The Big Book of Weaving [Hardcover]

This is one of the best books for instruction on how to set up and start weaving on counterbalance and countermarch looms, ideal for a beginner.

Amoung other things you can learn here how to: choose yarns, work out how much yarn you need for a project, read weaving drafts, finish the fabric when it is woven. Diagrams for loom set up are beautifully drawn and photographs of the fabrics show just how the finished item should look. It is a very colourful and attractive book.

The weaving projects will appeal to everyone interested in textiles, and there are a wide range of techniques to try and different items to make. Projects include towels, bags, throws, curtains, a blanket, cushions, bathroom mats, floor rugs. Amoung the techniques are lace weave, rep, rya, rosepath, using paper yarns, a weave with cords and a beaded weave.

This book will get any new weaver with at least 4 shafts off to a good start, will prove invaluable if you start with a countermarch or counterbalance loom, and experienced weavers looking for attractive projects will also find things of interest.

This book marvels me. Every single page is useful and inspiring. The authors don't waste your time, they share with the reader in the most direct and useful way their extensive knowledge of weaving. Easy and professionnal! A Wonderful book!

There are so many things wrong with this book that I would like to return it. Unfortunately I can't because there IS some useful information that I don't have anywhere else (a detailed description of using a warping mill, for example, or how to arrange a pattern symmetrically). And I even like most of the projects (the red twill rag rug on a black warp is genius in its simplicity).

Unfortunately the - admittedly valuable - information is presented in a disorganized, chaotic manner: The above-mentioned rag rug is on page 70. How to prepare the rags is on page 83 (and how to dye them is nowhere). There's a rya scarf on page 124 - and the instructions for the knot are on page 159. There are cross-references in the text, and I believe they are mostly (or even all) correct, but I still find the constant page-turning rather annoying.

The table of contents lists the projects in bold print, the general technical information is presented as sub-points of the projects. For example:

p. 78 Small reverse-treadled rag rug (the rug needs 6 shafts, meaning I can't do it).
p. 80: Finishing after the fabric has been cut from the loom (general, not limited to (rag) rugs)
p. 81 Washing and Fabric Care
p. 82 Choosing Materials
p. 84 Rag Rugs
p. 86 Choosing a weaving technique - the pattern (begins with: "After the material has been chosen, the next step is to choose the weaving pattern." No idea what the rag rugs do in between...).
I have wondered whether the manuscript pages fell to the floor and and something went wrong during re-assembly...

As an absolute beginner I wouldn't want to work with the book: The first project (which serves to explain warping, weaving - very briefly, and cutting off) has 720 warp ends for a width of 72 cm. Another example: "floating selvedges" are introduced and "explained" with the following sentence (and are omitted from the index): "... the outermost double warp ends float and are raised or lowered as appropriate with the shuttle for each weft shot." (p. 70 - in the rag rug project description) On page 94/95 there is a rather nice "cord striped bag". But I'll need help to understand how the cord striped effect is created - I don't understand the text (and I can't try it out because for the project with "4 shafts and 6 treadles" "two extra treadles" are needed).

The authors work in a weaving school and have a lot more tools and materials than a beginning weaver at home would normally have. To do the projects as written you need lots of different reeds (for weaving and rough-sleying - a raddle is not used), and the first 6-shaft project is on page 78 (supposedly the projects are organised by increasing difficulty, i. e. you are supposed to start at the beginning and work your way through the book to the end). Maximum is 12 shafts for double-weave.

The pale print has been mentioned before, and I agree - I need very good light to read the book. The string heddles are in most cases drawn wrongly, which is not a major problem but still irritates me. And then there are writing (or translating) errors such as this one: "These cushions are striped in the warp, which means that the stripes can be endlessly varied using the same warp."

I'm a beginning weaver and the book contains useful information for me (finding it is another problem...) Advanced weavers most problably don't need the book at all (unless they want to do the projects). I'm also a technical writer by training, and from that point of view reading the book is torture!