I'm working on my second ever project. I have a book that helped with figuring out yardage and how to set up for a specific length/witdth item (In this case a scarf) and no issues warping the loom (yay!). Now I'm weaving along, but noticed that where ever the scarf winds along the front bar is warping my weave! It's getting spaces and waves, causing where I'm working to be out of whack and not straight across. I'm going slow and trying to get a balanced basketweave, but then when it winds on it looks like it's all going to heck in a hand basket.
Here are some pictures. It's harder to see in these, but in person it's really obvious how wavy and warped it is.
Click the pictures to make them larger.
The yellow used to be as nice and straight across as the green above it... but now it's just... ugly.
What am I doing wrong/how do I stop this from happening? Is it something I should even worry about or will it settle down once it's off the loom? It seems most dramatic at the place where the knots are under the weaving, creating holes and large waves.
Thanks!
Edit to add more photos:
I decided to take it off the front beam and see if the weaving went back in place when it wasn't under tension... and it's actually even WORSE when it's off the bar.
This was a fairly balanced weave with just a tiny bit of warp showing through.. now it's ugly and wavy and full of holes and issues that started once it was wound on to the front bar.
I've been using my fingers to try and fix the problem areas, and I added thick freezer paper when winding on the front. Seems to be doing the trick- is there anything else glaring I should be doing from here on that I haven't been?
The freezer paper is a good solution but I think I'd put something even stronger over the first round including the knots - something like a cardboard roll slit to open. But the front beam does seem to be distorting the fabric before it hits the knots and I wonder what someone else suggests.
ReplyDeleteJust an aside, looking at the photos I'm wondering if your warp is set close enough.
Love the rainbow.
Dianne is right... you will need to roll on something sturdy to protect your new cloth from the cords and bumps. Cut paper towel roll is excellent. Heavy grade brown paper such as you use to mail parcels is good. Grocery bags cut cut are good too (but not bottom of bag or glued sides... you want it to be one layer and not multiples) Where your cloth reached the greens, the distortion diminished so that's part of the issue.
ReplyDeleteAnother point is that the tension across the whole warp must be even. No soft spots! Your cloth will be only as good as it was warped so to get better at this, keep on putting on short warps. Practice makes perfect!
I sure wish you lived closer as much of this is very visual to learn. *sigh*
By the way, if you are looking for another RH, my friend Dorothy is parting with hers. let me know okay?!
Susan aka Mum
Thank-you for the help Dianne and Mum! The freezer paper seems to be doing the trick (thank goodness!) but the second I have an empty paper towel roll I'm claiming that for my loom.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why the front beam is doing that. I felt like I had the warp pretty even, I kept going back and retying etc. But I'm still super green so I bet I have a ways to go in that respect. Thankfully the freezer paper seemed to have helped. I'll have a lot of fixing to do once I'm finished though!
The lady who sold a loom to my mom suggested that we buy some cheap window blinds and cut them apart, because they are very sturdy, but also somewhat curved. Then lay each blind separately across the end part, and you can space them as close together as you need to make it nice and smooth in the beginning, and then place them further apart as you keep weaving and rolling the work up. I hope that makes sense!
ReplyDelete