Introduction to hemstitching when weaving a luxury handwoven scarf on a floor loom
This blog shows the different steps to create a hemstitch during the weaving of a luxury pale pink silk and wool handwoven scarf. Hemstitching is a technique for securing the warp threads at each end of a weave creating a beautiful finish prior to twisting a fringe. This blog shows step by step images and details which can be used to do a hemstitch on a floor loom weave. The same method can be used on a rigid heddle weaving loom or even a small frame loom.
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.
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