Inkle and Band Looms

How it works

An inkle loom is a wooden frame with dowels around which a continuous warp runs in a loop ¹. Alternate ends pass through string heddles fixed to a heddle bar; the ends between are open ¹:

• Lift the open ends above the heddled ones: one shed.
• Push the open ends down below them: the other shed.

Pass a small belt shuttle (which doubles as a beater) through each shed, beat, and change ¹. The finished band slides around the loop as you weave, so a warp can be several times longer than the loom.

“Inkle” once meant a linen tape, and Shakespeare mentions inkle three times ¹.

Designing with warp color

Inkle bands are warp-faced: the warp packs so tightly that it hides the weft, which shows only as small bumps at the edges ^{1 2}. So the design comes from the order of warp colors.

Draft a band as two rows of squares, the top row for heddled ends and the bottom for open ends, alternating:

Warp with a fine, smooth, strong yarn - mercerized cotton (sizes 5/2 to 10/2), wool, or linen - and a weft of the same yarn as the edge color.

Weaving

1. Warp the loom following your draft, tying a heddle for every other end.
2. Weave a few picks of scrap to spread the ends.
3. Weave with an even tug on the weft at each edge: the weft sets the width, so pull to the same width every pick.
4. Beat firmly with the shuttle’s edge.
5. Advance the band around the loop as it nears the heddles.

Pick-up patterns lift individual ends out of their normal shed to float motifs - diamonds, letters, small figures - across the band ¹. Supplementary weft brocade adds another way to decorate.

Uses

Camera and guitar straps, belts, bag straps, hatbands, dog leashes, trim for garments, and narrow shoelaces ¹; in the past, garters, ties, and edgings on clothing.

What to take from this

An inkle loom carries a continuous warp; heddled ends stay put while open ends are lifted or pushed down for the two sheds. Bands are warp-faced, so the pattern comes from the warp color order, drafted as alternating heddled and open rows. Keep an even weft tug for a straight edge, beat firmly, and use pick-up for motifs.