diy

8. Hand-woven denim

Check out our finished piece of handwoven denim. Beautiful blue, naturally dyed indigo yarns, and a luxurious drape that doesn't come from machine-woven denim. While this piece isn't going to necessarily feel like jeans, it sure is gorgeous. 

6. Weaving denim twill on a table loom

We go step by step to show you how to weave a 3x1 twill on a four harness table loom. The loom is warped with hand-dyed indigo yarns, and the weft is organic cotton natural tone yarn. Turns out, it's pretty monotonous, once you get the hang of it. Just be careful not to break any of the warp yarns!

5. Warping the organic cotton yarns on the loom

Make new heddles for the table loom before weaving the denim

With our warp wound and counted out, we could finally put the warp onto the loom, the last step before weaving. But wait, upon counting, we discovered that there were only about 300 heddles on the loom, meaning we were 228 heddles short! So new heddles had to be made and fitted on the harnesses. This was easy enough, with a tying frame quickly put together with a small board and 4 nails placed where the knots in the heddles should be, and some carpet warp tied into loops around it, and then fitted onto the harnesses. 

Sley the reed with our indigo yarns

Once the loom was set up, the warp could be threaded through the reed and heddles. This particular table loom has the warp wound on front-to-back, so first we were to sley the reed. This meant placing the wound warp at the front of the loom, with lease sticks inserted into the two sides of the warp cross to keep the cross in place. These sticks were lashed to the loom to prevent them from moving and the beater bar holding the reed pulled forward and secured. Carefully going along the cross from right to left, we used a threading hook to pull three yarns through each dent (opening) on the reed. To prevent any accidental pulling of these yarns, yarns that were already threaded were tied at every ten dents (thirty yarns) with a loose slip knot on the backside of the reed.

After the reed was properly sleyed, the beater was released and the loom turned around so the yarns could now be pulled through the heddles. The heddles connect the warp threads with the harnesses that would be lifted or lowered during the weaving process, determining the pattern possibilities. Each heddle held the warp yarn along a vertical axis through an eye and was tied on both ends to rigid horizontal beams that were then connected to pedals or treadles (hand-operated levers at the top). Denim, being a three by one twill, would only use three harnesses, so the fourth was removed and the heddles transferred to the remaining harnesses. 

Threading the indigo yarns through the heddles

Starting from the right side, the little bundles we had tied in slipknots were now untied and one by one, they were again hooked through the eye of each heddle. The heddles were threaded sequentially, one through the first heddle on the first harness, then the first heddle on the second harness, and finally the first heddle on the third harness. Because they were three to a dent on the reed, the order in which these three yarns were selected mattered less than making sure no dent was missed as you went along. Special attention had to be paid to avoid missing a yarn as we went along, since that would result in either the tedious process of starting the heddle threading over again, or cutting the yarn and leaving one dent with less than three yarns, which would create a gap in the weave density. At every six heddles, the yarns were pulled so the ends met at the same length, the threading was double-checked to ensure that the heddles were hanging straight and there were no crossovers, and the ends were tied in a double knot. 

Tighten the indigo warp yarns for weaving denim

Once all the heddles were threaded and tied off, the warp was centered and tied onto the back beam. The lease sticks were removed from the front cross and the warp was uncoiled. The beam was then turned so the yarns wrapped around the beam, with warp sticks being inserted through the entire warp at every 1/3 turn to keep even tension and prevent tangles. The warp was wrapped until only about 12 inches remained at the front.

To tie the warp onto the front apron rod, the general rule is to hold two bundles of six in each hand (four bundles total) and pull until the tension is even. Then, the bundles in each hand are wrapped over the apron stick, coming up from under and behind the rod and then tied in a tight overhand knot over themselves. 

This was first done at both ends of the apron rod to keep it taut. Then, starting from the center and working its way outward towards both ends, we pulled and tied the bundles over the apron rod, keeping as consistent tension as possible and making sure that the reed was centered and all yarns were tied on so they ran straight from the back. Once they were all tied, we lightly touched each section with the back of a hand to test the tension, and tightened or loosened any outliers. When the tension was completely even, the overhand knots on the apron rod were tied into square knots and our warp was tied on! 

Now, with a few cranks of the front beam, the warp was tight from back to front, evenly going through each heddle and reed, and ready for weaving! 

3. Dyeing with fermented indigo baths in Portland

Yarn hanks soaked overnight, untwisted, and washed again in water. 

Yarn hanks soaked overnight, untwisted, and washed again in water. 

Slowly lowering the yarn into the fermented indigo vat, careful not to disturb the vat. K

Slowly lowering the yarn into the fermented indigo vat, careful not to disturb the vat. K

Keeping the yarn under the indigo bath, we carefully move the yarn strands to ensure that all sides are coming into contact with the indigo dye. After about 7 minutes (or the equivalent of one Van Morrison song, as Joel puts it), we squeeze the exce…

Keeping the yarn under the indigo bath, we carefully move the yarn strands to ensure that all sides are coming into contact with the indigo dye. After about 7 minutes (or the equivalent of one Van Morrison song, as Joel puts it), we squeeze the excess dye out while it is still under the liquid, and then bring it out into the air. At first glance, it's a bit turquoise-green. 

A few seconds in the air, and the indigo oxidizes to a deep, rich blue. 

A few seconds in the air, and the indigo oxidizes to a deep, rich blue. 

After hanging it to dry for a few minutes, the yarn goes back into the vat for another wash. And rinse, lather, repeat three to seven times. 

After hanging it to dry for a few minutes, the yarn goes back into the vat for another wash. And rinse, lather, repeat three to seven times. 

Hanging the yarn up overnight. 

Hanging the yarn up overnight. 

Rinsing the yarn three times to wash out the excess dye. The yarn still stays a surprisingly deep hue of blue. Eventually, we'd like to reach a point where the extra washes and rinses wouldn't be necessary. For now, it's a learning process. 

Rinsing the yarn three times to wash out the excess dye. The yarn still stays a surprisingly deep hue of blue. Eventually, we'd like to reach a point where the extra washes and rinses wouldn't be necessary. For now, it's a learning process.