One of the wonderful things about yarns is the different variations you can find: there are smooth yarns and fuzzy yarns, yarns that are a consistent width, yarn with slubs, and wild things like bouclés and eyelash yarns. In addition, you can weave things that aren’t yarn at all: twigs, metal, even glass. Every once in a while it’s fun to look around and wonder, “How the heck would I weave with that?”
By combining weave structure and the properties of your yarns, you can create textured and interesting fabrics, including shibori. What’s fun about the projects in this chapter is that even though you may weave plain weave, the fabric is often transformed into something different and amazing when you wash it.
Lycra and Spandex are brand names for elastane, the stretchy material that holds up commercial socks (look carefully for the thin elastic threads running along the main yarn in your cuffs), adds stretch to elastic, and serves a whole host of other uses in ready-to-wear garments. It’s rare to find 100 percent Lycra or Spandex yarns, as they are usually blended with another fiber or produced as a yarn where an elastane core is surrounded by another fiber.
Weaving with elastic yarns can be tricky. You need to warp it under tension, stretching it out to its full extent so it can collapse dramatically when taken off the loom. As a rigid-heddle weaver, however, you have an advantage: the peg-method of warping is ideal for keeping stretchy yarns under control during warping.
This project uses elastic yarn in the warp. Because the warp is only 1 inch wide on the loom, it’s a great first project for working with elastic yarns. The secret to keeping them from tangling is to keep them always under tension. Elastic yarn with a cotton exterior is preferable to 100 percent pure elastic, which tends to snag in your hair.
Once you’ve woven one hairband, consider other possibilities. You could use this technique to weave a few elastic threads at the edge of a garment fabric, for example, to create gathered cap sleeves on a shirt.
Measure a 1-yard warp of 12 ends using the direct-peg method of warping. It’s crucial to keep the warp threads constantly under even tension. You don’t need to pull them tight, just taut enough so they won’t tangle. Thread the heddle as described in Threading the Holes.
Making your own yarn is satisfying. To see a project progress from raw material, to yarn, to fabric, to garment is magical. In addition, creating your own yarns gives you more control and room for creativity in your weaving. The reasons for making your own yarns are many.
Handspun (blend of silk and Polwarth) and hand-dyed silk fabric strips
A great way to get started creating your own yarns is with fabric strips. You can recycle old clothing or start with fabric from a store. In either case, it’s a quick path to creating weft yarn without the need for special skills or equipment.
If you purchased the fabric new from a store, wash it to remove any sizing and allow the fabric to shrink. If you weave with unwashed fabric strips and then wash the woven item, it may shrink and distort in unexpected ways. If the fabric is used, such as from recycled shirts or jeans, washing is optional.
If you are upcycling used clothes into weft, first remove any findings such as buttons, zippers, and so on. If you’ll be making a garment out of your handwoven cloth, it can be fun to reuse the findings from the original clothes. Cut off collars and cuffs and button bands, as they are generally reinforced with interfacing thicker than the rest of the fabric. Remove any patch pockets. You want the fabric for the next step to be as consistent and flat as possible.
If you want a thin weft, cut narrow strips; for a thick weft, cut wider ones. To figure out the width you need, cut a few samples in different widths and then roll them between your fingers. The thickness you see when you roll the fabric is similar to the thickness of the fabric you’ll get when you beat the weft into place, depending on whether you gently press it in or beat it more firmly. As with all things in weaving, however, the only way to tell for sure is to sample.
The best shuttles for cloth strips are ski shuttles, poppana shuttles, and stick shuttles. Fabric strips are generally too bulky to work well on bobbins.
Poppana is long bias fabric strips that come prewound on cardboard spools. You can either rewind the fabric onto the shuttle of your choice or use a poppana shuttle, which is designed to accept the cardboard spools without rewinding. Poppana comes in many colors, and once it’s woven and washed, it fluffs out into an almost sueded fabric, as the cut edges of the bias strips gently fray.
Weaving with fabrics strips is very similar to weaving with yarn; the one difference is how you join cut ends together. Using the techniques on the facing page, you can create long continuous strands of weft, but eventually (unless your project is very small), you will run out of weft and have to join in a new piece.
