Wednesday, May 28, 2014

This has Not been Fun

Hmm ... 30 years of weaving experience and still surprises. I cannot say this babywrap warp is the best I have ever experienced. I am having problems with it. It is turning into a 12 yard sample but I think I know what is wrong. I am using Bockens unmercerized cotton. It is a beautiful yarn and I think it will make a sumptuously comfortable wrap. However the "liveliness" is a lot of the problem. It is not as smooth as other unmercerized cottons I have used. Very few knots which is good. I followed the specifications for the person I am working for. She wants a sett of 26 epi. That means I really need a 13 dent reed, two warp threads in a dent. So it is now sett in an 8 dent reed, 3-3-3-4. The yarn is too close and the shed sticks. So that means increasing the warp tension. Not good! Then the yarn catches on a thread and makes tiny tiny loops that are really hard to see until I have woven another few inches. The yarn sticks on the selvedges. One in particular is nasty even with the rotary temples. The weaving is SLOW! So now I have a lot of burling or repair work to do. I took 5 meters of the woven cloth off of the loom. The 13 dent reed should be here soon. I will use my 2nd beam to tension the selvedge threads.


2 comments:

  1. No, it doesn't sound like much fun at all. :( Hope you can work the kinks out to at least make it bearable.
    Laura

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well it was sort of a surprise. What's weird is I have a warp on my big loom, weaves no problema. I learned something, don't let anyone give you specs. Actually I didn't talk to my boss properly. She is not a weaver. Next time I'll produce the prototype and do more sampling first. Every loom is different. My boss is really nice, she understands but I don't like turn out a poor product.

    ReplyDelete