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!

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

Doubleweave & Two Heddle placemats

My long awaited 10 dent heddles arrived a few days ago so I was anxious to use them right away. I had also just received  an order of 3/2 cotton so commence warping!

Threading the 1st heddle 

I used green and light blue 3/2 cotton along with narrow strips of Zauberball Crazy ball in holly blue.

I played around a bit on the beginning of the warp trying to figure out what weaving structure and weft best showed off the color changes in the Zauberball. 

I ultimately decided to go with two heddle weaving instead of doubleweave because the doubleweave fabric seemed a bit more open than I would like. I used the Zauberball as the weft. This produced a dense fabric with a very subtle color change.

After weaving about a yard and a half, I got bored and changed my mind (as usual) and decided to weave the rest of the warp with tubular doubleweave. This is still using the Zauberball as the weft, but the color change is much more pronounced. 

Here are a few inches in tubular doubleweave (see below for instructions). As you can see, there are some tension issues with this warp 😢 I was surprised that the 3/2 cotton was so stretchy. Instead of worrying about the warp tension, I just went for it, being mindful of catching errant threads and not beating the weft too hard. 

Well, here is the fabric off the loom. 

No matter how many pictures I take, I can't capture the colors in this weaving. You'll have to take my word for it, it's really cool. 

Closeup of Doubleweave section off loom, before finishing. 

Closeup of several different patterns on one two heddle warp and two weft colors. 

I hope to wash and machine stitch these placemats tomorrow, so keep looking for pictures. 

Next project, cotton towels with 8/8 cotton.

Happy Weaving!

Tubular Doubleweave 

With two heddles threaded....

1. Place both heddles in down position.

Take pickup stick and pick up every thread. Turn stick on edge. Place another pickup stick in the new shed and slide to back of loom. 

2. Both heddles up. Sliced 1st pick up stick just behind heddles. Place 2nd pickup stick in new shed and slide to back of loom. 

Weaving sequence:

1. Pickup stick 1

2. Heddle 2 up

3. Heddle 1 down

4. Pickup stick 2

Rigid Heddle - Two Heddle Weaving

After acquiring a Schaht 15 inch Flip loom, I think I've gone off the deep end with two heddle weaving and double weave. If you've never attempted weaving with two heddles, be prepared for a headache, literally. I just could not wrap my mind around the threading of the two heddles. After several attempts, I have finally figured out the threading and can't come up with new projects fast enough!

Here are some pictures of the weaving in progress....

Here is the loom direct warped with 3/2 pearl cotton through the first heddle

Since I do not have a warping board, I direct warp. This can get extremely confusing when trying to thread two heddles. Somehow I managed to thread the heddles properly.

 I used two pick up sticks for a zigzag pattern and a color changing wool weft. 

Here is the fabric off the loom 

If you are going to delve into two heddle weaving, I suggest you make your warp a bit longer so you can play around with different textures. As you can see, in the beginning of this warp I was playing around with two heddle/two layer log cabin. 

You can also see how different textures can weave at different widths. Next adventure..... double width cloth. Stay tuned 😜