Welcome to the second lesson !

B Just to remind you how much you know already :
the threads fixed to the weaving frame or loom are called WARP
the threads that go across the warp are called WEFT
to pass the weft across the warp you need a needle and sometimes even a SHUTTLE
you BIND warp and weft threads in a special way to make a pattern of threads which holds them together
you learned a lot of terminology
C You learned how to warp up your loom!

At the end of the page I spoke about shuttles and showed some flat shuttles you can buy.
If you have a frame or loom from a shop then you will have 1 or 2 flat shuttles, made from wood or from plastic. If you have made your own frame or loom, then you can easily make your own shuttle from thick card (you may need help to cut the notches), see which shape and size are best for you before you buy ready-made shuttles. They are not easy to find!
These shuttles are called 'flat shuttles' because they are flat. This makes it easy to pass them through the warp on your frame or loom. To start learning to weave, a flat shuttle will be very useful if you don't weave with a needle.

A shuttle can hold a lot of weft yarn. Just wind the yarn on the shuttle. Careful ! Don't pull it tight. If you do then the yarn will be stretched going on, and it might stay stretched when it comes off through the warp threads. But everything that has been stretched will shrink again. You don't want this to happen when the weft is on the frame or loom!
All weavers have this problem of the threads shrinking while they weave. The more they weave the more the warp threads shorten. The weft, too, shortens, but there is a quick easy way to make sure it does not pull in the warp.

JDiscovery 7 : Stretched yarn will shrink again and this might upset or disappoint you to see the wide fabric you wove so carefully has shrunk to a narrower fabric.

JDiscovery 8 and also a new word for you ... &Shrinkage
is the word weavers use to describe that fabric will become shorter than the length of the warp threads put on the loom. To have fabric the right length they always use warp that is longer than they need.
One of the reasons for this is that the warp is stretched out so much between the warp beam (where you store all the warp to use) and the cloth beam (where the woven fabric gets rolled onto). The threads will try to shrink back to their original length. This also means that the distance between the rows of weft yarn will get just a bit shorter.
The weft also "shrinks" when it passes through the warp. But there is an easy way to stop this problem. I'll explain that later.
Weavers have this "shrinkage" usually on the warp threads. This is because of the way the warp is held and the weft passes through. They know how long the fabric has to be and they add some centimeters or inches to the finished length they want, because they know that the warp will shrink.
You don't need to worry about this if you are weaving on a frame or small loom.

Here is a drawing of a wooden flat shuttle, with the warp. The wood won't bend when you pass the shuttle through the warp.

this one is a drawing of a cardboard flat shuttle. It has to be wider than the wooden one so that the card does not bend too much. But don't put too much weft on it!

But WAIT and read on, before you do anything! Don't worry … I'll explain this slowly.
Passing the shuttle has to be done in a special way. You want your woven item to look good and to be useable.
So there are a few rules!
- - No matter which loom you use, you start weaving on the edge - -
You put your shuttle on top of the 1st warp thread and press down very lightly.
Do you feel the tension of that thread?
Good, it means you have pulled the warp quite tight.
This is important as it will help pass the shuttle more easily, and the fabric will be solid.

The picture shows a finger picking up a thread in the middle of the loom and not at the edge : it helps you to see better how you have to do it. I show the shuttle going under a warp thread in the middle of the all the warps : but YOU KNOW that you have to start weaving on the edge of the frame or loom !!! But look carefully : the weft thread is already trapped under the first warp ...
Then you push the shuttle along a bit, to the next warp thread. You have to lift this warp thread up.	Just take a finger, slide it under this warp thread and lift it.		Pass the shuttle along under this warp thread.

Good, carry on ...

You are passing the weft "over one, under one". The animation shows the "over one and under the next".

As you can see, you do that until the end of the first row. Then you remember the "over-under-over-under" rule when you turn to go back to the other side ! RULE : If you end a row 'over' a warp thread, then to turn back you need to pass 'under' that thread. If you end a row 'under' a warp thread, then for the way back you pass 'over' that warp thread.

Ö If you make a mistake when you turn to go back you will see that immediately : You will take out the weft you had just put in! This is because the warp did not 'bind' the weft.

J Discovery 8 : The "Over-Under" pattern continues even around the edges (I will show you the exceptions later), to keep the weft trapped in between the warp threads.

When you weave like this you will see that you sometimes have the weft threads very close together, and sometimes there is a lot of empty space between the rows. I will talk about this in the next lesson. I will also tell you how to stop the weft threads pulling so tight that your edges will look like waves. If you want wavy edges, then that is fine, but if you want straight ones, I can show you what you need to do with the weft.   Now you are ready for lesson number THREE