The Edge

My Leclerc Fanny has a certain maximum length of warp it prefers.  An 11 meter long warp fits nicely onto the back beam and the woven web behaves quite nicely as well, even with the thick weft I'm using for the place mats.

However, with the mill I can wind a longer length warp so this warp was closer to 13 meters long.  The woven web just barely co-operated and I managed to nurse the entire length onto the cloth beam without cutting and re-tieing.

The thing is, with a long warp, when the cloth roll builds up it becomes more and more difficult to set the tension on the web each time the fell is advanced.  The beam is no longer a nice firm round beam of hard wood but cushioned by the many layers of cloth wound round it.

My next place mat warp is around 14 meters long.  I will have to dig out a 7th (maybe even an 8th) bamboo blind in order to wind the warp onto the back beam and when I reach the mid-point, cut off, remove the woven web and re-tie.  This minor inconvenience will be well worth it as if I didn't, getting proper tension back onto the warp as I advance will become a tug of war.  Much better to just grit my teeth and do what needs to be done rather than get into a power struggle with the loom and warp.