For a non-weaver this may seem a bit technical. I want you to be able to understand the process of weaving for two reasons: 1. So you can appreciate it more when you see it; and 2. So you can shake your head at me and laugh when you read my next blog post! If you are a weaver this is going to sound over simplified but hopefully you can use this to educate your non-weaving friends or customers about the hidden work of weaving.

Floor looms do take a lot of work to dress (the term used to describe the process of getting the loom ready for weaving). Once the yarn, pattern and draft are picked -this can be a project all by itself- the real work begins.

Winding the warp

Winding the warp consists of wrapping the yarn around pegs on a warping board in the right colour pattern. The warping board is used to measure the warp and ensure all the threads will be the same length. Wrapping with a cross allows the weaver to know which is the next thread in the sequence when threading the heddles or reed. It is really important to secure the cross well.

After winding the warp the yarn needs to get from the warping board to the loom without becoming a huge snarly mess. Lots of choke ties get tied, especially at the cross. Then the whole mass can be chained (like a crochet chain).

Winding the warp can take anywhere from an hour to several hours.

Next you can start dressing the loom.

I usually warp back to front. I start by putting sticks in my cross to make sure I don’t lose it and attaching those sticks to my loom. Next I spread my warp in the raddle (my raddle is a piece of wood with nails every inch) and wind the warp onto my back beam. As I wind my warp I undo the chain that stops my warp from tangling. I wind around heavy paper to keep an even tension. (Handy tip: the tubes from wrapping paper unroll to make excellent warp packing material) Winding well is incredibly important. You need the warp to go on with an even tension. I regularly go to the front of the loom and tug on the warp to keep things even. A tension problem here will cause problems through the whole weaving process.

Once the warp is wound on it’s time to thread the heddles. Threads are threaded through the heddles in the order of the draft chosen. Each thread is taken, in order, from the cross and threaded through it’s own heddle. It’s slow, sometimes painful if you don’t stretch enough, and frustrating if you make a mistake. It definitely pays to slow down here and double and triple check. Again, this process can take several hours or for a really fine wide warp, days.

Next, each thread needs to go through the reed. This is usually quick and easy. Then it’s time to tie the warp to the front apron rod. Tension is important now too. Finally, the treadles are attached to the shafts in the order prescribed by the draft. On a floor loom this requires getting on the floor half under the loom. It helps if you are a contortionist.

Then comes the first moment of truth. As you press each treadle and the shafts move you can see if you have it right. Are there any crossed threads? Threads through more than one heddle? It’s a pain, but these are easy to fix…but will require going back, retying and checking the tension again.

At last, the real moment of truth. The first few treadles will tell you if you have threaded each end correctly through the heddles. If there is a mistake in the threading there is no way to fix it without going back and rethreading. If the mistake is at an edge it’s not so bad. If it’s in the middle I recommend a box of kleenex and a cup of tea…or something stronger!

After all the mistakes are fixed and the tears are dried, the actual weaving begins. And it’s fast. I usually spend way more time dressing my loom than actually weaving! Of course attention needs to be taken keep the pattern correct, keep neat selvages and change colour when needed. But compared to the pre-weaving tasks, this is easy!

So now you know the behind the scenes of weaving. That’s how woven fabric is made. And it’s everywhere…the jeans you are wearing, the shirts in you closet, the sheets on your bed. Of course, most of it is done on industrial machines but the principle is the same. And someone still has to man those machines!