Front to Back Warping
Learning to Love Front to Back Warping
Front to back warping is a relatively new concept in weaving, developed and predominantly used in North America. I have found references to it as far back as 1939 and my theory is that it was initially developed at the same time as the jack loom, although I do not yet have clear proof of this.
In the original 1928 edition of The Shuttle-Craft Book of American Hand-Weaving (by Mary Meigs Atwater) there is no mention of this method. By the 1951 edition of the same book, she not only mentions it, but lists all of the many reasons that she is convinced make it a “bad method”.
Centralization of weaving knowledge and techniques is very new and until recently, warping techniques were “hyper-regional”. As a New England weaver, I found that the techniques used in Vermont were different from those in New Hampshire and different from those in Western Massachusetts. Weavers train weavers, historically local and in person. I believe that to get an accurate history of this technique, I will need to go into the archives of different weaving guilds, which has not yet happened.
I am surprised and disappointed by the disdain for front to back warping. I started weaving in 1986 and have exclusively used front to back in my 37 years of weaving. I was a production weaver for 20 years and frequently warped the looms three times in a week with 30 yard warps. I ran Vermont Weaving Supplies for 15 years and taught hundreds of weavers this technique. In that time, I have had many weavers tell me that they hate front to back warping (students as well as more experienced weavers), and whenever I hear this, my first question is, “what do you dislike about the technique”. What I have found is that the dislike is never about “front to back” and always about some step within the process that is less than ideal.
What is Front to Back Warping?
Front to Back Warping is when a weaver threads the reed, then the heddles, and then beams the warp. It is an innovation developed in the United States less than a hundred years ago.
What is Back to Front Warping?
Back to Front Warping is when a weaver winds the warp around the back beam, then threads the heddles, then the reed. It is a more traditional method, especially for European weavers.
What Front to Back Warping is Not
Front to Back Warping is not holding your cross in your fingers. It is not uneven warp threads that become a mess so that beaming is hard. It is not letting your lease sticks (if you use them) hang in mid-air. These things may or may not happen, but it is optional.
Some General Thoughts
I am obsessed with reading old weaving books, especially those that teach how to warp. In my exploration, I have found that all resources that teach Front to Back Warping either:
1-have a flaw in the method…there is something that just makes it harder than it needs to be, or…
2-do not explain the method well enough to be able to follow easily and get your loom warped with ease
I do believe that the teachers of this technique are doing the best that they can, and I do acknowledge that my method will not work for everyone. We each have things that feel better or worse in our hands, bodies, and brains. But I do think that my combination of being a production weaver and a teacher of beginning weaver has allowed me, over my 37 years of weaving, to work out many of the small details.
Some Details
1-The most important thing is to tie a very tight choke tie approximately 18” below your cross. This will keep the threads from slipping in relationship to each other while threading. I make these out of the ends of warps that are not stretchy. 8/4 cotton works well. The one in the picture below is from a warp I wove 20 years ago and I am still using the tie.
2-I choose to not tie-up my cross, but instead to place the lease sticks into the cross while it is still on the warping board or reel. This needs to be done after chaining most of the warp and it is important to have some safeguards in place. If you are comfortable enough to try this, it keeps the cross cleaner.
3- Both ends of the warp are cut while removing it from the warping board/reel. The bottom is cut right before chaining, the top is cut right after chaining, before removing from the board. This helps keep the ends at the same length and makes it easier to clean out the warp at the end of beaming. Using sharp scissors helps.
4- Lease sticks are taped loosely to the breast beam so that the threads can move easily under the sticks. Keep a bit of space between the sticks so you can see what the threads are doing in the middle.
5-Generally the warp looks messy after threading the reed. That is not something to worry about, in fact it’s better to just leave it as is. When you are threading your heddles, as you are handling each thread individually, give it a small tug until the tight choke tie stops it from moving (do not pull it further than this natural stopping point). This step can be easily incorporated into threading the heddles.
4-Do not tension the warp while turning the crank on the back beam. Instead, tension every few yards with the back brake engaged, while standing at the front of the loom. It is also fine to have a helper hold tension on the warp or to use a trapeze, but trying to hold the warp with one hand while turning the crank with the other will lead to uneven tension across your warp.