• This picture will help you learn the parts of a loom, click on picture to see a larger view. Once you know what and where these parts are then it will be easier to follow along with the instructions in the class. This is a small 8 harness floor loom, there are 10 treadles, 8 for pattern work and 2 for plain weave. This class is going to be as simple as possible. You can contact me for info on the class at any time, think of this as an interactive way to read a weaving book, instead of reading a weaving book that you might have trouble with understanding some of the steps, with this class you can ask me to clarify any steps you don't understand. Since space is limited I can't go into all the details like a book would but hopefully this cyber class with give you some useful info and make your weaving experience fun. Here is a picture of a Rigid Heddle loom: Click onto the picture to see the parts of the loom better
• "A" is the Rigid Heddle, it serves as both the reed and the beater, it has slots and holes alternating.
• "B" is the Front roller, your warp will travel from here to the Back roller which is "C".
• "D" is the upright for holding the heddle, closed position.
• "E" is the upright for holding the heddle, upper position
• "F" is the upright for holding the heddle, lower position
• "G" Ratchets and prawls for advancing the warp

Materials needed:

• a loom that has a minium weaving width of 10", rigid heddle on up to a floor loom can be used for this class.
• yarn that is suitable for a scarf, soft wools are great and rayons make a very drapeable scarf. I carry yarns that are suitable and can help you choose some for your project. I also carry scarf kits that have the warp prewound and ready for the loom and co-ordinating weft yarn.
• a means of winding a warp, a warping board or reel is nice but chair legs will do in a pinch.
• shuttle for weaving, boat or stick shuttles will do, I also carry those if you need any.
• hook for threading your heddles and reed

How to figure your number of ends in warp:
    You need to know how many ends per inch you are going to have. Take the yarn you want to use, wind it around a ruler, have the yarn strands touching each other but not crowded. Count how many wraps there are to an inch, divide that figure by 2, that is your Ends Per Inch (EPI)
Lets say that you come out with 10 EPI, that means that you will need 10 ends of yarn for inch of width. If you want to make a scarf 10 inches wide you will need 100 Ends.
         EPI (10) x width of project (10) = 100 (total warp ends)

How to figure the length of your warp:
    You need to know how long you want your scarf to be, I like a scarf that is about 72" not counting the fringe. So for that length you would figure 80".
    Then you need to allow for loom allowance, this is the amount of warp that is needed to reach from the back beam to the front that isn't woven but is wasted. Allow 18" for a table loom and 36" for a floor loom. If you aren't sure of your sett or pattern, it is a good idea to allow a little more length of waste for sampling.
    Length of project, include fringes, + loom allowance = length of each warp thread

Figuring how many yards of warp are needed:
You need your total warp ends x the total length of each warp end = total inches needed for your warp. Divide by 36 to get the yards.

For this scarf project the figures are as follows:
    100 total warp ends x 98" for a table loom or 116" for a floor loom = 9800" (tableloom) or 11600 inches for a floor loom. Divide your total by 36 to get the yards. 273 yds for a tableloom or 323 yds for a floor loom.

Now we will figure what we need for the weft:
    First you take the width in the reed + 10% for take up allowance = one weft thread (1 Pick)
We have a scarf that is 10" in the reed, plus 10% = 11"
You will need to know how densely you are going to weave your scarf, sampling gives you the best method of deciding how closely you want to weave your weft but you can estimate what you think you will be needing. If your sett is 10 DPI, start with weaving 10 weft picks per inch (PPI). That means that you will need 110 inches of weft yarn to weave one inch, if you make your scarf 72" without the fringe you will need 7920 inches of yarn, divide by 36 to know your yards=220yds.

I think we are ready to get on with the class, I have sent out scarf kits and weaving supplies. I have a good supply on hand in case anyone else still needs some supplies. We will go through the yarn amounts and calculations:

• A yarn for the warp that is about 1200 yd/lb Check to see if it will work by wrapping 10 times around a ruler, if it measure 1/2" then that is just what you will need. You can use your handspun, boughten wool, rayons, cottons, what ever you would like a scarf to be made out of. If you have any questions about choosing your warp yarn feel free to contact me.

