Courses

Angela's

Weavescene

I teach in East Hendred at my home and am planning to do so in St Augustine's Church I had been running courses at National Trust's Heritage and Rural Skills Centre at Coleshill and at the Vale and Downland Museum in Wantage for several years. However, I have decided to stop as it is hard work loading the looms into my car.

When I started teaching, Pamela, a member of the Kennet Valley Guild, kindly gave me four rigid heddle looms. I have since aquired several more. They have proved very useful as they are small enough to transport. I have developed a number of ways of using them.

I will offer courses for adults and children in the Church next spring when it should be warm enough without heating the church.

Children enjoy weaving with several bright colours. See photo on the left (or above). I thread the looms up with the warp spaced so it is covered by the weft. Adults can weave more organised pattern using two colour on a loom set up the same way. See photo on the right (or below) .

I charge £20 an hour for teaching at home. During a two hour session you could either weave a small mat on a loom set up for balanced weave or on one set up for weft faced weaving. See below. If you would like to have a go on a Four Shaft Loom or to weave a picture on a Rigid Heddle Loom set up for weft faced weaving you would need more time.

How Rigid Heddle Looms work

Heddles raise and lower warp threads during weaving.

They are fixed rigidly in a frame know as a reed. The warp threads are threaded alternately through a heddle and through the space between them. The ones in the space do not move when the reed is raised and lowered.

The old-fashioned looms have reeds with 7 heddles per inch. If every slot and heddle is threaded, there are 14 warp threads an inch. The warp will show as well as the weft and both contribute to the design. However, threading every third heddle and slot so there are approximately 5 threads an inch allows the weft to cover the warp. This is called weft faced weaving which is used for making rugs and pictures.

If all the heddles and slots are threaded the warp shows. For balanced weave the spacing should be the same for the warp and weft. This is used for fabrics. A three ply yarn is needed to achieve this when the warp spacing is 14 threads an inch.

To produce balanced weave with thicker yarns, a reed with the heddles further apart is required. Modern Looms are normally sold with a 7.5 dpi reed (which means that there are 7.5 threads per inch with all slots and heddles threaded). This will give a balanced weave with double knitting wool. A range of other reeds are available including 5dpi and 10 dpi.

When I started using looms with old type of reed, I found them easier to use when teaching children, if I threaded for weft faced weaving. As well being quicker to put the warp on the loom, it allows any colours to be used for the weft.

Weaving pictures

Pictures can be woven on a simple frame. It can be slow so I teach people how to weave one on a rigid heddle loom set up for weft faced weaving. Choosing a landscape or seascape without steep slopes makes it possible to complete a picture in a few hours whilst practicing techniques which can be used on a simple frame. See pictures for more information.

The scenes below were woven by people doing my courses at Coleshill.

Interesting patterns can be woven on a Rigid Heddle Loom using a stick at the back of the loom so that either one thread is up and three down or vice versa.Interesting patterns can be woven on a Rigid Heddle Loom using a stick at the back of the loom so that either one thread is up and three down or vice versa.

The warp can also be manipulated by wrapping the weft round a group of threads (known as Brookes Bouquet - see top of sample). Alternatively, you can twist the warp (Leno - bottom of sample)

With a Four Shaft Loom the warp threads are all threaded through heddles which are placed on the shafts. One, two or three shafts are raised before putting the weft in place. The warp is also threaded through a reed which spaces it and puts the weft in place. The heddles are free to move sideways which allows a variety of thickness of warp yarns to be used. The dark blue and white sample has been woven on a four shaft loom. The twill patterns are formed by the way the warp was threaded and the order in which the shafts were lifted.