Direct warping a 4 shaft floor loom?!?!?!?

Direct warping a floor loom. Yes, that sounds crazy, but necessity is the mother of invention. Here are my two main issues; no warping board and a huge 5 dent reed. After warping my newly acquired floor loom twice, taking the warp chains to the reed, then sleying the reed then threading the heddles, I thought there must be an easier way. Then I thought I could double my epi to 10 by sleying two threads per slot. Why not combine both steps at once?

I pulled out my cricket loom and put the 25" 5 dent reed in the rear slot. Then I literally warped my dining room, going from the counter, around my son's high chair, around another chair then to the loom. I pulled a loop through and placed it on a wooden dowel at the rear of the reed. 

I know the tension is horrific and this will make some experienced weavers cringe, but I wanted to try this crazy idea.

I took the pre-threaded reed to the loom and secured it. I guess I should have mentioned that I was warping front to back. Sorry ;) Working in small groups, I took loops off the dowel and cut them, then threaded the heddles. For this pattern I threaded 1,2,3,4 across the warp. 

Here is the warp in 3 stages; threaded, cut & ready the thread, uncut loops still on the dowel.

Though quite ridiculous in its execution, this idea did work and I had no threading errors. I will direct warp my reed again, I'll just make sure to watch the tension on the warp more carefully. 

Here is the weaving in progress .......

From Flip to Floor

I am now the proud owner of a Nilus Leclerc 4 shaft floor loom! The loom was part of the collection of a local farming museum, but it did not meet the criteria for the collection; being less than 60 years old. 

Here is a picture of my 15" heddle from my Flip loom laying on top of the shafts for the floor loom. The floor loom is 36" so I should be able to make some HUGE projects with doubleweave. 

I took apart the loom and shined up the wood. I took every wire heddle off the shafts then burnished the metal bars with fine steel wool and then rubbed them a drop of oil. Thanks to Steve at Twist Knitting & Spinning for giving me a few hints about the heddles. He told me to thread a blunt end needle and draw the thread through groups of heddles then tie them into bunches before removing them from the shafts. A lifesaver!

I somehow managed to sley the reed and thread the heddles. The reed that came with the loom is a 5 dent. It is huge! I'll definitely need to get some finer reeds. 

In addition to the loom, I also got all the random parts and pieces that went with it when it was donated; arm loads of stick shuttles, a basket full of bobbins, 5 boat shuttles and several skeins of hand spun linen. 

Here we go..........

Happy Weaving!

8/2 Bamboo on Rigid Heddle Loom

1st off, weaving with 8/2 bamboo is possible on a rigid heddle, but I Do Not recommend it.....at least for a warp. A weft is just fine, but the yarn will not standup as a warp to the constant friction applied to a warp when using two heddles. That being said, here are the results of the experiment. 

Since I got my 1st rigid heddle loom, I always wanted it to do more. When I got a 15" Flip loom, I went straight into weaving with two heddles and double weave. I finally got the courage to order some beautiful bamboo yarn in 8/2; by far the smallest yarn I've worked with and quite intimidating I might add. 

I warped the loom with two 10 dent heddles and kept my fingers crossed that the fabric would be about 20 epi. 

I wove a header then a bit with the bamboo weft, but the weave was very loose. I realized I had to beat quite hard for the 20 epi and 20 ppi I was going for. 

Everything was going along nicely and then, the warp began to break. I made the painful decision to cut the weaving off the loom. 

The fabric is gorgeous and by far the finest sett I've been able to achieve so far on the rigid heddle. 

So, what have we learned? 

A. Do Not use fine bamboo as warp with two heddle weave; the yarn just gets shorn off by the constant friction of the two heddles. 

B. A very fine sett is possible on the rigid heddle. Next time I will try an 8/2 cotton warp with an 8/2 bamboo weft.

Happy Weaving!

A summer sunset in beautiful Bucks Co., PA

Waffle Weave With Two Heddles

A true waffle weave is difficult to achieve on a rigid heddle loom. Using one heddle and a pickup stick, you can achieve something very close. I've been wondering how to do waffle weave with a finer sett using two heddles. Here is what I came up with. 

I direct warped my 15" Flip Loom for two heddles using 4 ends of 8/4 cotton per slot. I threaded the heddles as usual for two heddle weaving. 

Now for the pickup stick. Put both heddles in the down position. Pickup every other thread and slide the stick to the back of the loom. 

The weaving sequence is:

1. Up (Both heddles)

2. Neutral & pickup stick on edge 

3. Up (Both heddles)

4. Down (Both heddles)

5. Up & slide pickup stick

6. Down (Both heddles)

Here is the result....

The weft floats are more narrow than with with a single heddle, but the weave still produces cells. 

After a quick trip to the sewing machine, it was into to washer and dryer. 

I steam pressed the towel and, Ta-da!!!!

The cut cotton at the ends fluffed nicely.

I also made two other towels from this warp....

Happy Weaving!