My Blog – Dakota Designs – Gourmet Fiber Arts

Why not just get online? I’ve done both. Since Covid, I have to say that online offerings are more varied, better produced and informative. JST School of Weaving, School of Sweet Georgia (SOS) and Vavstuga School of Weaving are just a few. Vavstuga being the only one that is offering online classes as well as their more extensive in person offerings.

When I first started weaving around 2003 I spent a week at Harrisville Designs I took a Learning to Weave class by Deborah Chandler. She asked each of us what we wanted to learn, well … I had been struggling on my on with dressing the loom, and I had tried some of the weirdest methods (thought up in my own mind) to make warping the loom easier. There were EPIC failures. There aren’t any shortcuts for winding on a well tensioned warp! I told Deborah that my goal was to dress the loom and weave off a project for each of the 5 days I was at class. At night I would use some computer software to plan the next day’s warp.

Sometime mid-week Debbie asked me what I was planning for that day and someone mumbled “walk on water”. I wasn’t at all offended. It meant that I was seen as a serious and dedicated student. I had music to listen to, I worked constantly, I wasn’t there to socialize. I’m basically a Super Nerd when it comes to this kind of thing. Debbie Chandler’s class at Harrisville Designs sustained me for the next decade or so, while I experimented with weave structures and different projects. I wove cloth to make my son a full length cloak, I learned to do double wide weaving and made a handspun blanket. I made placemats and towels and scarves and shawls. I was able to take that class and use it as a launching pad. I would not be weaving today without it.

My 8 shaft Harrisville Designs Jack Loom. On the loom was a huck lace shawl.

I was happily weaving away and even trying out 8 shafts on my jack loom when I discovered that I had to do some fancy tie up’s when using all 8 shafts or I was going to struggle with lifting too many shafts. I didn’t know what it was called but I had to use tie-ups that required 2 feet. It took days of paper and pencil and then experimentation to figure it out. That’s when I discovered Glimakra looms. Some one on Ravelry was selling her Glimakra loom. I read up on it, learned that they were big, easy to treadle (hmm, I NEEDED that feature) and had a learning curve! The more I researched it, the more I liked what I read.

Then it came down to new? or used? Knowing what I know now, I would have bought the used loom. BUT I was young and foolish. My Ravelry friends encouraged me to buy the used loom. One argument was I could go to Vavstuga with the money I save. Vavstuga??? THEN I researched that. Vavstuga had only Swedish looms. They had countermarch and counter balance. So I contacted the gal in New England and tried to set up a deal. She and I could not agree on amount or payment, and one day, across the dinner table my husband mumbles “I don’t know why you don’t just buy a new one” So I bought a new 120 cm, vertical countermarch Glimakra from my dear friend Lois at Bountiful Spin & Weave. AND I signed up for a basics class at Vavstuga for my first Summer in retirement!

Basics Class – day one, looms in various states of readiness.

Guess what?? Virtually ALL the looms are OLD GALS! Since that time I have experimented with a few other types of looms, but a back injury in 2024 has brought me back to Glimakra. I now have a 100 cm Glimakra Ideal (named Cindy Lou Who) in our second floor office and a 110 cm Standard (named SuzieQ) in our dining room. They are both from the 1970’s, so we’re 3 old ladies together!

I have been to Vavstuga for in person classes on 4 separate occasions. In 2017 I took the Basics Class and the Linen class, in 2018 I did a 3 week immersion class, and in 2025 I did a 9 day Curtains class. Now that they have a few classes online I can go over the basics class as many times as I want. There is SO MUCH information in just that one 5 day class that it is not possible to absorb all of it. My goal is to schedule one class at Vavstuga each year, until I can’t make the drive anymore. I like online as a supplemental to in person classes. I also like them for inspiration when I’m feeling stuck.

Here’s the thing that I’ve learned over 2 decades of weaving. Every warp is unique. You can do your best job to wind a consistent warp (I like warping mills the best ) and then wind it on to the back beam (Since going to Vavstuga, I ONLY use a trapeze). BUT somewhere along the line, you’ll find that you need to make adjustments. Maybe you didn’t count correctly when winding and you have too many or too few warp ends, maybe your tie on bar was totally cockeyed when you started weaving, maybe the sheds are goofy, with threads hanging too loo or too high. Maybe a warp thread breaks. These things WILL happen in a classroom setting and become a teachable moment for everyone. THESE moments make an in person class … golden!

I once taught a rigid heddle class in a friends’ knit shop. I showed the students how they could use a leveling string on the tie-up – snaking this attached string over and under the tie on bout pairs and then pulling it tight. It was learned at Vavstuga and it can be applied to almost every tie up (I’m not sure about using it on tie ups that are laced or lashed on, but I think it would still work) One gal said she would have paid the class fee just to learn this method! Never underestimate in-person classes in this world of digital learning.

Leveling String

NOTE: the white string is going under and over the left and right sides of a bout. It is attached to either end of the tie on bar (a hole is helpful here) and pulled TIGHT! You can start weaving right away, no filler needed!

Really, the only thing that stops me from weaving is DRESSING! All you weavers out there, how long has your loom or looms sat naked, gathering dust? because you dreaded dressing it?

I’ve had some epic failures dressing my loom, mostly because I was trying to find a way to make it less tedious, less work and less …. let’s face it …. dangerous! My first year weaving I went to Harrisville Designs in New Hampshire and learned how to warp a loom front to back from Debbie Chandler. It was the best way to warp a loom than any one of my “make it better” methods and I stuck with it for a while. It had one really big disadvantage (besides having to sit low to the floor) — my warps did not have consistent tension and I had to do a lot of fidgeting and fixing through the weaving process.

THEN, I bought a Glimakra Standard 120 cm 8 shaft 10 treadle loom! We called it “The Big Swede”. Everyone on Ravelry told me to go to Vavstuga and take the Basics Class. So I did. I learned an easy method to warp the loom from back to front. I could stand for preparing the warp to wind onto the back beam and for the actual winding. I learned all about using a Trapeze! Wow what a cool method to get a nice even tensioned tight warp! I learned ways to thread that were easy on my back and shoulders and the ONLY time I had to be on the floor was to do the tie up. Each part of the process of starting a new weaving project became much more enjoyable.

Projects at Vavstuga

Here are some of the Key Points

Winding the warp — a warping mill is faster and easier on the body. You CAN do it all in 1 bout if you have a big enough mill, but I like to use 2 bouts.
using lease sticks and a raddle or lease sticks and a reed will let you spread the warp ends evenly in preparation for winding onto the back beam.
The trapeze is a must for an evenly tensioned warp, even if it is a short warp. My hubby is ok for holding warp while I wind on, but nothing beats the trapeze!
If you have a large loom like the Glimakra you can arrange the shafts and a bench and sit INSIDE the loom for threading.
Sleying the reed is a snap if you hang it to lie just in front of your shafts.
Once you tie on to the cloth bar, use a leveling string and it will bring your warp threads together so you won’t have to weave a tissue paper header!

Many years later I had other looms and used several of the Vavstuga techniques on them as well. I’ve used a Louet David, a Louet Spring and a Glimakra Ideal using these methods and I no longer have problem warps.