Ask Madelyn: Fixing Missed Stitches

Hi Madelyn

I was wondering if there is a way to fix a missed stitch in weaving? My shed didn’t open far enough and a couple of warp threads didn’t catch properly. I think I heard somewhere that these can be fixed, can you help me?

—Nancy

Hi Nancy!

There isn't really "A" way, but you can definitely fix most weaving errors. It's best to do this before washing the piece so that the yarn in the correction fulls with the yarns in the piece. What I usually do is thread a tapestry needle with the warp or weft yarn that made the error. Then I take the needle through the path that the original yarn was making at some distance from the error (this depends on the size of the yarns and the setts, but maybe an average of a half inch or so). Then, I take the needle through the path the original yarn should have taken, and then continue past the error for an average of a half inch or so. Then, I carefully cut away the original thread so that it overlaps the added thread on both sides of the error. Sometimes I have rewoven entire picks, all the way across the width of the entire warp, and sometimes it is very difficult to determine the path the weft should have taken. But it can be done!

—Madelyn