The easiest way to add new weft is to overlap the cut ends by about 11⁄2 inch. After you wash the piece, the tail ends may work up to the surface of the fabric, where you can snip them off. A neat trick to try if you’re weaving with bias tape is to fold the new piece into the ending bias strip. This catches the tail in place and keeps it from escaping.
Cutting fabric on the bias (at a 45-degree angle to the grain of the fabric) creates a yarn that stretches; cutting fabric on the grain creates a yarn that doesn’t stretch.
Cutting fabric on the grain. With right sides of the fabric facing, sew the fabric into a tube. Fold the tube so that the seam is in the center, and press the seam open. Turn the tube right-side out and place it on a cutting surface with the seam-side at the bottom (1). Cut “fingers” in the cloth running up from the bottom to the fold at the top, stopping at the same distance as the width you plan to cut your strips. (For example, if your strips are 1 inch wide, stop the cuts 1 inch from the top fold.) A rotary cutter and self-healing mat make this step fast and easy. When all the fingers are cut, cut on the diagonal from the end of one strip to the top of the adjacent strip (2 and 3).
Continuous bias strip. Fold a rectangular piece of fabric so that the bottom edge aligns with the top edge. Cut on a 45-degree diagonal along the fold from the bottom to the top corner to remove a triangular piece (1). With right sides of the fabric facing, stitch this triangle to the other end of the fabric, with “b” sides aligning to create a trapezoid (2). Fold this piece so the diagonal edges (a) align. Offset the fabric seam by whatever width you would like your bias strip to be. With right sides of the fabric facing, sew the offset edges together. You can now cut a continuous strip, as shown by cutting lines in step 3. (Measure the width as you go so that your strip is even.)
You can use a bias strip as a single layer of fabric, in which case the edges will fray decoratively in the fabric. Or, for a smoother fabric, you can fold the bias back on itself to create a bias tape that encapsulates the raw edges (see How To Encase a Hem with Double-Fold Bias Tape). Sewing stores sell tools that help fold and iron bias strips into bias tape.
If you have a fabric that is printed with a bold design, you may want to retain that pattern when you prepare it for weaving, rather than cut it into continuous strips. For this bag, the fabric was cut into strips and woven back together so the design reappears in the finished fabric. Keep in mind that the weaving process foreshortens the image, usually in the vertical direction. The distortion of a compressed flower can still be beautiful, whereas a compressed face might be disturbing. Bold graphical elements without too many fine lines will look the best. Why go to all the trouble of cutting up a design only to reweave it? The practical reason is that the rewoven version is heavier and more suitable for jackets and bags than the original fabric. The aesthetic reason is that the rawness of how the woven fabric strips come together and reshape the refined pattern is intriguing.
| project stage | width |
length |
| Fabric before washing |
153⁄4" |
26" |
| Fabric after washing |
141⁄2" |
22" |
| Shrinkage |
8% |
8% |
Using the 8/4 cotton, wind a warp of 144 ends at least 2 yards long. Thread the heddle as described in Threading the Holes.
Wash and iron the fabric for the pattern weft. Cut the 11⁄2 yards of fabric in half lengthwise, along the grain of the fabric, to create two strips that are 18" wide. Set one 18" strip aside to use later to sew a lining for the bag. Then, cut horizontally across the remaining 18" strip of fabric to create 1" wide fingers of cloth. Do not cut all the way to the edge; stop 1⁄2" from the selvedge. Leaving the strips attached in this way keeps them in order until you are ready to use each one. You will be laying each strip separately, so you do not need to wind them onto a shuttle.
Repeat steps 2–4 until the cut-strip portion of the fabric is 19" long. Weave another 21⁄2" border with the 8/4 cotton yarn.
Note: Folding the fabric strip in steps 3 and 4 creates a reversible design, but it also has the effect of shortening the height of the image on the fabric. If you have more than one pattern repeat in your fabric, you can counteract this shortening by cutting four versions of the pattern into strips (sets A, B, C, and D) and weaving fabric strips alternately from each set. In other words, weave a bottom strip from set A, cotton warp, bottom strip from set B, cotton warp, next strip from set C, cotton warp, next strip from set D, and so on.
Weaving with handspun yarn creates such a lovely fabric that each weaver should try it at least once in his or her life. The rich texture that handspun yarn brings to a fabric makes it worth learning to spin, or befriending someone who does.
