Warping the loom

Two Crosses—Isn’t One Enough for Back-to-Front Warping??

by

Introduction:
Isn’t one cross enough? Yes, “if you want to do it the hard way”. (Jim Ahrens used to say that often.)

What good does a second cross do? Two things:
1. Allows you to spread out the warp quickly to its proper width in the raddle
2. Makes it easy to count as you wind the warp.

When you warp from back to front, you’ll still make a threading cross at the beginning to keep individual ends in order for threading. You’ll also make a second cross at the end to keep groups of threads in order for beaming.

The “new” cross is made of groups of threads. Each group will be the number of threads in one space in your raddle. For example, if your raddle has ½” spaces, you’ll put ½ of the ends per inch worth of threads in each group. Say your sett is 8 ends per inch (EPI). Then each side of the cross will have a group of 4 threads as in the illustration.

OH NO!  I see a third cross forming! Yes, that happens whenever you make a group cross. You can clearly see that it doesn’t look like either of the 2 crosses. It’s a FALSE cross—it happens but it is NOT USEABLE. In other words, it’s important, but not useful. It forms between the end peg and its neighboring peg which is one of the pegs holding the group cross.

I hope this illustration shows why the false cross forms between pegs 1 and 2 when more than one thread makes up one side of a cross.

I taught my students to always have 4 pegs in a line on the warping board so the path the warp takes on the warping board doesn’t interfere with any of the crosses.

Special ties, too? Yes, if you color code your ties it makes it simple to accurately put in the lease sticks AND you are less likely to twist the warp later. Use one color to tie all the bows on the tops of the pegs, and another color to tie the bows underneath the pegs. Notice in the illustration that the light ties are on the near side of the pegs and the dark ties are on the other side of the pegs. Note: the colors of the ties at each end of the warp do not need to coordinate. BE SURE TO TIE TIES AT THE END PEGS—THAT IS VERY IMPORTANT. One of my students always lost her group cross so I watched carefully one time and she didn’t tie at the end pegs—She said, “Oh, they don’t need to be tied.” But they do and that’s why she always lost her group cross when she took the warp off the warping board.

As usual, tie your choke ties tightly around the warps.

Here’s a completely tied warp with 6 ties at the top and 6 ties at the other end. With the choke ties as needed—about every yard or so.

After you have taken the warp off the warping board, put a pair of lease sticks in the group cross just like the illustration.

And put a stick in the end of the warp loop where the end peg was tied. Notice the tie going from end-to-end on the stick. If you don’t have holes, you can secure the string with strong enough tape.

Now you can easily “plunk plunk” the groups of threads from the group cross into the raddle spaces! The whole reason for making the group cross in the first place! Notice the set-up for this in the illustration. I do this job on a table.

Give the Gift of Weaving Books! Buy any two books and get 30% off the price of the books.

by

Select books HERE then in checkout enter the discount code “HOLIDAYBOOKS” to get 30% off if you order any two print books from the website.

Give the Gift of Weaving Books! A Free Book When You Order My New Edition of Weaving for Beginners

by

Go HERE to order the new edition of Weaving for Beginners: an Illustrated Guide. 

Read about this new edition in my post of October 20, 2025  HERE

In the cart, HERE enter the discount code “WARPING” to get a free copy of Warping Your Loom & Tying on New Warps by Peggy Osterkamp when you order Weaving for Beginners. (Remember to ADD BOTH BOOKS TO THE CART in order to get the free book.)

About Warping Your Loom & Tying on New Warps:
In Book 2, learn how to prepare your loom for weaving — beginning at the back of the loom. You will learn how to beam on, thread, and sley the reed. Also: chapters on sectional beaming, tying on new warps, knots, and adjusting jack, counterbalance and countermarch looms. Step-by-step instructions and sections at the ends of chapters for quick reference. Having Peggy’s books at your loom is like having a patient teacher at your side.
Fourth edition ©2021, revised edition; 206 pages, over 200 illustrations.

Give the Gift of Weaving Books! A Free Book When You Order My New Edition of Weaving for Beginners.

by

Go HERE to order the new edition of Weaving for Beginners: an Illustrated Guide. 

Read about this new edition in my post of October 20, 2025  HERE.

In the cart, HERE enter discount code “WINDING” to get a free copy of Winding a Warp & Using a Paddle by Peggy Osterkamp when you order Weaving for Beginners. (Remember to ADD BOTH BOOKS TO THE CART in order to get the free book.)

