While I was weaving for my jacket yardage, I had many many warp failures with my handspun singles. It had gotten to the point where I could put a repair thread on and keep going within a few minutes. How did I do it? Well, Laura Fry has written great blog post on this method.
I have a few modifications to her method as described. I used an end of Zephyr about a yard long to bridge the gap. I pin in on the fabric in the front, just as Laura describes. However, I use a pair of hemostats to clip the back end to the surrounding warp threads. This ensures that your repair thread maintains the same tension as the rest of the warp. I also clip the broken warp thread to this bundle so I don’t lose it.
Once I’ve woven far enough past the break, I bring in the original handspun back through the heddles, pin it in place and away I go. Because my handspun yarn was placed randomly in the warp, and was mostly black with just patches of color, the repairs are indistinguishable once the fix is in.
Where do you find hemostats? Would you believe beading supply shops?
Sharolene
A good place to get cheap hemostats is Fire Mountain Gems. If you get 15 at a time, you can get them for about $1.50 each. The more you buy, the cheaper items are. This is a great tutorial Ann. Thanks for sharing.