What to do…When You Forgot To Hemstitch
I use the word mistake a lot, but in my mind, I have reframed them from being a bad thing to being a learning opportunity. I love that in weaving there are almost no mistakes that cannot be fixed, and since hobby weavers are not weaving to earn a living, the worst that can happen is some string is wasted. The stakes are pretty low! If you are a perfectionist, try to view your weaving as a “safe space” for making mistakes. As you learn to embrace learning experiences in your weaving life, you may find that it overflows into your daily life in a positive way. (Can you tell my educational background is social work?!)
Let’s slip back to the yarn wasted: this, I agree, in the short term can be pretty tragic and you are allowed to shed a few tears, stomp your feet or whatever it is you need to do to express your frustration and disappointment. Then do a quick Google search to see if your project can be saved or pop me an email, I try hard to answer, and who knows, your disaster could be the basis of a new blog post. (I’ve even set this email link to have HELP in the subject line!)
See that black thread? That’s my tail for hemstitching!
Ok, moving on…I had far more learning opportunities than I wanted this past week, most were not related to weaving and had something to do with my brain malfunctioning (I think it’s my age? Or maybe just too many ideas in my brain?) Anyway, I was super excited about the project on my loom. I carefully measured the tail needed for hemstitching and began weaving away. Well into the weaving process…probably around the 36” mark, I noticed a lot of yarn wrapped around the front beam. Confused, I wondered if somehow the weft had gotten wrapped around the beam and I was going to have a mess. But no: it was my tail for hemstitching! There was a piteous cry (I don’t curse, but I have a very piteous “oh no!” )
What to do? I had several options:
I could try fringe twisting without a hemstitch. It would probably work and while I love how hemstitching looks, I’m not fond of doing it.
I could tie knots instead of hemstitching, but I’m pretty sure this yarn will fray with use.
I could hemstitch after taking the scarf off the loom. Have you ever tried hemstitching a project not under tension? It’s not fun!
I could try winding the whole project back after weaving. What was there to lose? If it didn’t work, I could still do any of the other options.
So I kept merrily weaving along. It was a fun weave…no pattern yet, but it will be coming eventually. When I got to the end, I hemstitched. Then, I took the heddle and placed it behind the heddle block. With one hand on each pawl, I unlocked the front and started winding back onto the back beam. It was sooo smooth! That heddle just rolled back around that back beam like it was meant to do that all along. Maybe you have a different loom, you might need to help ease the heddle around. When I got to the beginning of the work I locked everything back in place and hemstitched. Easy-peasey! I didn’t take a lot of pictures of the process, but here’s a video!
On a side note…I love helping weavers and solving problems. I also do (try) to make a living weaving. I’m always happy to help solve weaving problems, so don’t hesitate to reach out if your “learning opportunity” has you stumped. Your questions keep me inspired and I love being part of your weaving community! If my tips or advice have been helpful, and you’d like to support my work, I have a donation option on my website. There’s absolutely no pressure—it’s just a way to help me keep creating resources and sharing what I love with you. Whether you donate or not, I love hearing from you and being a part of your weaving adventure!
