SLEYING THE REED: MANAGING THE WARP ENDS

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

In the photo you can see on the far left a group of white warp ends that need to be separated into groups to be pulled through the reed.

Just to the right of that and below the beater, the groups of threaded warp ends held together by slip knots are visible.

In the center are four groups of warp ends, 2 ends in each group, ready to be sleyed.

To the right are the threaded warp ends that have already been sleyed. These too are secured by slip knots.

I used to sley the reed by holding the yarns between the fingers of my left hand and then using the reed hook in my right hand to pull the yarns from my left hand through the reed. If I were sleying 2 ends per dent, I would have 4 groups of 2 ends each, and each of the 4 groups would be in the four openings between my fingers (and thumb).

When I was working with finer threads, however, I learned that laying the ends over the beater gave me an easy visual double-check on the number of ends I had. This was especially important when I was sleying 3 or 4 ends in a dent. This worked so well for me that this is now the process I always use.

Related Post:
Sleying the Reed
Sleying the Reed (using an autodenter)

"Sleying the Reed: Managing the Warp Ends" was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on November 19, 2008. © 2008 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina