How to Sley the Reed of a Table Loom

Sley a reed on a loom.

Sleying a reed, whether on a table or floor loom, is probably the easiest part of dressing a loom. This article discusses the sleying process in the back-to-front warping method, which means you have already wound the warp onto the back beam and threaded the heddles before sleying the reed. Weavers use the reed, placed in the beater bar, to separate the individual warp threads and to evenly beat or compact each weft thread after it is inserted into the warp.

Things You'll Need

• Loom
• Yarn
• Sleying hook

Instructions

1. Center the warp in the reed by calculating the width of the fabric. Determine how many threads are in one half of the warp. Divide that amount by the number of ends per inch (epi) in the pattern. Consider this example: The warp is 480 threads wide, half that number is 240. The pattern calls for 20 epi, so 240 divided by 20 equals 12. Half the width of the fabric is therefore 12 inches.

2. Select a 10-dent reed, which means it has ten dents or openings per inch, for a warp with 20 epi, since 20 divides evenly by 10. Attach it to the loom's beater bar. Sley, or thread, two strands of yarn in every dent, since your pattern requires 20 ends per inch, and the reed has 10 dents per inch. Multiply the number of dents per inch (10) by the number of inches in the half width of the fabric (12): the result is 120.

3. Sit in front of the loom. Count from the center of the reed 120 dents to the right, and insert the sleying hook through this dent. Start sleying at this point by threading the two right-most warp threads through the dent. Reach behind the reed, and take hold of the first two threads (those going through the heddles furthest to the right) with your left hand. Grasp the sleying hook in your right hand, snag the two threads held in your left hand, and pull them forward through the reed. Catch the next two threads behind the reed with your left hand, while inserting the sleying hook through the dent to the left of the one you just threaded. Hook them, and pull them through to the front of the reed.

4. Repeat this process eight more times. You have now threaded 20 threads, or one "inch" of warp. Recount the warp threads and the dents to make sure each dent has two, and only two, threads passing through it, and that you used 10 dents for those 20 threads. Find any errors now to save yourself a big headache later. Tie a loose slip knot in the yarn in front of the reed to show you have threaded one "inch".

5. Continue in this manner, moving to the left, until you reach the center of the reed. Do not count dents on the left side of the reed. Carry on sleying two warp threads per dent, stopping to tie a loose slip knot after each 20 threads, until the entire warp is threaded. Double check that you have threaded every strand of yarn and that no yarns are twisted or crossed between the heddles and the reed.

References

• "Learning to Weave"; Deborah Chandler; Interweave Press; 1995