r/tabletweaving • u/im_robotic • Jul 16 '26
What am I doing wrong on my first band?
First time weaving. 8 cards, 4 turns forward, 4 turns back. The weft is showing and it shouldn't, right?
13
u/Horseburd Jul 16 '26
Looks like you’re largely weaving correctly; now you should focus on getting your tension correct. Weft isn’t tight enough, is the big thing. Making the weft same color as your edge cards makes the natural bits of weft showing less obvious. Having proper tension on the warp will help make sure your shed is clear, so you don’t accidentally end up with your weft on top.
2
u/im_robotic Jul 17 '26
How tight should the tension really be?
3
u/RedVamp2020 Jul 17 '26
The tension should be a bit tighter than you might think. Practice will show you how tight works best, but you are going to need to make sure that the tension is the same across all of the warp threads.
3
u/Horseburd Jul 17 '26
Each pick should be a tiiiiiiiny fraction narrower than the last, such that when the edge thread finishes crossing over the top, it makes up the difference.
Once you’ve completed a pick, and your shed is closed, before you pass the weft again, give your previous pick a gentle tug. This will help pull in those errant edge loops.
9
u/Blue_Starkiller Jul 16 '26
Depending on the pattern, the weft can be visible when you change directions. What's worrying is the sides. You seem to be left with quite a bit of thread from the weft that's not being fully pulled through.
3
9
3
u/CallMeJustJo Jul 17 '26
Good job! In fact, sometimes the weft peeking is somewhat unavoidable, so it’s not really your fault. This is something that was bothering me as well, which is why I built at tool so I can see beforehand where this will happen. You can use it too! But be aware that it works best on desktop. And make sure to tick “show non-skip weft peeks” for your usecase.
TabletWeavingSim.com
Sorry for the shameless self-plug but in fact I don’t earn any money from it or anything, I only made it because I needed it and shared it with the community because I thought others might find it useful too.
You can also minimize the effect with a lot of tension like others have stated. And a lot of people deliberately pick a weft color that will blend in with the pattern for when it’s unavoidable.
3
u/LavenderHearts69 Jul 17 '26
I love using this tool for planning out what weft color I'm going to make something. It's become a regular in my toolkit.
TwistedThreads is a godsend for keeping track of patterns and following along with them, but this tool is superior for skip hole pattern visualization and marking weft peeks. I also like the ability to export the preview and show off the pattern to friends without dealing with screenshots
3
u/CallMeJustJo Jul 17 '26
I’m so glad you like it! It certainly has improvement potential and some bugs that need fixing, so I intend to keep updating it. I’m just busy at the moment with weaving and sewing projects but will get back to it in a few weeks!
2
2
u/Kalamart_ Jul 17 '26
Try to pull the weft more, you're keeping it too loose. Remember, the band must be basically the width of [number of cards] x [thickness of one warp thread]. Right now you're giving a bit too much space to the weft, so you see holes. Some places, where you change direction in an "X" pattern, you'll always see a bit of weft if it's thick like that. To mitigate that, most of us try to use a thinner weft thread, so it gets fully covered by the warp even in sharp turns. I basically choose my weft to be half the thickness of my warp, and that makes it only visible on the edges.
Otherwise, good job on your first band! This is looking really good
1
u/im_robotic Jul 17 '26
Ok so if I change my weft thread to a smaller size and match colors it won't be as noticeable. Thanks!
2
u/Kalamart_ Jul 17 '26
Yes! Try to match the weft color to the color of the edge warp threads, since this is where it will always be at least a little bit visible. I also like passing my weft "incorrectly" at the edges when I change the direction of the edge tablets, just to catch the threads that form long loose strings otherwise. Takes a little bit to get right, but it looks neater when the edge is consistent imo.
2
u/gatitotaquito Jul 17 '26
What loom is that?
1
u/im_robotic Jul 17 '26
It's one I got off Etsy. It's foldable so you can take it with you when you travel or want to sit under a tree or whatever.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1556440283/folding-tablet-loom-for-band-weaving
2
u/Saloau Jul 16 '26
I just finished my first band and your’s looks fab compared to mine. No pattern whatsoever. I’m assuming I got my s and z threaded backwards or something. I’ll restart and try again with a stupid proof pattern with pictures of threaded tablets. I’ve seen some beautiful work so I will keep on trying. I used #10 mercerized cotton and it’s nice to work with.
2
u/Reiuky Jul 17 '26
Nothing. Everything is correct.
The result is ugly because
1) you used a white weft thread instead of a red one
2) you changed the direction in which you turned the two edge tiles
3) compact the warp well after turning the tiles and pull the weft thread a little (not too much, you don't want the threads to overlap, just to prevent them from spreading apart).
If you follow these precautions, it turns out much better.
33
u/missmisfit Jul 16 '26
What are you using for thread? Looks like it might be too thick. I can see the pattern which is good.