Comments on: Twill Troubleshooting

By: andrew

andrew — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:17:52 +0000

This might be your problem, though it may have allready been answered. I found that with my loom, which is from the 50′s, the heddles were actually what was breaking the yarn. If i were to push to hard on the treadles the heddles would spread to far apart. this would create a enormous amount of pressure on the warp and it would break. This was made worse by my heddles which are old and rusty.. they have perfect serrated edges that would cut through yarn with extreme ease.

Also, question, how do u set up a twill on a four shaft loom if possible?

By: Lolly Knitting Around » Minou Wrap

Lolly Knitting Around » Minou Wrap — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:38:44 +0000

[...] stayed steady throughout, and it gave me a boost of confidence considering some of the other “learning experiences” I have had with the loom of [...]

By: tiennie

tiennie — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:58:36 +0000

This is just gorgeous. I can’t believe how talented you are!

By: say

say — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 03:11:26 +0000

I agree with whoever said your threads would be more likely to break with dents packed more closely together. In fact, if you need a smaller sized reed (say a 12), you should be able to double-sley your dents and have that work just as well. I have From the look of your weaving, your twill is quite weft-faced – great if you wanted that! – but I imagine you will want more options in the fabric you can weave.

The breakage problem may also be the tension strength of your particular yarn. The easiest test is a pull test – if you can break a piece of yarn with little effort in your bare hands, it will easily break under the tension of a warp.

Still, having threads break along your selvage is very, very common, especially when weaving twill (especially when you are weaving twill and not throwing tabby in between.) To fix that, use floating threads at either selvage. Take a piece of yarn the same length as your warp and wind it around a bobbin, even a T-pin stuck into a spool of thread (anything to give it some weight). Then pass the thread up (from the back) through the reed, WITHOUT threading a heddle and tie it to your front beam. Leave the back spool to dangle over your back beam. When you throw your shuttle, always go over and under (or vice versa) this ‘floating’ thread. This helps to keep your selvages more even, and prevents the ‘pinch’ that develops.

By: LC

LC — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:13:34 +0000

I just finished two woven pieces, both prayer shawls for my dd’s bat mitzvah. The first, I used a plain weave border, and an undulating twill interior portion. I had a MISERABLE time with broken warp threads!!! Like, 6 in about 6′ of length! ARgh!

The second, I had a full width of the undulating twill, and had ZERO broken warp threads. I think the difference in the uptake of warp thread caused undue tension “issues”. The broken threads were all in the plainweave portion.

Congrats, you’re doing great!

By: nova

nova — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:38:03 +0000

Stop it. You and Brooke with the tempting weaving forays. It is not helpful to me in the least…

By: Mome-rath

Mome-rath — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:12:59 +0000

Thank you so much for the sweet comment on my post. You made my day! I’ve been thinking about your happiness post since then, and how having a positive attitude about whatever comes your way can change everything! Thank you!

I need to get back into weaving. You’re making me drool over the possibility of having my own loom someday (the Tailor’s future colleague in Tacoma actually *made* one for his wife!). For now, though, I think I’ll start taking classes again. And I really need to read more on the subject, because the first thing I ever wove was a twill, and even after hours of studying the structure, I was still only vaguely aware of how it worked. I need to do some research on the subject. I think I’ve got my reading list cut out for me!

Best of luck on your twill experiments—it seems like you’re progressing so quickly! I’m inspired!

By: WoolgirlClevelnd

WoolgirlClevelnd — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:59:01 +0000

I had a reed break and/or wear warp threads — it turned out the reed had a small amount of rust startint to build up from lack of use before I bought it (it was supposedly a rust-free reed and you couldn’t actually see the rust but could feel the roughness if you pulled a smooth yarn thru slowly). Some reeds also have sharper edges than others.

By: Hege

Hege — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 07:14:21 +0000

You make it look so easy
I’ve finally got my little loom in the house! I just have to set it up, and then I’ll try to weave Can’t wait.

By: tina

tina — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 04:44:40 +0000

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. First of all, lovely and so exciting to be doing a new weave!

Are you certain that when you warped the loom, there was even tension on all? You’ve talked about the warp before so I am assuming that you are using something hefty enough.

I know you will figure it out and move along. Pretty soon you will be a puredee pro!