Doubleweave Rug on a Rigid Heddle Loom

I'm going to attempt a rug. I made a rug using the Cricket loom last year. I used t-shirt yarn for the warp and weft because I didn't know better at that point. The rug came out ok, but my weaving was plagued with tension issues and its a miracle that I even ended up with a rug. 

I hope to correct my past mistakes with this new project while incorporating my newfound obsession with doubleweave. 

I am using a 15" flip loom and two 8 dent heddles. For my warp I am using Caron Simply Soft in a teal color .Oops, ran out of light teal, finished warp in darker blue. As you'll see, the warp color really doesn't matter unless you want to hem stitch. I bought a huge ball of teal and brown bulky yarn a few months ago. Initially it was going to be used by my daughters for arm knitting, but I've taken it back and it will now be a rug. 

My thought is that if I thread both of my 8 dent heddles with the thinner yarn, I can use the double width technique to make a rug that will be about 30 inches wide and weftfaced, given the large size of the weft yarn. 

To thread two heddles :

Direct Warp Method

1. Warp onto your warping peg the way you normally would for single heddle, except you will pull two loops of yarn through each slot. Cut end of warp from warping peg, knot warp and wind on back beam.

2. Take one thread from each slot and thread it in the hole to the right. You should have 3 threads in each slot and 1 in each hole. Insert Heddle 2.

As you can see, there is one thread in the hole and 3 in the slot.

3. Take the thread going through the hole in the rear heddle and put it in the corresponding slot in the front heddle.

The rear hole thread is now through a slot in the front heddle.

4. Take the 3 threads from the next slot on the right and sley one thread in the same slot as the hole thread.

5. Sley one thread through the next hole

6. Sley last thread through next slot on right. 

Repeat steps 3-6 across your warp. 

I wove about 1 1/2 inches of plain weave (both heddles up, both heddles down). Then I added my two pickup sticks. 

Pickup Pattern

Place both heddles in down position. Pickup every other thread, then slide stick to the back of the loom. Place both heddles in up position. Slide the 1st pickup stick to the rear of the heddles and turn on edge. Take your 2nd pickup stick and insert it into the new shed.

Then I began the double width pattern. 

Double width pattern

1. Stick 1(both heddles in neutral, stick turned on edge)

2. Heddle 2 up

3. Stick 2 (both heddles in neutral, stick turned on edge)

4. Heddle 1 down

I did a few rows of pattern in a waste yarn. Since I have a warp I'd like to hide, I can't hem stitch the rug. If I add a few waste rows at the beginning and end of the rug, sewing nice edges on the machine should be easier......I hope

Doubleweave with 3/2 Pearl Cotton

For my next adventure in doubleweave, I used two 10 dent heddles threaded with 3/2 Pearl Cotton in wine, melon and natural. 

The natural and wine colors were threaded for the bottom layer and the wine and the melon were threaded for the top. 

First I wove two towels in two layer double weave. Being mindful of my shrinkage issues with the last towels, I made sure to use a guide string. I used wine for the bottom weft and melon for the top weft.

That nice little pull on the bottom layer is curtesy of my 2 year old son ;)

I next wove Heddle 1 up, heddle 1 down, heddle 2 up, heddle 2 down using the same guide string I used for the towels. For the weft, I alternated two picks of wine and two picks of melon. 

It was very interesting to see how a change in weft color so drastically alters the appearance of the weave. The light weft in below places more emphasis on the weft and the weave appears weft faced. The opposite is true with the dark weft which appears more warp faced. Now, granted, this is all under tension on the loom and after wet finishing will probably even out. 

Finally I wove the rest of the warp with tubular double weave. I used two wefts and interlocked them at each selvedge.

Fast forward a few hours.....

And the fabric is off the loom!!!!!!!!

I had a few warp floats on the edge of the white and wine towel :(

Top and bottom of tubular doubleweave 

Now into the washer and the dryer.....

Wet Finishing Woven Cotton

After making the cotton towels I listed in my last post, I machine stitched the towels and threw them in the washer then in the dryer. I was very surprised at what came out. 

I've wet finished wool before with the expected results; quite a bit of fulling and felting. In the past, when I've wet finished cotton, there has always been a bit of shrinkage, but these towels were actually transformed.

I wish I'd had the foresight to measure the towels before they were wet finished, but hopefully these pictures will show the transformation.