Information about this book can be found on my website under the tab: Books/DVD HERE

Summer Sale: 30% OFF – My Red Books Are Packed with Information NOT in the Beginning Book

by

I wrote these 3 red books to pass on the production weaving techniques I learned in a Production Weaving class at Pacific Basin School of Textiles in the 1970’s. Jim Ahrens was the teacher. At the time he was also teaching John Violet how he built his production looms. That was the beginning of AVL looms.

I reminded myself that there is a lot of information in my 3 red books when I went looking for shuttle information in Book #3: Weaving & Drafting Your own Cloth. I was having shuttle trouble while weaving  the cloth for my vest woven with  the Sunday Comics.

I wrote the first book Winding a Warp & Using a Paddle with one of my production weaving students, Carol Hillestad. We lived in New York City and passed drafts across the subway platform gates. I visited her in her office in one of the World Trade Towers! I gave her the info, then she wrote it for the text. We decided if it couldn’t be said in writing, we would need an illustration. I published it in 1992.  In the subsequent editions a lot more illustrations were added! See below for some illustrations in Book #1.

Summer Sale Book 1 – 30% off. Discount applied in cart – Order HERE

Why use a paddle?
“More than two ends will inevitably braid up on each other, as you know all too well if you have ever tried knitting with three or more colors. By the end of the row, you have a tangle of yarns to untwine.”

There is a whole chapter on sett including 14 pages of Sett Charts with entries for upholstery, production weaving, clothing, woolens, and delicate fabrics. Collapse weaving uses the “delicate” sett in general.

A warp comb can be made to order to use as a raddle for fine threads. “A commercially made warp comb, or drawing in comb, is another form of raddle and looks just like a reed, except that it’s only about two inches tall and the top comes off. These are available from companies that manufacture reeds.

Book #2, Warping Your Loom & Tying On New Warps was first published in 1995.
I always envisioned a big book like the Collingwood book, but was afraid it would never get done. That’s why I wrote one book at a time. There is so much in it because I was really afraid that it would be my last book. Sharon Alderman, one of the editors told me , “There is stuff in the book that doesn’t belong there.” See below some of the illustrations from Book #2.

Summer Sale Book 2 – 30% off. Discount applied in cart – Order HERE

Photo 8 of 8
Book #3, Weaving & Drafting Your Own Cloth was published in 2005.
I put in them all that I knew that I’d learned from Jim Ahrens and probably some of what I learned from my teaching. See below some of the illustrations in Book #3.

Summer Sale Book 3 – 30% off. Discount applied in cart – Order HERE

Threading Without Mistakes and the 2-Stick Heading

by

Note: Complete illustrations for the 2-stick heading are in a previous post HERE

Here’s how to set up to thread without mistakes. You get comfortable and can see the cross clearly.

With the cross hanging vertically, it makes it much easier to see and work from. To do that you need to hang the warp vertically by suspending the cross.  Suspend the cross over a stick or something like a broom handle.  See figure 175 in Weaving for Beginners. In the Table of Contents see: “Suspend the cross”. In the new version page numbers will be different but the illustration numbers and headings in the Contents will be the same. (Due out first of the year.) Of course, there are more notes on threading in that chapter.

Here is what you’ll see when looking at the cross while threading. Notice how the cross is vertical, not lying flat.

Here is the warp tied on to the front apron rod.

I leave the lease sticks in the cross during weaving. It makes it super easy to locate a broken thread and its heddle. I  see this all over the world on my travels. However, you can’t do that if there is too little space for the sticks  behind the heddles on your loom.

Since I want to cut off my sample to wash it, etc., I am going to make the 2-stick heading. This is the first step. Weave in 2 sticks. Narrow sticks will take up less warp, but anything will do.

I cut off the sample leaving the 2-stick heading ATTACHED TO THE LOOM.

Here is the heading left on the loom with the sample cut off.

Fold the sticks and tie the heading on to the apron bar with ties 3” or so apart.

At last, the sample is off the loom. I can’t wait to wash it and see what happens; paper is in both warp and weft!

A close up of the weaving in the sampler.

Threading the Loom Without Mistakes

by

Introduction:
I made the draft of this post when I was threading the loom for my box project. My report is that I only made one mistake and that was missing the heddle eye! A previous post gives 3 tricks for threading. See it here: 5/31/2020

photo 1 of 8

 Here I have the crosses for my two warps hanging vertically over a broom handle behind the heddles. This makes it easier to see the crosses when threading.

