How to Weave at Home
- 1). Prepare the warp. The warp is the term for the threads held taut by your loom. Put the thread you will be using in a spool rack, set about 4 feet behind the loom and pull your threads through the guide in the slot of the back beam.
- 2). Draw in. "Drawing in," is the process of threading the warp through the heddles. Hand looms have two or more frames strung with heddles. They are long, narrow bars on the loom, each with a small hole in the center of the bar like the eye of a needle. Feed your warp through this small hole, either manually with your hands if using a hand loom or, if you are using an automatic loom, by following the instructions on your particular loom model.
- 3). Draw the warp through the reed, which is a comb that beats the fabric as the weaving process takes place. Finally, attach the ends of the warp to the cloth beam at the end of your loom. Normally, the ends of the warp are attached to the cloth beam by wrapping a peace of cord at each end multiple times around the cloth beam and tying it off.
- 4). Weave a heading. A heading is about an inch of plain weave in which you use the warp thread as weft, or the threads that normally go through the warp to create the fabric. Before weaving, turn the cloth beam to stretch the warp, but be careful not too stretch it too tightly. Place a flat piece of wood called a lease stick into one of the sheds that you will open, and then you can weave back and forth several times to make your heading.
- 5). Open the first shed on your loom following the instructions that came with that particular loom. Throw the shuttle from right to left and beat sharply with the batten while the shed is still open. Then open the opposite shed, throw the shuttle and beat. Continue changing sheds and repeating this process.
