Before you can weave, you have to ‘dress’ the loom. An important part is winding a warp. The warp thread/yarns are the lengthwise element in weaving. If you are following a specific pattern, you often use a warping paddle to keep the colors in order.
The two commercial paddles I have don’t fit my hands very well. I thought about how I would make my own…here are the results (this is my 2nd build. The first one’s handle was shorter.)
This one is made from 1/8" acrylic and 1/4" baltic birch. After sanding I used the wax/mineral oil on the wood. Next one will use a less-garish color for the guide part; I was using scrap and I like Bling!
I’ll be posting tools like this on my Etsy site, as soon as I get my courage up.
Weaving is something on my to-do list. Haven’t really started it yet. I had my husband make me a large, simple loom that I plan on weaving some handmade t-shirt yarn into rugs on. Someday I hope to learn how to do real weaving. When I do, I’ll be sure to hit your Etsy shop!
These make great rugs. You don’t have to finish the edges of your strips, either; they don’t fray, and you know you are keeping things out of the landfill.
Thanks! Much as I love the screaming “Look at me!” effect, I’m going to make production models with more subdued colors. You’ve got to be able to see your thread colors when you are threading the paddle. The example I show above was literally dazzling.
Thanks for the info on not finishing the edges. I started making my own t-shirt yarn when I saw the prices they wanted for it at the store. Youch! I bought a ton of t-shirts at a yard sale for 1/8 the cost of one roll of yarn from the store! Plus it’s fun to make!
This is a weave structure called Krogbragd. Only the front face carries the pattern. It makes a dense fabric suitable for rugs or chair pads, using t-shirt strips about 1.25" wide.
In this weave structure using traditional wool, it takes 4–6 picks (weft passes) to develop any column of pattern. With the t-shirt fabric, it takes only one pass to create the same pattern. Tug on the length of the strip to make the edges curl in before weaving.
[Note: this is not compatible with the warping paddle.}
Beautiful!! The one I started is very simple - gray with white stripes. Haven’t gotten very far at all on it. I got interrupted by this thing called “Glowforge.”
