Threading My Loom with Threads that are as Fine as Hairs
I’ve been threading the heddles now for a few weeks—about an hour at a time and when I can get into the studio. It’s such a meditative thing that I wanted to have a film made. I’ve never used so fine a thread before and I hope it can stand up to the tension and abrasion of weaving. This short segment is the beginning of the film I’m dreaming of. I hope we can put together the rest of setting up the loom and me weaving—and an end result. This time threading is both soothing and ‘hair’ raising—you’ll see why in the video. If you’re not a weaver and don’t want details, go to the video now.
The thread is so fine that I couldn’t get it wound off from the skein so I sent it to Japan for them to wind it off (my friend with the equipment in the US couldn’t do it). It came back on about 15 cones—each with a very small amount of thread on it. So even the experts had a hard time—so many cones means that the thread kept breaking and they had to find an end and start a new cone over and over.
I’m planning on 120 threads per inch—the threads in my other sheer warps have been only 96 ends per inch. That gives you an idea of how fine we are talking about—like hairs.
I thought I’d warp 10 cones at a time as I’ve done with the other thread. Well, things kept breaking and threads blew around in the air and I almost gave up. I did end up using 4 cones at a time. I could keep track of those and repair them every time one broke and find its own exact path to the heddles in the heck block on my warping reel.
I didn’t notice that the 4 cones weren’t in position to make a perfect cross so I ended up with a 2×2 cross. You’ll notice that in the video. Jim Ahrens taught us that 2 threads at a time can work but never more than that. (3 or more threads will braid up on one another.) I’m hoping that is true because every thread has a mate in the cross. The reason to use a paddle is so you can always make a thread-by-thread cross. In my case I have a heck block that does that job connected to my reel. I am lucky enough to have a warping reel that Jim Ahrens made.
I admire your persistence! I wonder how many filaments these threads consist of…
Thank you very much Peggy, I have only gone down to 60 epi so far, you have given me the confidence to go to 90..
I googled ‘weaving with fine sewing thread’ because I thought 60epi was fine! This is something to aspire to.
I’d welcome advice, though, if you feel able to offer any: I’ve wound a tiny warp (200-odd threads) of pure cotton sewing thread to play with a 19th-century velveteen draft. I wanted fine fabric and it will certainly be that! I’ve never woven velveteen before and I’ve worked with anything this fine before. (I wound three colours so I can follow a colour for the cutting line, and I have strong magnifying glasses.) I’ve sett it 6 per dent in a 10-dent reed, and I’m wondering if that is reasonable: the reed marks are visible, but I’m not sure that matters. I’m hoping to end up with a fabric sturdy enough to make a tiny bag to contain precious things.