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Supplies: Inkle Looms, Shuttles, Fringe Twister, Yarns
Specially Recommended Yarns: Maysville 8/4, Dragon Tale 4/2 Cotton

INKLE WEAVING

An "inkle" is a braided linen tape. These braided tapes look like the bands woven on inkle looms. Hence the name of the loom - as best anyone knows. Of course, a woven band is not a braided band. Words slip and slither. In use in England for 300 years, fixed heddle continuous warp looms are most likely prehistoric. Simple enough to be discovered and forgotten innumerable times.

Four inches weaving width is the limit for most inkle looms. Looms that can work wider - as some of the two sided models can - are uncomfortable to weave on and a nuisance to warp. But bands four inches and under may be belts, handbag straps, trim for clothing, guitar straps. Or be sewn together for scarves, bags, skirts. Length varies from two feet to eight feet. Most inkle looms can be strung several ways, ending up with different lengths of strip.
The set-up is quick and easy. Warp is wound directly on to the loom. You can start weaving as soon as your warp is ready. Instead of tying to the back beam, winding on, threading through heddles, sleying through a reed, tying on in front - as you do with most looms - you weave immediately.

Inkle looms are as versatile in pattern possibilities and nearly as portable as Navajo backstrap looms. Backstraps allow a greater range of width and length. But when the doorbell rings or the baby wakes up you just walk away from an inkle loom. You must carefully unharness yourself from a backstrap.

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MATERIALS
Avoid yarns that fray or break easily. Avoid yarns that are very soft or very stretchy. But anything from sewing thread to heavy rug yarn works on an inkle loom. The thicker the yarn the faster the warping and the faster the weaving. The thinner the yarn, the more delicate the weave. Beginners are best off starting fairly thick.

Consider use in choosing yarn: belts have to hold your pants up, skirt trim usually shouldn't be stiffer than the skirt (and should be as colorfast and washable).

Maysville 8/4 Carpet Warp, or our Dragon Tale 4/2 Cotton, or 3/2 Perle Cotton are good for a first warp. Anything fairly heavy, firmly spun and colorful will work fine: it needn't all be the same weight, but it's probably easier to start with a warp that varies only in color. You also need string to tie heddles and a shuttle. A belt shuttle is best, but any small flat one will do . Use a strong thin cotton or linen for heddles - carpet warp works well.

LOOMS And you need a loom. Well-made hardwood works better and lasts longer, but soft-wood will do. A smooth finish is essential or you'll snag yarns. The dowels should be well set. Two sided looms are usually flimsy and awkward to use - one sided looms with projecting dowels are best. The loom should have a base, so it stands on its own. Light or heavy is a matter of taste - heavy is more stable, light is easier to move. The tension bar should tighten and loosen easily, without chewing up the loom; and be very snug when it's tightened all the way. Price is no gauge of quality. But be willing to pay for a good one - it should last forever and always be a pleasure to use. It's not too hard to make one yourself: copy a good design, be careful making the tension bar, get pegs in square (drill press or very good hands).

WARPING First tie your heddles - 18 is a good number to start with. Wrap 18 loops around the indicated pegs four pegs to get the right length, cut across, then tie around three, with a square knot. Set heddles aside. You can use the same heddles over and over.

Set the tension bar in the middle of its range. Tie an end of yarn to the bar (use a half-bow knot, so it unties easily). Loop the yarn around the pegs as shown on right. You can wrap the warp any way you like around the pegs to get the length you want, as long as you do not interfere with the working of the heddles (this will be clearer later) but this very simple arrangement is good for a first project.

Keep going with the yarn for a second pass, but this time go over the top peg in the middle upright, instead of under it. Take one heddle, lay it over the yarn you just wound (second pass, not the first), pull down and loop both heddle ends over the lower peg.

Continue looping yarn around until all eighteen heddles are used. Alternate one under the peg, no heddle, one over the peg, heddled; one under; one over, and so on. Put your heddles on as you go - it's harder to add them later and the tension will not be good.

