Hello all- has anyone got suggestions on how to make colour changes in the weft less obvious? I have a problem with very obvious joins where the weft is overlapped at the Selvedge when starting a new colour. This is particularly obvious where I was weaving basketweave on an 8/2 cotton warp, using alternating lines of natural 8/2 cotton (2 picks in same shed) followed by a line of darker 8/4 cotton. Where I the 8/4 cotton is overlapped, it looks pretty awful (see photos). Maybe there is no way of avoiding this with this weave structure and alternating of colour contrasting yarns. Anyway, just thought I'd check in case there is some ingenious solution! Thank you.

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There’s a specific name for it but I forget what it is. I’ll try to describe it. On the yarn for the first pick of a new color, on the first 3 or so inches, separate the 2 plies of 8/2 cotton. Then cut one ply off. Start weaving your first pick. Where you would overlap the yarn at the edge, make sure you’re only using the section of yarn where you’ve cut one ply out. Once they’ve been overlapped, there should only be 2 plies of 8/2 cotton on the selvage of that pick. It’s tedious work, but it is doable.

On the 8/4 cotton, separate the 4 plies and cut 2 out.

Thanks very much for that very clear explanation Kathleen, and for replying so quickly. I will definitely follow those steps today and see how I get on. I will post some photos of the results just for comparison of before and after! Thanks again.

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Hello again Kathleen- Well I went back and extracted the ends at the joins, halved the number of plies as you recommended, and wove the ends back in.....and am happy to say there is a big improvement! (See before and after photos). Hurray! Still far from perfect, and there seems to be something a bit wonky going on at the Selvedge but that's OK....one issue at a time.....

here is Jane's YouTube video on the splicing technique. she has a demo in the school of weaving, but I don't recall which season or episode.

Thanks Barbara - while that excellent video clip shows Jane dealing with a splice where there is no colour change, in my case the problem was at the point of introducing a new weft colour, but the principle seems pretty much the same. I think the problem was particularly noticeable in my weaving because I was using basket weave with picks in natural cotton right next to a pick in a strongly contrasting colour. One aspect I will keep an eye on with the 'reduce the yarn plies by half' method, as used by me today with new colour yarn, is that it means the yarn is at 'half ply' as it rounds the floating Selvedge and might be more prone to wearing through over time maybe? Anyway, it is all very useful information and it's great to have this Forum when help is needed! Thanks.

Alternatively, when you are doing just two picks of one color you can put your splice away from the selvage. Throw your first pick and leave a tail of 10 inches or more. Beat in place. The throw your second pick. Beat in place. Then decide where you want the splice to be. Pull up the second pick a few inches from where you want the splice to be. Cut the yarn off and then cut out 1 of the plies. beat the second pick back in place. Take the tale from the first pick and hand feed it back in the same shed as the second pick. Line it up where the splice needs to meet. Trim that yarn to the length required. Cut out one of the plies. Feed it back into the shed and beat in place. Again, this is tedious if you have to do a lot of them, but probably worth the effort when you’re weaving with thicker yarns.

Good to know. Thank you!