Yarn

How To Fix a Weaving Float or Skipped Warp Thread

A “float” in weaving is a skipped warp thread or threads.

They usually occur at the back of the fabric and therefore are not noticed until you remove your piece from the loom.

While the discovery of a float can be disappointing for the weaver, thankfully they are fixable without too much trouble.

*This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

I’m using a plain weave sample, as it is the most straightforward to fix and so makes a suitable introduction to a weaver who hasn’t come across floats before. I’m weaving on my Sampleit Rigid Heddle Loom for the purposes of this tutorial, but floats can occur in any type of weaving.

We’re going to look at the three main culprits for a float happening in your weaving:

Loose or inconsistent warp tension
The angle of your shuttle as you enter the shed
Sticky threads

WARP TENSION

I know, I talk all the time about warp tension, but that is because it is SO important on so many levels to the success of your project. In relation to floats, a warp tension that is either too loose or has loose sections is a place for your shed to get messy. If your shed is not well tensioned and clean, that invites the potential for your shuttle to go over or under threads that it is not supposed to.

SHUTTLE ANGLE

This relates pretty closely to my first point about warp tension, because if your shuttle is at a weird angle when it enters the shed, it may either snag on a warp thread or just skip over it entirely, and then you have yourself a float. Again, we want to aim for a clean shed that leaves no guess work about the path your shuttle should be taking.

STICKY YARN

This is a bit of a pet topic for me it seems, but once again, it has a huge impact on the success of your weaving. Sticky yarn will cause all sorts of trouble and floats are definitely one of them. If you want to know more about which yarns have the potential to give you a rather large headache, check out these posts:

Tip for dealing with sticky yarns:

Use a spare pick up stick or shuttle to “clear” each new shed as you open it. This will force any threads that are sticking to one another back into their natural positions.

Now that we know the reasons why you might see floats occurring in your work, let’s get on to how to fix them!

*Note – Any float fixing should be done prior to wet finishing. If you have already wet finished but want to fix some floats, you can, the results just may not be quite as good.

You will need a tapestry needle and a length of your weft yarn. I used a blue colour instead of my weft green, but only to make the tutorial super clear. You should use the exact same yarn in the exact same colour as your weft.

Normally, I would use my favourite tapestry needle, my Clover Bent Tip Needles, but as we are currently packing up our home to move, I couldn’t find them and just used an ordinary tapestry needle.

There is no need to knot the end of your threaded yarn.

Begin by locating the path that your float yarn is travelling, around an inch away from the actual float. You can see that initially the yarn travels on the over/under path of plain weave, and then we have all those skipped threads where the weft strayed off course. We want to replace that section with a weft thread that is on course.

Next, we want to follow or mimic the exact same path that the weft was taking before it strayed off course. Keep your eyes on the correct weft thread and copy it exactly with your needle, right up to where the float begins.

When you run out of needle, pull your yarn through, but leave a tail of a couple of inches hanging out from where you began. Don’t cinch the thread up tightly, just pull it through so that it lays in place.

When you reach the float, push it aside so that you can see and continue following the over/under path based on where you were up to. Was your last thread under a warp thread? Then the next one should travel over – or vice versa. What you are doing now is placing the thread where it should have been in the thread, before the skipped threads happened.

When you reach the end of the float, continue to needle weave for another inch or so. This picture is not the best example of this, as my float was close to the edge of the work. Whatever the case, continue needle weaving past the end of the float, then leave a tail of a couple of inches like you did at the beginning.

When you have repaired all your floats in this fashion, it’s time to wet finish. Do not cut your tails or floats at this point, leave it all just the way it is. Wet finish and dry completely.

When your weaving is completely dry, it’s time to cut the tails. Use a small, sharp pair of scissors and cut close to the fabric, being very careful not to cut the fabric itself! You can also cut the floats at this point, in the same way you cut the tails.

And that’s it, floats are fixed. I left one float in place over at the left edge for comparison.

If you would like to see this tutorial in a step by step video format, please visit my Youtube channel.

