Getting warped: how it was done

[altivo]

Well, I've mentioned that between snow removal chores this weekend I was putting a new warp onto one of my looms in order to weave samples for a workshop I'm attending on making garments from handwoven cloth. Because of NaNoWriMo, I had put this off, and could wait no longer, since the next workshop meeting is on Tuesday. For the curious, here is a set of photos documenting part of the warping process. I didn't think of photographing it until the warp had already been wound, chained, and loaded onto the warp beam. But here you see the loom being threaded, sleyed, and the actual weaving begun.

	Loom in the process of warping View from a rear angle, measured warp threads have been wound onto the sectional beam below, passed over the back beam at right, and through the lease sticks (the two parallel cherrywood sticks, center) and are being threaded through the heddles individually. The next group of warp threads to be processed lies across the top of the harnesses, top center.
	Threading the heddles Heddles are vertical strands of wire, plastic, or, in this case, cording, that have an eye in the middle. They are arranged in harnesses that can be used to lift the warp threads that are fed through the eyes of that particular group of heddles, also called a shaft.
	Front angle view of threading Next group of warp threads to be drawn through the loom lies over the top of the harnesses. An additional group or bundle of threads awaits threading, and lies through the harnesses at lower center. Each individual thread must be drawn through its own heddle using a long flat threading hook.
	View of the thread cross in the warp While measuring out the warp, weavers usually create what is called the cross, in which alternate threads pass over or under each of a pair of pegs or rods. This keeps all the threads in order and untangled while they are being handled, and allows them to be threaded in the exact sequence intended.
	Threading completed All warp threads have now been drawn in, each through its own heddle. Ends are tied in inch wide groups to keep them from being accidentally pulled back out of position.
	Rear view, showing sectional warp beam This loom has a sectional beam, divided by pegs at intervals to keep the warp parallel and orderly. Note that the lease sticks and cross have now been removed, as they are no longer needed once the warp has been threaded. (Some weavers keep them in place to help distribute the warp tension evenly.)
	Sleying the reed Now each thread must be pulled through the reed, a frame with vertical slots at regular intervals. The reed is inserted into the beater, which is used to pack down the weft threads as they are laid in from the shuttle, and the regular spacing keeps the woven fabric uniform. This process is called sleying and is done with the flat, double-ended hook shown.
	Sleying the reed Here is an individual warp thread being drawn through a slot in the reed, also called a dent. The sleying began at the bottom (weaver's right) and is nearly completed.
	Sleying is now complete Each warp thread or end has been drawn through the reed, and again groups of threads are tied off to keep them from slipping back.
	Back beam The warp is now fully positioned, ready for weaving to begin. The complex process is designed to insure that many equal lengths of thread or yarn end up absolutely parallel, untangled, and evenly tensioned. This view shows the supply of unwoven warp feeding from the sectional beam over the back beam and into the harnesses and heddles.
	Front view of finished warp The warp ends from the reed have now been tied onto the attachment bar, which is in turn connected by the zig-zag white cords over the breast beam and to the cloth beam where woven fabric will be wound as the weaving progresses.
	Overall view of dressed loom The process of loading a warp onto a loom is called dressing the loom. Here we see the finished result, ready for weaving. Note that this loom is capable of handling a much wider fabric. The warp in the photo is being used to create a sample piece, which will be washed to test for shrinkage and fulling before the larger fabric is created.
	Woven header Weaving begins with a header, several rows of heavy waste yarn that are inserted to even out the tension and spread the warp threads evenly. This will be cut off and discarded when weaving is removed from the loom.
	Weaving has begun The actual linen weft (sometimes called woof) is now being woven in by using the treadles at the bottom of the loom to lift groups of harnesses alternately and passing the shuttle through the resulting shed opening in the warp. The actual weaving goes very quickly once the loom is prepared, with a yard of cloth woven in just a matter of a few minutes.

Warping or dressing the loom is the most complex part of weaving on a floor loom. The actual weaving goes quickly, with steady rhythmic motions that can produce as much as several yards of fabric in an hour, depending on the complexity of the pattern.