Rigid-heddle looms are one of the best choices for weaving with handspun yarns, for several reasons:
Each of the above fabrics was woven with handspun yarn in both warp and weft.
Some weavers will tell you that you can’t use handspun yarn as warp. Centuries of textile history prove that wrong; there would have been whole eras of unclothed people if handspun yarn wasn’t up to the rigors of being used as warp yarns. What’s true, however, is that not all handspun yarn makes a good warp. It needs to have a certain amount of structural strength to survive being put under tension and abraded against other warp threads and the heddle. Here are some characteristics that make a handspun yarn useful as warp.
If you’re a spinner who hates to ply, weaving has the answer for you. Singles yarns make great weft, and can even be used as warp if spun firmly enough.
Handspun yarn that meets all of these requirements makes an easy-to-use warp that will be a delight to weave. That said, because the rigid-heddle loom is gentle on warp yarns in terms of tension and opening the shed, you can often get away with using handspun warp yarns that meet only some of these requirements. If you use the direct-peg method of warping, you can even tame unbalanced yarns by keeping them under constant tension during the warping process. I’ve used warps of softly spun yarns, highly energized singles, fuzzy yarns, even beaded yarns. Experimenting is the best way to find out how far you can push the limits.
Any handspun yarn can be used as weft. The weft undergoes no tension on the loom, and little is asked of it during weaving. Softly spun yarns will get packed down and held together by the warp yarns. Highly twisted yarns can be tamed by shuttles. Fuzzy yarns won’t rub against other weft threads during weaving. You can even weave with unspun roving and locks.
Before we close the discussion on weaving with handspun, I have to mention spindle-spun yarn. You can create lovely yarn for weaving on either a spinning wheel or spindle (or just with your hands, if you’re very, very patient), but spindle-spun yarn has an advantage in that each inch of it has already been tested for strength. When you spin with a drop spindle, you are forced to spin a yarn that is strong enough to withstand the weight of the spindle
Drop-spindle-spun singles are one of my favorite warp yarns. With the direct-peg method of warping to control the twist, even highly energized singles can be dressed onto the loom. I weave the singles I spin into a light and airy fabric at 12 ends per inch. When it’s washed it develops a lovely gauzy texture.
Drop-spindle-spun yarns, single or plied, work beautifully as both warp and weft in handwovens.
If you go to weaving stores or conferences, you’ll often encounter yarn that looks as fine as spider silk. It’ll be labeled something like 140/2 or 220/2 and be thinner than sewing thread. Most of the time, it’ll be silk, since silk is one of the few fibers strong enough to work with that fine. If you’re like me, a cone or two of the gorgeous stuff might follow you home. Since there’s no such thing as a 120-dent rigid heddle, how can you weave with this on a rigid-heddle loom? Here are some ideas:
If you’re a spinner, you can ply the skinny silk with a handspun single, creating an interesting bouclé. The resulting yarn makes a lovely weft yarn, or if the bouclé is tight enough that it won’t be shredded by the holes in your heddle, you can use it for warp as well. You can test a bouclé for warp by threading it through one of the holes in the heddle and pulling it back and forth. If the yarn is damaged, use it as weft only; if it can stand up to this treatment, you can try using it as warp.
The 120/2 silk yarn in this project is usually set at 72 ends per inch in plain weave, something impossible to do with a rigid-heddle loom. By combining multiple threads together as one working end, you can weave this fine silk on a rigid-heddle loom. Using multiple threads together also makes it easy to do graduated color blending, by swapping out individual fine threads one by one to slowly shift the color of each working end. (See photo for my method of managing groups of these very fine threads.)
| project stage | width |
length |
| Off the loom |
10.2" |
47.25" |
| After wet-finishing |
9.25" |
45" |
| Shrinkage |
10% |
5% |
Each color blend in the chart on the facing page is composed of 6 threads. Each bundle of 6 threads is used as one compound warp end. The chart shows the color progression of the compound warp ends. For each color blend, pull 12 loops, following the color-blend ratio, through three consecutive slots. You will have 294 compound warp ends.
Note: Use the direct-peg method of warping for this project; it protects the very fine threads from tangling.
Pull twelve loops (24 threads) of the first color (purple) through each of the first three slots.
