Hi experts all over the world, I need your help.
I've bought the wavy thing for my rigid heddle ashford because I LOVED the 3D effect it can make and I've been battling it for a few weeks. For the love of any god, I'm not able to make the ends stick together.
I've tried different yarns, different widths, different beating, different sides, read lots of text, saw a ton a of pictures and hours of videos, asked a million questions - and this is what made most sense: double threaded cotton on 7.5 30/10 with ashford caterpillar.
The center is fine and it looks it might be good even after wet finish but I'm lost on the edges.
What is your experience? Do you have any secret hack? Thanks a lot for any answer!

So. I made this for my Italian friend's housewarming. He loved it.

Though, I am doing things wrong.

As you can see, the sides are not straight. I think the problem is that the white sides against the prosciutto are too little and not connected to the rest of the weaving. This is a problem i had also with other pieces.

Next time, should i just bring the white thread across the middle part and basically continue the weaving on the other side, instead of weave the sides separately? Or how do I avoid this?

Hi folks, I posted a few backs looking to get some feedback during the weaving process and I got some amazing tips. Well I finished the sample (hooray!) but accidentally hemmed it the wrong way bc I was rushing 🤦🏻‍♀️ the sett ended up being alright but my selvedges need a ton of work if anyone has any tips there. Also anyone has tips on getting a straight hem line? I would like to not buy any more equipment, so no temple for the time being. This was my first project outside of an intro class and im hoping to make some hand towels in this pattern for friends and family.

Hello all! I purchased this coverlet today from an antique store and I was wondering if anyone could help me with some identifying information like age, materials, and pattern. I know a little because I’m a master student and I’m studying nineteenth century American textiles (mainly quilting), but any help would be appreciated.

The tag said it is from Texas, but I’m not sure. I know that during the 19th century, these were commonly produced in the Southern Highlands of the Appalachian Mountains (but also the general South and Northeast). Before the antique store, this was acquired from a west Texas estate of an antique collector, so there’s the possibility that this doesn’t originate in Texas.

This is almost too big for my full-size bed and it is in three panels. I’m pretty sure the dye is indigo (very dark blue). I guess it is also wool and cotton/linen? Overshot?

I love this rug and would hate to throw it away. Any advice for repair? The warp is completely trashed in the middle, but I don’t have a loom to undo the whole thing and re-weave it.

Hello, My mother was an amazing art teacher for a local small town high school and acquired many, MANY items for making all kinds of art from glass, to fiber, clay, and all things painting.

Long story short I am slowly going through and bringing into my home these items. I now have her loom. On that loom is her last weaving that was left unfinished before the ALS took her. It was the second of 2 baby blankets for my twin nephews.

I do not know anything about weaving and I would love to learn how. I would also like to know what kind of loom I have so i can do some researchon it. She also had a book that she called her weaving bible and said they should never be separated.

I am in South Texas about an hour from Austin, San Antonio,and Victoria. I wonder if anyone can recommend any you tube videos or websites.

Thank you

Hi everyone! I’m posting because I recently graduated with an MFA in Textiles, with a focus on weaving, and I also have a BFA in Textile Design. I’m currently looking for a job and would love to work in woven design, raw materials, material development, fabric R&D, or a related field.

I’ve been finding that there don’t seem to be many positions specifically labeled this way, so I’m wondering if anyone here works in these areas and might be willing to share some advice.

I’d especially love to hear about job titles or types of positions I may not be aware of, companies or industries I should be looking at, and any advice on how to position myself for these kinds of roles and get interviews.

Thank you so much! This subreddit has been amazing to follow!

As the title says, I found these in my moms attic and I was wondering if I should give it to someone or sell it. Anything I should know before I give it away?

UPDATE:
I showed my mom all of your replies so I’ll be selling them on Facebook Marketplace.
Again, thank you all for your help

Hi brainstrust, I'm at my wits end! How do you keep your cats out of your weaving?

I have an Ashford Jack loom and three cats. So far only one has shown any real interest in my weaving, but over the past few months it has progressed from playing with the texsolv hanging from the treadles to climbing up the castle to now getting inside my beamed cloth and clawing and chewing on warp threads 😭 I've tried diverting the behaviour and attempted to block the access point she uses to climb the castle, but so far no success. My craft room doesn't have a door so unfortunately it's not as simple as keeping them out of the area (plus they will just sit outside and scream if they ever get feel like I'm excluding them 😅).

The one blessing is that my cats can't jump very high so I'm wondering if I can sew some sort of skirt that covers the underside of the loom to stop her from climbing up. The trick will be finding a way that doesn't interfere with the jacks or general operation. Has anyone ever done something similar? Any other ideas? Obviously when I'm using the loom I can fend her off, but I can't weave all the time so my main concern is protecting partly finished projects when I'm not present.

Current project (feat. furry menace) is 8/2 tencel in purple and black threaded in a straight draw for a 6x6 houndstooth twill. I can't wait to see it off the loom, and hopefully I can work around the damage that's been caused to the current section 🤞🏻

I think this is a good buy at 1k. Am I correct? 4 harness baby Wolf.

Thanks!

