When things go wrong

Warning, this is a long one, so I’ll spare you a second post this month.

In all my design classes I emphasize that when samples don’t turn out as planned, there are several steps you can take to fix what’s bothering you and maybe discover something even better than you’d hoped. Color mix not working, try a different weft. Motif too elongated when you wanted it square, try a smaller weft or open the sett. Pattern not inspiring, change the tie-up and/or treadling.

You’ll find more of these tips in the free tip sheet I created, 10 Ways to Change a Project in the Middle of a Warp. If you missed my previous offer, you can still request a copy of that here.

My first experiment with the black and white giant houndstooth samples (See previous blog post) quickly brought me to a hard stop—literally. The warping went fine, (above) with three sets of lease sticks to manage the different yarns, and both warps evenly tied on.

The first 2 inches of weave, when everything stopped.

After weaving about 2 inches, however, the shed on my trusty Louet Megado would not open--at all. I could not depress the treadle. Other challenges followed, probably because I was trying to sample too many options with one warp. In the interest of allowing you to learn from my mistakes, I thought perhaps I should share those challenges and my attempted resolutions.

Shafts would not lift: Something was obviously tangling. I checked the usual suspects: crossed threads, entangled shafts, etc. I noticed the Texsolv heddles on the right selvage had slipped off the top heddle bar of shaft 4 and one was caught under shaft 3. Aha! I thought. With that fixed, I tried again and still nothing. Looking at the back of the loom, I decided it had to be a density problem between my two distinctly different warps: one a mix of different sizes and styles of thicker black yarn; the other a 30/2 white cotton. Solution: Re-sley at wider sett. Result: new problem.

Co-mingling warps behind the heddles.

Warp too wide at new sett: I reduced the sett from 15 epi/warp (30 epi total) to 10 epi/warp (20 epi total), which would have expanded the warp width from 22.4 inches to 33.6 inches. Another 5.6 inches on each side was just too much without the whole re-beaming rigmarole. Solution: Reduce the size of each block by two thick ends and two thin ends, which meant pulling them out of the reed and heddles and letting them hang off the back. Result: New width was 28.8 inches, and the shed opened!

Pattern not beating square: This doesn’t usually bother me, but weaving these giant houndstooth checks requires a square beat. The different sized weft yarns, matching the warp yarns, were part of the problem. Solution: I knew I needed to open the sett more, but did not have a reed that would work at the new width and did not want to pull out more warp ends (see next challenge). Re-beaming was still not on the table. Result: Pattern still not beating square, but moving on.

Actually a bit better when cut from loom, but still not square.

Warp ends I removed causing mess at the back: Solution: Yank those dangling warp ends away from the warp beam with every advance. I had to tie them in bundles and even add some weights. Result: Weaving, but with rising frustration level. (There’s more to this story later.)

Warp ends from edge block removed from heddles. Fine warp ends removed were cut off.

Fine warp ends breaking on left-most block: One broke. I repaired it. Another broke. I repaired it. After fixing four or five in the next few inches of weaving, I opened the shed to weave and almost all of them in that block snapped at once. Clearly there was a bigger issue. Peering through the reed, it looked like the extra width at the reed was pulling the selvage further away from the warp edge on the beam than it was on the right. However, I wasn’t

sure. Solution: (Not re-beaming) Cut off second small sample, pull both warps out of the entire left block, re-tie and weave what was left. Result: Finally able to weave about 16 inches, even it it wasn’t perfectly square.

Some fine warp ends getting very loose: The fine warp was attached to the second beam by placing an apron rod through the warp end loops and tying that rod to the loom apron rod. (Some of you who warp back to front are probably guessing what happened.)

Dangling S-hooks weighting the loose partners of removed warp ends.

Remember those fine warp ends I removed? The end loops no longer hold if you remove or cut their partners, especially as the apron rod advances past the point where it is covered by warp layers. Solution: Find all of the extra ends and attach weights so their partners can still weave. Result: Don’t know. I haven’t tried weaving since then, because…

The cloth doesn’t look like I wanted: To be fair, I really haven’t woven enough to see the big houndstooth check, but the only black yarn that seems to be very distinct is rayon chenille. However, it also is the only black yarn giving me tension problems because, well, it is rayon chenille and doesn’t play well with others. Plus, I’d have to order more of it.

Cloth on loom where I stopped. Darkest block is rayon chenille.

Solution: Walk away from the loom and go teach a workshop for an online conference. Result: After the workshop, I woke up in the middle of the night and a new idea for the giant houndstooth project popped into my head, clear as day. Yesterday afternoon, I was able to draft it on Fiberworks, and I’m excited to get started.

More on that next time. Now, where are my scissors?