The illustration shows a clear picture of the set-up for threading. To stabilize the lease sticks I tie the top one to the broom handle. Look closely and you can see it.

I get as close to the heddles as I can. For my loom, that means taking out the beater and the breast beam.

How to know which shaft a heddle is on.
It’s easier to see what shaft a heddle is on if you look at the bottoms of the shafts. Here is a close-up.

Push all your counted-out heddles to the left (for right-handers) and stagger the heddles on the shafts so you can find which one you need easily as seen here. Left-handers would stagger them the same way but have them over on the right side of the shafts.

I have enough warp available so there is plenty ( I mean plenty) for threading, sleying the reed, AND tying on.

Position the cross (I have two because I made two warps to thread into the heddles) so you can see it easily when you are sitting on your threading stool.

Here’s my set-up with my low stool. The pillow is for my knees when I struggle to get up!

Box Update: Beaming the Warp

by

The warp needs to be wound tightly onto the warp beam. Think of a spool of sewing thread.

I’m trying out warping with a trapeze. I think I’ll like it a lot I could get consistent weight as I wound the warp.

Here’s the trapeze from the front.

It looks like a white warp thread is caught in the raddle. Watch out for this problem. It is a loose thread getting into a tangle.

When I got the warp straightened out you can see it belonged in another raddle space. Because it was so loose, it began to migrate into another dent. That will prohibit the whole warp from moving until the tangle is undone.

The extensions allow you to wind the last bit of the warp, up until you get to the cross to set up for threading.

A Counting String that Comes Out Fast

by

No matter what your warping method is, you often will need a counting string. When I first learned to make one, it was annoying to take it out when no longer needed. Jim Ahrens (A part of AVL) taught us to make this special crocheted chain that pulls out fast.

First: take a long string (maybe 3 feet for your first practices), fold it in half and slip the two tails through the loop at the fold around your first group of threads. This makes a lark’s head knot over these threads. The lark’s head is in the next photo.

With the tails of the lark’s head, you will begin to crochet around the bundles as you make them. Read on.

Measure out your next group of threads. Fold the tails between the first bundle and the new one, making a loop. Then put your right thumb and forefinger into the loop, while holding the tails with your left hand.

Encircle the new bundle with a “crochet” by using your finger and thumb to draw up another loop from the tails. Holding onto the tail, pull on the loop to snug it up around the bundle. Leave that loop and the tails dangling (don’t pull the tails through the loop, as you’ll be tempted to do).

The lark’s head is the foundation. From now on, you’ll crochet-chain using your fingers like this. Measure the next group of threads. With thumb and forefinger, reach through the old loop, drawing up a new one from the dangling tails, and tighten to secure the new group of threads.

After each crochet, both the loop and the tails should hang freely, ready for the next bundle.

This is taken from the Appendix in my book, Weaving for Beginners.

What Are Skeleton and Universal Tie-ups?

by

Introduction:
The tie-ups in the two previous posts are actually examples of skeleton or universal tie-ups. They are repeated here.

This ingenious tie up for 4-shaft countermarch looms is often called a skeleton tie-up. The treadles are tied up so that two or more are used to make the sheds. This is a way to make more sheds without tying up so many treadles, or to create the sheds you need when there are more sheds than you have treadles. Summer and winter tie-ups can require more treadles than you have, so a skeleton tie-up is often used. Check the internet for more information on skeleton tie-ups for countermarch looms as well as jack and counterbalance. Yes, you can make skeleton tie ups on all kinds of looms.

Actually the illustration is a universal tie-up, because all of the 14 possible sheds can be made with only these 8 treadles.
Do you see the difference? The terms are closely related but the universal will do everything. But the skeleton will be a tie-up with fewer treadles than the number of sheds required for a particular draft. Both tie-ups use two or more treadles together to create a shed. If you can’t figure out a skeleton tie-up  yourself, you can look at Tim’s Treadle Reducer online. www.cs.earlham.edu/~timm/treadle/form1.php I tried it and it was great. I put in that I had 8 shafts, 10 treadles, and 12 treadles were required. Then a grid came up and I entered the tie-up in the pattern. And a skeleton tie-up was given using only 10 treadles instead of 12, sometimes using two treadles together.

This tie-up for 4-shaft jack and counterbalance looms is an example of a universal tie-up because with it you can make all the combinations possible using more than one treadle at a time. That means you won’t ever need to make a skeleton tie-up with 4 shafts for these two kinds of looms. That’s because you can make every combination you want using the four treadles, no matter how many different sheds are required.