Hello friends, I have an 8S jack loom from Harrisville Design with a weaving width of 22 in. What is my maximum warp width, including floating selvages? If I sley 21.5 inches is that pushing it?

I have not seen weaving designs that join panels to make a wider piece, such as was formerly done, joining panels to make coverlets. Has anyone experience with it working out well? It seems unlikely the join would be invisible. I wonder about using a design element to conceal the seam, perhaps a textured yarn or stripe.
I'm aware of the double-width method but would like to try something simpler first.
Any advice for a new/lapsed weaver?
thanks
Meredith
[email protected]

In my experience, the mitigating factor to weaving width is unused heddles at the edge of each harness. You should be able to weave 21.5” easily, with just a little crowding at the edges. At the reed there will be no crowding, so weaving full width should be fine.

There are weavers who weave panels and join them together to make larger projects. Some people favour decorative joins (feature the join), others go for as invisible a join as possible. The choice is yours. Sampling before commiting to a full sized project is a good idea, if only to ensure the length of the pieces is easy to keep the same, how to join the pieces, and whether you like the look. I know, sample, sample, sample! But for a large project, it can save time, money, and frustration.

thanks very much for your note -much appreciated!