Blog Archives

Weaving: Step by Step

10/26/2020

People ask me questions about my process all the time. How long does it take to make a piece? What kind of machine do you use to do this? What steps do you go through to get a finished piece? Why is this scarf so expensive? Those are hard questions to answer in 10 words or less.

Obviously it varies vastly from piece to piece. Some pieces are easy to plan and set up and take a long time to weave: we call those slow cloth. Some pieces weave up quickly but the planning and loom setup take a long time.

Below is a storyboard of the steps involved in creating a piece in my studio.

My Studio

I have 3 looms that I do most of my weaving on:

48" 16-harness Toika computer loom
45" 12-harness Louet Spring loom
26" 8-harness Schacht Baby Wolf

Planning

Planning time: 1-4 hours or more

Selecting yarns

Doing yarn wraps

Preparing a threading draft

Calculating warp & weft needs

Sampling for weft selection and pattern

Winding the warp

280 to 1000+ threads

Total time 1-6 hours depending on the number of threads and the number of color changes

Winding the warp on a warping board

Winding the warp on a mill

Winding the warp

Spreading warp in the raddle
Winding onto the back beam
Threading the heddles
Sleying the reed
Tying onto the apron rod
Tying up the treadles
Winding bobbins

Total time 3-12 hours

Spreading the warp in the raddle

Warp being wound onto the back beam

Threading the heddles

Sleying the reed

Tying onto the apron rod

Tying up the treadles

Winding bobbina

Weaving

Total time 2-10 hours per item, depending on the size of the threads and the complexity of the weave structure.

Fringing / Hemming

Total time 1 to 3 hours per item

Fringing takes 1 1/2 hours for a typical scarf, 3+ for a shawl.

Hand hemming towels or runners takes about 45 min. to 1 1/2 hours depending on the size