Clarifying reed chart

lace marie wrote

on 17 Jan 2013 1:47 PM

I am new to weaving and started with a rigid heddle. I am studying the yarn at the moment and doing all the calculations for a balanced plain weave.

I am not sure what they mean by "order of sley in the reed" i.e 0-1-1-1 for sett 9 , reed 12

I would be so happy if somebody could make this clearer to me please.

Thanks for your time

Marie

CarolineA wrote

on 17 Jan 2013 5:05 PM

hi Marie. A rigid heddle loom has the heddles and reed combined. What you are looking at applies to a removable reed/beater in a loom with shafts that move up and down when you change the shed, not to your rigid heddle loom.

You thread a rigid heddle through every eye and slot right across it for weaving, and when you lift it and lower it, the sheds are formed through which you throw your shuttle carrying the weft thread. This forms a balanced plain weaveif your warp and weft are the same size yarn and you are not pulling the sheds too tight or beating too hard. The only thing you have to worry about is the size of your rigid heddle itself, which should be written on it somewhere. Otherwise its easy to measure it with a tape measure. The standard one is generally 10 epi, which takes 10 threads (5 through the slot and 5 through the holes) every inch, though some of the newer model looms like the knitters loom come with heddles capable of taking much thicker yarn so have less slots and holes. The quick and easy way of working out what yarn you use is to thread it through the hole. If it rubs, you need a finer thread. if it slops around the hole its too fine. If you skip a slot or a hole on these rigid heddles it leaves a hole in the weaving that continues all the way through your piece, which is a mistake in a balanced plain weave.

Go to your library and see if you can borrow the Liz Gipson book "Weaving made easy' or Betty Davenports book "Hands on Rigid Heddle Weaving", both published by Interweave. They are both sold in the weaving shop here, but I always recommend reading first as not every book suits all people.You can also do a search on You Tube for Rigid Heddle Weaving and there are loads of very good videos that show everything from how to warp to how to do pick-up and fancy lace weaves.

I hope this makes things clearer. Rigid heddle looms are a unique beast, deceptively simple, and capable of the most intricate work and modern rigid heddle weavers are constantly pushing the boundaries of what this loom can do. Its an exciting journey! Have fun!

lace marie wrote

on 18 Jan 2013 2:42 AM

Thank you very much Caroline, this makes things so much clearer, I think I was a bit a head of myself.

Best wishes Marie