8 steps to creating a beautiful hemstitch. Finishing techniques for a luxury handwoven scarf when weaving on the floor loom

Introduction to hemstitching when weaving a luxury handwoven scarf on a floor loom

Hemstitching is a technique for securing the warp threads at each end of a weave creating a beautiful finish prior to twisting a fringe. Hemstitching is a simple, elegant technique that not only secures your fabric but adds a decorative detail to each end of a woven scarf. This blog shows the different steps to create a hemstitch during the weaving of a luxury pale pink silk and wool handwoven scarf. Whilst the images show the hemstitching steps on a floor loom the same method can be used on a rigid heddle weaving loom or even a small frame loom.

Why do a Hemstitch?

Hemstitching serves both a functional and aesthetic purpose. It prevents the unravelling at the beginning and end of your weaving. It defines a clean edge which is especially nice if you are planning on leaving a fringe and finally it adds a professional polish finish to your handmade item.

When to Hemstitch

You should hemstitch after weaving a few rows doing it again at the very end of the weave before the weave is cut off from the loom. It is much easier to hemstitch when the weave is on the loom as the tensioning in the warp threads make the process easier.

Steps to Hemstitching

Step 1 Leave a tail when starting to weave

In this image you can see that around 30 rows/picks have been woven. You can see a length of thread has been left unwoven as a tail. This tail is what will be used to sew the hemstitch. You will need to have a tail about 3 times the width of the weave.

Step 2

In this image you can see that I have already done a few hemstitches to the right of the needle. In this step the needle is taken to the left of the previous hemstitch. The needle is taken down in between the warp threads and brought back up, in this case 6 warp threads across and two weft threads up into the weave. In this instance I decided to hemstitch groups of 6 warp threads but you can choose how many warp threads you wish to group together. Obviously, the more warp threads that are grouped together the thicker the fringe threads if you twist them together.

Step 3

The needle is brought up through the weave to sit on top of the woven fabric.

Step 4

The needle is brought back to where it first started with the thread laid down as shown to form a loop. The needle is about to go back down between the warp threads.

Step 5

The needle is taken down through the warp threads and brought up 6 warp threads along but this time not into the body of the fabric but just underneath and across the warp threads. The needle is bought up into the loop that was laid down in Step 4,

Step 6

The needle is bought right up through the loop as shown.

Step 7

Pull the needle and thread which will start to tighten the hemstitch around the 6 warp threads.

Step 8

Pull the thread tight to finish the hemstitch

The image below shows the completed hemstitch. The rest of the scarf is then woven with the same hemstitching process being undertaken at the other end of the scarf.

The finished luxury handwoven scarf

This scarf was woven and taken off the loom. The hemstitching stops the weave from unravelling and makes a beautiful edge to the scarf. With this scarf the fringes were twisted to give an elegant look. Images of the final scarf are shown below.

If you are looking for a unique luxury handwoven scarf, shawl or snood including the scarf detailed in this blog then do visit my website shop by clicking here.

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