mes just at the centre in the front. Four
lines of warp-thread are then fixed from end to end of the roller, two
above and two below the groove. Each warp-string in turn is now threaded
in and out of these cross lines, as shown in the diagram. This places
them in regular order, at the correct distance apart, and keeps them at
very nearly the same tension throughout. The metal pin is now placed in
the groove and pushes the threads before it. It must be temporarily made
firm there by string tied round the roller at intervals.

The next process is to tie the warp-threads in knots, either two or four
together, just where they emerge below the pin. This prevents any giving
way, and if the threads are pulled just equally tight immediately before
the knotting, the tension of the entire warp will be the same. The lower
roller is next turned round until the metal pin is made quite firm in
its place by the warp-threads passing across the face of the groove.
The warp will now be fixed in the loom as shown in the drawing in fig.
170.

The placing of the coats upon the coat-stave is the next part of the
preparatory work. Commence by fixing a line of warp-thread along the
exterior side of the coat-stave, making it secure to the bar at both
ends. The coats, encircling the stave and a thread of warp, are fixed to
this string by a kind of buttonhole stitch (see fig. 179). It is
important that each loop should be of exactly the same size; this can be
ensured by temporarily fixing a rod across the loom at the point where
the loops will encircle the warp-thread, and then taking the loop round
this bar as well as round the thread.

[Illustration: Fig. 179.]

To commence making the coats, take a long needleful of warp-thread and
secure the end of it to the string at the right-hand end, and then make
about three small looped stitches upon it (see needle in progress in the
diagram); next, instead of making another of the same stitches, take the
thread down below the stave, let it encircle the first thread of the
back leaf and then be brought up over the coat-stave and string and be
looped under the thread to complete the stitch (see B). Usually a long
and a short stitch are taken alternately, but the number of short ones
may be varied. This process is continued until all the threads of the
back leaf are encircled each by a loop.

A new length of thread must be knotted on to the last one as it gets
used up. The weavers' knot, which is show