Next, pull twelve loops of the next color blend (10 purple, 2 red) through the next three slots.
Continue working across the color chart to the last color (12 loops of yellow-orange). At that point, turn around and go back across the color chart. Fill the next three slots with 12 loops of (10 yellow-orange, 2 orange), and so on.
You will have a warp 12.25" wide, with the lightest section in the center, blending to deep purple at each edge. Do not cut the loop at the peg!
Double-tap the image to open to fill the screen. Use the two-finger pinch-out method to zoom in. (These features are available on most e-readers.)
Note: I recommend using a boat shuttle with this project, due to the fineness of the yarn.
Preparing the weft: Using a sewing machine or a stand-alone bobbin winder, wind 6 sewing machine bobbins of each of the 5 colors of silk (30 bobbins total). Each weft pick contains 6 threads. To make it easy to do the same graduated color blend used in the warp, you will place six sewing bobbins on the shaft of a boat shuttle and change out the bobbins as you weave.
The knitting world has inspired yarn companies to create a wide variety of interesting, textured yarns, including sequined yarns, bouclé yarns, fuzzy halo yarns, and fringed eyelash yarns. These yarns are challenging to weave with, especially as warp.
Given these challenges, how do you use fuzzy yarns in your rigid-heddle fabrics?
Use slippery fuzzy yarn sparingly. For example, set a worsted-weight yarn at 8 epi and make every 16th thread a thin eyelash yarn. The densely set areas of worsted are accented with the skinny eyelash yarn, giving the fuzz room to bloom.
You can also use weave structures like leno to create openness in the fabric for your fuzzy yarns. Leno is stable even when open because of the extra twist in the warp yarns. Warp or weft floats can also successfully show off fuzzy yarns.
When you weave this project, leave a lot of room between weft picks. The fabric should look like little windowpanes of binder thread surrounding a window of fluff. The warp and weft fluff will interlock, especially after the project is washed, and create a gauzy but stable fabric.
| project stage | width |
length |
| Off the loom |
123⁄4" |
771⁄2" |
| After wet-finishing |
12" |
70" |
| Shrinkage |
6% |
10% |
Wind a warp 3 yards long of 104 threads. Thread the heddle as described in Threading the Holes.
Leaving 6" of warp unwoven for fringe, weave in plain weave until shawl measures 72". Remove the shawl from the loom. Make 4" twisted fringe, using 4 warp threads for each fringe.
Wash the shawl in warm water using a wool-safe soap or shampoo. Agitate slightly by hand for a few minutes, enough for the fuzz to mesh but not so much that the fabric felts. Rinse, gently squeeze to remove excess water, then remove more water by rolling the shawl in a towel and stepping on it with clean, bare feet. Hang to dry.
The first step to successfully weaving a mohair warp is to acknowledge that this is one project where little things can make the difference between happily weaving the impossible and . . . just plain impossible. Mohair is crimpy and has scales that act like little Velcro hooks, gluing it to the fuzz of its neighbors. Here are three key tips that should help:
Respect the fuzz. Don’t be fooled by the thin binder yarn; the halo of mohair really defines the yarn. Take a look at your yarn, roll it gently between your palms. When the fuzz is slightly compacted, what size is the yarn? The warp yarn in this project is 2,270 yards per pound, but I set it at 8 ends per inch. Any closer and I would have risked disaster.
Take care when threading the holes. Usually I tell students that it doesn’t matter which thread they pull out of the slot to put into the adjacent hole; any twists can be pushed to the back of the loom. In this project, however, it does matter. When you’re threading the holes, look to the back of the loom and grab the thread that is on the same side of the hole so you don’t inadvertently add any twists to the warp. This is one warp that won’t let you push extra twist to the back of the loom.
Use firm tension. Mohair will behave better as you weave if you keep it under firm tension.
Wire is an interesting material to weave with. It doesn’t have any stretch, and most wire can only be bent back and forth a given number of times before it breaks. That said, wire can be beautiful and add a structural element to your weaving. Its ductile nature makes it possible to mold the fabric once it’s off the loom. You can even weave jewelry using precious-metal wire.
When I weave with wire, I set it much more loosely than I would a yarn of the same diameter. There are several reasons for this:
This is a quick weave and a fun way to get out of a weaving rut. After the bracelet is completed, you can leave it plain or mold it into a sculptural shape. The supplies listed here are enough to make three bracelets.
