Hello everyone!

I have my first loom on its way from Sweden, Oxaback Ulla Cyrus 63" 10H/T with floating lamms. I am a machine and hand knitter, quilter, garment designer and sew-er. I know quite enough to be annoying and just enough to be dangerous. I have some questions:

1) What is the cross in the warp, and why do we use it?

2) What are lease sticks supposed to do?

3) What is a split shed weave?

4) I dislike doing samples for the sake of doing samples. What would be a few good first projects?

5) What is boundweave?

6) What are the options for selveges besides floating?

7) What are the options for using  four or six harnesses and 10 treadles for patterning?

I have more, but let's start with these.

Passapman

 

Comments

Wed, 04/06/2011 - 19:49

lkautio (not verified)

Questions are good - it shows you are thinking and a thinking weaver is one who will make the fastest progress.

The cross is there to keep the threads in sequence.  If you forget to put it in, the threads generally move, cross, and often tangle during the warping and/or weaving process.  Forget the cross once and you will never do it again.

Lease sticks keep the cross, provide some tensioning, and help even out the warp tension during warping.

A split shed weave is one where some threads are up, some are down, and some are in the middle.  It is not used too much on jack looms (though you can, and there are some good applications).  One use is to make it easy to pick up complex patterns as desired.

Even if you are weaving from a canned recipe (as in Handwoven magazine) it is a good idea to weave a sample first to practice your pattern and get the kinks worked out in your technique and understanding before starting the "real" piece.  That's doubly true for a beginner who may not know what to expect from their equipment or the design.  Put at least 12" extra on and sample before the project on the same warp.  Beyond that, the projects in Handwoven and Weaver's Craft are good, tested pieces that should give you good results.  Vary them a bit by changing the colors or changing the number of repeats so you get used to the idea of designing early on.

Boundweave is a weft-faced weave, where no warp shows on either side of the cloth.  It (generally) makes a thicker, less flexible cloth and is often used for rugs, saddle blankets, bags, or hangings.

Many weave structures do not require floating selvages.  If needed, often you can rearrange the edge threads so that they will catch more often (not have long floats).  If you have extra shafts, you may want to add a basket weave or other special selvage treatment.

Using more treadles with 4 or 6 shafts increases your patterning options.  Let's say you have a block weave with 4 blocks (A, B, C, D) on 6 shafts.  Many block weaves take one pattern treadle for each block.  Using 10 treadles may allow 8 different combinations of these blocks, as opposed to the normal 4 on a 6 treadle loom.  You might also use the extra treadles to simplify the treadling in a pattern which does not need them by repeating some treadles.  More treadles are helpful with tied weaves, patterns woven "on opposites", shading, and many design applications.

I've probably used a lot of terms you don't know in replying - sorry!  I hope you can get the idea anyway.  Enjoy your new loom!

Laurie Autio

Wed, 04/06/2011 - 20:04

Joanne Hall

Considering the wide range of your questions, I suggest that you sign up for the basics class at Vavstuga, or for one of the weaving classes at the John Campbell Folk School.  There are few places which have large countermarch looms like yours for learning to weave, but these are two good ones.  You will benefit greatly from their week long classes.  Vavstuga is full until fall, but John Campbell has classes you can get into before then.  They both have good websites, so check out their class offerings.

Joanne

Wed, 04/06/2011 - 21:03

passapman (not verified)

Those answers were very helpful

Wed, 04/06/2011 - 21:58

Claudia Segal (not verified)

Good suggestions so far.  I also thought Joanne Hall (comment #2) teaches classes at her studio in Montana which is closer to the West Coast than either JC Campbell or Vavstuga.  

Do not skip the opportunity to sample.  There is more learning in sampling your warp than you can imagine.  Skip this vital step and you risk wasting many more yards of warp and time than you lose when you sample.  I am a beginner(have only been weaving for 7 years) and I learned the value of sampling the hard way.