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

Troubleshooting loose slot threads

by Kelly 31 Comments

Loose slot threads when weaving on a rigid heddle loom are very common. The fact is that a rigid heddle loom just does not hold the same amount of tension as a floor or table loom.

This means that the rigid heddle weaver can run into a bit of bother when warping up with fine, rigid weaving yarns. An 8/2 cotton is a floor loom weaver’s dream but can be quite a challenge on the rigid heddle.

*This post contains affiliate links. For further information, please view my disclosure policy.

Knitting yarns or slightly thicker weaving yarns with some elasticity work beautifully on a rigid heddle loom, as they don’t need a lot of tension and are very forgiving.

How do I know if my tension is good enough?

This can be a personal preference, but there are certainly a few guidelines for knowing whether your tension is suitable or not:

Too loose

Your warp threads bunch in between weft picks (rows)

You have floats or skipped warp threads often

Your stick shuttle keeps snagging on warp threads as you enter the sheds

Your heddle doesn’t click easily into the up or down shed

Too tight

You struggle to get your heddle/s into the up position

You have warp threads breaking

You feel a lot of resistance when trying to beat

Does this mean that rigid heddle weavers should not weave with weaving yarns? Not at all! There are too many wonderful weaving yarns in a massive variety of colours out there to try! With the right approach and strategies, all yarns can be used successfully.

1. Getting the warp right

The warping the loom stage is the most crucial time to get that tension as good as you can. Not as tight as you can, necessarily, but even, consistent and firm. When I have a good warping experience, I just know that the project is going to go smoothly.

There are a few key strategies for getting good tension during the warping process. I talk about it in this webinar but I also want to mention some of them here:

Have someone help you. Your helper can hold on to the end of the warp, providing great tension, while you focus on standing behind the loom and winding on.
Pack the back beam as you roll on. You can use cardboard or wooden sticks/ separators, a roll of thick paper, a blind or a drawer liner. My personal favourite here is the roll of paper which you can cut to size if needed. 125 gsm is a good weight.

For a wider warp, use more than one warping peg. This helps distribute the threads over the width of the loom in a more practical way and is more economical, as threads don’t have to travel as far to loop around just one peg.
Take your time. Extra time spent in warping is well worth the investment. Remember – good warp = happy weaving experience 😄
Pay particular attention to the middle of the warp while rolling on, particularly if warping independently. The middle is the most likely place to lose tension and get saggy threads.

2. Consider a shorter warp

A rigid heddle loom can take quite a lot of length in a warp, but I haven’t found a long warp to be best practice. If I have the opportunity, I will break a warp into smaller increments where possible.

This doesn’t bother me, because the rigid heddle is so quick to warp for more simple projects, so it doesn’t take much extra time. I find that the longer my warp on the rigid heddle, the harder it is to keep a good tension for the duration of the warp.

3. The tie on

The tying on step is also important for your overall tension. Whether you tie directly on to the apron rod (as I do 99% of the time) or lash on, this step is another opportunity to “get it right” before beginning weaving.

Once again, I don’t aim for really tight tension when tying on, but I do aim for the best consistency I can manage. This means going over the tied on threads once, twice, thrice if needed so that they all feel about the same.

I gauge this tension by bouncing my hand across the warp (like a trampoline!) Any bunch of threads that feel much looser than others will get a re-tighten.

4. Know your yarns

There are certain threads that are harder to tension due to their inelastic structure. I already mentioned 8/2 cotton, but many plant based or cellulose fibres (cotton, linen, hemp, etc) are quite rigid and easier to weave with a higher level of tension. Animal fibres or protein fibres (wool, alpaca, etc) generally have a little more stretch.

The amount of twist, number of ply and thickness or weight can also effect how rigid a yarn is. It helps to know your yarns – to sample yarns you’r unsure of and accustom yourself to all their particulars.

If you need a little more guidance with yarns, I have some resources that will help:

Choosing and using yarns in weaving

What is a superwash wool yarn?

