...and a new warp is born :)

The second warp is on the loom. I have to admit that I have been very lazy about pics this time around and will have to fix that :)
The header band has a warp of 57" - Yep...I went ahead and went for width. I think it was because I was reading on a website about the limitations of fabric width and how that effected how they made their clothes in early period. Umm. Yeah right!
So I am sure that I will have some drawing in...I am guessing that the finished product may be about 54 across...more than enough :)
I measured on the warping board and I should also have about 4 yards in length...I hope. We'll see how that goes.
I have decided to use water bottles for weights this time around for a couple of reasons:
1-They are a uniform weight
2-They are cheap
3-I don't have to make them
4-I need quite a few of them since this warp is wider and 700 threads
I sewed the warp to the beam last night and then separated the sheds for tabby. I just need to weight the threads and tie 350 heddles and I should be up and running!!

Total hours = 15 or so

Moving along....

I finished the last few inches on the piece and cut it off the loom. I was very surprised to see that I had no drawing in (meaning the beginning and the end were almost exactly the same size). I had a spot in the middle where it got a little wider, but only by an inch or so. I will post pics soon. I am going to wet finish it in the bath tub with some soap and water and then let it air dry. I will have it all in one piece at Oldenfeld's Yule if anyone wants to see it before I cut it up and make things with it :)
As far as the next piece. I have around 480 threads woven into the header band and I'm going to keep going for a bit more. We'll see how many threads I end up with since using the header band keeps the threads much farther spaced apart then when I tied them on the beam and then chained the spacer chain. The fabric that produced is a little warp heavy. I think that the header band will make it so my fabric is a more even tabby, which is of course the goal :) I'll also post pics of that process soon.
The hubby is making a new header beam for the loom because after the test run it was determined that something thicker was needed so that it didn't bend under the weight of all the weaving and weights. I hope to have the loom re-warped before Wednesday of next week.