Too Much Tencel Lint

A few weeks ago I came across an article by Barbara Elkins in Handwoven Magazine (September/October 2009) which described the use of tencel in a plaited twill pattern to make some really beautiful scarves. I had some black 8/2 tencel on hand so I decided to give this new pattern a whirl. I was looking forward to weaving with tencel because I had read about how beautifully it shines and how nice the fabric drape might be. So, I put on a 6 yard warp in black tencel and wove a few samples finally settling on using a varigated grey weft yarn from Juniper Moon Farm (Findley Dappled-Uncial).

Excited as I was about the emerging pattern I was weaving I was soon dismayed over the amount of lint that seem to be accumulating on my fell and everywhere on my loom!

I did some research on the internet and while not much as written about the problem a few weavers suggested that a humidifier be used when weaving with tencel or that the warp should be spritzed with water to hold down the lint. I dutifully tried these suggestions but did not see any noticeable improvement.

Then I started getting broken warp ends. There were a lot of them but I wanted to finish the scarf I was weaving so I persisted. I changed the way I was beating the weft, continued humidifying and spritzing, and wove with a bit less tension on the warp. Nothing seemed to help. I continued to get broken ends on one side.

Feeling a little desperate I decided to email Madelyn Van Der Hoot of Handwoven’s “Ask Madelyn” column. After a bit of back and forth she suggested I call the vendor (Webs) to see if anyone else had reported problems with this yarn. I’m so glad I took her advice because the customer service person I spoke with asked how many broken ends I had and immediately confirmed that my yarn was probably a defective cone! She said that the industry standard was no more than 4 broken ends per cone and that mine clearly exceeded that standard. She offered to replace the cone or refund my money. I chose the refund and was promptly refunded the full amount plus shipping and taxes. Wow! Great customer service!

I did manage to finish the first scarf and began a second using grey tencel for weft. I really liked the pattern but continued to experience the accumulation of black lint and more broken ends. I finally gave up and removed the remaining warp from my loom.

I’m currently weaving another scarf using a varigated tencel with the black tencel as weft. So far I have no broken ends but I’m seeing quite a bit of lint coming off of the warp.

Now I am wondering if other brands of tencel shed so much lint or if the issue is unique to this supplier?