The Loom

The first job I needed to do before I could begin to make a replica of the hood was to make a simple warp weighted loom. The simplest method of loom construction is to select two forked trees for the main uprights approx 11 cm diameter and 180 cm long. Three straight branches are also required one to slot between the two forked trees and the other two to be lashed approx 40 cm from the base to stabilize the loom. This type of loom can be made in a morning and warping the loom can proceed in the afternoon. A series of 3 cm holes are then required half way down the forked uprights to peg in the forks to lift some of the sheds. This was done with the aid of a modern electric drill but I have in the past drilled these holes with primitive push drills the latter takes about 15 minutes per hole. Two small forked branches 3 cm thick and 20 cm long are needed to peg into the holes in the uprights. Finally three straight sticks of hazel are required, two for the sheds and the other stick to hang from the top of the loom. The latter will be bound tightly with string to separate the warp threads and keep them apart during the weaving process. Now the loom structure is complete apart from the manufacture of the round clay weights to hold the warp threads taut. Taking my measurements from Henshall’s report in the 1950’s the woven fabric was approximately 49 cm x 45 cm and was cut from a larger piece of cloth as there were no selvages evident. This led Henshall to suggest that ‘although no selvedge remains there is no doubt which set of threads is the warp, for a gore occurs at A on the plan, and irregularity which can only be formed in the weft.’ (Henshall 1951, 10). This supposition although valid when studying the garment led me down a path which took at least a month of frustrated efforts to find it was inaccurate, I will describe this in detail later in this paper. My measurements of the hood revealed that 10 warp threads per cm were needed so as to give myself a little cloth on each side I would need 540 0.5 mm single z spun threads to warp the loom. Shetland wool is very easy to spin this fine, however when required for a single spun warp thread it needs to be very tightly spun in order to take the wear of the sheds and the pull of the weights.

My previous experience when using a warp weighted looms was not with such fine warp threads. This led on to an interesting conclusion, which will undoubtedly improve my weaving proficiency in the future. As a rule one ties bundles of the warp threads through the holes in the loom weights. Due to the fineness of this yarn and amount of warp threads required, as the warp threads were tied through the weights they could not fall freely and tended to rest upon each other thereby not applying the necessary tautness needed for the weaving process. The only method that would keep the weight distributed evenly was to push a stick through the holes in the weights and tie the warp threads to the stick either side of the weights. This was an exceedingly superior way to warp a loom as when extra weight is needed during the weaving process as is often the case, weights can easily be added to the sticks ( illus 2 ).