Some weavers don’t like the words weaving loom and linen paired together. The inherent features and characteristics of linen have always come up as topics of discussions some times. The material is stiffer and features less elasticity than cotton, for instance. People sometimes become leery to work with it – it’s inelastic, stiff, and does demand a bit more care to use. Nevertheless, you will be truly missing out if you allow this to scare you from weaving with linen. Here are tips to help you in delving into linen and the lovely fabric you could weave from it.
1. Use the costlier yarn in the Weft to decrease waste
Linen is costlier than cotton therefore it’s sometimes an excellent idea to put a cotton warp on then utilize linen for just the weft. Dyed linen can even be costlier, therefore adding colour to the cloth by utilizing a natural linen weft and nice colourful cotton warp could be a more cost-effective way to begin weaving with linen.
Utilizing cotton as warp also utilizes the cheaper yarn in your loom, which translates into less waste as regards more expensive yarn – the loom waste will then be the cotton. The resulting cloth will have more drape than a one hundred percent linen fabric too, which might or might not be an extra benefit depending on what you are producing with your weaving looms in UK.
2. Increase humidity
Linen loves humid environments. If you reside in an arid climate, it could be an excellent idea to run a humidifier so as to increase the humidity surrounding the loom. If you are utilizing the linen for only weft, you could build a humidor that will help in adding humidity to the yarn and also make it easier for you to work with.
3. Wind excellent bobbins
Wind with tension so the upper layers can’t cut down into the lower ones, and to also keep your bobbin from jamming inside the shuttle. Learning how you can hold and throw your shuttle to motivate a smooth rhythm and feed off could also help greatly.
4. Hold and throw your shuttle in a manner that helps in controlling the yarn
Most expert weavers hold their shuttles ‘under hand’ and they use their thumbs to help in controlling the bobbin’s spin and preventing it from casting excessive weft that could wrap around the spindle, off.
5. Remain consistent
When utilizing linen for warp, it’s very critical to wind your yarn as consistently as you can. As a result of the lack of elasticity, tension for the linen warp must be fairly high within the entire loom. In jack action looms, this could sometimes make the shafts to ‘float’. For some looms, it helps when you increase the back-beam’s height. This could easily be done – depending on loom – by getting a stick (or sticks) clamped to the back-beam’s top. Ensure you use flat and smooth sticks.
Linen, when used to weave in your weaving loom produces lovely table textiles, towels and window coverings. It’s great for clothing in hot humid weather too. Though it might need a little extra work, it’s quite unique.