3 yarns beginner weavers should never use!

5. Stuff it!

Packing, stuffing and wedging your back and front beams will always help with tension. If, despite your best efforts, your warp is just not tensioned well enough then start packing! You can use stiff paper, cardboard, sticks (either separators or pick up sticks) or whatever else you can come up with that works, to wedge under or between your warp at the beams.

When advancing your warp, start packing the front beam. This will prevent the knots from the apron rod from sticking into your weaving as it rolls around them beam (which can damage or distort your weaving and mess with your tension) and provide overall better tension each time you advance.

You can insert a pick up stick or something similar into a shed that is giving you particular trouble (usually the down shed) and slide it to the back beam. Push it right back so that it becomes wedged between the thread layers and tightens that shed for you.

You can also wedge something directly under the warp at the back beam to increase overall tension. To see this in action, watch this video, which also includes additional tips for working with fine threads:

6. One sided looseness

Perhaps your loose tension problem is at the selvedge? To be more specific, one selvedge is fine while the other is loose? You end up with neat edges on one side and not so great edges on the opposite side.

If you want generally to improve the neatness of your edges, check out this post for more resources.

One thing you can try in this instance is to begin and finish threading in a hole. When we thread for plain weave, we usually thread one thread in a hole, one in a slot, and so on. Most of the time we are threading an even number of threads.

But for this technique, we thread an uneven number of ends on purpose, so that the last thread gets threaded through a hole. The reasoning behind this technique is twofold. Firstly, the threads are threaded in holes, which hold better tension than the slots. Secondly, the outermost threads will be under the same or similar tension (both being in holes) so the results of your woven edges should be more similar looking.

If that sounds confusing, check out this video where I show you how to thread both selvedge threads in holes and you will see how simple it is:

7. Warping in down shed

As a disclaimer, I have not tried this technique, I have only heard about it. The idea is that it’s the down (slot) sheds that have looser tension, so warping your loom with the heddle in the down shed potentially tightens the slot thread tension. If you decide to give this a go, I would be interested to know how it turns out for you!

I hope this article was useful to you. As always, questions and comments are welcome, please leave them down below! ⤵

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

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How to Change Weft Colours in Weaving (Without Messy Selvedges)

by Kelly 20 Comments

Frequent weft colour changes are common when weaving stripes, colour blocks, or weft faced weave structures like krokbragd. While these colour changes can create beautiful effects, they can also introduce problems such as messy selvedges or uncertainty leading to less than pleasing results.

In this article, I’ll explain the most common issues that arise when changing weft colours often, and show you three simple, reliable methods you can use to manage frequent weft colour changes with neat, secure results.

If you’ve ever wondered how to change weft colours without creating bulk, holes, or untidy edges, these techniques will help you weave colour changes with confidence.

Some of the most common questions and confusions around weft colour changes include:

“Should I cut the old colour when introducing a new one? If so, what do I do with the cut tails?”

“Should I not cut the colours, but weave them continuously, swapping shuttles as I go and carrying the colours up the edges?”

You may be wondering about which method is the best?

Well, that all depends on how wide the stripes or each band of colour are going to be. I’ll explain further.

Avoiding Floats That Are Too Long

If you are weaving wide bands of colour, it will likely not be practical to carry the yarns up the selvedges as you weave. This will create long floats.

Now, floats at the edges can look great as a design feature, but the length does need to be practical.

Floats that are too long will get caught or snagged once the woven piece is in use – they will get stretched and end up looking, well, a bit ragged!

Weft floats a design feature in the Candy Store Scarf.

There is no hard and fast rule with what length of float is too long or how wide a stripe should be before deciding on which method is best. But, one example that I use would be, if I’m weaving with light worsted weight yarn and intended to carry the yarn up the side, I wouldn’t make my stripes more than 4 picks wide.

Another example might be that I’m weaving 3 picks of a colour before changing, weaving another 3 picks in a different colour and then going back to the original colour. For this situation, I would choose to keep the yarn colours continuous and carry them up the sides.

