Tying a New Warp to an Old One, Lashing On, and Handling Pesky Color Changes

I recently finished three dish towels on Julie, my Swedish counterbalance loom. The design was a six shaft, combination of plain weave and 3/1 twill stripes.  I liked how they turned out, the weaving went quickly, and it was a single shuttle weave for the most part. I decided to wind another warp in different colors and rather than thread the six shafts all over again, to tie them to the old warp.

I wound each stripe of 30 or 40 threads separately, tying the cross on each bout, and placing a tight choke tie about 12" - 18" from the cross. I threaded them onto lease sticks at the front of the loom.

I left the previous towels on the loom and attached my tarp clamp temple to the edges to support them when I started to snip threads.  I clipped and tied one thread at a time and tied with an overhand knot.

I don't think I saved any time, but it was easier on my eyes, neck and shoulders than threading six shafts of texsolv heddles. Everything was right in front of me. The knots slipped through the reed and heddle eyes with only a little gentle coaxing.

These are the two towels after taking them off the loom and wet finishing them. I wove them each with a different color red.

I used the lashing on method after winding on my second warp.  I am becoming a fan of this method, which I learned from Milissa Ellison Dewey in one of her Facebook weaving group  posts. It is fast, easy, and gives a nice even tension to the warp. I wish I had a link to post here, but can't find anything.

Below the dark blue line is the finish of the first towel in these colors. It was woven in a light gray.

I like the look of cross stripes, but can add a fair amount of extra time to my weaving and usually requiring a second shuttle.

I am not a proponent of calling errors a "design element", but I did make an error that I decided I could incorporate into the design. I intended on using a double white line evenly spaced, but accidently did a triple line, so I changed my design to alternate two and three. It isn't an error any longer!

I decided on a two pick white stripe because it is easier to overlap the ends and creates no build-up on the edges.

I measured a few pieces a bit longer that twice the width and unplied one end on each of them. The bundle is lying across the towel.

I use a stick shuttle to push the weft piece through, so both ends hang out from the edges, and then beat.

Changing to the next shed, I push both ends in until they overlap. One end is already unplied. I check for a good overlap length, allowing for my angle, and trim to the correct length and then unply the other end and overlap in the shed and beat. Once I determine the proper length of the piece of weft, I cut the remainder of them and unply the ends ahead of time.

The overlap is hardly visible. (Click on the photo to make it bigger.)

This is a great technique for weaving rag rugs if the plan is for only two passes and it saves on trying to tuck the ends in at each edge.

I use the same method when doing a single pass of rag when doing rugs, but cut the strip half the thickness and a little more than twice the width of the rug. I wrap the rag around the outer selvedge threads and overlap in the same shed, somewhere away from the edges.

I'm really liking the look of this towel, and think my goof was a good one.

Weaver's Delight and Tying on to the Apron

ReNee, a weaver on our Rugtalk Yahoo group just asked me a question:  "Would you please walk me through your method of tying on to the apron rod. I have always tied onto the eyelets in the apron. Do you tie overhand knots in warp and insert a rod and then lace on? I can see that lacing on the entire width of the apron improves the eveness of the take up."

She had recently visited my blog and I think she was referring to the photo of the Weaver's Delight in my last post.

ReNee, rather than answer on Rugtalk, I'm sending you back here, because photos are easier for explaining methods.

Here is a repeat of that photo from my previous blog post.

I want to mention that this is a common method of tying on to the loom.  These are my photos and written directions, but I didn't come up with the method.  I don't care if anyone uses these elsewhere, but please give a link back to this blog.

The cording is a sturdy cotton that I found packaged as a center pull ball at the hardware store.  Don't buy anything too thick, or it will make too much of a lump on the beam.   The cord needs to be 3-4 times  the width of the apron.  It has to be long enough to zig-zag.  Tie onto the first eyelet.  (By the way, I do have a rod in the end pocket  of the apron.)  Lash the cord through each eyelet like in the photo.  Too see better detail, click on the photos to enlarge them.

 Continue to the other end of the apron and tie off the cord.  Thread your rod through the loops.  Wiggle it around until the loops are even and your rod is parallel to the front beam.  If your apron doesn't have eyelets, but just a rod in a pocket, there are usually slits cut in the fabric.  You can thread the cord around the rod through the slits. 

One caution:  this photo is showing what you shouldn't do.  Keep your last loop as close to the selvedges as possible.  The right hand lashing is correct, but on the left side, I am going to drop the last loop before I start to weave.  If I don't, the lashing cord will bend the rod .  There needs to be equal pull from the lashing cords and the tied on warp.

Now, to tie on the warp, I work from the outside, from both sides, toward the center.  I do a couple on the right, then a couple on the left, etc.  I like to keep smaller bouts to tie on than the whole bundle from the section, so they are about 1" each, because the warp will spread quicker with smaller bundles.

Wrap the warp around the rod and bring the ends up on either side of the bundle.

Tie a half granny knot.  Often I will tie all of them to this point in the knot.  They don't have to be super tight, but all need keep the warp the same tension.

I was taught to never tie a knot if a bow will work just as well.  I start to tie the second half of the granny knot, but don't pull the loop all the way through.  I think it is also called a bow knot, and is similar to tying a shoelace.

Now I can tighten the loop.  If I need to make an adjustment to the warp tension, it's a simple matter of untying the bow. 

Don't forget to cover all those knots with a stick when your rug starts wrapping around the cloth beam.  Your first rug will be distorted by the knot indentations if you don't.

ReNee mentioned another method for lashing on, that can also be used.  It eliminates the need for the second rod.  Each section is tied in an overhand knot at the end of the warp.  Tie the lashing cord to the closest eyelet past the selvedge, lash through the end of the first bout, then into the second eyelet, etc.  The bouts will be thicker, since only one can be lashed per eyelet.  Adjust the cord until the tension is equal on all of the bouts.

I like the method I use better, since the knots aren't as big, and the space between bouts is smaller, letting the warp spread evenly with fewer passes of the weft.