board did not care if historical information was told or shown wrong - "as long as it made a nice story".
Sun, 01/15/2012 - 04:03

sally orgren

What's wrong with this picture?

A hint — the treadles (from left to right) are tied to shafts 2,3,4,1.

Another hint, it's not a problem that they are not tied in order (i.e. 1,2,3,4 or 4,3,2,1)

Wed, 01/18/2012 - 16:19

Laralee Boyd

Looking at the picture...When warping the sectional beam, I always stand behind the loom with one hand on the tension box to make sure it stays where it belongs, face the front and crank the handle forwards, not backwards !  Then up over the back beam and into the heddles.

Wed, 01/18/2012 - 16:33

mrdubyah (not verified)

The direction you wind onto the warping beam will depend on how your brake is set up.  My friction brake would not hold the tension if I wound that way. 

Tue, 01/24/2012 - 15:49

Jen Brown (not verified)

Hi Sally,

What is wrong with the treadles in your picture?  

On my countermarche what would be wrong is that each treadle is 3 cords short.    But this looks like it might be a jack loom.

Should the cords be in holes 2, 3, 4, 1 from left to right?

Thanks

Wed, 01/25/2012 - 15:35

sally orgren

Jen, 

You are totally on the right track! (And yes, it is a jack loom). The big ah-ha is the treadles are all catty-whumpus, hanging at different heights instead of evenly.

Especially off is the treadle on the far right, which I mentioned was attached to shaft 1. You can see how far the cord is stretched to reach hole #4, pulling that treadle way up. (That cord should go into hole #1.) As you might guess, that cord had the most severe wear. When I retied and reordered the treadles (it made more sense to me to go 4,3,2,1), they hung evenly and were *much* easier to treadle.

This is a hand-built loom, so the builder did not give me much choice where to place the cord along the treadle, like the ease with which one can adjust the height of a Baby Wolf's treadles along the slots. (I don't own a Baby Wolf, but I was impressed during a workshop how quickly we could convert the loom to a different tie-up.) With this loom, it wasn't quite as easy!

S

Thu, 01/26/2012 - 23:21

Debbie NC

I bought a used 4 harness jack loom.  The cords were dry rotted (i think that us a word)  I replaced them with a shoelace type of cord.  It takes a few tries to get them even, but it can be done.   This is what is odd. My harnesses have six cords each, one per treddle. I only tie off the harness I need for each treddle.  I assumed that it was correct when I got it home, I just replaced what was already there.  Is that OK? 

The Loom is a Leclerc 4 harness Jack loom with six peddles.

Debbie

Fri, 01/27/2012 - 15:21

sally orgren

Debbie,

Let me back up a bit. I did a "direct tie up" for this loom. One shaft to one treadle. But I have more cords, and I could have tied this up to treadle more efficiently if I was doing more than just sample a few inches for loom function. 

For instance, like your Leclerc, I have 6 treadles also—I just cropped them from the photo. So on the far left I could have tied that treadle to shafts 2+4, and on the far right, tied that treadle to shafts 1+3 (two cords for each). The two outer treadles would then give me "tabby" in my overshot pattern (or plain weave). And that leaves the 4 inner treadles available for "pattern". I can tie these remaining treadles up any way I please or that makes sense to me when I dance on the loom ;-) 

So yes, you certainly want more cords than one per treadle. One of the things I love about small looms like these is everything is pretty easy to access, so it is a good loom to experiment on for a beginner!