Weaving Tutorial: how to assemble the warp for a circular loom

Learn with Ancestral basic tips to keep in mind before starting to weave on a circular loom

Weaving with a round base opens a world of possibilities to think about and compose tapestries and unique textile pieces, but to start it is important to create a solid base: the warp, a set of longitudinal threads placed under tension on a loom, will be the foundation on which to work.

In this tutorial, Erika Pineda, textile artist and founder of Ancestral (@ancestral_co), a brand dedicated to the production of hand-woven decorative pieces, teaches us how to assemble a warp in two different ways: with and without a central tie. You can see the video here.

How to cast a warp in 2 different ways

1. Materials

To assemble the warp, we will need:

2. Prepare the thread necessary for your warp

To assemble a warp with a central tie, we will first determine the amount of thread we will need. We will start by measuring the perimeter of the hoop that we are going to use; It is recommended to place a warp every 3 cm of the perimeter of the hoop, so, after measuring it, we will divide the result by 3 to obtain the number of passes that the warp will need.

Once the number is determined, we will calculate the amount of thread necessary by rolling it diametrically through the hoop as many times as our calculation indicates. Once we have turned the hoop that many times, we will remove the thread and wrap it around the stick that we have prepared so that it does not get tangled.

If, on the other hand, we want to assemble a warp without a central mooring, we will use two hoops of different sizes, instead of just one, placing the smallest one inside the largest. We will measure the perimeter of the largest one, repeating the process of dividing the result by 3, and we will estimate the amount of thread we will need in the same way.

However, we will take into account that, as the warp threads will pass through the small arc and will not need to cross the entire arc, we will need less thread than for a warp with a central tie. When we're done, we'll wrap the thread around our stick.

3. The laying of threads begins

The next step will be to tie the end of the thread to the hoop and, once we have secured it, cross it diametrically to the opposite end, passing it underneath. Next, we will take the thread again to the other end, but we will place it diagonally 3 cm from the original point, and we will repeat the process in the opposite direction when we cross the ring with the thread again. We will repeat the process until our warp has covered the entire perimeter of the circumference.

For the warp without central tie, we will begin by fixing the small arc in the center of the large arc, tying two threads that connect them by drawing a straight diametric line. Once the central arch is fixed so that it does not move, we will repeat the process that we used for the central mooring warp but passing each thread through the small arch, instead of through the opposite end of the large arch.

4. Set the warp

When we have completed the perimeter of the circumference of the central mooring warp, we will pass the stick with the remaining thread through the center of the warp. After making a few passes, we will tie it to the loose end of the thread from the initial knot to fix the warp. To finish, we will carefully cut the excess thread.

To fix the warp without central tie, when we have finished covering the entire perimeter of the circumference, we will cut one of the threads that we used to fix the small arch in the center and we will tie one of the ends to the thread that is still on the stick.

The only thing left is to cut the excess thread and, if necessary, better distribute the warp around the perimeter so that each thread is at the same distance from the others.

Once you have your warp assembled and have made the first lay of threads, you can start designing your textile pieces on the base you have built.

If you liked this tutorial, remember that you can learn with Ancestral to weave to create contemporary decorative pieces without prior knowledge with their online course 'Circular loom weaving'.

You may be interested:

- 'Macramé: wrapped weaving techniques', a Pluumbago course.
- 'Introduction to textile weaving', a TRAMARTE course.
- 'Introduction to tapestry', a Poetryarn course.
- 'Introduction to latch hooking and locker hooking', a course by Mariana Baertl.