One of the most frequently asked questions we get is: How do I care for the piece I just wove?  The answer varies based on the fiber content, so we will share based on each of our yarn types below. But first a few general tips and observations:

1. All of the yarn in our shop is dyed with high quality dyes that are meant to be as washfast as possible--we have few complaints about dyes bleeding with the first wash. However, sometimes dark colors do still bleed into light colors - dark blues and dark reds are the most likely culprits for this. We recommend doing an initial wash in cold water to avoid bleeding. Using a color catcher (looks like a dryer sheet, found in the laundry aisle of your grocery store) in the washer can also help arrest bleeding issues.

2. Most of the yarn in our shop is dyed with wash-fastness as a priority over light-fastness, as weavers typically make garments of home textiles that need to be able to stand up to repeated washing. This means that if you create a piece of art, you want to avoid hanging it in direct sunlight/using it as a curtain etc., unless some amount of fading is acceptable to you.

3. All fibers will change from their loom state once they have been washed, so what you see on the loom and how it feels off the loom will likely be very different—most often softer and lovelier after washing than before!

Our 100% cotton yarn is quite sturdy. This includes Mallo, Beam, 8/2 cotton, 8/4 cotton, and 8/8 cotton. 

You can machine wash and machine dry with regular laundry soap and it will hold up very well through repeated washings. Because of its thick, slubby nature, Mallo does shrink quite a bit in the first wash. This makes your finished piece even softer and more sumptuous, but make sure to plan for shrinkage when you are designing your piece. Please see our blog post on Sampling for Takeup and Shrinkage.

Our cotton/linen blends (including Duet and our Italian Cotton Linen) are also suitable for machine washing. You can wash them with regular laundry soap on delicate in cold water, or by hand. They can also go in the dryer, however the lifetime of a linen piece is preserved longer if it is line dried and then ironed. Which direction you choose is entirely up to you. Personally, I machine dry my pieces because I find it much simpler. Linen often comes out of the dryer a bit wrinkly, but a quick steam iron makes it soft and smooth. Repeated use and washing makes linen softer and softer over time.

Our 100% linen yarn can be machine or handwashed on a delicate setting, and choose whether you would like to machine dry or line dry. A quick dash under the iron really does bring out the softness and beauty of linen.

Wet Finishing Handwoven Alpaca

Some of the darker colors of our alpaca yarn can occasionally bleed, so I recommend making sure to do your first washing in cool water. Because alpaca is a more delicate, animal fiber, I recommend handwashing in the sink with some gentle soap suitable for wool garments. Let the alpaca piece soak in the soapy water for a while, and gently rinse it until the water runs clear.  Squeeze the excess water out, or roll the item in a very absorbent towel and press to remove the excess moisture—never twist or wring. Lay flat on a towel to dry. You can use a warm iron if you’d like. Our alpaca comes out so delightfully soft and scrumptious after it is wet finished. 

Wet Finishing Handwoven Wool

With wool, you need to be most careful to avoid felting. Felting happens with sudden changes in temperature (ie: plunging into hot water), changes in PH (which can happen with soap), and agitation. For our Suffolk wool, we recommend hand washing gently with a soap that is suitable for wool, gently rinsing, and laying flat to dry. Unless, of course, you’re trying to felt your piece! In that case, hot soapy water and lots of agitation will be the name of the game.

Wet Finishing Handwoven Silk

Our silk noil yarn shouldn't be machine washed. Handwash with a gentle soap, and lay flat to dry. A warm iron once it is dry will bring out the shine.

Your weaving looks like an hourglass...one side looks great, the other looks like it was woven by an over-tired two-year-old. Some picks look like they are choking the selvedge threads…others look like there’s a bubble-shaped force field between the war and the pick. 

Does any of this sound familiar? You are not alone, and despite your frustrations, this is a fixable problem that is not just about practice.  Understanding that the topic of neat selvedges can inspire fierce debate and strong opinions, we offer these techniques that have worked for this weaver as a way (not the only way) to smooth your selvedges.

This one can get a little controversial–some say never to touch the selvedge edge. When I started out weaving, I found it enormously helpful to hold the weft yarn against the selvedge thread while I created a 45-degree angle with my yarn from the fell line(serves the same purpose as the bubble). 

Then when I beat, the weft yarn was perfectly placed around the selvedge thread and the extra length of weft yarn created by the angle gave me a nice, smooth selvedge.

The weaving teacher who told me never to pinch the selvedge offered this alternative—develop a feel for the weft yarn. As soon as you feel the slightest pressure of it connecting with the selvedge is when you stop pulling (note the angle of the weft – you still want extra length to accommodate take-up). 

I do have to admit, this has become my preferred habit – it is also probably the most subtle and requires the most practice. If you’ve ridden horses and understand the sensation of feeling the horse’s mouth, through the bit and the reins, in your hands, this will be a familiar concept. 

So try one, or all of these, and see how they work for you—and practice!

In many of our multi-shaft weaving patterns, you will see that they call for using a floating selvedge. Floating selvedges are an easy way to have more even selvedges with twills or other patterns. What is a floating selvedge? When should you use a floating selvedge? How do you make a floating selvedge? All of the answers are below! This post is for multi-shaft floor and table loom weavers, and is not applicable to rigid heddle weaving. 

The selvedges are the left and right edges on the sides of your piece as you are weaving it on the loom. A floating selvedge is an extra warp thread on both the left and right side of your weaving, that is threaded through the reed but not through a heddle. It is called floating because every time you open your shed, these will appear to be in the middle, about halfway between the threads that are lowered and the threads that are raised.

When you are weaving a twill pattern, or other pattern that does not naturally capture the selvedge with every pick back and forth, using a floating selvedge will give you much neater edges. You do not need to use a floating selvedge with tabby weave, as the pattern naturally captures the selvedge with each pick. Using a floating selvedge with twills is easier and faster than having to hand manipulate the last thread each time you pass the shuttle through the warp.

When winding your warp, wind two extra warp threads. When winding on, don’t thread these through the heddles, just sley them through the reed on each side. When you are weaving, put the shuttle over the floating selvedge as you enter the shed, and under the floating selvedge as you exit it. 

After a few passes, it will feel like second nature and you should get the rhythm of it.  Some people like to add a bit of extra weight to their floating selvedges, to keep them tight. You can do this by adding a thread weight or other DIY way to add some tension to a specific thread on the back of the loom. 

Happy weaving!

It’s happened to all of us—we warp up a gorgeous yarn, so excited to weave a beautiful project for ourselves or someone else, only to discover once finished it’s not at all the size we anticipated.  While few people love sampling (don’t we all just want to get right to the weaving?), it is an incredibly helpful tool that can save you a tremendous amount of time, money and heartache. 

Knowing the accurate shrinkage of your yarn for the project you want to weave before you start will give you a far better result than just guessing – or as I call it, Pick and Pray.  

Here is a quick lesson in how calculate you take-up and shrinkage. I always weave a 10x10” sample because it yields a large enough size to give me a good sense of the hand of the fabric, and it makes the math easier!