Blog Archives

Warp With Me! All About Warping Boards

3/21/2023

If you've used a rigid heddle loom, but are new to 4-shaft weaving, one of the biggest changes will be in how you set up your loom. Most rigid heddle looms are warping using the "direct warping method" that's shown at the beginning of this video. It's quick, easy, and good for warps that are 3 yards long and under. However, once you get to a table loom, where the heddles are separated from the reed, you need a different way to warp.

Using a warping board to measure out your warp has two main benefits:

It helps you quickly and accurately measure multiple ends of yarn that are all exactly the same length.
It keeps these ends organized and tangle-free.

In these videos, I'm using a 14-yard warping board. Warping boards come in all sizes, from big to tiny. This post does not cover how to use a warping mill, since those are for very long warps, but the idea is very similar.

And, here are my 10 tips for using a warping board. Be sure to watch the video for more in-depth details!

Plan your design
Make sure you have enough yarn
Make a guide string
Start warping, following the guide string
Make the cross to keep the warp in order
Keep an even tension as you go
Keep track of how many ends you have
Tie off the cross and choke ties
Chain the warp
Head to the loom!

Design a Warp With Me!

3/9/2023

My test warp is off my Cricket Quartet, my studio finally has great lighting, so now it's time to get weaving!

Most weaving videos on the internet focus on the actual weaving process, and there are plenty of those coming up. Today's videos focus more on the design process. This is the process I learned when I first started weaving, and it's let me mostly design all my own projects without having to rely on printed patterns.

I do use a few books for "design recipes," though! Here are a few of my favorites for 4-shaft looms:

Learning to Weave : Great for learning the basics, how to do the math, plus a few handy hints.
The Handweaver's Pattern Directory : Lots of different weave structures for 4-shaft looms. Color pictures!
A Handweaver's Pattern Book : This is a partial reprinting of "The Green Book." It has most of the patterns of the original, but not all. However, the original is out of print and sells for a lot of money! This version is easier to find and a good place to start.

In this first video, I walk through the math I use to make sure I have enough yarn. For this project, I'm using a 3-ply linen from Weaver House, sett at 20 ends per inch. My pattern has 268 ends, which lets me use the whole width of the Cricket Quartet.

As promised in the video, here are the free downloads:

Excel Warp Calculator
File Size:	12 kb
File Type:	xlsx

Download File

Weaving Notes
File Size:	1969 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

In this second video, I walk through my process designing the warp in WeaveIt. This isn't a full tutorial of WeaveIt, but if you need one of those, Sally has created plenty of helpful tutorials on her channel.

If you're interested in using or modifying this pattern for your own use, there are free downloads below - one is to the WIF file, and the other is a printable PDF.