Comments

These pictures are very interesting - thanks

[vimsig.livejournal.com]

As I think I have mentioned to you on a previous occasion, I have a small table loom that I have NO idea how to use. When I try again, in the New Year, to give it a go - I shall use your photographs as a reference.

:O)

Re: These pictures are very interesting - thanks

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, these photos are hardly a complete set of instructions. You need at least one other tool, a warping board of some sort. Easy to make, it's just a number of pegs set into a frame or board at premeasured distances.

The warp threads were already measured out on a warping frame and wound onto the warp beam before I started photographing. The process comes in many different sequences, depending on the loom, the weaver, the complexity of the desired pattern, the width and length of the warp. Threading can be done from back to front, as I do it, or front to back (as most American handweavers do it, or so I understand.) Back to front is preferred by production weavers, and I learned that method from the start.

There are many good books with step by step instructions. If you can get one of these, you'll have no problems even without a teacher, I think. I can recommend:

Warping All By Yourself by Cay Garrett.
Hands On Weaving by Barbara Liebler.
The Warp by Blair Tate.

Weaving is still much more popular in Sweden than it is here, so I suspect you can find someone with experience to walk you through the process the first time. It isn't all that difficult, but does involve a lot of exacting details until you understand it.

Thank you for sharing your superior knowledge

[vimsig.livejournal.com]

It's hard enough just to locate a person let alone someone to who knows how to weave *laughs*. The crafty people mainly live in the north although I have taken your advice and ordered a book on the subject, Learning to Weave by Deborah Chandler as an early to-myself jultid treat. I have little time for weaving this side of the yearly divide but a mossie on through those pages may inspire me.

Peace!

Re: Thank you for sharing your superior knowledge

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I don't know about superior knowledge, but I do have a few years of experience in weaving at least. Deborah Chandler is a good choice too. I haven't seen that particular book, but I'm sure it will be suitable. Feel free to ask me if you have questions, and I'll do my best to help.

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

These are too cool, and an interesting reference. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It's rather incomplete to be much of a reference. When I do the actual project for which this sample is being created, I'll try to document more thoroughly. I may be using a somewhat different warping method (there are quite a number of them) because the actual work will probably be about eight yards of fabric at 36 inches wide or wider. I'm enrolled in a nine month long workshop in which we are designing a garment from scratch, selecting the threads, weaving the cloth, then cutting and sewing it. I chose a 19th century man's shirt as my target garment, which is why the linen and cotton blended thread is being used here.

[nicodemusrat.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the great photos. You obviously took some time to get good shots.

Weaving is one of those skills that I find interesting though I know very little about it. This helped to fill in a lot of the details for me. (And some of the elusive terminology.)

So, if I got things right, the heddles are only the vertical wires within the wooden frame of the harness. The treadles lift harnesses, thereby determining which warp threads will be on top of the weft thread from the shuttle. It seems (to an untrained observer) that, for a durable and even fabric, you'd want about an equal number of warp threads on the top and bottom of each pass. So, if all of the harnesses on this loom were used, would you need to be pressing a fair number of treadles for each pass? Or does the distribution of warp over/under a pass not make much difference in the finished fabric's quality?

I was also surprised at the speed at which you can weave! I wouldn't have guessed that you could progress that quickly along. Good stuff.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, you have the terminology correct. Weaving is just full of old words that have been forgotten by everyone except the weavers. Things like raddle (a spreader used to distribute the warp during one approach to warping,) lamm (a lever that may be interposed between the treadle and the rising or sinking harness in some loom designs,) sett (not to be confused with set, the former being the sequence of colored threads usually in Scottish tartans, the latter being the number of warp ends per inch,) and so forth.

The loom in my photos is a jack loom, or rising shed, in which the treadles lift harnesses by means of an arrangement of levers beneath the loom. Simpler designs allow the treadle to simply pull one or more harnesses downward, perhaps counterbalanced by other harnesses paired with them that rise automatically. More complicated designs, such as the countermarche loom, allow a single treadle to deliberately raise some harnesses and lower others.

