Ask Madelyn: Tying on a Warp

Dear Madelyn,

I have woven two panels for a tablecloth (about 32" wide) and am ready to cut them from the loom. I have loved weaving them so much that I want to tie on a new warp to the one I used for the panels and weave another cloth. My sett is 48 epi (4/dent in a 12-dent reed). I'm worried that if I just tie one thread to each one of the four threads hanging from each dent without taking them in their exact order, they will be twisted when I start trying to wind the warp on the warp beam. Should I make a cross in the threads hanging from the reed and put lease sticks in? I hope you get what I mean!
—Janet

Hi Janet!
I certainly do get what you mean since I have just finished tying onto twelve warps (how could they all end at the same time!) at my school in preparation for my next classes. I do have a favorite way to do this. After the final cloth has been woven on the warp that is ending, I weave about an inch in plain weave or whatever interlacement I can make that is closest to plain weave so that the threads are placed in their exact order in the cloth. Then, I cut off the final cloth, leaving the inch of fabric I just wove dangling from the reed.

I hold the cross of the new warp in my hand and take each thread from it in turn as I also pull each tread in turn from the dangling strip of fabric and tie them together in an overhand knot. This way, I know the threads are all in their exact order. If you aren't comfortable holding the cross in your hand, you can put lease sticks in it; I just find it faster if I am holding the cross.

When the threads pass through the heddles in their exact order on the way to the beam, the beaming process is very, very smooth and I am very, very happy. (I do have to jiggle the knots through the reed and then through the heddles before the smooth and lovely part starts.

—Madelyn