Basic Method For Thicker Stripes

Introduce the new colour and leave a tail of a couple of inches on the cut end. Weave that pick and change to the next shed.

Take the cut tail around the edge warp thread and into the new shed, around 3 warp threads deep. Pull down to the back of the warp, making sure that it is nicely arranged at the edge warp thread.

Weave the new pick, and continue to weave until your stripe or band of colour is as thick as you want it to be. Finish the pick on the opposite side to the one you introduced it on.

Cut the yarn, again leaving a tail of a couple of inches. Change to the next shed.

Tuck the tail into the new shed as before.

Bring the new colour in, ensuring the tail is on the opposite side to where you finished the last colour. Continue with the initial steps for each colour change.

Pretty straightforward?

The only thing you need to pay particular attention to here is to alternate the sides that the tails are on to prevent a build up on one side. Leave the excess parts of the tails hanging from the back as you weave (they don’t get in the way) and when your piece is wet finished and dried, cut them close to the fabric, being careful not to cut the fabric itself.

Now let’s go over the two methods you can use when your stripes are thinner or colour changes are more frequent:

In my demonstration I’m using 3 different colours and weaving 2 picks of each colour.

1. Catch the Wefts At The Edges

The first technique is to make the colours go around each other at the edges. This ensures that every colour is carried up the edges while it’s not actively in use.

This method does have its drawbacks. I was using 3 weft colours for my stripes and found that, for the picks where all 3 colours were on one side, carrying up the side created bulkiness in the form of a noticeable bump where all the colours meet.

While this method would work well for 2 weft colours, for 3 it is not the method I would naturally choose. I can’t live with those bumps – to me they just stick out like a sore thumb!

2. Weave The Wefts Independently Of Each Other

So, for my 3 weft colours, this is my preferred method:

Weave the weft colours in the same way but don’t make them go around each other at the edges. Just weave them independently of each other and ignore the colour that you’re not using at the time, let it just sit where it finished off and wait.

When you’re ready to weave a new colour, you can just pick up the colour you want and continue weaving. Obviously, this works best for repetitive colour patterns so that your edge floats look harmonious and continuous.

I find this method gives a very neat and pleasing finish to the edges.

To the left you can see the first method I used of taking the colours around each other. On the right is how the second method looks – much neater, I think!

When you are using a thinner yarn (say an 8/2 or 10/2 cotton) it is much easier to hide what you’re doing at the edges and it won’t be very noticeable in your finished piece. But for thicker yarns, like the light worsted I’ve used here, these techniques are a “must know”.

Further Learning Resources

If you’re interested in exploring these techniques further, I have a mini class 3 Options for Frequent Colour changes available to members of my Online Weaving School.

As an additional resource, you may find this video helpful. It shows how I weave the wefts for log cabin:

Have you tried any of these techniques? Which one do you prefer and why? Let me know in the comments, I love to hear from you!

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

What is a superwash wool yarn?

by Kelly 20 Comments

I have talked quite a bit about yarns in weaving recently, but now I would like to get a little more into the specifics of individual yarns. Superwash wool yarn is a somewhat controversial yarn for fibre artists. In this article, I’m going to attempt to outline what superwash woollen yarn is in a factual manner.

I contacted my local, much loved woollen mills (Bendigo Woollen Mills) where I buy a lot of knitting yarn to use in my weaving projects. They were very helpful in explaining how their superwash yarns are treated and in pointing me towards further information to aid my own research. Interestingly, they said that although they offer both treated and untreated yarns, due to customer demand, 80% of their yarns are superwash.

I want to start by pointing out that I think it is very important for each weaver to decide whether they want to use a particular yarn or not, based on their own personal preferences. I have a huge number of students from all over the world and all different backgrounds. I pass no judgement on a weaver’s personal choice and I do not support yarn shaming in any shape or form.

