I'm getting ready to warp my loom for the first time. I'm warping front to back, with two threads per dent.When sleying the reed, do I put two threads from the top of the cross, then two from the bottom, or one from each in each dent?

Comments

Mon, 03/26/2012 - 19:10

mneligh

It depends on how you wound your warp.  If you wound it one thread at a time, use one from the top and the adacent one from the bottom of the cross.  If you wound two at a time, use two adjacent ones from the top, then two from the bottom.  The goal is to get adjacent threads as they come from the heddles in the same dent.

You absolutely must avoid having threads cross each other between the heddles and the reed. 

The whole reason to have the cross is to facilitate keeping threads in the correct sequence with few or no twists.  The cross goes away once the loom is threaded; it is immaterial in the big picture.  The important thing is to avoid crossed threads, especially between reed and heddles.

Tue, 03/27/2012 - 14:31

Cat Brysch

I would wind my warp on my warping mill 2 ends at a time. Then, when sleying in the reed, I start taking the first threads that were last on the mill...my moto...last on mill, first in reed. I'd take the first 2 ends (sort of "on top" while laying on your hand) into a dent, then the next 2 ends into the very next dent, repeat this sleying across. I, however, have never taken any ends from the bottom of a cross. Looking at the front of the loom, I sley starting from right then move toward the left in the reed (so I'm moving away from the sleyed work as I go) and continue to the left side of the reed to the end.  Then, when threading later, looking at the back of the loom, I start threading at the right side. I just make sure that Iu use those very first 2 threads and thread them into the heddles, either on first, then the absolute next 2 in the very next dent into the heddles, etc, across. And, mneligh is correct, be careful to do these in order so there will be no cross-over between heddles and reed. Just take it step at a time and enjoy the process. Threading the heddles is where the magic takes place! Hope this helps!

Wed, 03/28/2012 - 12:33

mneligh

Taking your time avoids problems and lost time later on.  To me, good music or an audiobook is a must!