WEFT article index

Yes, a warp can live forever and Madelyn shows you how in this step-by-step guide to tieing on a new warp to your old warp. Need a new threading? She cheekily suggests that you get a new loom.

This is a common instruction in many weaving projects and patterns, and one we often follow blindly. After all, if the instructions say so, there must be a reason to do so, right? Well, let’s talk a bit about floating selvedges, what they are, their advantages and disadvantages, and when they should and shouldn’t be added. 

Threading a loom is one of the most exacting steps in the weaving process. It requires focus, patience, and a keen eye for detail. We all know scoring that trifecta isn’t always possible! This article covers identifying and fixing threading errors along with best practices to avoid them!

This stunning project uses supplemental warps but more than that, Deb explains her simple and fool-proof system for using a supplemental warp. She talks about when and how to weight it, how to know if you’re using too much or too little weight, how to winde and beam the warp, and how to thread (sitting at the front or the back). She gives basic rules and troubleshoots the process and finally, you get to weave a gorgeous turned monk’s belt pillow.

Jane Stafford jumped at the opportunity to share her deepest thoughts on one of her favourite subjects. In her humble opinion, plain weave is the best weave structure in the world. She tells you why it’s so great and what it’s meant in her life including how it’s perfect for new weavers, it’s a comfortable canvas to grow from, how it’s a continuous teacher in her weaving life, how she’s made 1000 plain weave mohair blankets, and more.

Plain weave is often, in twenty-first-century American handweaving circles, regarded as a stepping stone to other structures. A requisite structure for an introduction, if that, but seldom a structure to be dwelt on, let alone to build a career on. This should come as no surprise, considering the position that handweaving occupies in this particular time and place. No longer a generator of essential textiles, handweaving is more novelty than utility. We weave by hand because we want to. If every handloom ceased operations the world would not go unclothed. Born out of creative impulse and curiosity, our time at the loom is often spent exploring the infinite possibilities for interlacing yarns. I don’t have any hard data, but my hunch is that very few American handweavers spend their entire weaving lives producing plain cloth. It gets left behind like those first strips of construction paper in an elementary school classroom. Too basic, too boring. Kid stuff. Over one, under one, over one, under one. Next. 

This article is one that every weaver should read. It is stunning.

We are talking about sett here.  Sett relates to the number of ends per inch, compared to the number of picks per inch, in a woven cloth. If they have the same number, the cloth has a balanced sett, and if they are different, it has an unbalanced sett.

 The difference in sett affects not only the appearance of the fabric, but also the handle and drape of a cloth. A balanced sett will give a flexible handle and drape. The further you move toward an unbalanced sett, the stiffer and less flexible the handle generally becomes. 

Janet delves into weft beating and warp sett, weft take-up length (and how to figure it out), threading plans, selvedges, and leaves you with far fewer questions about balance in cloth!

Weaving is a craft rooted in precision, knowledge, and patience. One of the most common issues handweavers face when producing cloth is the discrepancy between what is planned on the loom and what appears after finishing. This is due to three key phenomena: draw-in, take-up, and shrinkage. Understanding the meanings of these terms and how they interact can help you mitigate their effects so that your final cloth matches your vision. 

This article explores and explains draw-in, take-up, and shrinkage and their effects on plain weave cloth. Jay also delves into how sett effects everything and how to predict and mitigate shrinkage.

Creating rhythm with woven stripes is a way of dividing up space, creating a sense of flow and movement. In many ways, it’s similar to rhythm in music, where rhythm provides structure and interest that complement the notes of a melody. 

 In this article Tien explores rhythm in weaving with a focus on regular rhythm, progressive rhythm, fibonacci stripes, irregular rhythm, combining rhythms, and how to design with rhythm. She tells you how she does it so it’ll be easier for you!

What’s better than one layer of plain weave cloth? Two layers of plain weave cloth, being woven at the same time! Doubleweave is a fascinating weaving technique where the weaver creates more than one layer of cloth on the loom at once (image 1). Imagine two layers of cloth on your loom at the same time. Those two layers can be woven as two completely separate layers with two separate weft shuttles, or the two layers can be joined on one side to make a cloth that is double the width of the cloth in the reed. The layers can be joined on both sides to make a tube, or stitched together while on the loom to produce a cloth where the two layers cannot be separated from each other. There are magical and innovative ways of weaving with doubleweave, but one of the most practical uses is to weave a double–width cloth. 

This article beautifully articulates and shows how to weave a doubleweave, double-width cloth along with tips and tricks to make it easy, tidy, and stunning.

Wrap yourself up in a gorgeous handwoven blanket that features a minimalist and modern approach to colour.  

For this blanket design, Felecia wanted to create something that could be woven on a compact 4-shaft loom and still be wide enough to serve beautifully as a lap blanket. Woven at 24 inches (61 cm) wide in the reed, this blanket opens up to about 48 inches (122 cm) but then settles down to 42 inches (107 cm) wide after wet finishing. It’s a perfect size to cozy under for Netflix and knitting sessions.  

We have all done it: woven a perfect plain weave, then wet finished it and been confronted with some kind of weird design. What happened?

This is referred to as tracking, and it’s most visible in plain weave. Consensus concludes that when the twist energy in the yarn meets water, it allows that twist to shove the yarns around within the cloth.  This article explores why tracking happens and how to minimize it. It explores the impact of cloth density, structure, and yarn choice.

Selvedges are the bane of many a weaver’s existence, and they are particularly challenging for new weavers, who are trying to remember so many details while using their hands and feet in unfamiliar ways. I’m a big proponent of letting our tools do the work they are designed for and I believe that any weaver can achieve consistent selvedges with a few simple techniques. 