If you’re in the beginner phase, and your head is swimming with confusion in regards to yarn choices, I have some helpful and free resources for you. You can begin by eliminating possibly troublesome yarns, at least for your first few projects, by reading 3 Yarns Beginner Weavers should Never Use! Then move on to the in depth Choosing and Using Yarns in Weaving.

If you’re really baffled about yarn sizes, I have two other resources that will really help you out. The Weaver’s Toolkit is an e-booklet that provides you with yarn conversion charts, recommended heddle sizes and a bunch of other quick reference information. I also have a short class What Do All the Numbers Mean? that will take your through an explanation of what all those numbers on your weaving yarn cone mean and various measuring systems that are industry standards.

Alright, let’s have this superwash discussion.

When you purchase woollen (usually a knitting yarn), if you read the care label instructions, it will either say “hand wash” or “machine washable”. This is how you know whether it’s a superwash yarn or not – machine washable means that it is superwash. And that means that the yarn is treated. Let’s investigate the treatment process further and why the wool is treated in the first place.

We all know that wool is quite hairy and clingy. Woollen yarn just loves to grab onto itself – the surface is scaly and these scales want to be joined as one! This is accentuated in the washing process. If you wash a non superwash wool yarn in hot, soapy water and create some friction, you will end up with felted fabric.

The superwash process removes these outer scales of the yarn with chemicals. The yarn is then coated with a synthetic coating (Hercosett is the industry standard) which smooths the exterior of the yarn. Because the scales are no longer present to interlock with one another, and the additional synthetic coating has been used, it becomes impossible for the yarn to felt in the washing process. It also means that, under the right conditions, a finished woollen piece can be washed in a washing machine (always follow care instructions for temperature specifics and correct steps). The superwash process generally leaves a yarn with a soft, smooth feel.

So, what is all the controversy about? There are a few main issues that some people have with superwash wool.

Environmental impact
Is the treated product still “natural?”
Economic impact

*I need to put in a disclaimer here. This information has been collated from my own internet research. I have tried to only include facts without opinions. Some of the things I’m going to mention here are difficult to talk about with a lot of accuracy as it may not be measurable and also I only have access to information I can find on the internet. If, for example, I mention potentially toxic waste water, I have no way of quantifying what level of toxicity or if the toxicity is actually present. I don’t work in the industry, I don’t have inside information. The intention of this article is just to share information so that weavers can make informed choices when purchasing yarn and do some further research if it’s a concern for you.

Environmental impact:

The superwash process uses large amounts of water. In addition to the quantity of water used, some consumers are concerned that the waste water leaving the yarn processing plants could be toxic.

Then there are the chemicals themselves. Hercosett is a polyamide-epichlorohydrin polymer and some argue that it is a highly dangerous substance, while other sources will state that the chemicals used to create the polymer are toxic, but this doesn’t mean that the end product (the polymer itself) going through the correct chemical process is not safe.

Is the end product still natural?

The end product, in its basic form, is a woollen yarn that has a very fine exterior coating of polymer. As polymers are a type of plastic, some will argue that the yarn itself, following superwash treatment is now a plastic product and no longer natural. I have also seen some insistence that this type of polymer is not a type of plastic. You begin to see what I mean about conflicting information and opinions!

Others will hold the view that the product is still very much wool, it just has an artificial coating that is not actual detectable. This could be seen in the same light as many commercially available textiles in which “sizing” is used. This involves the application of resins (these can come from various sources, including petroleum) to fabric or clothing prior to retailing. Sizing is used to make clothes or fabric hold their shape and look good prior to purchase. This may be a poor example on my part though, because as far as I know, the sizing can be removed when you wash the fabric or clothing prior to use.

Economic impact:

Many woollen yarns are processed off shore for superwash processing. The country of choice in which to have yarn processed is often China as it is cheaper for businesses to send they yarn, have it processed, then have it sent back again. Many countries just don’t have the facilities for this type of processing.

