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Broken Yarn
Fixing broken yarns in the middle of weaving.
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6 Replies
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Oh dear, a broken warp thread? It can be fixed! Do you have more of that yarn? You can add in a repair thread. If you have a pill bottle or something like that with a snap lid, you can measure out several yards of the yarn, wrap it around the outside of the pill bottle and fill the bottle with some coins or other weights, then snap the lid on holding the yarn under the lid with a yard or so of yarn that you can thread through the heddle, the reed and pin into the web at the front of the loom. The pill bottle can be hung off the back beam.
If the yarn is slippery and/or the epi is ‘open’, weave at least a couple of feet/half a meter before removing the pin (or leave the pin in to be removed later) and continue to weave. Once the web is removed from the loom, needle weave the broken end back into the cloth and trim the excess length.
You can either finish the warp using the repair thread, or when the original is long enough, you can then bring the original back into the cloth, pin, repair.
I usually try to bring the original back into the cloth as soon as I can so that I don’t need to keep an eye on the repair thread as the warp gets advanced – because you have to keep pulling more yarn off and repositioning the pill bottle, but some people don’t mind doing that so that they don’t have to do the repair later.
If I’m weaving something with cut lines (tea towels, place mats), I will wait until I get to a cut line and remove the repair thread and bring the original back into the weaving at a cut line. No repair later, necessary. :)
Does that answer your question?
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Thank you so much for your helpful response. I hope I will not have to use it very soon. Do you tie the new yarn on the old yarn? If so, what kind of a knot do you use?
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No, I just pull the original thread off and let it hang down from the warp beam, thread the repair end through the heddle, and then once the web is off the loom, needle weave the end in, clipping the excess yarn flush with the weaving.
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Thanks again. I think I understand and will practice with a practice warp. Sounds great.
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Sometimes, depending on what I’m weaving, I tie a knot, pull it forward, and just weave over the knot. If you trim the threads so that they’re not long, it almost doesn’t show. Again, depends on what I’m weaving. And how lazy I’m feeling at the time.????
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Thanks. I sent you a reply somewhere? LOL. Basically, what kind of a knot do you use?
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