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Photos and Text by Stasia
This is a real inkle warp made up of 61 strands of cotton rug warp. The measurements and threading order are below, along with photos of the completed project.
See how every other strand has a heddle looped over it, and around the heddle peg?
This is a side view of the same shot. I've pulled two heddles away from the others (they are "cupping" the pink threads) so you can see how they come down in-between the green threads, but don't encircle them. (Note the green, pink, green, pink threads above my index finger, and their relationship to one another.)
OK. Here I'm weaving. I'm PUSHING DOWN on all the non-heddled threads with my left hand to make a shed (weaving space) in front of the heddles. I'm inserting my shuttle into that space, to take my weft shot through.
Here's the weft shot going through. IMPORTANT: When you start weaving, do NOT use white thread like I did! It makes a white bump on each edge of your weaving! Use a color close to the colors on the edges/sides of your warp, unless you like this "scalloped" effect.
This photo is taken from the other side of the loom.
Here, I am LIFTING the non-heddled threads with my right hand, to make the OPPOSITE shed (weaving space), and I'm taking my shuttle through from left to right.
Your heddle threads never move... the non-heddle threads just move up and down between them!
When I cannot get a big enough shed to get my shuttle through, I will pull the whole warp towards me, rotating it around and under the loom.
You can see a bit of the woven band in the center-left of the photo. This particular warp is longer than the one on the previous webpage; therefore, it goes around more of the pegs on the loom, as you can see, to gain more length.
This is just a shot of the heddled threads, and the non-heddled threads running in-between them, and the heddles circling the heddle peg. The finished weaving is shown beneath them.
This is just another shot of me lifting a shed, so you can see how the heddled strands remain stationery beneath them. I've left the shuttle out of this shot so you can see the shed better.
Pull, push, pull, push, only the non-heddled threads are manipulated... that's all there is to it!
The same lifting shed, slightly different angle.
OK, as my weaving has progressed, my original knots have been rotated so they are now at the very top center of the photo. You can see how I've zig-zagged my warp to take advantage of more pegs so I could make it nice and long.
I've woven my whole belt. The last weft was placed over at the left, just to the left of the heddles.
You can see that I'm leaving quite a lot of unwoven area as fringe and/or loom waste (topmost in photo).
I have unhooked all my heddles from the heddle peg and will remove them, lifting them straight up one at a time, before I cut off my warp so they don't get tangled in it. You save these heddles to use on another project.
In front is a single heddle. See how all the knots in the heddles are down by the peg? You don't want them to catch on your warp strings as you weave, so be sure to place them down there when you put them on.
Here I have cut my warp, where the original knots were, and that makes fringe on either end.
Some Instructions
This belt took a rank beginner (with physical limitations) less than 2.5 hours total to make, including the multicolor warping. An experienced weaver could do it far faster. It is quite easy - after you do your first inkle project, you'll be speeding right along!
The project is from Rachel Brown's "Spinning, Weaving and Dyeing" book, page 52. It is the first inkle weaving project she provides as a learning lesson. (Another good book is Helene Bress' "Inkle Weaving". Your local or Internet fiber/weaving shop can order either title for you.)
My warp consisted of 61 strands, and was 80" long on the loom. Approximately 9" was allowed for fringe. Ms. Brown said to calculate for 4-5" for loom waste and takeup (which I forgot to do, but it worked out fine anyway).
I learned that I should have used the same color for the weft as the edge strands of the warp, so that the weft wouldn't show at the edges.
After washing, the belt was 56" total, with 8" of that being 4" of twisted fringe on each end. I cut quite a bit away from the fringe as loom waste, as I didn't need it. So the woven part is actually 48".
On the left is my final weft shot. On the right is my first. When I first started weaving, my beating was uneven and I pulled my wefts too tight. I got better by the end. That is why it is wider on the left of the photo. I think I should be beating a little more tightly, though... but at least the white weft doesn't show thorugh the warp threads - that's the main thing.
This band used four colors:
D=Dark Green, L=Lavender, T=Teal, P=Purple.
Here is the threading order:
A (lower) path, first strand placed, 31 strands total:
DDDLTPDDLTPPPPDDDLLLLTPDDLTPDDD 31 StrandsB (upper) path, second strand placed, 30 strands total:
PPDLTPDLTPPPPDDDDLLLLTPDLTPDLL
I have taken the fringe strands, and made a knot with every three strands, up by the end of the weaving itself. I'm now using a Leclerc fringe twister to twist two of those knotted strands together... see next photos. (This can also be done by hand but this is a really cool tool!)
The two knotted sections have now been twisted. I remove them from the fringe twister, hold both ends together, and let them twist back the other way on themselves (don't let go of the end!) Then I put a knot in the bottom end (see next photo).
Two sections twisted first to the right separately with the twister, then untwisted back to the left together, and knotted at the bottom.
The finished fringe on my first inkle-woven project!
Back To Page One
Other Online Instructions
All about inkle weaving at InkleWeaving.com.
Inkle instructions at Earth Guild.
Inkle instructions at Schacht.
Inkle instructions at Frontier America Trading.
Inkle Loom Used For Card/Tablet Weaving (TWInkle)
Online PDF Version of Mary Meigs Atwater's "How To Weave On The Inkle Loom"
ICanSpin.com Table Of Contents