I know that I’ve only covered the basics in this article, and given the differing information and opinions on the use of superwash wool, I’m going to provide a varied list of links from other people’s websites here in case you want to do some further research of your own:

Superwash and its alternatives

What’s Wrong with Washable Wool

The Truth about Superwash Wool

About Superwash Treatment

In Support of our Australian Wool Industry

Is Superwash Yarn Environmentally Sustainable

And of course, if you want to find even more information, then google is your friend.

Thank you for joining me today! I invite comments on this topic, but as it can be a sensitive one, I ask you to keep it a respectful and helpful discussion. Thank you for keeping this a happy and informative space 😊

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

3 Yarns Beginner Weavers should NEVER use!

by Kelly 63 Comments

Choosing the right yarn for the right project can be a huge conundrum for newer weavers. There are so many yarn choices for weaving that it can be very confusing to know where to start.

If you want to know more about the basics of choosing yarns when you’re just starting out, you will want to read this post which includes a couple of super helpful videos where I walk you through some of my stash and the ways I’ve used certain yarns in my weaving.

I usually recommend specific yarns for new weavers to try, based on my experience with which yarns are the most economical, easy going and likely to give consistent, more predictable results.

This post contains affiliate links

But today, I’m going to do the opposite. I’m going to talk about the yarns that a new weaver should not use, and even go so far as to say that a newer weaver should NEVER use these yarns to begin with!

Pretty extreme, huh? Trust me, you will thank me for it!

So, how do I know about these three particular yarns that should be locked up and kept in a closet marked with NO GO – NEW WEAVERS NOT PERMITTED?

Because I hear about it all the time! The anguish of a new weaver who unwittingly picked a yarn that “looked pretty” and now is in a terrible anguish, caught in the balance between the idea of cutting the project off the loom prematurely or giving up on weaving altogether because it “doesn’t seem like my thing“.

Friends, it does not have to come to that and I am here to tell you how!

There are three yarns that you should avoid at all cost. Not forever, just to begin with. Later, you will have the experience, know how and possibly patience to deal with these yarns, but to begin with you want to keep it as simple and achievable as possible.

Think of your beginning weeks, months, or however long it takes (remember we all learn at a different pace and that is absolutely fine and normal. If you have any qualms on this note, please take the time to watch the video on Slow Learning down below).

The first few projects at least should be devoted to getting to know your loom. It’s like a honeymoon period, hopefully a happy one! But, if you think of your beginning stages in this way, as the learning phase, it won’t matter so much if you don’t always get amazing results as you will be learning what you need to know.

You’re probably itching to know what these three avoidable yarns are. I won’t keep you in suspense any longer.

Mohair.

I’ve put this one at the top of the list for a reason. Don’t use it if you’re a beginner. I can’t be much more blatant than that. Just don’t do it. You will be sorry.

Meet Anna. Why do I have a random doll included in this post? I’ll explain. I made this doll for youngest daughter’s first birthday present, almost 10 years ago. She has stood the test of time pretty well, but is in need of a wig refurbishment. At the time, I was a dollmaker and sold my dolls on Etsy. I made the dolls from all natural materials, so their skin was a lovely soft cotton, they were stuffed with clean, carded wool and I would often use mohair to make wigs or hair. By the way, if you’re interested in a 10 year old tutorial on making a doll similar to this one, I have a two part tutorial here.

The point is, I used to have a huge stock of mohair but have used it all up in dollmaking. So instead of showing you a ball of mohair, I’m going to show you the back of the doll’s head to help illustrate why you should not use mohair as a beginner weaver.

Check out that fluff. Yes, mohair is uber fluffy! See that halo? (This is going to become a recurring theme!) Mohair sticks to itself. Very much. You carefully warp your loom and begin weaving, only to find that you don’t seem to be a able to get a clear shed. Sound familiar? Every. Single. Time. You change sheds, the warp threads stick to each other and you wonder how on earth you are supposed to get your stick shuttle through an either non existent or at the least, very messy shed. It doesn’t make for a fun weaving experience.

2. Fine, rigid threads.

By this I mean a weaving thread like an 8/2 cotton. These types of yarns will usually be sold on a cone rather than in a ball or skein.

