I can't figure out how to get a balanced weave.
Currently I have 132 ends (2 floating selvage threads) of 8/2 cotton on a counterbalanced loom. Threaded 18EPI. I very slowly and carefully wove 18 picks, using same yarn with a large angle and a gentle beat. It ends up measuring 18 ends per 1/2 inch.

Have I provided enough details for anyone to advise?

Thanks,
Donna

I think it's called a "broken twill" from Davidson page 26, Harringbone Plaid.

Hello Donna
For what it's worth, weaving a twill structure using 8/2 cotton at 18epi is a lower sett than I would tend to use. I would use 20epi minimum. Apart from what Ginette has advised about easing the tension on the warp, it sounds like you may just have to beat even more gently than you have been doing...keeping an eye on the spaces between warp and weft yarn forming little squares as you weave. If they are rectangular, you are beating too hard.

As a matter of interest, when I have had the issue of beating too hard, I find it helpful to beat on a closed shed, because it allows me to control the placement of the weft thread better when beating, due to additional friction. So that would be ...'throw.....then close the shed...then beat...then push beater back...change treadles...throw...' etc. Hope some of that helps.

Thank you. I'll give your suggestion a try.
The reason I used and 18 epi is because I made a short scarf using this warp at 20 epi and after washing and laying flat to dry, it's too stiff. Not quite "standing in the corner", but stiff enough to be disappointed. I'm practicing with this warp to get a better drape.
Anxiously waiting to be off this warp, having learned enough to move on to something that produces the end result I imagined.
I bought a kit from Jane and can't wait to make the towels, but fear the disappointment.

Hi Donna- I'd say many of us who are fairly new to weaving don't really realise that it does take a LOT of practice and 'learning from our mistakes' before we can be confident that a piece of weaving will turn out exactly as we had hoped!

I know how you feel.....after all the time and preparation (not to mention expense) that goes into putting on a warp etc. it can be a bit demoralising when it doesn't exactly fill us with joy after we have taken it off the loom. As I said in some other thread, I really do think it is worth keeping in mind that Jane and her various guest weavers have been weaving for decades....and still, I'm sure if invited, they could each make a long list of small or not so small disasters they have experienced along the way! I seem to remember Jane mentioning a time when the whole warp she had just put on the warping board simply fell off as she was trying to make the warp chain. Maybe I will start a new thread inviting people to share some of the 'challenging moments' during their weaving careers, when chucking the whole thing in might have seemed a tempting option ! :-)

I found that video clip. It is Season 1.1.3 just after minute 5. In fact the warp fell off before Jane had even secured the cross.....and even though it happened when she was 21, she still remembers it....but she kept on weaving!

All good and helpful words. Time to keep trying. I appreciate your advise and encouraging words.
The videos and lessons are wonderful as well.
Thank you

You're very welcome! Hope it works out. :-)