Fringe Twisting

Fringe twisting is just one more step in finishing your weaving. And just like every other thing in the weaving process, you need to think about your fringe before the project ever gets on the loom. Let’s look at fringe generally first.

Why twist? The most important reason is because it looks nice and stays looking nice. An untwisted fringe looks great when it is freshly trimmed and pressed. After that the yarns begin to unravel, shred, tangle and, let’s face it, start looking a bit ratty. If you are making something for baby, a blanket for example, long thin threads can wrap around little fingers and cut off circulation.

There are times you may decide not to fringe twist. Sometimes the yarn is so beautiful you want the colours to shine (I can’t bear to twist Handmaidens’ Maiden Hair) Or the fringe will look too heavy for the item. When I make loose gauzy mohair wraps, I don’t twist. And of course, there are other ways of finishing a fringe that don’t require twisting…various types of knots for example.

As I said earlier, fringe begins before the yarn goes on the loom. Fringe is made with the loom waste. That means when you are calculating warp you do not have to add extra for fringe but on the other hand, when you tie on, you want to leave enough waste to have the desired length of fringe. This is never and issue for me, I always have enough! Also, be sure that when you cut your work off the loom that you have left enough for fringe.

Having a fringe requires a hemstitch. Well, you could do it without a hemstitch, but it will look much better if you have hemstitched. So, when you hemstitch, think about how many ends you want in each bundle and hemstitch accordingly. Fingering weight I usually hemstitch in bundles of 4 and do a 2x2 fringe twist.

And now, what you have all been waiting for…the actual fringe twisting, step by step!

You will need: t-pins, something to stick your pins into (foam blocks work well) a ruler and sharp scissors.

1.       Trim your fringe (remember that it will be shorter after twisting so don’t over trim) I use a rotary cutter and mat for this step.

2.       It works best if you have your work anchored.  Pin the edge of your work to the foam blocks…don’t skimp on the pins!

3.       Clip the yarn into your fringe twister (I love my Leclerc quad) If I’m doing a 2x2 fringe I’ll take my first bundle of 4, divide it into 2 groups of 2 and place each group of 2 in one clip. With my quad twister I can do 2 bundles at a time.

4.       Start twisting! Count the number of turns (this will vary depending on the yarn and the length of the fringe. Counting will ensure your fringe looks uniform across the work.

5.       Hold the ends of 2 bundles and unclip. Tie a knot in the bottom and release. Gaze in awe as the yarn twists around itself.

6.       After the first bundle is twisted, have a look. Is it twisted enough? Not enough? Do you like the length? Adjust as needed, then continue across the work . Repeat for the other side. Keep your ruler handy to make sure you are making the fringe the same length. Knotting a little higher or little lower can have a big impact!

7.       Check to be sure the fringe is even and knots are tight. Trim close to knot.

You now have a lovely fringe that will keep your scarf, or blanket or table runner, or whatever you have woven, looking beautiful for years of use!

Hemming

I make a lot of tea towels and dish cloths. That means I also sew a lot of hems! This post will take you through my steps to making hemming easy so those towels don’t languish in the “need to be finished” pile.

A good hem starts on the loom. I think about my hem before I ever start weaving. I want both hems to took the same so the first thing I think about is colour. If my weft is all one colour, it’s easy, my hems will be the same colour. If I’m using multiple colours, I need to choose a colour. If I’ve used a border colour that will become my hem colour. Otherwise, I use the darkest colour, or white no particular, reason, just because.

The next thing I think about is cotton weight. Most of my towels use 2/8 cotton doubled. For my hems, I use 2/8 single even if the main weaving will be 2/8 doubled. This makes for a lighter hem that does not add a lot of bulk. My sewing machine thanks me! When I use chenille or boucle or slub I will still use 2/8 cotton if I have the right colour. I also press my weft in tightly…usually 15 threads for each inch woven. I weave 2-2 1/4” per hem. I do not hemstitch my towels ever.

I never warp just 1 towel, I always warp for at least 2, sometimes 4. Usually 2 because I can get bored with 4! Doing more than one towel means I need to know the end of one and the beginning of the next. I just weave in 2 picks of a contrasting cotton.

When I take my work off the loom, I take it straight to my sewing machine. I sew a straight stitch at either end to secure the weft. Then I will sew a straight stitch on either side of the contrasting threads. I’ll cut all ends leaving 1” or so hanging and trim the extra warp again, leaving about a 1” fringe. I do not cut my towels apart yet.