• You will need a way to wind your warp, either a warping board, a reel, warping pegs or you may use chair legs. If someone needs the chair leg method explained contact me and I will tell you how I did it, beware that it is hard on the back though, although it may be age that makes it hard on my back <g> A warping board works well and is easy to use. I prefer one that hangs on the wall but you can lay it on a table if you find that handier. Make sure when buying a warping board that is made well and has long pegs, I have some from Harrisville in-stock and I am very pleased with them, very sturdy. Winding a warp on a board or a reel is about the same except that a reel is faster and definitely easier on the arms, you don't have all that arm movement. First take a brightly colored yarn that is a different color from your warp yarn, measure out what you will need for the length of your warp (this is also covered on the weaving class page). Tie this yarn on the lower right hand peg on the warping board, then go back and forth and around pegs till you reach the top right hand pegs, there will be 2 pegs closer together than the other pegs on the board. These pegs are use for your Threading Cross.
• The Threading Cross is extremely important!! The making of this cross makes the warp easy to manage. It doesn't matter if you are going to thread a loom with 100 threads or 1000 threads, this cross makes that process easy Honest!! I have tried to come up with an example of just what a threading cross to be compared to in another life experience and couldn't come up with an adequate one but believe me, as long as you have a threading cross you will be able to manage these oodles of threads. It makes each thread in order, no matter how tangled a warp make look, it will be just fine as long as your cross is protected at all stages of dressing the loom (getting the warp on the loom)

The picture is of a warping board that is in the process of having a warp wound on it, the other picture is a closeup view of a the threading cross. You will notice that they are putting a cross at each end of the warp, that is not neccessary, just put one cross in the warp. The method is:

when you get to these end 3 pegs, go to the right of the first peg, around to the left of the second peg, up and around the third and then come back to the right of the second peg and then around the left of the first peg, then go all the way back to the beginning peg at the other end of the warping board. You have just completed your first warp wrap.

Next step in making your warp:

The info below tells you how to figure how many epi you will need for your project. You can see that when you are winding your warp on a warping board or reel that each complete trip around the pegs gives you 2 warp ends, so that means that you need to make a complete wrap only half as many times as the ends you need. If you are using a 10 dent reed, you will need 100 ends for a 10" scarf, but you only wind 50 complete wraps on the warping board. As you are winding the warp you need to count but that can be tricky to remember just how many you have so here is a tip to keep the count accurate. On one side of the last peg on the end of the warping board where your cross is you will put a tie of contrasting yarn on the warp every 10 threads, when you have 5 ties of 10 each on one side of the cross you have reached your goal of 100 ends. Now it is time to romove the warp and you have to be Very careful when you do this so that you don't Lose your threading cross, that is a disaster! To insure that the cross is safe use heavy yarn ties in a contrasting color, tie the end loop and then tie around the cross itself. the arrows show where the all important threading cross is, put the tie cord under the cross by the peg on the right, put the other end of the cord down and under the cross and come up at the arrow at the center peg. Now tie the cord over the cross, tie it securely since it has to remain in place till the warp is in position on the loom. Next tie the warp with a contrasting yarn tie along its length about every 12" or so, that will help control your warp and prevent undue tangling. Now it is time to remove the warp from the warping board. I like to make a warping chain, go to the first peg on the warping board at the opposite end from the end with the threading cross. tie this end off securely and then cut the ends off of the board. Then make a large loose crocheted chain, using your hands like you would a crochet hook. Work the chain back up the board to the threading cross. With the last loop of the chain on your wrist, take the threading cross off the board with your left hand, keeping the two ends of the cross separated with your fingers.

