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Wrap planning

Planning 1st 2 wraps

I thought it might be enlightening for both baby wrap moms and weavers to see what’s involved in preparing a yarn order for my baby wraps. To make the yarn purchases most cost effective and to get a decent supply on hand, I always order the yarn for 2 warps (usually 4 baby wraps) at one time.

The first page starts with the first 2 moms to go on the loom, in this case JMC & AF.

Step 1: go to my records and get the finished length JMC wants. That’s always given to me in meters (4.2M). I convert that to inches, (181″), then add on to that for the length I need to weave to allow for shrinkage (215″).

Step 2: do the same thing with mom #2.

Step 3: add those two lengths together, then add on the take up & loom waste (non-weavers: you have to put more on the loom than you need; it’s all about the weaving process).

Step 4: go to my records and get the color names & color order of the warp. Calculate the number of threads of each color needed to achieve the design. (This is actually a double-check; I already did it when planning with mom.)

Step 5: take those thread counts and determine how many yards of each color are needed for the warp. Then figure out the number of ounces of each color.

Step 6: calculate the number of yards and ounces needed for each of the wefts.

Now do the same thing for the other 2 baby wraps.

2nd warp planning

Now that you know the number of ounces needed of each color, get another piece of paper. Record each color name & number, by warp, and the number of ounces needed. Add these columns together to get a total amount needed.

wrap summary order sheet

Go to the shelves and weigh each of the colors of yarn on hand. Subtract that amount from the total need to determine the amount to order. The last thing you want to happen is to run out of a color when you’re warping or weaving, so BE SURE TO HAVE A CUSHION – ORDER EXTRA!

Now you can finally go to The Woolery and place your order. I always do my ordering online, and I do it by starting at my Guild’s Facebook page. Why? The Woolery has a Guild support program, with the Guild getting credit for a portion of each order placed this way. Since I order a lot of yarn in a year for my baby wraps, I’m happy to help out the Guild…it’s a win-win!

Of course, this can only happen after 4 moms have completed all their planning — warp colors and layout, weft colors, weave pattern, and length. So there are hours to get to this point.

I placed the order for the yarn for these 4 wraps on Wednesday afternoon. It will be the first yarn order to arrive at my new house – a milestone!

5 comments to Wrap planning

  • Erica

    This is really interesting! Thanks for posting! I enjoy learning about the wrap weaving process. I am an engineer and love seeing the numbers and how everything works out!

    • Peg Cherre

      Thanks, Erica. There’s a lot of math involved in weaving. Nothing fancy, just addition, subtraction, multiplication & division, but it’s important to the process.

  • Anne

    Wow, I always went crosseyed looking at all those calculations. Thanks for making wraps! They are a beautiful, wonderful thing for mother and child. I can’t wait until you have an available slot.

    • Peg Cherre

      Thanks for stopping by, Anne. I’m gonna count your 2 comments as an email contact…this is good for you!

  • Alma

    Yeah, right, and who said that we didn’t need to pay attention in math class? Without the ability to count an graph, we’d just be guessing all the time – running short or having a mountain of extra stuff on hand!

    Best of luck with the move, Peg, and with receiving your next order!!

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