To change warp colors, tie off the color you are done with. Untie the half -bow from tension bar (starting end); cut other end free (finishing end) and tie with a square knot. New color ties on as before - half -bow around the tension bar and continue warping. You might want your first project one color for simplicity's sake. Or you could change color every time around. Your choice. The colors of the warp make the design.

Your last warp thread should take a heddle. You'll have 36 threads in all; 18 in heddles, 18 not in heddles, alternating. Un-tie the last half-bow knot on the tension bar, cut the last warp thread and tie ends together (square knot). If your warp is all one color, you'll cross the whole width of the belt with this last knot. (The heddles and the tension keep the warp from crossing while you're weaving) . If you changed colors, you'll have shorter crosses where the ends of yarn are knotted. There should be no knots on the tension bar when you're finished, because the warp must be free to be pulled, as a unit, around the pegs.

SHEDS Reset the tension bar as tight as you comfortably can. Pull down the warp threads with your hand as shown . All unheddled threads are below the fixed heddled ones. Now push those same threads up. And the unheddled threads are above the heddled ones. The spaces or angle are called "sheds". You weave by passing the weft (back-and-forth) yarn through with the movable warp threads down, pushing movable threads up, passing the weft yarn across again, pushing cords down, through, up, through, down, etc.

WEAVING Wrap your shuttle with yarn. Make a shed by pushing movable cords up or down - it doesn't matter which. Pass shuttle through from one side. Let the first end of weft yarn hang out, six inches or so. Make the opposite shed and pass the shuttle back through. With the same shed open, pass the loose first weft end through the other way. Reverse shed: pass shuttle through, pass weft end through. Soon the weft end disappears, woven in backwards, and your belt starts evenly, with no loose ends. When the weft end is used up, continue weaving. Up and down with the sheds, back and forth with the shuttle. Don't leave loops of weft, and don't pull it too tight. Even weaving comes only with practice.

Use the shuttle edge to beat the weft yarns tight. You'll be pulling the loom towards you each time you beat. It's easiest if the front end is snug against you - you can beat harder without having the loom slide about.

After six or eight inches of weaving, you'll find the shuttle bumping into the heddles. Loosen the tension bar and pull the whole warp towards you. Tighten the tension bar, straighten up any heddles dragged forward; and go on weaving.

When you have 8 or 10" of weft yarn left, leave the tail hanging and refill your shuttle. Continue weaving with the old end and the new one together, for several picks or till the tail runs out. Beat these passes or picks well, so they are not thicker than the others.

The color of weft yarn is seen only at the edges. If the outside warp threads and the weft are the same color, the weft vanishes entirely. This is called a warp-faced weave.

You'll notice that the tension bar is pulled farther in as you go. You can understand why if you imagine the warp humping over and under the weft threads.

Continue to weave, pulling the warp towards you when you need to. You will be able to go up to about 8 -12 inches from where you started. Leave six inches or so of weft yarn dangling at the finish. Thread this end back through the weaving with a crochet hook - essentially the same thing you did when you started. Or tie it tightly to one of the warp ends.

Cut the warp threads halfway between the woven ends. Two cuts - one for the top threads (heddled) , one for the bottom (unheddled). Save the heddles; they're good until they wear out.

Do whatever you wish with the fringe at either end of your belt. Tie together in twos, then clip off close. Knot them in bunches and make tassels. Use them to tie on to a buckle or a ring. Anything which secures them against the weft to prevent unraveling. It's your belt now.

Mastering color changes, hiding weft ends, weaving evenly and tightly, designing and executing pleasing patterns - all come with time and practice. You can copy or modify designs taken from weaving books when your imagination has a dry spell. Very intricate patterns may be made with fine warp, especially if you learn hand picking (using the two sheds as a base pattern, but going over or under selected warp threads by hand on some passes).You can get as fancy as you wish. Once you've got the knack, it's yours to do with as best pleases you.