There are two warping methods that you can use to warp your rigid heddle loom. The first method, the direct peg warping method, is ideally suited to the rigid heddle loom. With this method, you thread the heddle and measure the warp at the same time. It makes warping extremely fast and easy.
Briefly, you clamp the back of the loom to a table and place your warping peg as far away from the back of the loom as your warp is long. You then thread the warp through the slots (there will be two warps in each slot), wind the warp onto the back beam, and then take one warp out of each slot and into the adjacent hole.
The second method is to first measure the warp yarns on a warping board and then take the measured warp to the loom. You thread the slots and holes, wind the warp onto the back beam, and then tie onto the front. This indirect method is not as quick or simple as the direct peg warping method, but there are reasons you might want to use it.
Advantages of direct method:
- Fast and easy
- Direct, fewer steps
- Good for warps 4 yards and shorter
- Perfect for an even number of warp threads or stripes of even numbers
- Quick to learn
Advantages of indirect method:
- Good for longer warps (more than 4 yards)
- Excellent for designing the warp color order in the reed
- Helpful for warp stripes of odd numbers
- Preferred method for winding a warp for two-heddle weaving