If you asked me what the number one problem students have with tapestry weaving is, I would have to say weft tension. Warp tension is often fingered as the bad guy in tapestry weaving. We mostly want a very even bed of warps to weave our weft into. Most of us like the warp tension to also be tight. But an even enough warp tension isn't that hard to achieve. It is getting the appropriate amount of weft into that nice even warp that is the hard thing.
It is harder when you're new to tapestry weaving. But believe me, it is a gremlin that will always follow you. When you have more experience weaving, you just don't notice the gremlin any more. Experience means you adjust for changing conditions constantly without thinking about it.
I wrote a blog post about this with some photo examples last year. You can see that post here:
Weft tension: how to control the amount of weft used in tapestry weaving
Remember this example? The weaver called it her latest catastrophe.
I am happy to report that though this looks bad, it is one corner of a large piece and she fixed it. The finished piece is lovely and proves that you can recover from something like this.
Here is a video about weft tension. I made it for some students in my online classes, but thought the blog readership might also like to see it. As always, you can see the video in larger format on my YouTube channel (just click the YouTube icon in the bottom right corner of the video).
I got a little much-needed help with photographing a new sample for the next online class this week.
