Weaving a Whole Scarf in Only One Day  

A little while ago, I was bragging that it was possible to warp and weave a whole scarf in only one day on a rigid heddle loom. However, I realized that I had never proved it! So, I decided to take on the challenge to make a complete scarf in the course of only one day. In this video, I show you how I managed to achieve this challenge and exactly how much time it took me to complete every step of the warping process.

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The Yarn

For this project, I used Lion Brand yarns from their Heartland collection. The first color is grey and the actual name is “Great Smoky Mountains”. I also used golden yellow which official name is “Canyonlands”. And the last one but no the least is the pink or as they call it “Capitol Reef”. I love those colors; they are so rich and shiny. I also love their texture: very soft and perfect for a scarf.

In total, I used one whole ball of grey and a little bit of a second ball. I also used one whole ball of golden yellow and a little bit of a second ball. I used just a little bit of the pink yarn, so one ball was enough.

You can get the same yarn here:https://shrsl.com/3yk0p

To weave this one-day project, I used my 7.5 heddle. By using yarn that is thick and, in that heddle, I knew this would speed up the process.

The Warping

First, I had to set up the place. This took about 15 minutes. I wove this scarf during a snowy winter morning and I had to wait to start filming because it was still too dark. At 8h30, I was ready to start warping.

The warping took about 30 minutes. Then I counted 15 minutes to roll the warp onto the back beam. I counted another 15-20 minutes to thread the heddle. Finally, it took me 15 minutes to attach the warp onto the front apron and fix the tension. I added 5 minutes to take into account the time it took to weave the scrap yarn.

Altogether, it took me about two hours to set my loom ready to weave. Then the real fun began with the weaving. Even though I wanted to be finished by the end of the day, I was so self-confident that I could complete this project that I decided to make a pattern in the weft. To be even quicker, I could have easily woven the same color all the way through. But confidence was on my side for this one! The pattern is available on my post Planning a Warp Pattern using a Spreadsheet.

The Weaving

I put a good show on Netflix and I wove for about 6 hours. Believe it or not, by 4pm, I was ready to cut the scarf from my rigid heddle loom and put it in the bath for wet finished. I even had time to prepare diner!

Here are the final dimensions of this scarf: I warped a length of 2.5m (100”) and a width of 16”. I wove for about 1m83 (73”). After wet finish, the scarf was 1m76 long and 36 cm (14.5”) wide. On top of that, I left fringes of 15 cm (6”) on each end.

Final Word

For this project, I used relatively big yarn, in the warp and in the weft. This is a major factor in the success of this endeavor. Also, I have been weaving for a while and I have gain speed in warping and weaving. This also helped me in weaving a whole scarf in only one day on a rigid heddle loom.

This exercise also made me realised something: it took me 8 hours to make this scarf from start to finish: 2 hours to warp and 6 hours to weave. So, 25% of the project was dedicated to warping. This is A LOT! I never realised how much time it really took me. This also made me understand that it is worth it to warp for more than one project at the time.