Wind a warp 1 yard long and 10 wires wide. Warp the loom using the direct-peg method of warping.
Wind onto the back beam using a warp separator.
Use a wire cutter to cut the loops at the front (a) and thread the holes as described in Threading the Holes (b).
Put the heddle in the up position. This step is necessary to produce the correct tension during weaving because wire does not stretch. A rigid-heddle loom makes an unbalanced shed; the hole threads rise and fall and thus travel farther than the slot threads. Most yarn can stretch to accommodate the small differences in length. Wire cannot.
You cannot easily tie a knot in wire, so create a twisted loop in each strand, as shown below (a). Using a length of strong yarn, such as 8/2 carpet warp, lash each loop onto the front rod (b). (To make this step easier, it helps to loosen the tension a bit.)
Another way to do this, which I recommend, is to lash the loops continuously, with a single length of the strong yarn. Tie one end of it to the front rod, and then go up through a wire loop and back around the rod, up through a wire loop and back around the rod and so on across the warp. When you've lashed the last loop, tie the end of the yarn to the rod. A continous loop makes it easy to equalize the tension of the wires, as you can pull slack from one to the other until they are even.
To weave the all-metal bracelet. Loosely wind enough wire to weave the entire bracelet onto a stick shuttle, taking care not to crimp the wire. You can choose to pack the wire weft close together or space it widely, as shown on the previous page. Take care that the wire weft goes smoothly around the selvedge wires.
To weave the wire and ribbon bracelet. Wind the ribbon onto a stick shuttle and weave normally.
Weave until the bracelet is 6" to 10" long. You want the woven area to be 1" less than the desired circumference, to leave room for the clasp.
Cut the fabric from the loom with wire cutters, leaving at least 3" of loose wire at each end to attach the bracelet to the clasp. Using fine needle-nose pliers, twist two wires around each loop on the clasp. Wind the loose weft wires around the nearest loop, as shown.
It doesn’t have to be yarn to weave with it. The first weaving was probably basketry — the weaving together of sticks to create shelter, traps, and containers. Similarly you can use your rigid-heddle loom to weave things other than traditional yarn. Take a moment to look around you, and as your eyes roam, ask yourself, “How would I weave that?” Even if you never plan on acting on them, having a few crazy project ideas is good for the brain. The simplest way to get started is to warp your loom with yarn and then weave in non-yarn wefts, such as branches, wheat, and dried flowers; clear acrylic rods; or the tape from old audio cassettes.
Conventional yarns like the rayon bouclé and silk on the tall cones can be combined with more surprising materials, such as (left to right) unfinished and dyed bamboo, natural sticks, printed cotton tape, leather thong, nylon cord, and assorted ribbons.
Weave a beautiful and functional warp separator. This narrow warp separator is perfect for narrow projects. The 3-inch pieces of reed in this project come from a reed table runner that I cut down to exactly fit the back beam of my loom. With a rigid weft, some of the structure of the fabric comes from the fact that the weft can’t flex and slip out of the warp. This is why we can space the warp threads out across the width of the fabric, saving yarn and letting the beauty of the reeds show through.
Wind a warp 21⁄2 yards long, with four loops (eight threads) of each color in a slot. Refer to the chart below for color order. Thread the heddle as described in Threading the Holes for one repeat of the colors and treating 4 threads of the 20/2 cotton together as one warp end. Leave 1" of the heddle unthreaded, then repeat the color order.
Weave plain weave until warp separator measures about 74", centering the reeds between the two warp stripes.
Cut the woven mat from the loom. Tie the threads in each warp stripe together in a single square knot (two knots total). Add a drop of fabric glue to secure. When the glue has dried, trim the warp ends 1⁄2" from the knot.
E-textiles are the love child of the fiber arts and electronics. In this emerging field of art and science, electronic circuitry is combined with traditional textile techniques such as weaving and sewing to produce fabrics that can glow, make noise, interact with their environment, and more. Over the past decade, developments such as conductive thread and microcontrollers (small computers) designed to be sewn onto fabric have made it possible for a growing number of artists to incorporate electronics into clothing and other textiles. E-textiles cover a wide range of projects: some are as simple as adding glowing lights to a garment; others are more interactive, such as a pillow that e-mails you a webcam picture when your cat lies down on it. You don’t need a background in electronics to weave e-textiles; all you need is a basic understanding of how they work and a willingness to experiment. As with many of the techniques described in this book, handwoven e-textiles deserve a whole book of their own. I include only a small project here to give you a taste of how simple this area can be, in the hope that you will be tantalized to explore e-textiles further on your own.
