Posted by Angela Ferber on Saturday, 25 January 2003, at 3:27 p.m.:
In Reply to: Where do I start after the warping is done? posted by Austin Moran on Monday, 30 December 2002, at 10:42 a.m.:
Re: your question "When I complete my project and wish to remove it from the loom, how do I keep the ends from unraveling? The start of the project is NOT very tightly compressed (though I can tighten it up a bit by hand). Must the ends be stitched in some fashion to keep things together?"
Personally, I hemstitch the beginning and ends of most projects. You may be able to find directions online.
General directions: At the beginning of a woven piece, leave a piece of your weft(crosswise yarn) which is about one and half times the width of your woven piece unwoven and trailing, and after you've woven and inch or so, thread it this trailing thread through a yarn/darner/sailmaker's needle (the bent tip is useful for this operation) and going in three to six warp ends from the edge, insert the needle three or four weft threads in, from the beginning of the piece. Angle the needle toward the beginning of the piece, and bring the needle out at the beginning three to six warp ends further on. Draw the hemstiching yarn in firmly (leaving no tail at the selvedge), but not so tight as to distort the weaving in place. From that place, count up three weft threads (shots), and insert the needle. Repeat until you reach the opposite side of the weaving. At the end, after the last shot of weft (leaving again a piece of the weft about one and half times as wide as the piece you are weaving), hemstitch as you did at the beginning. If the warp is the same as the weft, you can "hide" the hemstitching thread in with the fringe. Otherwise, you can darn the remaining short piece into the body of the woven piece.
It may feel ackward at first, but after a few times, it becomes automatic, and it secures the warp ends and weft very nicely, and looks nice too.
Some weavers use a bead of glue such as Sobo on washable fabrics, to keep threads in place until you can machine stitch them after taking the piece from the loom. After the machine stitching is in place, the piece can be washed and the glue should disolve.