Weaving Question
I have a question and so I’m going to ask all of you. Any and all help is welcome and appreciated.
I’m getting close to finishing the spinning of the weft for the next skirt which will be from this Blue Faced Leicester top dyed in the Calypso colorway by Amy King of Spunky Eclectic.
This particular skirt will have a 2 ply warp with weft of singles.
All of the warp yarn has been soaked and snapped to finish it. Snapping is the least aggressive finishing method I use and just helps to further even out the twist i
n the skein.
So, here is the question. If it were you, would you wash and block the singles before using them? (By block I mean, I would wind the yarn off onto a pvc niddy noddy and soak and let the skein dry right on the niddy.) Would youwind off the singles and just wash them and not block them? Or would you use them fresh off the bobbin and not worry about washing the yarn until the fabic is being finished?
These are the three ways I can think of but if you have a different idea or way you’ve done it I would be happy to hear from you.
9 thoughts on “Weaving Question”
Your fabric will change with each technique.
If you wash it but don’t block it, the fabric won’t shrink side to side much, if wash and block it, then when you wash the fabric the singles will remember their shape and spring back creating a crepe-y cloth. The third way might make weaving a pain, but would have similar results to not blocking maybe.
I would wind of the singles and wash them, Beth. I think I have better control on the final result when weaving.
wash the singles in skeins, very light blocking. FWIW, I would use a PVC yarn blacker, and simply “place”, no tugging, no tension, each pass on the blocker so the weft dries straight, not curly. You could use a PVC
niddy, as long as you don’t pull tightly as you wind.
Alternate weft bobbins from different skeins, so you have a chance of minimizing any differential shrinkage.
If you are planning on using the fabric uncut, such as panels, I would wash and snap the singles as usual and not block them. If you will be cutting the fabric to make the garment, I don’t think it will matter as much. Just make sure you wet finish the fabric prior to cutting in the manner you plan on cleaning the finished garment.
No real reason to go through the extra steps of washing and blocking weft or “packing yarm” unless you have:
1- high twist singles ie warp or crepe twist singles
Or
2- a very loose sett
it isn’t lije knitting where you end up with unexpected results if you don’t set your yarn. Weaving is going to come out by the numbers and weft twist no matter what you do. The only reason to block the weft is to not have to manage pigtails in thw weft yarn while weaving.
I agree that some sturdy wet finishing of the finished fabric before cutting is the way to go. That’s what will prevent any biasing that may occur in the garment. I also agree that hard blocking your singles could cause shrinkage and maybe some unexpected texture. However, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It could be fun, so long as you do a good job fulling before cutting. If it were me, I might be tempted to lightly block the singles just to prevent swearing at the loom.
Though you’re obviously going to weave some samples first before you embark on weaving your cloth……
No reason not to try different ways of finishing the yarn in order to answer your question.
Sample, sample, sample. I know, probably not what you wanted to hear. You can sample on your Hokett loom, a Zoom loom, a table loom, a rigid heddle, or of course put extra warp on the floor loom. You get the picture.
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