How about a bookmark you can use to read in the dark? This project uses LED sequins and conductive thread to create a bookmark that lights up. You could use this same technique to weave a glowing bracelet to make you more visible on evening walks.
Wind a warp 1 yard long and 18 ends wide out of the cotton yarn. Thread the loom as described in Threading the Holes.
With the back side of the bookmark facing up, slide the battery into the pocket with the positive (+) side up. The LEDs on the other side of the fabric should light up. If they don’t, check that:
These are tiny light-emitting diodes (LEDs) modified for sewing onto cloth. The ones shown here are surface-mount LEDs with crimp beads soldered onto the contacts. You can make your own LED sequins or purchase them online.
Shibori is a traditional Japanese technique in which fabric is stitched, bound, or clamped before dyeing. When the mechanical resist is removed, the fabric opens up to reveal wonderfully organic patterns of dyed and un-dyed areas. Woven shibori is a variation where you weave in a supplemental weft while creating the fabric, which you then pull to create the resist. It’s faster than hand-stitching threads in. Two pioneers in this area are Catherine Ellis and Kay Faulkner.
My explorations with woven shibori on a rigid-heddle loom began when a workshop student, Elizabeth Lee, brought me Catherine Ellis’s book, Woven Shibori, and asked whether the technique could be modified to work on a rigid-heddle loom. After looking at the four-shaft drafts, and thinking about Betty Davenport’s clever method of storing a pattern in a pickup stick behind the heddle (saving you from having to pick up a pattern with each row; see Using a Pickup Stick to Create Pattern), I realized that you could, indeed, create woven shibori efficiently on a rigid-heddle loom.
Weft for ground cloth. To create woven shibori, you use two wefts: one to weave the ground cloth (this remains in the fabric after the dyeing is complete) and a second supplemental weft that is woven in a pattern, pulled tight, and then removed from the fabric after dyeing. The ground weft is often the same yarn as the warp, and can be any fiber that you wish for your finished fabric. In the examples shown on the facing page, I used Koigu KPM, a fingering-weight Merino wool, for my ground warp and weft. The step-by-step instructions beginning here describe how to achieve a checkerboard pattern.
The supplemental weft needs to be strong enough to withstand the rigors of pulling and knotting without breaking, smooth enough to pull easily through the ground cloth, and small enough that it will not distort the ground cloth when it is removed from the fabric. It’s also helpful if the fiber content of the waste yarn is different from the ground cloth so it doesn’t take up the dye. It is much easier to locate and remove the waste yarn if it is a different color from the ground cloth.
In the examples shown, I used 10/2 pearl cotton as the waste weft. Since cotton reacts to a different dye chemistry mix than wool, it did not take up color in the dye bath. Being significantly smaller than the sock yarn of the ground fabric, it did not distort the finished fabric, and the smooth cotton yarn pulled easily through the wool fabric. Another good choice for supplemental weft is 100 percent nylon or polyester kite string.
The most fun part of weaving this scarf is the surprise at the end when you remove the supplemental weft and the organic shibori design is revealed.
Wind a 21⁄2 yard warp of 130 threads (65 loops) with the same yarn you are using for the ground-cloth weft. Wind the warp onto the back beam. Thread the heddle as described in Threading the Holes
Put the heddle in the down position.
Using a pickup stick, and working only on the slot threads, pick up the following pattern all the way across: five up, five down. The final five threads should be up, completing the symmetry of the design.
The shibori pattern shown here is a checkerboard. To weave the first part of it, you will create weft floats on top of the fabric in the waste yarn.
Note: If you find that creating the pattern shed is difficult, or you are seeing multiple sheds, check that you haven’t inadvertently picked up a hole thread.
After weaving step 4, you should see floats of the supplemental weft on top of the ground cloth. The areas where the supplemental weft weaves plain weave will create a resist when the fabric is pleated. The areas where it floats will take up dye.
