#backstrap weaving

[batbetbitbotbut]

Low space & low budget weaving

Want to weave but don't have space for a loom? Have a few sticks and yarns but no DIY skills? Come, be tempted anyway. Weaving is a whole family of crafts, some of which don't require a loom at all.

Small-ish looms like box looms (as basic as yarn wrapped around a cardboard grocery tray), inkle looms, and rigid heddle looms exist, but I'm assuming every possible space for a box in your life is already filled. In this post we're going even smaller and cheaper. As far as possible, everything either is flat enough to stow behind/under furniture or rolls up safely into a bundle of just sticks and yarn.

Many of these crafts have some crossover - the same setup can be used for multiple styles of weaving. Most of them can be improvised at home depending on what you have on hand, or if you need to buy something there is not a huge gulf between homemade vs professional equipment. Alas I am not skilled in any of these and my descriptions will not be wholly accurate; corrections and additions welcome! If you need help, I'd only be able to tell you to seek out books and tutorials yourself, ask other weavers, and just try stuff out.

All photos included with permission. My thanks to the people allowing me to use their projects! I saw so many gorgeous and skillful projects when assembling this and I wish I could have included them all.

Fingerweaving

Projects by @kitteniestkitten (here) and @wefty-weaver (here)

Culture - I am aware of this as a Native American technique, I don't know its history with any more specific nation.

Fabric - "Warp faced" cloth of any width, insofar as warp and weft have meaning for this craft as the weaving is on a diagonal. Often used for sashes or blankets.

Method - There is no loom! A couple sticks hold the yarns to begin with, but then it is all freehand. Starting at one corner, you use your fingers to weave a strand through the other strands, and... that's it. Very simple beginnings work up to very complex patterns that no loom is capable of. The whole project can be rolled up when not active.

Backstrap loom

Projects by @calendae-creations (here) and @weavingforlooms (here)

Culture - I am most aware of this from the Andes but I think it is much more widespread than that.

Fabric - Warp faced or balanced fabric of any width up to your own reach, suitable for blankets and clothes and many other things.

Method - You are the loom! Several horizontal rods hold and manipulate the warp threads but your body provides the tension, with the other end hooked to some furniture or around your own feet. When not in use, you can roll up all the equipment into a small bundle of yarn and rods. You can also use a backstrap loom setup for other methods like tablet weaving.

Warp weighted loom

Projects by @shadowcreepling (here) and @doctormead (here)

Culture - used by ancient Greeks among many many others.

Fabric - any kind of fabric at any size. Shadowcreepling is using a warp weighted loom for a tablet-woven band, Doctormead is probably using heddle rods to make a wider piece of cloth.

Method - the warp threads are held by a bar at the top and tensioned with weights on one end that hang down towards the floor, then the weft is woven into them with any method such as tablets, heddle rods, or by hand (if you have a lot of patience) and beaten into firm fabric at the top or bottom of the loom. Warp weighted looms can be very big, but they are simple and can also be very small and taken apart when not actively weaving.

Tablet weaving / card weaving

Projects by @damage-ko (here) and @foxease (here, hardware from CellesKit on Etsy)

Culture - found as far apart as textiles (geographically and temporally) from Byzantine Egypt and the Vikings

Fabric - a warp faced fabric with patterns made by twining warp threads around each other, usually used for strong narrow bands like collars, belts, and shoelaces.

Method - the cards hold open the shed so you can pass the weft through, then rotate the cards to advance the pattern. Many people make their own with cardboard or playing cards, or you can buy some. The rest of the weaving setup can be improvised with a backstrap (or just a shower curtain hook clipped to your trousers), a cardboard box loom, or warp weights.

Rigid heddle band weaving

Projects by @pisaracraft (here) and @crookedtines (here)

Culture - small rigid heddles like the first project have been found in Roman archaeological sites across Europe. The larger rigid heddle in the second project is being used for "baltic pickup" style designs on the band.

Fabric - can be warp faced or a balanced weave, size limited by the size of your heddle.

Method - you provide tension with any setup you please such as an inkle loom, backstrap, or warp weights. The heddle creates sheds so that you can pass weft yarn through the warp easily. Infinitely many "pick-up patterns" let you weave patterns and even words into the cloth.

Pin loom / potholder loom

Projects by @pardalote (here) and @weavingmyheartout (here)

Fabric - a small square (or rectangle or triangle) of balanced weaving, which can be used alone or patched together into larger fabrics. Pin looms are finer and suitable for many knitting/crochet yarns, potholer looms are chunkier and designed for big elastics, but the method is similar.

Method - wind yarn lengthways around one set of pins and then pull yarn widthways through these strands with a hook. Or, work at 45 degrees in continuous strand weaving! Lots of room to experiment with colour and texture. You can improvise a pin loom by cutting notches in a square of sturdy cardboard.

Needle weaving / stick weaving / peg loom

Projects by @thaylepo (here) and @pastelispunx (here)

Fabric - weft-faced fabric and rugs of any size.

Method - thread long thin warp threads through the pegs, then wind a thick weft (eg heavier yarn, sheep fleece, or long scraps of fabric) around the pegs. Push the weft down along the pegs as they fill up, so that it slides off onto the warp. The pegs can be secured in a base to make a peg loom for large projects, or just handled freely. I believe these evolved as separate crafts and the nuances are different, but the overall method is similar.

Frame loom / tapestry loom

Projects by @squeakygeeky (here) and @battlestar-gasmacktica (here)

Fabric - weft-faced or balanced fabric ideal for wall hangings and upholstery, size limited to the frame being used.