Here is the rib pattern towel on the loom.....

Closeup of the stripe detail

Here is the rib pattern towel off the loom and machine stitched before wet finishing.

Here it is after wet finishing.

I LOVE IT! The softness and drape of this fabric is amazing. Of all the towels I made, this pattern lost the least amount of width and length. I wish I had a loom that was capable of making this fabric in a larger size as it would make the best blanket ever. 

Now onto the twill. Here it is on the loom.....

Here it is off the loom and machine stitched...

Though I ran out of warp and this towel ended up being a square, I thought I could use it as a mat for a plant or a trivet. However, after wet finishing. I was left with this rectangle .....

Top Side

Reverse 

Closeup of both sides of twill

Finally, the plain weave cotton towel. I used a cream colored acrylic yarn for the weft, only because I had some left on a shuttle. 

Here is the plain doubleweave on the loom....

It was rather a long rectangle, so I was very surprised when it finished like this.....

An almost perfect square ;)

I learned, from this experiment in towels and wet finishing, that you must really take the length of your warp into great account when planning a woven fabric. I used a guide yarn in my next project and hopefully it will help in attaining the length I want in my finished product. 

I hope this was helpful in some way.

Happy Weaving!

Woven Cotton Towels

I love cotton. Love, love, love it. It's my absolute favorite fiber for knitting, crocheting and weaving. Strong, easy on the hands and machine washable and dryable are just some of cottons' many virtues. 

I made cotton towels as one of my 1st weaving projects. Since I only had a 10 inch loom, my finished waffle weave towels looked more like washcloths. 

Here is towel weaving project #2. I warped my 15 inch loom with two heddles and 8/8 unmercerized cotton. 

I played around with the 1st few inches of warp to figure out how dense the fabric would be.

Then I wove a few inches of double layer doubleweave with a purple weft on the upper layer and pink on the bottom layer. 

Then I made a towel with "ribbing" using a black weft ....

This pattern always gives me selvedge issues.

Then I decided to give twill a try. For this I needed to make a heddle rod. The yarn was quite sticky and it was hard to get a clean shed, but I persevered.

That mistake is really bothering me ;) 

Again, the twill pattern left me with major selvedge issues. 

I then made a towel in plain weave with white weft. 

 

Finally I went back to the twill but used 3/2 cotton as the weft. 

More of a square than a towel...I ran out of warp :(

Overall, I'm happy with the results. I especially like how the rib pattern and the twill pattern produce a different design on the reverse. I need do some selvedge assistance with these patterns though. 

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 😜

Doubleweave Windows on a Rigid Heddle Loom

Adventures in Doubleweave 

Squares and Checks

Here are a few doubleweave projects featuring squares or checks. Be forewarned, this technique can be time consuming but yields awesome results. 

You will need a rigid heddle loom with two heddle capacity. There are many sites out there that have diagrams to show you how to thread two heddles. You will also need four pickup sticks. 

Threading two heddles for multiple colored stripes can be tedious, especially when using two 10 dent heddles 😉 but the effect is well worth it. 

In this technique you will essentially be weaving two layers separately and then interchanging the layers for your pattern. 

Here is the loom warped in cream with three shades of blue that are blended to form a gradient. 

For the pickup sticks, put both heddles in the down position. Starting at the right of the loom, pick up every other thread beginning with the 2nd thread. Picking up from the front of the heddles is easier than from the back. Turn your pickup stick on edge and then insert another stick into the shed formed behind the heddles. Now pull out the stick in the front. 

Place both heddles in the up position and slide the 1st pickup stick directly behind the heddles

Now insert another pickup stick into that new shed and slide both sticks to the back of the loom.

To insert the 2nd pair of pickup sticks, place both heddles in the down position again. Starting at the right of the loom, pick up every other thread beginning with the 1st thread, or if it's easier for you to remember, every thread that wasn't picked up on the 1st stick. Place both heddles in the up position, and again, slide the pickup stick to the rear of the heddles and insert your final stick into the new shed. 

Here is a view of all four pickup sticks in place.

You can see that the color layer is manipulated by the 1st two sticks and the cream layer is manipulated by the second two sticks. 

By using cream weft on the upper layer and baby blue on the lower, you can make a fabric like this.....

With the same warp and a plain weave 

(both heddles up and both heddles down) you can also make this fabric. Note the difference in width....

Another example in different colors

Give it a try!