Continue weaving, alternating two picks of ground weft with one pick of supplemental weft, until the block is of the desired size. In the example shown, I wove two repeats (three supplemental wefts in all) of steps 5 and 6 before switching to block B. Note: The ground cloth should always weave plain weave. As you weave, look at the ground-cloth picks and verify that once the waste yarn is removed, what is left behind will be plain weave.
Weave the second half of the checkerboard. One way to accomplish this would be to remove the pickup stick and pick up the opposite blocks (all threads up in A would be down in B and vice versa). But this is not necessary: you can weave the opposite block without removing the pickup stick.
Continue weaving, alternating pattern A with pattern B every three supplemental-weft picks.
Continue tying pairs of loops until all of the supplemental weft has been pulled tight.
After all the supplemental weft threads have been pulled tight and knotted in place, the next step is to dye the fabric using a dye appropriate for your ground cloth. Follow the dye manufacturer’s directions.
After all your hard work weaving, tying, and dyeing, it can be somewhat worrisome to pull out what looks like a completely black snake of fabric. Not to worry: if you pull apart the folds (and you pulled your supplemental weft tightly enough during knotting) you will see color peeking through.
Allow your cloth to dry completely before you attempt to cut the supplemental weft threads out. If you try to cut them out while the cloth is still wet, you will stress, and possibly damage, the ground cloth.
I pull tightly on the knots to bring up a millimeter or so of the supplemental weft, and then carefully cut under the knot with sharp-pointed scissors. After the knot is cut off, it is easy to pull out the supplemental-weft threads and reveal the shibori patterning. Note: Be very careful not to inadvertently cut the ground cloth during this process.
Finish the warp ends as you normally would any textile — hem, twisted fringe, and so on (see Fringe) for options).
As for the shibori portion of the cloth, there is the question of whether or not to iron. If you don’t iron the cloth, it retains the wonderfully rich, crinkled texture of the pleats (a). This is most durable in silk and wool fabrics. On the other hand, ironing reveals more of the color pattern (b). Whether you choose texture or pattern, is up to you. You could even combine the two options, to create a garment like a fisherman’s scarf, where the back of the neck is pleated for warmth and the front is ironed flat to better tuck into the front of a jacket.
The checkerboard pattern creates a lovely design, but it is only the beginning of the possibilities for woven shibori on a rigid-heddle loom. Here are some ideas for additional designs and experimentation.
If you are going to create designs using a pickup stick, it helps to know a bit about designing with blocks. In this project, I wanted mirror symmetry, with the blocks on both outside edges weaving the same — that is, both up or both down. To achieve this, you need an odd number of blocks (1, 3, 5, and so on) because this allows for a central block, with equal numbers of blocks on either side. If your block size is 5 slot threads, you could make a symmetric design over 5, 15, 25, and so on slot threads.
Note: Remember that on a rigid-heddle loom, you pick up the pattern only over the slot threads. To plan your warp, you have to add in the hole threads, which doubles the count. The actual number of warp threads needed for symmetry is 10, 30, 50, and so on.
Once you have determined your block size, you can apply the following equation to figure out the number of warp threads you need for the project.
(block size) × (number of blocks) × 2 = (number of warp threads)
One of the easiest things to experiment with is varying the size of the blocks in the checkerboard pattern (a). For example, you could try larger 7-thread blocks, or smaller 3-thread blocks. You could even vary the size of the blocks within a row, having larger blocks in the center and smaller blocks along the selvedges (b). The shibori patterning will shift and change with the scale of the blocks: smaller blocks produce a more refined pattern; larger blocks, a bolder graphic.
To create vertical stripes (c) in the fabric, use the same technique as you used for the checkerboard, except do only pattern A and don’t switch to pattern B at all.
Horizontal stripes are even easier; you don’t even need a pickup stick. Simply alternate areas of plain-weave ground cloth with areas where the supplemental weft is woven in the same shed as the ground weft.
With freeform pickup, you lose the speed and efficiency of storing the pattern behind the heddle. What you gain in exchange is creative freedom (d). If you are willing to pick up the pattern blocks by hand, you can weave anything you can chart over your slot threads. For example, if your textile has 50 slot threads, you can create patterns with 50 blocks. You can also combine free-form areas of pickup with pickup stick areas.
