Fringes

 I'm not a particular fan of fringes, but I know many people are so I had to work out an approach that I would feel comfortable about having on my textiles.

For some things I will hem stitch, then cut the fringe 'short' (about 1") after wet finishing.  

For other things, I will set up a way that makes it easy to do the fringe twisting, which is done before wet finishing.

In this photo, I have just finished one scarf and am about to begin the next.  When I reach the end of my tape (in this case 80"), I weave four picks with waste yarn of a contrasting colour to the woven cloth.

Then I use my handy dandy little wooden ruler which is 6" long, leave a gap of unwoven warp, and weave in about 1/2" of waste yarn.  This waste yarn does two things - I know where to cut to separate the two scarves, and I have something holding the loose warp threads in position so that I can more easily do the fringe twisting.

Then I roll the warp forward again leaving another 6" gap and weave 8 picks of waste yarn to begin the next scarf.

As the unwoven warp winds onto the cloth beam, the outside ends sometimes fall off the cloth roll, so I carefully put them back onto the cloth roll so that they will stay the same length and maintain the same tension as the rest of the warp.

Once the warp is done, I unroll the woven cloth and carefully separate the scarves along the cut line, then fold them up in order to carry them upstairs where I tend to do my fringe twisting - at the dining room table.

This photo shows another scarf that is partially done.  I cut the waste yarn in several places along the width of the weaving, then pull out one section of waste yarn at a time and fringe twist each bout until the free fringe is done.  Then I pull out the next section.  Repeat until done.

The weft tails tend to get included into the last bout (I work from right to left with the weft tail hanging out of the left side of the cloth) and everything is secure.  You should be able to just make out the cut line with waste yarn at the very bottom of the photo.  I don't pull the loose fringe out of that waste yarn until I'm about to do the twisting.

I use a small tool which works well for me.  Some people like to use the battery operated 'braiders', some prefer to just use their hands.  Do what works for you.

The final step after wet finishing (including a good hard press, usually) is to trim the little fluffy bits off the ends of the fringe.  They come out of the washer/dryer looking fluffy and - to me - a bit messy.  So I trim them off.

Personal preference will determine what you you.