Wouldn't it be wonderful if every weaving project went so flawlessly as presented in the videos? For us newbies that's our goal.
Then there's the reality for so many of us that we don't have an EWT (Emergency Weaving Trainer) that we can phone or have drop by to help when we're "in knots" over something that's not working.
However, it would be so very helpful to have a series of videos on "when things go awry"....i.e. loose tension, small shed, shed not clear, broken warp thread, heddles out of alignment, selvages uneven, etc, etc, etc...
Help us identify the problem, it's cause and the solution, please. Call it the Trouble Shooting Series.
Thank you.

Hello Susan

You say ‘Wouldn't it be wonderful if every weaving project went so flawlessly as presented in the videos? For us newbies that's our goal.’

Well…from one newbie to another, here’s an alternative view! It may sound like sacrilege, but I am no great fan of ‘flawless’ in relation to handweaving. I can see why, if someone is aiming to make a living out of selling their work, then the ‘demands of the market’ must be taken into account, and so called ‘flaws’ eliminated for fear of displeasing the customer who is looking for what they consider to be ‘value for money’.

However, if making money from your weaving is not a concern, then why not consider the perfection of what you make to lie in its ‘imperfections’ which are signs of the human hand which wove it….using fibres which have passed through that person’s fingers several times, as they sat at their loom….yes, maybe cursing and swearing when things don’t go according to plan….or getting up for a cup of tea or to answer the door to a visitor…or listening to the radio and forgetting which pick you did last….

I may be around for quite a while yet, but if anyone keeps the things I have woven for them after I have headed off to the happy hunting grounds, I suspect it will not be because it is flawless or otherwise, but because it was made for them by me. Then again, as the fibres I use are all completely biodegradable, the ‘lucky recipients’ of my weaving could always just breathe a sigh of relief after my demise and chuck it out in the garden under a bush somewhere and let it return to the earth! Natural recycling at its best!

As I said, that’s just an alternative view! :-)

Hi Susan, if I understand you correctly, what you are wishing for is an easy to access section of just videos on tips and tricks? One thing you can do, is use the search box on the front page of the forums, and just type in your question and that will bring up related forum posts that might have a quick answer for you.

I also found this page:
https://janestaffordtextiles.com/forums/topic/its-the-little-things-videos-weaving-tips-tricks/

That is an older thread containing short videos that you might find helpful. Keep scrolling down, when you get there to access more videos than are apparent at first glance.

I also love quick access to things w/out having to wade through a lot of searching, so went exploring after reading your question and found the above link.

Although super computer and web savvy, I am from the 1900s, so I still keep a great personal library of books. One of my favorite quick reference go-to books is a small, spiral bound flip book called The Weaver's Companion. It's an invaluable little handbook for all of those bits and bobs of information that we all look up multiple times, and it fits easily into a project bag. It's out of print, but you may be able to find it doing a used book search, and I believe there is a Kindle edition. (I'm not affiliated with the publisher or any sellers).

Hope some of this is helpful. Wishing you many happy hours of weaving, and remember that even when things go awry, nearly everything can be fixed. Or (being from the 1900s) if you feel it can't, simply decide if you can live with it and weave on, or turn it into a "design element." 😉 As you become more confident in yourself as a weaver, trust me, you will look back with fondness on some of your early weavings, lumps bumps and all. ❤️