Hello everyone!
I’m a relatively new weaver, I have my first weaving wip on my four shaft floor loom I got recently.
I’m wanting to make this green fabric or something similar and was wondering if anyone knows what it would be called and/or how to go about recreating something similar?

hey everyone,

i'm looking for my next floor loom project. i'm a beginner weaver with 3 projects under my belt:
1) weaving sampler, 4 shaft
2) gist's field and sky shawl, herringbone twill with clasped weft technique, 4 shaft
3) jst's tuscan twill tea towels, 4 shaft

i'm a bit overwhelmed by the possibilities and am not entirely sure what direction to go in. i've looked at a handful of handwoven magazines, but again, not sure what would be a good next step. honestly, weaving still feels a little bit like magic to me. i have access to a 4 shaft and an 8 shaft!

i do have a few weaving dreams if that'd help point me in a direction: 1) weave the lothlorien cloak from lord of the rings, 2) weave fabric to make a dress, and 3) be able to make my own draft. i'm also incredibly inspired by weavers like Amber M. Jensen, Sarah Sullivan Sherrod, and those at the Dovecot Studios.

any guidance would be very helpful! thank you!

Hi! I need some help brainstorming, so I'm hoping our wonderful community brain trust can help me out!

I teach weaving on floor looms, and we start with the beginning: winding the warp and dressing the loom. Occasionally, I get a student who needs help with their fine motor skills and/or has poor visual/spatial thinking.

Examples:

*Difficulty selecting one yarn at a time from the cross

*Difficulty pulling on yarn with both hands

*Knots-- both manipulating yarn and understanding over/under/through are difficult

*Sleying and threading are challenges -- small tools and small holes.

How can I help scaffold or accommodate this? I want my students to succeed. Success is getting something functional on the loom (at this point). I can't be with these students 100% of the time because I have other students who need my help. I can't dress the loom myself because 1) that's the learning objective and 2) time constraints. I demo for them as much as they want/need; I talk them through it; I have them show me.

Whenever I have tried to research this on my own, I only get results for improving motor skills for children. This class is a college class for adults. I will be reaching out to my school's disability services center, but I'm also interested in what ideas you have!

Thanks in advance. I just want to be able to help.

Wondering if this is a good idea for a beginner weaver..... No manual to be found but looks like a lot of parts are accounted for. They want $1,000 dollars. I'd like to know it's a working loom... They say no rust and it comes with all of the parts in the bench. I have the budget for a new loom but I keep seeing used once pop up and I know how hard it is for people right now. I'd rather help a neighbor than a big company but equally I want to know I can buy replacement parts and that this is actually functional.

Hi I received this weaving tool as a gift but I have no idea what this is. Can someone explain what this is for me and how to use it?

Thank you all! This has been very helpful. I would have never have guessed I was gifted a Japanese tool for braiding. Here I was looking through all my weaving books wondering why this beautiful piece was not mentioned in any of them

I just bought this really long loom,, for only $200...that's a pretty good deal right? I was wonduring if anyone knows where I can buy new chains for this loom? Not the tie-up cords, but the ones used to hold everything above the tie-up cords

I swear I’m following tutorials correctly and have looked at multiple different ones but my stitches keep sliding around like this which I feel defeats the purpose?

hello! I am seeking advice from more experienced weavers.

this spring, I started working on my first large tapestry on my floor loom. in the past, I had woven very small tapestries on a frame loom and mostly enjoyed it. my initial thinking was “go big or go home,” so I planned a 32” square tapestry with handspun weft. i made a lot of progress in the first two weeks: 22” of the 32” of warp I allocated to the tapestry.

then, I started to find the weaving process unbearable and the tapestry ugly. it’s been clogging up my loom for 5 months now, and I just look at it in dread every time I go in my craft room. my gut says to pitch the project so I can get back to weaving I enjoy, but I don’t want to regret my decision! how have other people handled this situation, or what would you do in my shoes? I really don’t see myself finishing it, but I am open to some tough love from more experienced people. thank you!

EDIT

thank you everyone who shared advice and encouragement! I really appreciate it ❤️ I felt relieved whenever someone suggested cutting it off and resistant when someone said to finish it, so I went ahead and cut it off the loom.

visually, I don’t love it, but I think the handspun wool makes a lovely sturdy fabric. I think I’ll unwind it and return to my true love, overshot coverlets. I will put a photo in the comments.

thank you all again for the input, it clarified a tough decision for me :)

Hi, all. Weaving some towels w 8/4 cotton on a 24" RHL. Can anyone tell me why the right weft threads (2nd photo) are doing this dip and the left (1st photo) are staying straight? I'm beating very straight and it's straight as I finish the beat, but then seems to wiggle. It looks like the tension is too tight just there, but it doesn't feel that way. Would love your input, please. Thx.

hi all! back with another question. I recently got this 8-shaft J-made floor loom and I’m a bit confused about the structure. There are 10 treadles but 8 shafts. What are the 2 extra treadles for? There is no brake I can see, does one or both of the extra treadles function as a brake? I’m very new to weaving and just trying to learn everything I can. Thank you!

I just added lots of heddles to my loom for my next project since it’s a lot bigger than other ones I’ve done before. Last time I added heddles I arranged them so they lay very smoothly with each other by alternating the metal tops as you can see in the first picture. The ones I added just now, I made sure the holes were lined up in the same direction but I didn’t line up the tops in the same way (photo 2) so some of them are kinda weird and jumpy but again the holes are aligned as you can see in photo 3-4.

Do I need to redo the heddles so the tops are aligned more smoothly or will this work just fine?

Hi all, I just bought a small rigid heddle loom and was thinking of making a guitar strap as a small first project. I was thinking that if I used a gradient yarn, I could get a cool effect without having to worry about making a pattern yet. Would that work?

Ofcourse I need to check the thickness of the yarn, and I think you would want a gradient that is not too slow? Otherwise it might not show up too well. Image is just an example of cool colors