Method - (usually) thinner warp threads are wound round a frame, such as heavy cardboard with notches cut in the end, a picture frame, or a small and flat purpose-made loom. Thicker weft threads are woven in by hand using needles or just small lengths of yarn. Some people make lifelike images, others make more ordinary fabrics or geometric patterns.

Bobbin lace

Projects by @crochetpiece (here) and @noxx-notions (here)

Culture - began in renaissance Italy and spread throughout Europe, often as a cottage industry.

Fabric - balanced fabric usually made of very thin threads in freeform shapes. It's not usually considered "weaving" but the basic cloth stitch is definitely a woven fabric!

Method - each thread is wound onto a bobbin (e.g. a clothespeg) and then bobbins are crossed over each other to weave threads together. The lace is pinned to a cushion to hold everything in place while the design grows.

[ferncrafts]

Just finished the last tassels on this belt. I’m still considering adding some sort of reinforcement via embroidery along the edges, but I’m not sure of the best way to go about it. Very much open to suggestions or advice.

More of the process under the cut.

This piece was done through backstrap weaving. My “loom” consisted of two sticks + my heddle. Here you can see me working the heddle to change the shed.

I highly recommend NOT doing your first ever backstrap weaving using very thin singles consisting of some of the first thread you ever spun and dyed. Toward the end of the process, I had threads in the warp break a couple of times, some of the heddle strings were almost completely worn through.

The ends were done in two different ways. On the far ends I gradually decreased the width, then braided the threads of the warp (adding in some extra threads to give them slightly more volume). Then I twined the braids, with every other twist being twined once again (you can see the smaller ones are Z twists while the bigger ones are S twists).

The closer end I simply slipped off my stick, and twisted the ends together. This was pretty good for having a loop at the end, through which I could secure tassels.

[fyresnow]

the other thing I got with my fancy etsy discount was a rigid heddle and shuttle. They're horse shaped!!! Look at the little shuttle!!! It's too cute. All the pieces are very very sturdy and well made. The seller (WitchInWizardsCave) is in eastern europe, but I did message them and they do shipping in such a way that tariffs are prepaid, so I didn't have to worry about any of that.

I'm trying to do a diy backstrap set up with it and it's not going so well... I'm using paint stirrers as the lease sticks x') I was trying to do a bandlock kind of situation, but haven't been able to get that right, need to experiment more. The weaving itself isn't difficult, but maintaining the right tension with the tools I have is less than fun. But I’m learning a new skill and it’s ok for it to not be perfect ☺️

(the yarn is just Rainbow 8/4 cotton from hobbii)

[caveate]

Backstrap weaving!

How it started with the thick laceweight thread

How it continued

I was emboldened! What about this kinda stretchy yarn I have?

Oh. Oh no, no, that won't do.

What if I try some of the floss I have? Just a super simple design.

Yeah, not the white weft. Black looks so much better!

Oh, without a shuttle, just a wad of floss and my fingers and turning the heddle 180 degrees I can do speed! Plus the hospital bed had tons of hook points for the hook I was using on that end.

Where I started is the white at the upper left. I was putting on French pop music and just vibing with my fingers flying. Worked a total treat!

Debating another two feet so it's a good usable length for something and then adding more warp threads. It's a long rainbow gradient floss so I could do some interesting things with another rainbow on each side with a black for the outside.

[stringbit]

Book title: weaving in the Peruvian highlands: dreaming patterns, weaving memories. By Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez, The Enter for Traditional Textiles of Cusco.

A lot in this beloved favourite, brought from Canada when I first started weaving. I had to give up backstrap loom because rental flat, and no anchor points, but I still go over this.

Ph is in dying mode so pictures are poor quality, but images show cover, diagrams of backstrap looms, two different examples of warping, a close up of a weaver working on tubular bands, weavers at work on the loom, knitting, a double page spread of various motifs from weavers.

The author includes a brief biography of herself. She has had an instrumental role in preserving teaching and sustaining weaving in Cusco and area.

[speedwagons-glorious-mane]

Can someone please tell me if it's possible to get started tablet weaving with nothing but a pack of playing cards, yarn and a pair of carabiner hooks? I am broke yet I have been bitten by the tablet weaving bug

[pseuddamntired]

My twist removal setup for tablet weaving. The paperclips-as-bobbins for shortening the warp are so far working pretty well (they do sometimes catch on each other when not under tension, if they’re not exactly the same distance from the wooden dowel, but this is not at all difficult to untangle).

I can hold adequate tension in a smaller space with fishing swivels this way. If I hadn’t wound the threads onto paperclip-bobbins, I think I couldn’t have temporarily shortened the warp on fishing swivels. I think the extra warp would have nowhere to go and would tangle around the swivels and the other threads.

I’m using this with backstrap weaving, btw.

We’ll see how this setup fares when I unwind more warp. Hopefully I can just unsecure each paperclip (um. I probably should have explained how I secured the wound up thread in the first place. I’ll do that later), pull the warp away and let the threads unwind, secure them again one by one, and finally fix any remaining tension issues with the tensioning hitch knot that ties the swivels to the dowel. Will report on how that works out.

This is the dubiously secured setup I used to wind them up relatively quickly using a drill:

[cottonkhaleesi]

THATS MORE LIKE IT!

My back hurts and I got very sloppy at the end but lo! I have produced a slightly too short shoelace!!!

The only way is up from here!!