Rigid Heddle Doubleweave - A picture tutorial

I have been asked several times recently about doubleweave on a Rigid Heddle loom so I thought I'd do a step by step picture tutorial. By far, the best resource I've found on the subject is "The Weaver's Idea Book, creative cloth on a rigid heddle loom" by Jane Patrick. I think it is an essential for every rigid heddle weaver. 

I think I nearly turned my brain inside out trying to figure out the threading diagrams online for two heddles. I know it seems daunting, but you just have to do it and after a minute or two, you'll get it. 

Ok, let's start with the threading. When direct warping a rigid heddle loom for doubleweave, you need to have 4 threads per dent. For this example I am using 8/2 unmercerized cotton and two 10 dent reeds on a 15" Flip Loom. This will give me a set of 20epi for two heddle plain weave and 10epi per layer for doubleweave. 

Here you can see 4 threads through each slot. The next step is to take one thread from each slot and sley it into the hole directly to the right, like this....

So now you have 3 ends in a slot and 1 end in a hole. Though it may seem more complicated, I find that using a striped warp for doubleweave actually makes the threading easier. Sometimes, with one color, you can get lost in the threading or easily cross warps behind the heddles, which is not good.

So, onto the 2nd heddle. Place the second heddle in front of the 1st heddles. Take a close look at the threads. 

Take the 1st grouping of 3 threads from the rear heddle and drape them over top the front heddle, like so....

Take the left most thread and sley it in the  corresponding slot in the front heddle. 

Then take the 2nd thread and sley it through the next hole.

Now take the 3rd thread and sley it through the next slot. Next, take the hole thread from the rear heddle and sley it through the same slot as the last thread in the front heddle.

Continue across, sleying the 3 slot threads from the rear heddle into the front heddle as follows: slot, hole, slot. The hole thread from the rear heddle will always go in the last slot you sleyed in the front. 

Now that all the threading is done, it's time to tie the warp into the front beam. I do this with both heddles in the Up position. Once you have adjusted your tension, it's time to spread the warp and check for threading errors. 

Oops, I found two pairs of twisted warp threads. 

They will show up on the weaving like this.....

Now you must untie that group of warp threads and try and figure out the threading mistake. Embrace the mistakes!!! Everyone makes them, you just need to use them as a self-teaching tool. This goes for knitting and crochet as well. Don't give up. Figure out the mistake and why it happened. Next time, you either won't make the same mistake, or you'll know right away how to fix it. 

Ok, now onto the pickup sticks. Put both heddles in the down position. Take stick A and pick up every other thread like this.....

Now, turn the stick on edge. Insert another pickup stick in the shed formed behind the heddles. Remove stick from in front of the heddles. 

Now, place both heddles in the up position. Slide stick A forward to the back of the heddles. You will see that a small shed is formed. Insert stick B in the shed like this.....

Slide both pickup sticks to the back of the loom. You're all done! Let the Doubleweave commence :)

To see a video of how to weave double wide cloth on a rigid heddle loom, please visit my YouTube channel at the following link.......

https://youtu.be/ttFWYjtLk7I

Happy Weaving!

Tomato Cage Christmas Trees

While doing some fall clean up, I was putting away my tomato cages. That's when inspiration struck. 

Last year, I used one of those flimsy, spiral light up Christmas trees as a lawn decoration. It fell apart as I was taking it down. Looking at the tomato cages, I thought, why not make my own little forest of light up trees? 

Supplies you'll need:

A conical metal tomato cage

Craft wire

Wire cutters

A few strings of lights 

A few small tent stakes

The tomato cages I'm using have seen better days. They're probably 10 years old. The best part about this project is, it realldy doesn't matter. The other great thing about this project is that I didn't spend a dime. All the supplies were hanging around the house. 

Here are the old rusty tomato cages I used

Step 1. Secure the plug end of the lights to the bottom of the tomato cage with a piece of wire, a twist tie or a zip tie; whatever you have handy. 

I just tied a knot.

Step 2. Start wrapping the cage with the lights. If you want to be precise, you can use pieces of wire to secure the light strand as you wrap. I did not use wire, I just wrapped. 

Step 3. Add more light strands to your preference. You can mix and match strands and colors to fit the look you are going for.

