Reviving my yarn blog soon...

 Testing 1, 2, 3.

Sewing & Quilting

Twenty-five years ago my Mom gave me a nice Kenmore sewing machine. My 19 year-old self was like, “Uh, ok, gee, thanks.” Still I tinkered with it occasionally along with my daughter as she was growing up. We made a dozen or so projects over the years - pillows, costumes, and crooked clothes. Since I kept the machine meticulously cleaned and serviced (I learned to do it myself) it still purrs like it’s brand new.

Recently I became obsessed the desire to sew something substantial. I dove into all sorts of online tutorials, websites, and library books, which overwhelmed me with thousands of ideas for projects and designs. What do I make? I finally settled on being thrifty by making a simple block quilt using fabric I already have.

Long overdue, I cleaned and reorganized our laundry/utility room to create a sewing space. The sturdy built-in desk has always been a mess, covered in crafts, tools, laundry, or some type of home-repair project. With all the drawers, shelves, and cabinets, it’s the perfect little sewing nook. If we do need the space, I can easily stash away everything, even the machine, into the cabinets.



Though a denim quilt might be too ambitious for a beginner’s project, I set my sights on a mass of old blue jeans in the donation & rag stash (the legs from daughter’s cut-offs). Because of our jeans sizes, the blocks can’t be wider than 9-inches, so I plan on cutting them up into 8.5” & 4.5” squares. I should have enough to make at least a lap blanket. To test my machine to sew multiple layers of denim, I cut out a few small rectangles and made a 3” x 4” sampler quilt. Even with a heavy needle, she whined when sewing over the seams allowances, so I had to slow down, sometimes hand-crank, at those intersections.



The old Kenmore is like an heirloom to me, and I don’t want to break her, so I found a sweet holiday deal on a Singer 4432 heavy duty machine. He will arrive sometime next week. I’ve already personified them together as a couple. Ms. Kenmore will do all the dainty work and Mr. Singer will handle the heavy lifting. Surely I’m not the only sewer with more than one. I forsee a serger and maybe an embroidery machine someday when I get good enough to justify the investments.



Even if I don’t go any further, simple sewing is very relaxing and enjoyable to me. I grew up watching the moms, grandmas, and great-grandmas sew all kinds of stuff. I feel the need to keep the tradition alive, and pass it down to my daughter and future grandkids someday.

Cricket Rigid Heddle Loom for Card & Tablet Weaving

I hacked up my Cricket rigid heddle loom and its stand to create a continuous, advancing, circular warp. The warp is wrapped around the entire loom and the bottom bar of the stand to make approximately a 2 meter warp. The actual length depends on the angle of the loom in the stand.

Because the bottom bar of the stand is curved, the width of the warp is limited to the width of the concave, but with a 15” Cricket there’s more than enough room for a 4” wide warp. It may not be the perfect way to create a warp for tablet weaving, but it does work!

I’m not going into detail about threading the cards and the patterns, as there’s already lots of information available. Here I simply show an alternative way to warp.

(1)

(1) Position the loom at the desired angle, and then raise the front a couple inches higher (it’ll be lowered again after warping). Tighten the knobs securely, tighter than for RH weaving, because tension pulls down on the front of the loom. Remove both apron bars but leave the cords and its loops. Turn the back beam slightly so the cord-attachment spots are to the beam is facing front, to create a smooth beam in the back. The cords get in the way of warping, so tape or tie the cords to the center bar of the loom.

(2)

(2) It’s easiest to warp the loom with the entire unit laid on its side (not shown) and place soft objects at each corner to prevent wobbling. Warp the loom with some tension. Here I've threaded each card separately and attached the yarn to the front beam. Drop the card in the weaving zone, then take the warp around the back beams, under the stand’s middle bar, and back up to the front beam, and then tie the warp ends together.

It may be possible to do a continuous warp, dropping cards one-by-one in the weaving area, but I've not tried this yet.

(3)

(3) Set the loom upright and create the tension-adjuster: Free the left & right front apron cords, hold both apron bars together in back of the loom, behind and perpendicular to the warp, and then attach the left and right apron cords around both apron bars together. Now lower the front of the loom back to the desired angle, which loosens the warp, and tighten the stand knobs securely. To increase or loosen tension simply use the cloth beam gear locks as for rigid heddle weaving, which will pull the apron bar to tension the warp.

(4)

(4) Use the normal weaving area, with cards instead of a heddle. Advance the warp by first loosening the tension, and then tightening again for weaving. Take care if using hard spacers that may scratch the beams.

(5)

(5) Excessive twist can be pushed past the back beams. If those ends aren’t untwisted in the weaving pattern, untie those card ends, unwind, and retie.

(6)

(6) Alternatively, tie the ends of each twisting card to a swivel hook clip. Use caution when advancing the warp. Cut toilet or paper towel rolls lengthwise and wrap around the beams to prevent scratches.

When all the warp is woven, remove the band by either untying or cutting at the join.  I like to weave as much as I can cram as well as leave a lot of fringe, so I carefully untie.

I’m curious if this will work on other rigid heddle looms? I’m also cross-posting this to the Tablet Weaving and The Cricket Club groups on Ravelry to see what others think and hopefully encourage more people to try tablet weaving - it’s fun!