Loom for Weaving Tartan?

[KyleAisteach]

So, I know effectively nothing about weaving, but a loved one who used to have access to a loom has recently been lamenting the loss of said access, and has also intimated that tartan might be fun to weave. Though I'm not actually considering such a purchase, such conversations prompted me to start looking into what it would cost to purchase a loom. The result is that my head started spinning from all the options out there, all rattled off as though one already knows that they mean.

So -- as a purely hypothetical question -- could someone out there explain to me what loom options one needs if one wants to make tartan on it? I get that tartan is a 2/2 twill made with many different colors of thread, but I have no idea if that affects heddles or spindles or funiculars or whatnot...

For clarity, said individual's love of weaving was on an 18th-century loom, so if we were considering a purchase we would not be looking for anything heavily mechanized, if that makes any difference.

Thanks!

[Steve Ashton]

Three other things you need to take into consideration are -

What width of fabric do you want to produce? Wider fabric will require a wider width loom. To weave single-width kilt fabric a 30" wide loom would be the absolute minimun with 36" being much better.
And what weight of fabric do you want to produce? The weight of fabric is a result of with diameter of the individual yarns and how many yarns per inch you weave at.
What length of fabric do you want to produce? For any given yardage of finished fabric you will need to load or warp a given length of yarns. This takes space as the warp is wound on the back beam and the woven fabric on the breast or front beam.

The minimum number of harnesses needed to produce a 2/2 Twill is 4. Some people use the word "shafts", and in some cases the two terms are interchangeable. It depends on the weaver and the type of loom.

Everything else is sort of up to your personal preference and your budget.

[KyleAisteach]

Thanks for the information! I imagine that the plan would be to weave 12-16 oz. fabric since that's what one would need for kilting, but I also imagine that lighter weights might be desirable, too.

But if I'm understanding what you say right, it looks like something like this would be about the minimum to purchase. (Which, of course, introduced me to yet another alien concept -- dent. I have no idea why a weaver would want to dent their fabric. )

[Steve Ashton]

Actually the weaving expert on X Marks is our own figheadair. This is Peter MacDonald who is also the Tartan historian to The Scottish Tartans Authority. You just don't get better credentials than that.

Another weaver is Truitt. He recently finished weaving some fabric in The Wildcat Tartan.

This is one of three of my wife's looms.



This is different from the loom you linked to. The main difference, other than size ,is how the individual yarns are raised and lowered to do the actual weaving of the fabric.

The loom you linked to is called a 4 shaft Jack Loom. When weaving, some yarns go upwards, and some stay at the same level. (You can see her jack loom in the left of this picture. It is a bit larger than the loom you linked to. My wife uses her jack loom for rag rugs.)



Her big loom is called an 8 shaft horizontal countermarch loom. When weaving, some yarns are moved upwards, while all the others are pulled downwards. This is more balanced and even than a jack loom. The larger size allows more yarns, and hense more woven fabric, to be rolled onto the loom. I don't know what the max amount of warp yarn capability the jack loom in your link will handle but I would guess 4 or 5 yards at a time would be about right. My wife's big loom can handle about 20 yards if you go by the available space.

And just so you know - The big loom is held together with wedges, pegs and mortise/tenon joints. There is not a single screw or bolt holding the thing together.

The big loom was free. Yes, there are a lot of looms out there available free or for very little money. Many people buy a loom with all the good intentions of weaving their own fabric. When in fact very few use their looms. Sadly many, if not most, of the looms purchased are relegated to attics or basements.

OH, and dent refers to the number of slots in the beater bar. The more slots, the higher the dent, the more yarns you can handle. As an example, modern commercial weaving of Tartan will have approx 38-42 ends per inch for 16oz weight Twill weave fabric. 12 dent is 12 slots per inch.

[KiltedKnome]

Here is Truitt's thread on the home weaving of the Scottish Wildcat tartan: http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...-fabric-88967/

His loom is an AVL.

[Truitt]

Most any loom with at least 4 harnesses should work fine for 2/2 twill. The HD loom you linked to is a nice loom, but the frame is a bit small and light. It would probably work well for lighter weight fabrics. But kilt-weight tartan requires some effort (hard beating) and a very sturdy loom. I would recommend a weighted beater.

Heddles are the thread holders and are lifted (and lowered on a countermarch) by the harnesses to open the shed. The Scottish Wildcat tartan I wove had a total of 1280 ends (threads) in the warp, so 1280 heddles were needed.

As Steve mentioned, the width of the loom is critical. It is best if the loom is slightly wider than the width of your fabric. I have a 40" loom, but due to draw-in and shrinkage 38" is the absolute maximum width I can expect to weave on it. 36" is a more realistic maximum, especially with wool. And it is always more difficult to weave if you fill the loom up to maximum capacity...it is much easier to weave if you leave an inch or two on each side.

I used a 20 dent (20 slots per inch) reed in my beater to weave my tartan which had a sett of 40 ends per inch, so I threaded it with 2 yarns per dent. I recently wove a rug with a warp sett of 6 ends per inch, so I put a 12 dent reed in my beater and threaded one yarn through every other dent.

My AVL loom is a dobby loom, which refers to the mechanism it uses to select and lift the harnesses. It is still a jack loom for all intents and purposes.

[KyleAisteach]

OK, I think I got it. Thanks, y'all!

[figheadair]

Sorry guys, late to this thread but I'm overseas at the moment and time is limited.

Most of what I would have said re the basics has already been covered. To reiterate, you will need a 4 shaft (UK term) loom witha good heavy beater. And of course 4 peddles ☺.

I weave with, and much prefer, a Countermarch loom as opposed to a Counterbalance one. I find the latter has a habit of becoming unbalanced which affects the shed. A Countermarch on the other hand cannot slip once tied.

[KyleAisteach]

Thanks! Looking at counterbalance vs. countermarch online, is it because a counterbalance loom becomes top-heavy when working with heavy fabrics?

[figheadair]

Thanks! Looking at counterbalance vs. countermarch online, is it because a counterbalance loom becomes top-heavy when working with heavy fabrics?

No, not in my experience. I find that the counter-balance becomes misaligned over the course of rhe loom operation and requires continual re-adjustment to keep the bars level and matched. That jjst can't happen with a counter-march loom and the shed is more uniform when weaving.