Step 4. Add a star or topper if wanted. Since the tomato cage has four large "stakes" (for lack of a better description) on what used to be the bottom, you now have a sturdy area to attach whatever decoration you would like at, what is now, the top of your tree. 

Step 5. Plug in your tree, stand back and admire your craftiness. 

This pictures are pretty crappy, but take my word for it, the trees look amazing! I used supplies I had on hand, so this project cost me $0. I would think if you had to buy a new cage & a strand of lights, it would cost around $16 per tree. I still have the box from last years spiral tree. It cost $39.99. 

I'd love to see pictures of what you come up with!

Happy Holidays!!!!!!

3 Different Scarves, One Warp & An Awesome Wet Finishing Trick!

I wanted to make some holiday scarves, but I was wary of using red yarn against white because of the risk of the fabric turning pink during wet finishing. I chose a warp of 8/4 unmercerized cotton in a dark green and a natural. 

1st scarf.....

          2/2 twill in blocks & stripes  

2nd scarf.....

       3/1 Twill with a light blue weft

3rd scarf....

      2/2 twill with emeral green weft

To minimize tracking (the diagonal creases that form in cotton fabrics during wet finishing) I tried something new. I read somewhere, I can't remember where :( , that if you soak cotton, it reduces the tracking. I filled my sink with hot water, then put in the scarves to soak overnight.

In the morning, I drained the water, then put the scarves in the washer on gentle and crossed my fingers. It worked!!!!! No tracking.

I did not put the items in the dryer, but hung them to dry.

Look for the finished scarves on etsy.com. Search for LSG Crafts.

Happy Weaving! 

Full On - Adventures In Wet Finishing Wool

Well, I got done one scarf. I'm not sure how with my 3 year old son leaving me little presents like this.....

I wanted to try a two stick header, so I advanced enough warp for fringe. Then I wove a 1 inch header in scrap yarn, changed the shed & inserted one stick. I changed the shed, inserted the second stick, them wove another inch in scrap yarn. After advancing the warp a bit, I got out the scissors. 

Here is the scarf fresh off the loom. 

It measured 12"x 82" on the loom under tension. 

I folded one stick under the other and lashed the sticks to the apron bar. 

After I adjust the tension, I'll be ready to weave scarf # 2. Now for the wet finishing. 

I have hard water so I used a bit of detergent ( use dish soap with soft water) mixed with warm water to scour the wool. 

I tried fulling the scarf by hand in hot water, but it hasn't fulled enough for my taste. 

I'm going to cross my fingers and throw it into the dryer. I realize now that my sett was a bit to close for the wool to full a lot. The next scarf will be in plain weave so we'll see if there is a big difference in the final dimensions. Stay tuned.

Happy Weaving!

I've Got The Woolies!

I'm scared of wool. Well, not so much scared as apprehensive about the finished product after fulling. I see nightmarish images of my carefully woven fabric shrinking away to nothingness. Also, as someone who suffers from Psoriasis, I've tended to work with bamboo and cotton and have steered clear of notoriously itchy wool . In my experience, bamboo and cotton fabrics can be soothing to sensitive skin. They are also easy to work with and easy care. That being said, I've always looked longingly at the beautiful skeins of wool throughout my local yarn shop and thought that I'd be brave enough to work with them one day. 

Sooooo, I bought 2 cones of Brown Sheep Nature Spun Fingering wool in White and a vibrant teal-ish blue. I wound 240 ends as flollows: (20w,40b,40w,40b,40w,40b,20w). I sleyed 2 ends per dent in a 10 dent reed for 20 epi. I hope the fabric is not too dense after fulling. Maybe I should've used a looser sett. We will see. I planned on two scarves; one tabby & one 2/2 twill, so I threaded 1,2,3,4 across.

I had 3 broken warps to tend with while winding onto the back beam. The wool threads don't slide through the heddles as easily as with cotton and a few of the warps became stuck to one another as I wound them through. To accommodate the twill I plan on doing, I began my threading on shaft 2 and ended with a shaft 3. This threading ensures that the selvedges thread is caught on each pick. This is one of my favorite new tricks. Goodbye floating selvedges!

Here is the 1st few inches of weaving. 

So far so good. Hopefully I'll have the 1st scarf off the loom tomorrow. 

Happy Weaving!