I am having problems maintaining a straight line when weaving letters or designs using two triangle shaped looms (similar to maybe Kel's style of loom). My design or letters are heading downhill from start to finish, and I end up with approx. a 2mm drift in about 15mm of lenght. It may not sound like much, but it sure is noticeable. I currently anchor the two looms with masking tape and use 5-6oz of wrapping thread tension. Any suggestions on how to maintain a straight line would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Stan; Look at the thread below by John Dunaway titled "Straight Weaving" The other thing you need to keep in mind is how you align your letters. If you are using pcstitch always align to the center not the left margin (if you don't know how to do that call me, I'll walk you through it) otherwise your letters will appear to run off to the side. Your tension is ok. Are you aligning the jig center lines with the axis you are weaving on? When you put your threads on the rod is the design center thread aligned with the axis you are weaving on? All will cause you headaches if not set up properly in the first place. Call me if you need more help.

Jim




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2005 03:48PM by Jim Upton.

Stan this seems to be a common occurance. When I am weaving I am constantly re-aligning my wraps to stay on a straight line. The two ways I use are: 1. whenever I move thread from one jig to the other I check it for staightness(eyeball). When you are doing letters this is usually the best way because you have a chance between each letter to make a good check. 2. I have made a tool out of an eyeglass screwdriver to push thread. Your have to round it to suit your needs and of course work hard to make it as smoothe as possible.. When you push threads it works best to be very firm with your grip and push the thread in the area where it goes in or comes out of your wrap thread.

Sounds like your tension is ok though. Hope this helps if you dont understand what I am trying to say or have more questions please email me.
Doc Ski

Thanks for the imput guys. I keep thinking about this problem and I figure it has to be somewhere in the set up. If I am sure that the center axis is on the money with the center thread on both looms before I start the first letter/design, then it seems that the problem has to be when switching the threads from loom to loom, or when you make your wrap. The wrapping thread may be pulling the design threads in a downward direction, or the right loom is to far away from the curent letter. Maybe this distance should be shortened. Do either of you guys have an approx distance between looms? Lenght of design/word taken into consideration.

In any event, I don't seem to see these subtle changes as I go along, rather I see the off axis error when I complete the letter or when the name/design is more than half complete. By then, its decision time, rip it all out, or say the heck with it and go have a cold beer. Once again, I thank you for your help. I'll be in touch.

Stan - I usually have my left hand jig fairly close to where the weave is going, say maybe 1 to 2" from where I strt the weave and the foot of the right hand jig is usually 2 to 3" from where my pattern will stop. Hope that helps. You are right though threads will have a tendency to be pulled down if they go anywhere. Like I said I try to eyeball it every time I put a thread back and forth. Maybe that is why it takes SOOOOOO long. Dont give up.

Stan; I'll repeat one of the things I said above and that is, if you didn't align your letters on the pattern to the center thread (the center design thread is the center thread for each of the letters) and then align that to the axis you are weaving on the letters will appear to run down to the right. The rod taper really makes it worse.