Ask Madelyn: Ends per Dent vs. Ends per Heddle

Dear Madelyn,

One of the things that confuses me about project instructions is what happens with multiple warp ends in a single dent—say you have a 12-dent reed and you are told to put two ends in each dent.

Now what do you do when it comes to threading those ends through the heddles? Do you also put two ends in each heddle? Or do you put them in the heddles one at a time, but use two consecutive heddles on the same shaft? This question may sound very silly, but I just can’t find an answer.
—Catherine

Hi Catherine!

This is the kind of question new weavers often have because we simply forget about all the puzzling aspects of weaving as we gain experience—and as a result we never truly explain all the basics. Here’s another one: Marguerite Porter Davison says in her famous green book to use tabby with many drafts, without saying what “use tabby” means.

(And do you know what “green book” refers to? It’s another of those puzzles for new weavers, who may be tempted by the version with the orange cover, only to discover that one’s incomplete—yet another puzzle!)

The Scoop about Reeds and Heddles

Photo courtesy of Tom Knisely

The number of threads per dent in a reed (above) determines how many threads there are in an inch of warp width, and nothing else. You can achieve a particular density in a variety of ways, depending on the size of your reed: You can have 3 threads per dent in an 8-dent reed (24 ends per inch) or 2 per dent in a 12-dent reed (also 24 ends per inch). Whatever your ends per inch (or ends per dent), the way a reed is sleyed is independent of the heddles.

Photo by Tom Windeknecht / Adobestock

Heddles (above), which sit on shafts that are separate from the reed, are where individual warp ends are threaded so they can create patterns while you’re weaving. The warp ends are threaded in the heddles according to the threading in the draft. Those ends will virtually always travel through the heddles by themselves, no matter how many warp ends are grouped to go through each dent of the reed.

The only time you’d put two threads in the same heddle is if the warp end were meant to be twice as thick as the yarn you’re using. In that case, the instructions for the draft would call these threads “doubled” warp ends. And unless the threading draft has two adjacent symbols on the same shaft (which would be very unusual) you won’t thread any heddles side by side on the same shaft.

Summing Things Up

Warp ends may go through dents in the reed as groups, but each single warp end will go through its own heddle—and the order of the shafts those heddles sit on will follow what you see in the threading draft.

—Madelyn

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If you have a weaving question we would love to hear from you!

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Posted November 24, 2015; updated January 19, 2026.