I'm doing a plain weave project that is double width, so it is acutally a double weave.  I'm using 16/2 linen.  The weaving on the loom is 65" but when its done it will be twice with width.  The piece will be 30' long.  My problem is the tension.  You can see in my pics that I have patches of loose tension.  I've been putting weights on the yarns on the back of the loom.  Everytime I wind the weaving it seems like the other yarns are getting looser too.  It's like a domino effect.  It was extremely hard putting the warp on the loom, because the yarns kept tangling, but i mangaged (through a lot of sweat, blisters, and time) to get it all on the loom. Maybe I didn't do as good of a job winding as I thought and that's why the yarn is loose?  This is my first time using such thin thread and high epi (40 epi).  Does anyone have any tips on how to either prevent this from happening in the future, or tips on how to proceed with this weaving?  Is there some special tools I can use to help with warping process?  I just used a wall warping board.  Just curious if there is something special about finer thread warping that I didn't know about.

Thanks!!!

 

 

Comments

Wed, 08/21/2013 - 06:18

Sara von Tresckow

Double Weave linen can be quite smooth, but must be beamed under very even tension. If you jar threads with your shuttle, it can stretch them individually and leave them in a stretch mode that will not retract.

The weaver needs to proceed with care, caution and solid weaving experience. The two layers make things a bit more challenging. YOu mention tangles and blisters - a sized (yes, this is necessary to prevent abrasion that makes the cloth look shopworn after weaving) linen warp is the smoothest in the world to glide over lease sticks. Front to back warping methods are not suitable for linen. One good thing about linen, it teaches a weaver good working habits.

What I"m seeing in your photo is unevenness in the warp winding tension, coupled with a few shuttle dings and the adverse effects of weighting threads at the back of the loom. This is a non-starter. Think about it. If you put a weight on the threads to make them seem more taut, it may actually stretch that thread so it gets longer and longer as you weave.

What you want to be doing is everything that makes sense to keep the threads even in the area where you are inserting weft and beating. To achieve this, you need to think more about pulling up the slack at the fell line with a pin or somethin that holds the thread at the same (not greater) tension as the neighbors. You can work out the slack after it is off the loom. Nursing a weaving along involves passing the shuttle very gently and carefully and beating smoothly and firmly. When the tension is not off by too much, the threads with a bit of slack will adjust to the neighboring ones and after wet finishing will not show all that much.

Advance very frequently - perhaps every inch until the tension gets better, and after it comes into adjustment, not more than every 2 inches. Yes, this will make it a very slow project, but that's what it needs to look nice afterward.

The photos here are pocket double weave on a 16 shaft dobby loom, using a 16/1 linen warp (half as thick as yours) and the results are a smooth fabric that hardly suggests that it is double weave. Slowly woven with gently and carefully thrown shuttle.

 

 

 

 

Wed, 08/21/2013 - 13:46

sally orgren

And how far into the warp are you?