Next, it’s bath time. Tea towels and dish cloths are meant to stand up to hard wear. They get thrown in hot water and soap for a regular cycle, then dried on high.

Next comes pressing, which can be a whole post on its own. Pressing is literally pressing the iron on the work, hold for 15 seconds or so then pick up the iron and move it to the next spot. Don’t iron as normal, sliding the iron back and forth across the work, as you may distort the weave (straight lines may become wavy). While pressing, trim all remaining ends flush to work and remove any remaining fringe. You won’t want to, but press both sides. Cut the towels apart by cutting between the 2 contrasting threads and remove those threads.

Now finally we get to the actual hem! Flip towel to wrong side. Turn end over about a ½” and press. Turn again and press so that the raw edge cannot be seen. I try to line up the hem so it just hits the beginning of the actual towel. Press firmly. Repeat for the other side of the towel, being sure you are working with the wrong side up. Make sure your threads line up, particularly at the colour changes.

Sew hem with a straight stitch and press once more. I love my walking foot for this task. Alternatively, you can hand sew your hem with 2/8 cotton. Give your towels a final press

Hemming is a lot of work, but a well sewn hem can make or break a towel.

Dressing the Loom

For a non-weaver this may seem a bit technical. I want you to be able to understand the process of weaving for two reasons: 1. So you can appreciate it more when you see it; and 2. So you can shake your head at me and laugh when you read my next blog post! If you are a weaver this is going to sound over simplified but hopefully you can use this to educate your non-weaving friends or customers about the hidden work of weaving.

Floor looms do take a lot of work to dress (the term used to describe the process of getting the loom ready for weaving). Once the yarn, pattern and draft are picked -this can be a project all by itself- the real work begins.

Winding the warp

Winding the warp consists of wrapping the yarn around pegs on a warping board in the right colour pattern. The warping board is used to measure the warp and ensure all the threads will be the same length. Wrapping with a cross allows the weaver to know which is the next thread in the sequence when threading the heddles or reed. It is really important to secure the cross well.

After winding the warp the yarn needs to get from the warping board to the loom without becoming a huge snarly mess. Lots of choke ties get tied, especially at the cross. Then the whole mass can be chained (like a crochet chain).

Winding the warp can take anywhere from an hour to several hours.

Next you can start dressing the loom.

I usually warp back to front. I start by putting sticks in my cross to make sure I don’t lose it and attaching those sticks to my loom. Next I spread my warp in the raddle (my raddle is a piece of wood with nails every inch) and wind the warp onto my back beam. As I wind my warp I undo the chain that stops my warp from tangling. I wind around heavy paper to keep an even tension. (Handy tip: the tubes from wrapping paper unroll to make excellent warp packing material) Winding well is incredibly important. You need the warp to go on with an even tension. I regularly go to the front of the loom and tug on the warp to keep things even. A tension problem here will cause problems through the whole weaving process.

Once the warp is wound on it’s time to thread the heddles. Threads are threaded through the heddles in the order of the draft chosen. Each thread is taken, in order, from the cross and threaded through it’s own heddle. It’s slow, sometimes painful if you don’t stretch enough, and frustrating if you make a mistake. It definitely pays to slow down here and double and triple check. Again, this process can take several hours or for a really fine wide warp, days.

Threading Heddles

Through the heddles, reed and tied on!

Next, each thread needs to go through the reed. This is usually quick and easy. Then it’s time to tie the warp to the front apron rod. Tension is important now too. Finally, the treadles are attached to the shafts in the order prescribed by the draft. On a floor loom this requires getting on the floor half under the loom. It helps if you are a contortionist.

Then comes the first moment of truth. As you press each treadle and the shafts move you can see if you have it right. Are there any crossed threads? Threads through more than one heddle? It’s a pain, but these are easy to fix…but will require going back, retying and checking the tension again.

At last, the real moment of truth. The first few treadles will tell you if you have threaded each end correctly through the heddles.  If there is a mistake in the threading there is no way to fix it without going back and rethreading. If the mistake is at an edge it’s not so bad. If it’s in the middle I recommend a box of kleenex and a cup of tea…or something stronger!

