Hello,
I'm hoping maybe someone can give me input on using a temple. I'm weaving some baby blankets and wanted to reduce the draw-in so I purchased a temple but I had never used one before. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong. The selvage on the right looks really nice and even. The selvage on the left, however, doesn't look nearly as nice. The threads seem to be moved apart from each other and look uneven at this point. Will those even out when I wet finish or do I need to do something differently?

Thank you!
Sheryl

Photos:
https://ibb.co/Q167N19
https://ibb.co/RTtR8jxr
https://ibb.co/FLVrm4ms

Hi Sheryl,
I was hoping someone would pop in with experience using a temple. I don't use one and I can't think of any of my weaving friends who do. Often, even when weaving without a temple, it sometimes takes time and practice to get both sides of your cloth on the loom to be the same. Is the tension on both sides of your project the same?

Hello Sheryl - I have never used a temple myself, but wonder if the problem you are experiencing has anything to do with how you are putting the temple into the weaving as you go along and maybe the general looseness of your weaving structure (sett, yarn weight etc.). Maybe the temple has to be placed in such a way that neither end is tipped up, thus putting more pressure on the lower end and disturbing the line of Selvedge threads and creating a gap.

All I can say is, if it were me I would ditch the temple and just take good care with shuttle throwing technique etc. E.g draw the shuttle well out to each side before throwing it through the shed again. This gives enough slack so that the weft thread is only just touching the Selvedge on the side you have thrown from as you catch the shuttle....no major 'tugging' at the Selvedge, so there is very little draw in. I am still learning every time I weave, but I have found that it really is a matter of keeping practising, observing, and tweaking to keep improving the result! Even the way in which the shuttle is thrown really matters, not too fast, not too slow.....depends on width of warp, amount left on bobbin, type of yarn, height of shed etc etc. I keep reminding myself that the effortless technique we see from Jane is the result of decades of practice, so I have to be patient with myself!

Anyway, a bit of draw in on a baby blanket is no harm is it ?...gives the baby something to 'munch' on when they are teething! :-)

Hello and thanks for the input. My tension seems pretty even across the warp. I will say that I've been inserting the left end of the temple in first and that's the side that doesn't look as good. I'll see if I can get both sides in at the same time but the weight and length of the temple makes that difficult. I'm using a long, metal Toika temple so it's pretty heavy.

I have enough warp on the loom for three blankets. On the first blanket, I didn't use the temple. I am using it on the second blanket. I've decided to cut the warp off after I finish the second one and we finish those two before I begin the third blanket. So.... stay tuned. I'll post an update once I've wet finished both of the blankets with the results!

OK I look forward to the next instalment! One last thought....if the temple is pretty heavy, you might need plenty of tension on your warp to deal with that aspect. Good luck!

I also had to use a temple for the first time weaving some baby blankests this summer. I didn't like it but it saved that warp. I found this video really helpful.

Thank you, Catherine. This was a wonderful video and I wished I'd seen it before I started using one. For anyone who is thinking about using one, I'll say that, in hindsight, I wished I'd bought a wooden temple instead of a metal Toika temple for a few reasons. The first is that, from what I've now heard, wooden temples are lighter. The second reason is that with the metal temple, the two ends are offset from each other so the teeth don't line up in the same weft picks. Also, since it's heavier, it's cumbersome to get the teeth in the right place before it tips over whereas the wooden ones look more stable when trying to set it in place. In the video above, I like how the left end and the right end of the wooden temple are the same width and line up with each other.

Thanks again.... this is the best video I've seen on using a temple!

The metal ones are really necessary for rugs - I use one on my upright tapestry loom - the teeth go in deeper. The wooden ones for lighter fabrics. Good luck!