I have a union 36 I have been weaving on with a warp that came on the loom.  Now I am warping it for the first time.  It is sectional.  I paid little attention to the little bumps created by the straps I tied my warp onto.  However, I have gotten no further that threading the heddles and can tell there will be a problem.  In just two wraps that I loosed to get the heddles threaded, some of the ends are longer than others.  I predict this is only going to get worse with each turn of the warp beam.  So I was wondering will it be possible to completely pull the ends to the front, release them from the beam but not the heddles, find a new way to attach them to the beam, then rewind them sectionally?  If so, should I go ahead and sley the read before doing this to help maintain alignment of the threads?  Should I attach to the fabric beam and roll it up, or should I chain it off?  Any takers?

 

Comments

Mon, 04/02/2012 - 05:50

laurafry

How long/wide is your warp?  Might it be possible to weave a rug and then cut it off, re-tie, repeat?

cheers,

Laura

Mon, 04/02/2012 - 12:48

jenjscott

the warp is 7 yards long, 27.5 inches wide (330 ends).  My fear is that there will be so much difference it will make even one rug a problem.  I guess I'll go ahead and get it sleyed and see how it looks.  By the time I tie on I should have a better idea.  It would certainly be possible to retie after each rug, I was retieing every two rugs on the old warp.  

Mon, 04/02/2012 - 15:12

Sara von Tresckow

Why not just finish dressing the loom and weave for a while to see what happens?

All of us have learned this way. It is quite impossible without standing next to your loom to know how this warp will behave for you. In addition to the warp possibly having issues, you are new to weaving.

It is not something terrible to look at this warp as a learning experience, to experiment with various types of weft material and experiment with shuttles, selvedges and a hundred other little things that new weavers need to get used to.

You may actually get one or two usable rugs before you've finished it.

Tue, 04/03/2012 - 12:33

sequel (not verified)

I had this problem, so on my next warp I made sure the knots were between the "fins" of the sectional beam. 

Tue, 04/03/2012 - 19:15

jenjscott

Well I've got it ready to go, we'll see what happens.  I finally figured out about the knots between the fins, so with my next warp, I'll be real careful and figure out any lumps and bumps before proceding.

Jen

Fri, 04/27/2012 - 18:43

karentiede

Buy a lot of 2-oz fishing weights and hang the on the longer warp threads.  They will tighten up those individual ends enough to weave comfortably.

I was hanging all sorts o'stuff on the longer ends in the beginning, till I lucked into a 4-oz weight some poor fisher lost at the lake.  It works way better.  I don't need that much weight, so I bought a box of 2-oz weights for not much money at all.

Mon, 05/07/2012 - 21:05

jenjscott

Well, I finished the first rug and had several sections of loose warp at the end of it, so I cut it off and will retie for the next one.  Next warp I will make some changes in the way I warp and see if it comes out better.

Jen

Wed, 09/19/2012 - 05:58

amyfrey (not verified)

The first sectional warp I did was part of a group project at our guild so that taught me quite a bit.  The first one I did on my own, about 11 yards for placemats, I found out my counter wasn't working all the time!  Now I count the turns as well as using the counter.  Anyway I ended up with three sections that didn't measure up.  I chalked that up to experience and made mats of various sizes to use up the rest of the warp.

Wed, 09/19/2012 - 18:35

cew (not verified)

I didn't have any luck tying on my warp to the old warp when I got a used loom.  It is so much better to just tie on a new one.  When counting, and you really do need to count yourself, put a piece of tape on the beam on  the spikes and count that tape as it passes by, it will help later on.  Also keeping those warp threads even and straight is so necessary.  My DH and I came up with a way of using tape to do that too.  Tape down the ends to the beam and with a helper use a dowel or something to keep the warp threads even.

A section box or a warping comb is the best solution.  Great Northern Weaving & Edgemont Yarns sells them and will be able to assist getting the correct item based on the size of your beam.

Good luck

Wed, 09/19/2012 - 23:42

mneligh

 . . . or put an old business card under the warp each time around.  That way you can count the revolutions even if you stop in the middle.