I have woven two panels for a tablecloth (about 32" wide) and am ready to cut them from the loom. I have loved weaving them so much that I want to tie on a new warp to the one I used for the panels and weave another cloth. My sett is 48 epi (4/dent in a 12-dent reed). I'm worried that if I just tie one thread to each one of the four threads hanging from each dent without taking them in their exact order, they will be twisted when I start trying to wind the warp on the warp beam. Should I make a cross in the threads hanging from the reed and put lease sticks in? I hope you get what I mean! —Janet
Hi Janet!
I certainly do get what you mean since I have just finished tying onto twelve warps (how could they all end at the same time!) at my school in preparation for my next classes. I do have a favorite way to do this. After the final cloth has been woven on the warp that is ending, I weave about an inch in plain weave or whatever interlacement I can make that is closest to plain weave so that the threads are placed in their exact order in the cloth. Then, I cut off the final cloth, leaving the inch of fabric I just wove dangling from the reed.
I hold the cross of the new warp in my hand and take each thread from it in turn as I also pull each tread in turn from the dangling strip of fabric and tie them together in an overhand knot. This way, I know the threads are all in their exact order. If you aren't comfortable holding the cross in your hand, you can put lease sticks in it; I just find it goes faster if I am holding the cross.
When the threads pass through the heddles in their exact order on the way to the beam, the beaming process is very, very smooth and I am very, very happy. (I do have to jiggle the knots through the reed and then through the heddles before the smooth and lovely part starts.)
—Madelyn
Posted August 30, 2013. Updated April 4, 2018.
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