Choosing a Reed for your Rigid Heddle Loom

Each rigid heddle loom comes with one reed. The Cricket comes with an 8 dent reed. If you get a Flip loom, you choose your reed.

Some background:

The term “ends per inch” in weaving refers to how many threads are in every inch of your warp. If you are working with finer threads, there will be more ends per inch (epi). If you are working with heavier threads, you will want fewer epi. If you want a fabric with a lot of drape, like a scarf or shawl, you achieve this by using a lower epi. To achieve a denser fabric, one with less drape, such as table linens you should use a higher epi (more threads packed into every inch of your fabric).

The number of ends per inch will need to correlate with the number of slots and holes in every inch of the rigid heddle reed (also referred to as dents). Most often, rigid heddle weavers will use 8, 10, and 12 dent reeds. If you have a loom that can accommodate two reeds, by using them together, you can achieve twice the number of ends per inch (for instance, with two 12 dent reeds, you can achieve 24 ends per inch).

What do you want to make?

For those who are used to working with knitting yarns, fingering weight works well at 12 epi, sport weight at 10 epi, and worsted weight at 8 epi. If you want to work with all three, it would be best to have all three sizes of reeds.

For the Brassard 8/2 cotton, you can double up your threads (two per slot and two per hole) and use a 12 dent reed. If you want a finer fabric and would prefer to not double up your threads, I suggest using two 10 dent reeds, which will give you 20 epi.

Where to start?

This will depend somewhat on your budget and where you want to begin. You can start with one reed and get more as you grow as a weaver. Expect that there will come a time when you will be excited to start a project and realize that you can’t make it until you order the correct reed.

Start with what you think you most want to work with at the beginning. A worsted weight yarn weaves up quickly and makes a fairly heavy scarf. If you know you mostly want to weave towels, start with a 12 dent reed and then when your budget and skills are ready, invest in two 10 dent reeds. If you already have a stash of yarn, consider what kinds you want to work with the most and start there.

Or browse through the Malabrigo pages and order the reed that matches the yarns that excite you.

If you are still unsure, contact me and I will help you make a decision that feels right.