Process Review: First Drawloom Warp
- By Karen
- March 26, 2019
- 15 Comments
There are two questions I hear most often. 1. How long did it take? 2. What is it going to be? These are hard questions to answer. I admit that I stumble around to find satisfying answers. 1. How long? Hours and hours. 2. Cloth. It is going to be cloth. What will the cloth be used for? I don’t know. But when I need a little something with a pretty design, I’ll know where to find it. There are two finished pieces, though, from this first drawloom warp: the Heart-Shaped Baskets table runner (adapted from a pattern in Damask and Opphämta, by Lillemor Johansson), and a small opphämta table topper that I designed on the loom. The rest are samplers, experiments, tests, and just plain fun making-of-cloth. Oh, and I wondered if I could take the thrums and make a square braid…just for the fun of it.

I will let the pictures tell the story of this first drawloom warp.
May you have plenty of things to make just for fun.
Happy Weaving,
Karen
15 Comments
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Tried and True: Center the Reed
- By Karen
- March 12, 2019
- 10 Comments
Eleven hours and thirty-six minutes into this project, the starting line for weaving is just around the corner. Wind the warp, and beam it. Thread the heddles. Sley the reed. Unlock the back beam ratchet. Move the countermarch to the front of the loom. … Pause when you think about moving the twelve shafts and the reed forward with the countermarch. Reach. Wiggle. Pull. Wiggle. Pull some more. Got it. Now, put the reed in the beater. Relax? Almost, but not yet.



We must not forget to center the reed. I center the reed just as soon as the reed is in the beater.
How to Center the Reed
(We are actually centering the warp that is in the reed.)
Supplies needed: Tape measure (or string)
1. Using the tape measure, measure from the right edge of the warp in the reed to the outer edge of the beater on the right-hand side. Hold the tape measure with your fingers marking the measurement.

2. Holding that measurement, place the tape measure at the left edge of the warp in the reed stretching out toward the outer edge of the beater on the left-hand side.

3. Note the difference in measurement between the right side and left side. Move the reed in the beater to center.
4. Repeat the first two steps until the measurements are the same on both sides.



Now you can relax. Enjoy the moment, because you are that much closer to seeing fabric take shape!
May you enjoy the process you’re in.
Patiently,
Karen
10 Comments
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Only a weaver would appreciate the amount of concentration that has gone into getting to this point! Well done!
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Gosh! So much involved with setting up a countermarch. I’ve only dealt with easy-peasy jack-types. I agree with Trina’s sentiment.
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I do not yet enjoy setting up the loom. It is so hard to wait to throw the first shuttle. But, like all things worth doing, the solid foundation makes the end result beautiful.
Praise God .
Nannette
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Thank you for always showing us your process! It is fascinating. I had to chuckle at the “eleven hours and thirty -six minutes…” I recently spent hours working on a cramming and denting project only to find as I began to weave that I’d missed a dent in the sleying. Then missed catching it when I tied on. And when I first started to weave! Oh boy, patience is required then, for sure. It is important to love the process and the blessing of it all. 🙂
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What a beautiful warp. It is inspiring.
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Weaving Hearts
- By Karen
- March 5, 2019
- 12 Comments
Pulling the draw handles for each four-thread unit of weaving is like doing counted cross stitch on the loom. I enjoyed cross stitch in the 1980’s and I am enjoying this drawloom version now. Very much. I started this Heart-Shaped Baskets table runner on Valentine’s Day—a fun way to celebrate the day!


Like weaving on any floor loom, I want to have consistency in my beat and in my selvedges. Inconsistencies in these basics can detract from the drawloom imagery of the final cloth. The main thing is to keep paying attention. And keep joyfully pulling those draw handles to create more hearts of love.


Grace is a gift of favor, not an earned reward. Forgiveness is the giving of grace. And gratitude results from receiving grace. Grace makes us graceful. Giving and receiving grace with consistency is what we’d like to see in ourselves. That’s when the love of God, in whose image we’ve been made, is most clearly seen in us. So we practice what we know to do. And pay attention. And keep joyfully weaving a heart of love, by God’s grace.
May you be grace – full.
Gratefully yours,
Karen
12 Comments
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I have seen that draft in the book. It is so Beautiful on your loom!! I hope to convert my loom for drawloom someday. Enjoy!
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Very nice Karen! Looks like you are having a great time 🙂
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I am amazed by what you are able to do with your draw loom, Karen! Not only is this heart pattern delightful but also the other towels I can catch glimpses of. I definitely understand why you wanted a draw loom and I am so happy that your dream came true.
You are the most graceful woman I know, Karen and a wonderful inspiration as a Christian and a weaver.
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The more I see draw loom weaving, the more I start to think that I need a draw loom! For now, I will have to relegate it to a “one day” possibility and appreciate the looms I already have.
Your hearts are beautiful! -
Good afternoon Karen,
There is so much to learn. Thank you for leading.
Your prayer on grace touched my heart.
Nannette
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Isn’t it fun?! I love playing with my drawloom!
They are both beautiful! I love the blanket stitch look around the heart piece.
Hi Beth, Thank you so much! Ah, blanket stitch – I hadn’t thought of it as that, but you’re right, it does have that look. I like having a border.
All the best,
Karen
Amazing.
Thank you!
All are lovely.
Thanks so much, Sandy!
Karen
Thank you…looks amazing! Your last comment gave me pause. I spin all the time for the enjoyment and just to make the yarn. However, I really weave with project in mind, never just for the enjoyment and experimentation. Going to have to change…..
Hi Karen, Sometimes we’re too hard on ourselves and strive to be “productive.” But there is value in doing creative things just for the sake of being creative. Besides being fun, that’s where a lot of learning happens for me.
Happy weaving,
Karen
So beautiful! 10 total shafts needed for the heart runner?
Do you sell the pattern or is it available somewhere?
Hi Joni, there are 4 ground shafts and 10 drawloom pattern shafts, plus the “x” shaft for selvedges. The pattern is in “Damask and Opphämta,” by Lillemor Johansson.
Without a drawloom, this pattern would need many more shafts.
Thanks!
Karen
Sorry I don’t know why it came up anonymous
Man, when someone asks me how long it takes to weave, the answer is always different. So much goes into the designing, warping and threading that makes it hard to calculate time. As you know, some pieces are less labor intensive than others.
Hi Linda, So true! There are so many variables.
Karen
Wow, Karen! Each piece is beautiful! It would definitely be fun to create all those designs.
Hi Annie, It’s been so enjoyable to see the possibilities for designs. I made a few of them by re-working some old cross-stitch patterns.
Thanks!
Karen