They cover colour and weave, mixing textures, pick up sticks, string heddles, using 2 and even three heddles and so much more! Both contain patterns, but what I like best about them is the number of different types of weaving and the pictures. My favourite rigid heddle weaving books are: The Weaver’s Idea Book by Jane Patrick and Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom by Syne Mitchell. However, it has only wormed badly at one end…the end I started weaving from and wasn’t beating as hard. The waffle weave, well, you can see from the pictures that it hasn’t stood up so well. It has no worming, but it seems to feel a little thinner and it is quite stretchy. The plain weave towel is standing up reasonably well. These towels see a lot of use and have each been washed at least once a week, sometimes twice. We have 4 people living in the house, 2 of whom work from home so are home (obviously) all day. I have used these 2 towels exclusively as hand towels in the bathroom.

In it I mentioned that chenille tends to worm. Click here to see post: It was a post about risks and me not liking them. Almost 2 months ago I did a post ab )out Boucle and Chenille. The thing about weaving is that if it doesn’t work you have only lost some string and time.

So if you wove 80” on the loom, it might only measure 72” off the loom as the fibres go back to their natural relaxed state.

When the fabric (it’s actually called a web at this point) is cut off the loom, all the tension is released. This allows the fibres to move up and down easily and create nice sheds for the shuttle. When you weave, the warp is under tension (stretched out). Here’s the non-technical theory behind weaving. When it comes off the loom and is finished a very dense stiff fabric results (and they have used way more yarn than they anticipated, or the pattern called for). The weft is pressed so tight that nothing is getting through that fabric. New weavers try to make the fabric on the loom look like the fabric they want when it comes off the loom. Tagged: rigid heddle loom, rigid heddle, weaving techniques, weaving blogĮxperienced weavers know that what they see on the loom is not the fabric that will come off the loom and is not the fabric that will emerge after finishing. If you think you’re ready to try pick-up sticks, here’s a link to a pattern I use to teach beginner pick-up weaving complete with video links. That’s when you might want to start using string heddles. With multiple sticks they usually need to be removed and replaced each repeat. Patterns using only 1 pick-up stick are simple, the stick can stay in place the entire weave. This will create warp floats.Īnd that is all there is to weaving with pick-up sticks! And this is only the beginning! You can use multiple pick-up sticks to create incredibly complex patterns. Slide the pick-up stick behind the heddle leaving it flat. When the yarn goes through this shed you will see weft floats.Ģ. Slide the pick-up behind the heddle and flip it on its side. Place the heddle in the neutral position. Approach each project with an open mind, willing to listen and try something different if need be.ġ. Forcing yarns out of their comfort zones a little might yield some fabulous results…taking them too far can ruin something that might have been beautiful. Definitely don’t make a loose bulky yarn act like warp. A prickly yarn will always be prickly, don’t try to make it be a soft neck warmer. Some yarns work as warp and some just won’t. Some yarns are stretchy, some are fuzzy, some are a little prickly. Listen to the yarn…you cannot expect yarn to be what it was never meant to be. And when things get to be too much, take a hot bath…hot baths relax everything!ģ.

Don’t be afraid of a little tension in your life. Let things relax too much and you get a tangled mess too much and things begin to break. Just the right tension and everything works the way it should. That’s why we warp and weave under tension. Tension (or stress) is good, but not too much.

Heddle weaving