Now we take the chain to the loom to put it on the Lease sticks, these are two sticks that will have a hole on each end. Take a strong yarn or string and tie the sticks together on one end. Then insert the other ends of the two sticks into your warp, one end of a lease stick on one side of the threading cross and one stick through the other side of the threading cross. Now thread a string through the two holes on the ends of the lease sticks and tie together. Your threading cross is now secure on the lease sticks. The loop that is on the end of the threading cross will go onto the back beam. Looms have different set ups at the back beam but I will give the directions for the most common set up and if yours isdifferent contact me and I will help you with your loom. I prefer using wooden lease sticks and wooden warp sticks but metal one are being used often in new looms but you can always replace these metal ones by going to a hardware store and requesting long sticks and then drilling a hole on each end. Below is a picture of your lease sticks, you can see how the ends are tied to make sure your threading cross is secure. You can also see the true worth of the threading cross, each thread is either up or down on the sticks, that keeps them in perfect order.

You are going to "dress" the loom now, which means you are going to put the warp on the back beam. I do this by placing the loop over the warp stick that is on the back beam, it will be attached either to an apron or by long cords to your back beam. Here is an excellent picture of what we are doing:



Click onto the picture to see a larger view. This picture is from the excellent weaving book "Warp to Weave" which comes free with a Lelcerc loom or can be bought separately. The picture shows the warp on the lease sticks, tie the lease sticks to the loom in some way to steady them while you are warping. The arrow in the picture shows how the loop of the warp is over the warp stick and is then lashed to the apron or rods that are attached to the back beam. Now we will wind the warp onto the back beam. The warp should be evenly distributed along the warp sticks to the width of the project you will be weaving, since we are making a scarf 10" wide, the warp will be spread out over the middle 10" off of the warp beam.

Now we will start winding on the warp. I use sticks for inserting in the layers of warp threads, paper seems to be more of a hassle than using sticks. Use what ever you have on hand, if you can't come up with sticks then paper will do. One very handy thing to have on hand is a bundle of blinds from an old ventian blind, the slats are just right to use for warp separators and you can cut the slats to size. The reason we need to have something inserted in the warp is so that the threads wind on to the back beam evenly, if your beam takes on a slope to the sides of the warp then you will have problems with your tension once you start to weave.

I wind my warp all by myself, once you get the knack of it the process goes quite quickly. I make sure the warp is spread out on the warp stick, push your lease sticks forward towards the front of the loom, be careful not to push too heavily as you will break a warp thread if you feel a snag but continue to push the lease sticks anyway. When you do feel a snag, go to the lease sticks and "strum" your threads, don't comb your fingers through the warp, just think of strumming a guitar, that is the motion you want to use to untangle your warp threads. Once you have pushed the lease sticks as far forward as you have room for, go to the back beam and wind on the warp. Then back to the lease sticks to even out and untangle, push forward and then back to wind on again. Repeat these steps, about every half turn of your back beam you need to insert paper or sticks in your warp to make them wind on evenly. Also make sure the warp threads are evenly spread out on the lease sticks to the 10" width. We aren't using a raddle since I don't find one neccessary for such a narrow warp. Continue to wind on the warp to the back beam till you have all of the warp wound on except or enough length to thread through the heddles and on through the reed and still have enough length to spare to tie a knot.

Now I thread the heddles, I start with the first heddle on the #1 harness, then thread a heddle on #2 H, then thread a heddle on #3 H, then #4 H, then a heddle on #3, then a heddle on #2, then #1, then #2 and so on. The threading draft is below, read it from right to left across all of the threads. I sley my reed at the same time as I thread my heddle, I draw the thread through the heddle and then through the first slot in my reed that is exactly 5" right of the center of the reed.

---4---

--3-3--

-2---2-

1-----1 Threading Draft

If you are using a rigid heddle loom you do the threading by measuring off 5" to the right of center, thread your first thread in a hole, the next in a slot, so on, till you have threaded all of your warp threads. When ever you have to leave your loom while in the process of warping, be sure to tie your threads in bundles of about 25 threads. If the threads are hanging on the lease sticks and you have to leave the loom, tie those threads in bundles also. A child or a pet can cause havoc with these loose ends in a very short time and the minute it takes you to secure the ends will be worth hours! I always make sure I have enough spare length to tie my ends in bundles after I have drawn them through the heddles and the reed.