Ask Madelyn: Sleying a Floating Selvedge

Hi Madelyn!

Most of the instructions for projects in Handwoven show whether or not you should use a floating selvedge. But they don't say how to sley the floating selvedges. Should they be in the same dent as the next thread if the sleying order is 2/dent? Always in the same dent with the last thread no matter what the sleying order? Should they ever be in a dent by themselves?

—Anne

Hi Anne!

It's coincidental you should ask this question because yesterday I might have said: it doesn't make very much difference. My practice has usually been to put them in dents by themselves, but I didn't necessarily have a reason for doing that. But last night I was weaving a sample on a loom in the Weavers' School classroom, and I kept having to flick the edge threads to keep the floating selvedge from clinging to the thread next to it, causing the weft to miss it. I resleyed the floating selvedge in a dent by itself, and the problem disappeared. I will hereafter say that it is good for the floating selvedge to be in a dent by itself (and I can't see any reason NOT to put it there). This may add a dent or two to the overall weaving width if weaving width is determined by a specified number of threads per dent.

—Madelyn