Ask Madelyn


Ask Madelyn: Even More About Floating Selvedges

You explained the need for and ways to use floating selvedges when you are weaving overshot. I was wondering why you would need a floating selvedge?

Ask Madelyn: More on Handling Floating Selvedges

I’m trying to understand the rules regarding tabby and floating selvedges in Donna Lee Sullivan’s Weaving Overshot: Redesigning the Tradition.

Ask Madelyn: How to Rethread Mid-Warp

How do you rethread a warp that is already on your loom? Part of the answer is preserving the cross.

Ask Madelyn: Metric Conversion for Setts

I am wondering if it wouldn't be possible to have the Master Yarn Chart (which already reports meters per kilogram) with the sett ranges given in metric numbers (ends per centimeter)?

Weaving: It's About the Friendships

Someone recently asked me why I became a weaver. One reward of becoming a weaver is the friendships you make with other weavers.

Ask Madelyn: Turning a Draft

The attached draft is from a non-weaving friend. How do I change the draft to put the pattern stripes in the warp? I have an 8-shaft, 10-treadle loom.

Ask Madelyn: Fishing Line for Neat Selvedges?

In a Weaving Today Q & A, a weaver asked about using fishing line for neat selvedges. What thickness fishing line is best?

Ask Madelyn: Dense Sett for Better Selvedges?

I’m trying to work on my selvedges. I’ve heard that you can get better, stronger selvedges by setting the warp threads denser at the selvedge edges.

Ask Madelyn: Shrinking Towels

I have a question about cotton shrinking. When I use handwoven kitchen towels, usually 8/2 cotton, they seem to keep shrinking every time they are washed.

Ask Madelyn: Yarn Counts

Yarn counts cause great confusion even when they are used consistently—and in the case of weaving, they are not.