How to Warp Looms for Beginners
- 1). Choose the warp thread for your weaving project. Decide how many threads you would like per inch in your weaving or the sett of your cloth before you warp the loom. Wrap the yarn around a standard ruler and count the number of wraps per inch to determine the ideal sett for a given thread.
- 2). Do the math. Determine how long your finished weaving will be, including length for hems. Add 10 to 15 percent to this amount for shrinkage and 27 to 36 inches per warp thread for tying on and for loom waste. Figure the width, plus 10 to 15 percent for shrinkage and take up. Multiply the number of threads per inch times the total width in inches to figure out how many warp threads or warp ends you will require.
- 3). Wrap your threads around clamps, chairs or a warping board, crossing the thread or yarn once on each round to keep the yarns in the order you wrapped them. Continue wrapping until you have the correct number of warp ends. Tie threads off in small groups to make it easier to keep count.
- 4). Place the warp threads onto the lease sticks of your loom. Center the cross of your warp threads on your loom, marking 1/2 the width of your project to each side of the center point of the loom.
- 5). Use a threading hook to place the warp threads onto the reed of your loom, then catch around the rod or lease sticks on the loom. Continue working thread by thread until all threads are in place.
- 6). Use small weights, cans or soda cans to create the tension on groups of warp threads. Shift and adjust threads until the tension is even, then tie onto the apron rod of the back loom beam.