Claudia

Thu, 04/07/2011 - 02:43

passapman (not verified)

a dishtowel, right? I just don't want to end up with a bunch of little pieces of cloth I can't do anything with.  I always do gauge swatches when I knit, but those can be ripped out and re-used. I do samples of a sewing technique before I do the real McCoy, and always try out thread and stitch length and buttonholes before I sew a garment togther. But those don't take as long... If I can do a complete something as a sample, a napkin maybe, or a scarf I'm ok with that.

Passapman

 

 

Thu, 04/07/2011 - 03:04

lkautio (not verified)

I did a lot of dish towels as samples when I started, but not everything is suited to dish towels. Nor do dishtowels hold up forever.  However, those little pieces of cloth are not useless.  Building a collection of sample books with each sample protected with its weaving information is like a gold mine.  You go back to them again and again, mining for information and new ideas.  The unsucessful ones are as informative as the sucessful ones.  Sometimes one you hate initially for the project at hand turns out to be exactly right for a different later project.  Most of us can't afford to buy sample books and no book or article without samples can give you the feel and drape, the tactile qualities, of real cloth.

Laurie Autio

Sat, 04/09/2011 - 01:11

passapman (not verified)

Or do you organize them one way and cross index them for both?

Sat, 04/09/2011 - 11:49

Claudia Segal (not verified)

I have a project book and keep it organized by project type.  The "clothing" items in one place and households in the other. 

For sampling, I add an extra 12-18" to the planned warp (you can do less but I like to cut it off and wet finish to be certain I am getting what I want).  I often use Peggy Osterkamp's two stick header (she has great tips and her books are well worth it) for the project when I reattach the warp.  I have been known to resley the reed.

If the yarn is dear, I will do a short sample and not cut it off.  I will, instead, untie it from the front apron rod and check the drape then I will unweave and tie back on and weave the project.  I have a hand spun yarn that I have just enough for a scarf on my loom right now.  I wanted to try out several different wefts so I have woven about 3" of weft into the warp.  That is all I need to see how things will look and behave.  Plus, I can leave it in as weft protector/fringe for the scarf.  

This is what I do, not wrong or right and I am always open to doing it differently if people have ideas to share.

Claudia

Sat, 04/09/2011 - 17:30

passapman (not verified)

Claudia,

You answer surprised me. But it also triggered the answer to my own question. When I am planning a sewing project or knititng project I either have the yarn/fabric narrowed down to a few pre-selected choices, or I know what my desired result is, and therefore limit my search parameters. Rarely do I experiment just to see what will happen without a specific purpose in mind. So I will be better served by organizing by technique and cross referencing by fiber, and project suitability of the resulting combinations, successful and not-so-much alike, making note of those which became completed weavings, along with a notation of the photos of them on the computer.

I am not computer literate, but one of my friends is...

Passapman

 

Sun, 04/10/2011 - 13:36

Marsha A. Knox (not verified)

You know sampling is good in some ways, and classes are wonderful. Just the comraderie and info flowing.  But you can also find alot of info right on the internet in sites like this one.

 

I find sampling a waste of time.  I warp and start weaving.  Rarely have I not been able to come up with something eye appealing and useful.  It is all in what you want from your art.  If you want technical definately sample...if you just want to play and see what you can achieve out of your own creativity...then just do that.  There is no weaving 'police' and there are no hard fast rules.  It is always a good thing to push the limits, especially with no preconcieved ideas.  Kind of a 'I wonder what would happen if I...' mentality.

Saori weaving is based upon the fact that there is no such thing as a weaving that is 'wrong', or incorrect, such as uneven salvedges...do what makes your heart sing, and I will be anxiously watching to see which path you take...maybe even a blend of the two.

Just my 2 cents worth. ;o}

Mon, 04/11/2011 - 13:17

lkautio (not verified)

I organize mine by structure (hey, there's a surprise!).  Then within the book by number of shafts.  When I was a beginner I simply used chronological order, but that system was not conducive to finding things after a few years and lots of projects.  It probably depends on what kind of weaver you are, and how your mental filing systems work best.

Laurie Autio