When creating a free-form design, keep in mind that the resist is created in the areas where the supplemental weft weaves plain weave. The dye strikes in the areas with the supplemental weft floats. You can use this fact to create designs in the positive (undyed) or negative (dyed) space.
Shadow weave creates wonderfully complex-looking fabrics that often appear to be three-dimensional. Alternating light and dark threads in the warp and weft creates this effect. If you ignore color and just look at the interlacements of a shadow-weave fabric, you'll see a different structure than you might expect. A line of color that looks like a long float may in fact be weaving over and under several threads of the same color. This gives you the ability to design fabrics with bold geometrical designs that are structurally quite stable.
This project uses three 12-dent heddles to weave a 4-shaft shadow weave pattern. There are many ways to weave this threading, and each gives a different patterning. One lift-plan pattern is shown on the next page. For other options, see Marian Powell’s 1000 (+) Patterns in 4, 6, and 8 Harness Shadow Weaves.
| project stage | width |
length |
| Off the loom |
9" |
63" |
| After wet-finishing |
71⁄2" |
56" |
| Shrinkage |
17% |
11% |
Moving right to left, this diagram shows the first eight threads of the shadow-weave pattern.
Follow the weaving chart to complete one repeat, then start at the beginning of the chart and weave the pattern 7 more times or until scarf is desired length. Alternate between dark and light shuttles as you weave, interlocking the wefts at the selvedge. Twist 3" fringes using four threads for each fringe: two black and two variegated for a barbershop effect.
Wash in hot water with Dawn dishwashing liquid or a similar detergent. To help hold the floats in place, agitate the scarf until it just starts to felt.
Double-tap the image to open to fill the screen. Use the two-finger pinch-out method to zoom in. (These features are available on most e-readers.) Or download the printable pdf at http://whol.st/shadow-weave-scarf
The simplest way to add beads to your fabric is to string beads onto the weft. As you weave, slip a bead down the weft to place it in the fabric. You can place beads in the fabric either randomly or in patterns. You can also use a commercial beaded yarn, especially if you just want a few beads on a background of fabric.
Because beads are hard and inflexible, as they wind onto the front beam they can create tension irregularities in the warp threads, distort the woven cloth, or become themselves damaged. To avoid this problem, wind on a towel between the layers of your beaded cloth.
Beaded cloth should be carefully hand-washed or dry-cleaned. (Check your beads for wash-fastness before you wash; some wooden or clay beads can’t be immersed in water.)
Bead weaving takes the idea of beads on the weft yarn a step further, adding so many beads that the weft is completely covered. Done using very strong, fine yarns in the warp and weft, it is often associated with Native American artwork. While you can purchase specialty bead looms, your rigid-heddle loom is already a bead-weaving machine. Simply warp the loom with nylon bead-weaving thread, matching the bead size to the sett so the beads fit neatly between the warp threads.
The most common method of weaving beaded patterns is to use a long, thin beading needle on which you thread beads for each line of design. The beads themselves act as the shedding device. When you weave this way on your rigid-heddle loom, the heddle only spreads the warp; you don’t use it to create a shed. This makes it (relatively) easy to create patterns in your weaving. The design always flows in one direction as you weave, and you only need to string enough beads for the current weft pick. You can use graph paper to design your own patterns, or make use of the wealth of pattern books written for bead weavers.
Randomly spaced beads give life to these handwovens.
Bead weaving is one of my favorite kinds of weaving: the beads are so smooth and lovely to run through your fingers. And it’s easy to create your own charted patterns or adapt them from cross-stitch patterns. The only downside is that it can be time-consuming. This small project will give you an introduction to bead weaving without a large investment of time. This project makes two or three bracelets, depending on the circumference of the wrists you intend to encircle.
Wind a warp 1 yard long and 16 threads wide.
Thread the two heddles as described for Using Two Heddles to Weave Fine Cloth.
Complete the bracelet by weaving another 10 rows of plain weave using the beading thread.
Cut the bracelet off the loom. Run a line of glue or Fray Check along the raw warp ends. When the glue is dry, trim the warp threads close. Fold over the header and close the ribbon crimp ends onto the plain-weave headers, completely encapsulating them. Attach the lobster clasp using the jump rings.
