Back to Basics Series – Day 7

Warping

The warp is the long, lengthwise threads in weaving, through which the crosswise ‘weft’ threads are interwoven to create the pattern. First, the Warper must fill a “bank” with bobbans of every yarn colour required to create one complete repeat of a pattern. The warper then winds the correct length of these yarns onto the beaming machine.

After every section is wound on, the warper will slide the bank of yarn bobbans sideways before beginning the next. Once the full width of the beamer has been wound on, the warper reverses the mechanism to wind the entire warp onto a metal beam which gets delivered to a weaver’s home.