After all the mistakes are fixed and the tears are dried, the actual weaving begins. And it’s fast. I usually spend way more time dressing my loom than actually weaving! Of course attention needs to be taken keep the pattern correct, keep neat selvages and change colour when needed. But compared to the pre-weaving tasks, this is easy!

So now you know the behind the scenes of weaving. That’s how woven fabric is made. And it’s everywhere…the jeans you are wearing, the shirts in you closet, the sheets on your bed. Of course, most of it is done on industrial machines but the principle is the same. And someone still has to man those machines!

My Craft Room

I dream of a ‘ real’ craft room. I think all crafters do. I dream of a big airy space filled with giant windows and sunshine. And sky lights! My dream room has a big center work table, my 32” rigid heddle, room for a 60” 8 shaft loom, a wall of shelves to keep all my skeins and cones and fibres for spinning in view and easy reach. A corner for spinning and a corner for planning, drinking tea and dreaming.

The Rigid Heddle Corner

I’ll bet you also have a dream craft room. But so much can be done without it. I am fortunate enough to have a craft room. It’s pretty tiny, an 8’ x 9’ basement room. (One small window, no sun) Until recently it held a 36” 4-shaft floor loom, a 32” rigid heddle loom, a dresser that acted as storage and sewing station, a warping station, a spinning wheel and a dressmaker’s dummy. I really couldn’t move in it. Both the spinning wheel and the rigid heddle loom needed to move out to be used. So they moved into the rec room. (Come on, be honest, your craft stuff is quietly taking over your house too!) The rec room worked well until my husband’s office moved into it. I may have shed a tear. Then I pulled myself together and redirected my takeover. My rigid heddle temporarily moved into the living room (along with all my rec room furniture, it was a mess!) I didn’t have room to warp so it moved into the kitchen or to the back deck for the warping process.

In the office moving process, we freed up a room in the house (the old office). I seriously considered just taking over that room (in addition to the one I already have) but decided that wasn’t really fair (my kids think they need space too) so I took over the closet instead. It isn’t very wide but it is quite deep. I moved my dresser/sewing station, dressmaker’s dummy and spinning wheel into it. I can close the door and we have a lovely sitting room. I can open up the closet and have a lovely sewing station or pull out my wheel to spin. And my rigid heddle moved back down to the basement craft room. Except when I’m doing a longer warp, then it moves to the kitchen, or I’m using the full width, then it’s back in the living room.

Warping in the kitchen

So don’t let lack of space stop you from weaving. If it weren’t for the floor loom I could quite easily manage without a room altogether. If my house were more open I wouldn’t need a room even with the floor loom. If you really want to do something you can make it happen in the space you have. You get creative, find solutions and weave on.

Do you have a dream craft room? Or have you found ways to manage in small spaces? I’d love to hear about them!

Clothes from Scratch

Once upon a time I used to cook everything from scratch. And from scratch I mean from seed, or egg or goat. We grew all our own veggies, most of our fruit and meat, all our own milk, made cheese, yogurt and canned dozens of jars of jam, apple sauce, salsa, peaches, pears, pickles... I don't do that anymore. Now I make clothing from scratch. Or at least I try to. 

There is something very satisfying about starting out with a couple cones of cotton and ending up with a blouse, or pair of shorts. I find it a challenge though. It's hard to go back to the beginning to learn how to do something well. I want to just sit at my sewing machine and turn out a perfect blouse. I do not want to practice on something simple, I want to make what I really want and I want to do it first!

This is The Valley Blouse, a pattern I found online by Cali-Faye. I love the look of it, so drapey and beautiful! I wove a lovely huck pattern with bamboo and tencel and it was so beautiful!  I spent several nights with this gorgeous fabric laid out on the floor placing the pattern pieces in various ways to minimize waste and simply because I was afraid to cut my handwoven fabric. I painstakingly cut out each piece and immediately took it to the sewing machine and zigzaged the edges.

I started sewing. It was hard! I didn't actually understand the language of the pattern. (It was english, but sewing language is different from weaving english-which I am still only learning.) So I looked at the pictures and tried to fake it. It was pinned and repinned, put on and off my mannequin over and over again. I did at least baste most of my seams first just to make sure I did it right.

In the end the blouse worked out. Well, it looks like a blouse, but it doesn't fit. It fit my mannequin, and she's supposed to be my size.

I'm going to have to practice.