Thick and Thin in the Weft

Question: How do I make different weft thicknesses all come out the same width on the final product if the warp is all the same thickness? Fulling helps it but it still looks odd.

This is always a tricky situation. Thick wefts will always push your warp out and thin wefts will always pull your warp in. So you can do 2 things. One… you can build a pattern into the design where you use those tendencies as a design element when creating your fabric.

The second thing you could do is to purposefully draw in more when you are using your thick yarn. Draw it into the width of your fine weft area. Or when you throw a pick of your fine weft you need to leave that yarn at a higher angle so that more weft can get into the shed, this will control the draw-in on the fine weft. It all comes down to selvedge control, but knowing that thick wefts and thin wefts will draw in differently, you can use it as a design feature.

One more thing………if you want, you could wind several ends of the fine to make a thicker weft – that would reduce the problem, but if you are after the thick/thin effect, that won’t work.

For more information and a video – head to School of Weaving Season 2 Episode 8 – Playing at the Loom and watch as Jane plays with thick and thin yarn and Bouclé! Endless possibilities …….

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