This article covers tensioning your warp, handling the shuttle, finding the beat, getting the right amount of weft, touching or not touching your selvedges, advancing the warp, releasing tension, the sweet spot for weaving, and winding the perfect bobbin.

Wondering how to use handweaving.net tools to spice up your weaving, this article walks you through exactly how to use the tool!

Finding the best sett for any project is a task most vexing to weavers. When the correct sett is used the cloth has balance, the weft moves into place easily with the beat, selvedges are neater and more manageable, and there is little pull-in. This article discusses the parameters of sett in general and how to find that elusive correct sett for plain weave.  You’ll find information on how to get the right sett, different formulas you might use, and why it’s important.

Colour is the focal point and main feature of this table runner. Sarah decided to maximise the effect by giving it a generous width, hopefully dressing the table with a wonderful and striking colour sweep. Her colours were inspired by a William Morris pattern, synchronised with a beautiful image by Sulamith Wülfing titled The Way. Using cottolin in 22/2, this table runner is fun and interesting to weave (using deflected double weave) and gorgeous on your table!

In weaving, “denting” refers to the process of placing threads (or yarns) into the reed, a comb-like tool that is a part of the beater and helps maintain the spacing of the warp threads (density) on the loom. A reed has slots called dents and comes in a variety of dents per inch (most commonly 5, 6, 8, 10, 12) or dents per 10 cm (30/10, 40/10, 60/10). The process known as “sleying the reed” involves threading warp threads through these dents. Along with the dents per inch (dpi) of the reed, the number of threads sleyed in each dent affects the density and texture of the woven fabric. If more threads are placed in each dent, the fabric will be denser, and fewer threads per dent will result in a looser, more open weave. 

When working with different yarns, sometimes the number of ends per inch (epi) is not an even multiple that works easily with the dpi in the reed(s) available to you. In that instance, you might have to sley a sequence of 1-2-2-2-2. Sometimes these “oddball” dents with a different number of threads remain visible in the finished fabric and sometimes they wash out. The question is, Is there a science to when and why some denting marks stick around and others wash out? This article explores that question and comes up with some valuable answers!

The WEFT team decided to see exactly how plain weave stands up against twill and broken twill when it comes to wear and tear, stretch, and drape! You’ll be surprised by the answers!

This premiere issue of WEFT demonstrates that plain weave is far from being plain. In fact, plain weave can have a number of different interpretations. Plain weave may be balanced or unbalanced, including warp- or weft-faced. It even includes basketweave and color-and-weave effects. Plain weave can range from flat, delicate, and gauzy to highly textured, lofty, or dense. It can be used as a blank canvas for weaver-manipulated lace weaves and inlay. What plain weave is not is synonymous with “tabby.” 

This article explores what tabby is and isn’t and the larger idea of weaving language across time and cultures.

All structures will have a form of plain weave, although it may not be as simple as one up, one down. It could be two up, one down, or even three up, two down, depending on the threading. So when a pattern says “Use tabby,” it means that a simple interlacement can be found in the structure, given a one up, one down alternation. Overshot is an excellent example of this and uses alternate warp ends on alternate shafts to form tabby. 

In this article, Jette explores and explains how to find plain weave in any structure. 

The Oxford English Dictionary says to deflect is to “cause (something) to change direction; turn aside from a straight course.” In weaving, plain weave is the tightest of all interlacing, with each end and pick floating over and under just one end and one pick. This weave structure will not shift or “deflect” very much when washed, because there is no space for an end or a pick to move around. However, long floating ends and picks are free to move in any direction they wish, and generally they tend to collapse into themselves. When plain weave is adjacent to long floating ends and picks, then suddenly plain weave ends and picks have space to move. They deflect into the floating ends and picks. This combination of weave structures creates textured cloths with the plain weave areas turning into circles. There are several weave structures that fall into this category. This article explores and explains DD and gives a study gamp so you can learn even more!

Primaverde, or “new spring,” was an appropriate name for this two–block deflected doubleweave threading variation using ten treadles. Deflected doubleweave is a weave that has plain weave, warp floats, and weft floats. This beautiful scarf is much simpler than it looks!

The words “colour-and-weave” (C&W), mean magical patterns that appear in a weave structure created by using combinations of dark and light colours in the warp and the weft. These sequences of dark and light can be overlaid on top of any weave structure: plain weave, twills, units and blocks.

The best way to learn these patterns and see them as a language is by learning them on plain weave. When we become familiar with them on plain weave we start to recognize them like letters of the alphabet. Once they become part of our weaving vocabulary we can start using them in other surprising ways. Jane taches you this language in this wonderful article. You’ll learn seven magical sequences that will transform anything you’re weaving! Includes a study gamp.

Hand spinners can change the direction of their spinning wheels or spindles, placing twist into the fibres in either the clockwise (Z-twist) or counterclockwise (S-twist) direction. To create a yarn that is balanced, a single must be spun in one direction, then plied with one or more other single(s) in the opposite direction. This article explores whether the twist direction of yarns noticeably affects the fabric, whether it causes any tracking, and how well the yarns nestle into one another, closing gaps and holes in the plain weave (PW) fabric. The results are stunning!

The plain weave structure is one of the most honest arrangements in weaving. Warp and weft have equal representation on both sides of the cloth, a feature lending itself to exploration of specific design elements. The magic of this structure is how every small detail will reflect in the surface of the cloth; a change of beat, a slub in the yarn, or even a skipped thread cannot hide. This article explores texture and using it to our advantage.