Why do I think they’re a bad idea for beginner weavers? Firstly, they will have little to no elasticity. This is a problem for newbies (ahem, and veterans!) because they are difficult to warp with the correct and consistent tension. Which can be really frustrating. Especially on a rigid heddle loom where you can’t achieve as firm a tension as you can on a floor loom. When you’re not familiar with these types of yarn or don’t have much general weaving experience, you don’t want a yarn that won’t stretch a little. Yarns with elasticity (like, say a dk or light worsted wool) are so much easier to warp and work with. They will stretch out and contract back nicely on the loom and for that reason I call them very “forgiving” yarns. They help rather than hinder your warping and weaving process. They will be your newbie friends. The inelastic, thinner yarns can be your friends later.

The second point about these yarns is that they are thin. Which means they take longer to warp. Then they take longer to weave. When you’re just starting out you really want to choose shorter, approachable projects that don’t feel like a year long commitment to finish one item. Thicker yarns will be a huge help in this respect. They weave up quickly and with less problems.

3. Luxury Yarns

There are plenty of yarns that come under this category so I will point out a few specifics.

Baby alpaca is a gorgeous, sumptuous yarn. No, it doesn’t come from actual baby alpacas, it is classed and graded as a very fine fibre, and is extremely soft, hence the name. It also has a halo. It’s not fluffy in the same way that mohair is, and it’s not as difficult to weave with. But yes, it will still be a pesky, sticky yarn to weave.

The exact same rule applies here to Angora, possum and some cashmere fibres. Once again, save their scrumptiousness for a little later on.

Ah, silk, beautiful, shiny, luscious silk. I love weaving with it. Now. I didn’t attempt weaving with it until I had a lot of experience under my belt. I mean, have you seen how expensive silk yarn is? 😲 I knew I didn’t want to make that investment unless it was for something really special that I was ready for. Also, the fineness of the 60/2 silk above (similar to sewing thread in thickness) makes it doubly unsuitable for newbies.

Luxury yarns are just that – a luxury. Which means they will have a price tag to match. I’ve heard some newbie weavers say that they couldn’t resist a luxury yarn for their first project. I understand that your first project is a special one, but you need to be a realist about it too. Weaving is a learning curve. Skills like weaving neat edges and achieving good tension take time and are not likely to be perfected in your first project. You are really feeling your way with your first project. If you add the stress of having to make something nice with your very expensive luxury yarn on to the experience of learning to actually use your new loom, it will often be a recipe for disaster.

Let me put it this way: I’ve never heard a new weaver regret that they used inexpensive yarn for their first project. But I’ve had many, many, many messages from people in distress that things are not going according to plan and they spent so much money on the yarn. Save yourself the stress and start out with an inexpensive, light worsted/dk/Aussie 8ply wool.

Now, if I could only find a way to get this message to every new weaver in the world, I think there might be a lot more happy weavers out there.

This post is also available in video format-

So, time to fess up. Have you had a less than positive beginner experiences with one of these three yarns? Let me (and everybody else, just in case someone needs more convincing!) know about it in the comments.

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

What is the sett in weaving?

by Kelly 2 Comments

Perhaps one of the most confusing terms to newer weavers is the sett.

What is the sett and why does it matter?

Well, I’ve made a video explaining the basics and narrowing it down in an easy to understand format, so please take a few moments to watch that.

You will usually see the sett referred to as “ends per inch” or “epi”. When obtaining a measurement or calculation to determine your sett, you are figuring out the spacing between your warp threads.

The spacing is important because it affects the end result of your weaving. For example, if I have some really thick yarn that I’m using as warp, and I space it (or sett it) too closely together, I may end up with a fabric that is more like cardboard! If that is the effect you are going for, great – but if not, you need to understand why it happened.

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So, let’s take a look at how you can determine sett. Once again, I have a video that demonstrates the simple process. All you need is some yarn and an inch ruler!

