One of the most frequent questions I receive is, "How do I finish my project?" or "How do you remove the weaving from the loom?"
First, I'll address how to remove the "web" (this is cloth you wove that has not been wet finished) from your loom. You simply cut the warps close to the warp beam, unroll the cloth beam and remove the beam stick. Voila. Your web is now free.
For finishing your project, there's a lot of ways, it just depends on the purpose of the finished piece. Keep in mind, you have (gnerally speaking) woven cloth. Treat it as any other cloth made with the same fibers.
Do you want fringe or a rolled hem on the raw edge? Will the raw edge be part of an inside seam?
For fringe, you can put the warp ends into groups and knot them close to the fell line. You can also do a hem stitch which will group the ends and you can either tie the warps or just leave them as they are.
If you plan on a rolled hem, weave the last few picks that will be part of the hem, with sewing thread or yarn that is thinner than the yarn used in the rest of the project. This will produce a thinner area in which you can make a rolled hem that won't be uber bulky.
If it will be part of an inside seam, you can do a quick whip stitch to keep it from unraveling and then zig-zag it with your sewing machine or serger. I usually rely on my serger to cut and clean the raw edge before I sew the seam.
The next important step before you cut and sew it into something, is to "wet finish" the piece. I do this by putting it in my washing machine on the "pre-wash" cycle on gentle...what this does is go through a single gentle agitate and spin cycle. If you're using wool, you'll want to hand wash (do NOT agitate), squeeze it out (or put on spin cycle if your machine has spin only---again---NEVER AGITATE WOOL or in a salad spinner if it will fit) and then lay flat to dry.
Once that's done you can use a heavy roller to give the fibers memory, in what's called "Cold Pressing". Slightly damp or dry. If you don't have a dowel, rolling pins work too.
