Wednesday, 3 November 2010

Unweaving

I unwove 8 inches last night. And discovered that the loom driver software (Fibreworks) switches the 'Unweave' command off if you stop weaving or reset anything. This floored me for some minutes. The job got done eventually.

I untied the knots and the tying-on certainly needed correcting. I was shocked at how bad it was. Never before - - -. So I pondered on why this was so bad as I retied. I have one good theory. The warp has been resleyed and has gone from  a reed width of 25 inches to 31 inches. The thread ought to be a straight line from the breast beam, through the reed, through the heddle to the back beam and this line should be at right angles to the reed. That assumes the width on the back beam is the same as the width on the breast beam which is not so here. On the first tying up after resleying, I aligned the heddles with the breast beam/reed line. This is a mistake since there is now a pull sideways. Thread does not like a bend at the heddle and the heddle will be pulled towards the centre of the warp. After 8 inches of weaving, the heddles probably found their preferred position - hence the slack in the threads. We shall see when I start weaving again!!!! I have resleyed before but never more than taking 20 inches to 18 or 22 inches which is not enough to be a problem. The problem is compounded here by the cotton warp being incredibly stretchy.

2 comments:

  1. If it doesn't work (and if the warp isn't too long), there is always the option of rolling it all on to the cloth beam and then back again.
    I did not believe in this, but tried it as a "last resort" (before untying and doing it the "correct" way) - and... it worked!
    Good luck!
    Kerstin

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's a good idea but retying seems to have worked although extra precautions are needed when weaving!!

    ReplyDelete

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About Me

I am weaver and - -. I dye my yarns with acid dyes, I paint my warps, put fabric collages and stencils on my weaving. I have three looms, a 12 inch wide, 12 shaft Meyer for demos and courses, a 30 inch Louet Kombo which is nominally portable but has a stand, two extra beams and a home-made device containing a fan reed. And last a 32 shaft Louet Megado which is computer controlled, has a sectional warp and a second warp beam and I am the proud owner of an AVL warping wheel which I love to bits and started by drilling holes in. I inserted a device for putting a cross in. I have just acquired an inkle loom and had a lesson from an expert so I can watch TV and weave at the same time. I am interested in weaving with silk mostly 60/2 although I do quite a bit with 90/2 silk. I also count myself as a bookbinder with a special interest in Coptic binding.