The beauty of this inch ruler wrap test is that it works with whatever yarn you have. Some weaving threads have a recommended sett when you buy them, but you may not remember or have lost the information. No problem, you can figure it out for yourself.

If you are a rigid heddle weaver and have a good collection of different sized heddles/reeds it is very easy to transfer your calculated sett to the loom – you just choose the heddle/reed that is close or exactly the same as your figure.

Let’s have a look at an example. The yarn I used in the video is an Australian 8 ply (light worsted/ dk). When I wrapped it for an inch, I found that I could wrap the yarn 14 times. Dividing this figure in half gives me the correct sett for a balance plain weave. 14 divided by 2 = 7. My sett would be 7. I don’t have a 7 dent heddle/reed, so I would choose my 7.5 dent. An 8 dent would also be fine.

So, for every weave structure, I divide my wraps in half?

No.

The rules change when the weave structure changes. Plain weave is a balanced interlacement of warp and weft threads. One over, one under, one over and so on. But when it comes to twill, the weft yarn travels differently. It has to travel over more warp threads, so it has further to go. Therefore, when determining sett for twill, we use a different tactic.

Twill is generally sett 2/3 closer than plain weave. For those of us who are not strong on mathematics (hello!) it can be easiest to follow a simple formula. Instead of dividing our wraps per inch in half, we multiply by 0.67.

Let’s use our earlier example with the same yarn to figure out a sett for twill instead of plain weave. Remember that we wrapped the yarn for an inch and got 14 wraps? We take that 14 and multiply it by 0.67. 14 X 0.67 = 9.38. Now I need to make a decision – there is no heddle/reed with a 9.38 dent! So, I choose the closest, which would be a 10 dent.

Are these figures sett in stone? (Pun intended!)

No, they don’t have to be! You can make decisions based on your project as well. Lets say I’m using an 8/2 cotton that would normally be sett between 18 and 24 ends per inch. I want to weave some kitchen towels in plain weave. Experience tells me that a suitable sett would be 20epi, I would double my ends in a 10 dent heddle/reed. Or I could use 2 x 10 dent heddles to double the sett. Experience also tells me that if I use single and not doubled threads as weft, that will be a very pleasing result for the type of towels I prefer.

BUT, if I want to use that same 8/2 cotton for weaving a tote bag I need to put my thinking cap on. Knowing that my towel calculations give me a lovely soft but durable fabric, I’m thinking for a tote bag I’m going to want a sturdier fabric. After some consideration and perhaps working a sample, I may decide that my bag fabric will be sett at 24 epi and my weft will be doubled this time.

Sampling is always an excellent idea. It will leave you with no doubts about your project, or it may strike you with the realisation that you need to research and perhaps sample further.

You will get to a point (as all experienced weavers do eventually) of knowing your favourite yarns, projects and the sett you need to use. For a great deal of my projects these days, I don’t calculate the sett formally, it just becomes intuitive. If I buy a new yarn that I’ve never used or undertake a weave structure I haven’t tried, then I will go back to basics and calculate more carefully.

I hope this article has helped you to wrap (oops, there goes another pun!) your head around the whole idea of sett and why it is necessary in weaving.

If you feel you want to know more or are interested in delving further in, I have a great short class What do all the Numbers Mean and how do they apply to a Rigid Heddle Loom?

This class goes into the numbers that you see on your weaving thread cones and what they actually mean. It includes two printable yarn charts. One is specifically for weaving yarns and the other for knitting yarns.

Each chart gives you a list of common sizes of yarn and recommended setts, name conversions where necessary, recommended heddle/reed sizes and suggested related projects. It’s well worth a look and is the type of class you can refer back to again and again.

I also have the Weaver’s Toolkit Ebooklet available. This is a 22 page ebook for rigid heddle weavers. It includes many helpful resources like yarn conversion charts, sett explanations and recommendations, weaving yarn sizes and so much more. You can read more about the booklet in this post or you can purchase it from my Etsy shop.

Well, that’s all for today friends, until next time…

Happy Weaving!