Easter Reedless Weaving

In our SAORI Study Group, our most recent prompt was “Reedless Weaving” – weaving without a reed.

In this type of weaving, the warp is still threaded through the heddles, but there is no reed. Because the reed is missing, there is nothing to keep the warp threads straight and in line. This means that the warp can be moved around while you are weaving. This allows you to change the sett of the warp – putting areas closer together and further apart and changing it as you go. So much fun!

This warp was made as a demo warp during a warping retreat, random colours were selected as we were winding it. A demo of making stripes gave us a purple stripe and a yellow stripe too. Wow – a bright warp for me.

So, without the reed, the heddles are clipped (I use quilting clips) on both sides of the opening to keep the space open. With no reed, hence no beater, you need to use either the shuttle or a comb to beat the weaving.

Opening and closing different areas.

You’ll notice that the edges end up very loopy, almost like a ruffle. This is because there is no reed to hold them in. If you ever want to get over worrying about edges/selvedges – just try reedless weaving!