How to Warp a Loom Back to Front

Putting the warp on back to front makes the most sense of all warping methods.

The way you put your warp on your loom greatly affects the whole weaving process. If it goes on well and evenly, weaving is a pleasure; if the tension on the threads is uneven, however, you will be very frustrated, and the piece will not come out well. The best way to get the warp on with perfect even tension is the old way: back to front. This is the way Scandinavian weavers have always put their warps on. Theirs is an unbroken craft tradition, and it incorporates the efficiency that cottage industry hand weavers have always used.

Things You'll Need

• Warping board
• Loom
• Yarn
• Shed sticks
• Reed holder
• Sley hook
• Shoe strings

Instructions

1. Wind half of your warp at the warping board. Tie a figure-eight cross at one end. Tie off the warp at 1-yard intervals. Take it off the warping board and bring it to the loom. Now wind the other half the same way.

2. Lay the warp out on a table. Put the two shed sticks in either side of the cross. Tie the sticks together and take the tie in the cross out. Put the reed in a reed holder so it is held upright, perpendicular to the table. Take the sley hook and draw four ends of the warp through every fourth dent in the reed. (If you plan to put two ends in each dent in the final sleying, draw the four ends through every second dent.) Do this all the way across the warp until all the warp ends are presleyed. Put a shoe string through the loops as you pull them through the reed.

3. Lower the harnesses on the loom or push the heddles out of the way to either side. Put the reed, holding the warp, in the beater, with the shoe string-tied ends of the warp facing the back. Slip the back apron rod through all the warp loops. Remove the shoe string. The apron rod is attached to the back beam with cord. Turn the crank on the back beam until the apron rod comes up to the back beam.

4. Have a helper stand at the front of the loom holding the two halves of the warp tightly under tension. (If you don't have a helper, you can lay the warp chains out on the floor and weigh them down with bricks as you wind on.) Wind the warp onto the back beam, first putting sticks or paper under the first layer of warp threads in order to keep them from slipping unevenly between the cords. Wind four complete turns of the back beam; then put in another layer of sticks or paper. Continue winding until all the other end of the warp is almost to the beater.

5. Cut the warp in front of the beater. Remove the beater. Hang the harnesses in place. Now you can thread the loom to your desired threading draft. Put the beater with the reed in it back on the loom. Sley the reed by pulling one or two warp ends through every dent in the reed. Tie the front warp ends to the apron rods and tighten the tension on the warp. Now you are ready to weave.

Tips & Warnings

• Try to have the helper hold the "reins" of the warp as evenly as possible. Do not comb your fingers through the warp at this point. If there are some threads that seem slack, simply pull sharply on the whole warp bundle to straighten them out.

References

• "Warping Your Loom and Tying on New Warps"; Osterkamp; 2002