Weave Experiments| My first weave

My first weave was pretty basic. I wanted to make some abstract triangle shapes, which didn’t quite turn out the way I pictured them in my mind. I was picturing them much more sharp in their shape, but I found that I didn’t have enough experience in weaving to get sharp lines. In the end, I was pretty happy with the weave.

For my colors I wanted neutrals with a pop of lime color to add interest.

The techniques I used were the plain weave, soumak weave, and rya knots. My background is where I put the plain weave. I then made my triangles in a soumak, because I wanted them to stand out compared to the background. I then did my rya knots in a staggered angle along with a straight row to add interest.

So if I were to critique my piece, I thought it’s not too bad for a beginner piece. There are definitely issues with weft tensions, which is what is causing the waves. The best way to avoid this, is to pull your weft through at an upward angle and then push it down with a tapestry beater, instead of pulling your weft through straight across, which puts tension into the weave.

Another issue I had was that I was using my frame loom without any spacing markers (such as the washi tape). This caused my warp threads to move as I went and changed my tension in my weave. The washi tape actually holds my warp in place surprisingly well and when a warp thread occasionally moves, I notice and can fix it right away. If you are using a notched loom, you won’t have any issue with this, as the notches hold your warp in place.

One of the things that I did correctly from the beginning was using a strong cotton thread for my warp. You can warp your loom with any type of thread, but some like wool will stretch and others might not hold up to a lot of pulling. I’ve also heard of pieces falling apart after they are taken off the loom due to a warp that didn’t hold up the tension off the loom. I’ve never had this problem using strong cotton thread for my warp. I love using it and it allows me to really experiment with my weaves, creating shapes and forms with a lot of tension.

How did your first weave go? What issues did you run into?  What lessons did you learn?  I’d love to see your weaves. If you’re on Instagram please tag me, so I can see them.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

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