This loom has ten treadles and eight harnesses. A treadle can be connected to more than one harness at a time, however, so even when working with all eight harnesses, one typically depresses only a single treadle for any given shot of the weft. In the threading being made in the photos, I am using only the front four harnesses, and threads are drawn in using what is called a straight draw or 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4... sequence. Thus to get ordinary balanced or plain weave, one raises harnesses 1 and 3 together alternately with 2 and 4. One treadle does the job in each case.

Do not assume, however, that balanced weaves are the only practical uses. Twills, in which the weft passes over two or more warp threads at once, are frequently used in everyday fabrics. Ordinary denim is a good example of such a weave. A balanced twill, in which the weft goes over two then under two warp threads, and the sequence shifts one thread to the left or right on each pass also produces a balanced fabric, but the twill fabric is heavier in weight, warmer, and still flexible, just as an example.

For a subject near and dear to our hearts, plush and other nappy fabrics can be woven on hand looms too, but they require two warps that can be advanced at different rates, hence a double warp and back beam arrangement. One of my looms does have this capability, though the one in these photos does not.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

For clarity, I should elaborate. Typical blue jean denim is not a "balanced" weave. Rather than over two under two, the weft goes over one under two.

Since the warp is usually white, while the weft is colored (blue, black, or some other shade) this yields a fabric that has a light and a dark side (like the Force) and seems to cover the universe. One side has more warp showing, the other side has more weft. Hence, unbalanced yet still practical.

Lightweight suiting, such as wool gabardines or herringbone tweeds, is also a form of twill, but is typically balanced, with the weft running over two and under two.

There. More than you needed to know. XD

[nicodemusrat.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the answers! I had pictured each of the treadles as being directly connected to one harness. A configurable arrangement makes it easier to see how one could weave patterns with less than five feet.

Interesting information about denim, too. I'd wondered why the color was so noticably different like that.

More than you needed to know.

Since I don't plan on weaving myself, it's probably all more than I *need* to know. But that doesn't mean I don't *want* to know about it, anyway. It's nifty. :D

"To stop learning is to die."

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I figured that since you sew, you deal with fabrics and therefore would be interested. It always pays to understand these things when designing garments of any sort. :)

And besides, I like to run off and lecture on boring subjects. It's an endearing quality, no?

[kakoukorakos.livejournal.com]

Lots of info in both your post and other comments, but my horizons have been broadened! I'm more familiar with simple looms and had no idea how the more complex fabric weaves were produced, now I know! (And knowing his half the battle!)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

And this is only a modestly more complicated loom than a simple one would be. Much of the weaving done from the middle ages up through the 18th century was done on four harness floor looms, only slightly simpler than the one in the photos, which happens to have eight harnesses.

With the innovations of Jacquard and others during the industrial era of the 19th century, looms with 24 or more harnesses and other kinds of control became widespread. Complicated brocades and damasks can be woven on such devices. However, even a four harness loom can produce incredibly complex and delicate textures and patterns. Colonial coverlets, used as decorative bedspreads, provide adequate example of that. And the same loom could churn out dozens of yards of basic fabrics like hopsack, osnaburg, denim, and Oxford cloth to make both everyday and fancy dress clothing.

I'm fascinated with knowing a process from one end to the other. Now that I've started with a sheep and made socks and mittens, I need to plant some flax and get that all the way to the cloth weaving stage.

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing, this clarifies a lot of that mysterious terminology.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Heh. And I thought you would be the one to whom I didn't need to explain, because you've been exposed to all of it before.

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

Well, I know pretty much every moving part in that thingie, but I think I don't know even half of the Finnish terminology, let alone English... =)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

D'oh! Of course, I should have realized that you might not know the English terminology. Not exactly words you hear in everyday conversation or see in correspondence, that's true. ;p Dumb pony me for not thinking of that.