Posted by jean brown on Monday, 29 January 2001, at 11:08 p.m.:
In Reply to: HELP! I Don't Know How To use My New Loom! posted by Camille Jensen on Saturday, 6 January 2001, at 3:57 p.m.:
an Inkle loom is used for making ribbon or braces or belts.
I begin by making the heddles. That is taking a length of fine strong string approximately 12 inches long and tying with a reef knot to form a circle. The width of your matterial depends on how many heddles you make. 20 heddles using a fine yarn to equal 3ply wool, will give about 1 inch wide.
You now warp your loom, by tying on end on the
uppermost part of your loom that is closet to you
when you are sitting with the loom facing you.
(The back of the loom has the tension winder on it.)
With one long continuose thread, the colour that you want the finished article to be. You tie on the beginning end. Wind the first thread - the open warp thread so that it goes under the first peg, over the second down to the bottom abd back to where you started from. Next slip one of the cirlces you made (heddles) on the the middle peg and lie this over the 2nd thread, then slip it onto the peg that you originally put it on. you than take the tread up and over the peg immediately above, then round. You should now have two threads, on under and one over. Continue in this way until you have the width required. To begin weaving you thread some yarn onto a shuttle, and you weave by making a shed.
You use your fingers to lift up the bottom thread and slide your shuttle through, on the return you push the bottom threads down.
It is very hard to give you instructions without pictures. I can recommend the Ashford Book of Weaving by Anne Field its ISBN Number is 908884 06 0. This has inkle weaving through to eight shaft loom. You may be able to get one from a library and copy the pages relating to Inkle Looms.
Happy Weaving.