Liz Gipson - Weaving Made Easy: 17 Projects Using a Simple Loom

Cover Design: Connie Poole

Interior Design: Laura Shaw

Production Design: Katherine Jackson

Technical Editing: Diane Kelly

Editing: Ann Budd

Illustrations: Gayle Ford

Photography: Joe Coca, Ann Swanson

Text 2008 Interweave Press LLC

Photographs and illustrations 2008 Interweave Press LLC

All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gipson, Liz.

Weaving made easy : 17 projects using a simple loom / Liz Gipson, author.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-59668-075-3 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-1-59668-983-1 (PDF)

ISBN 978-1-62033-207-8 (ePub)

1. Hand weaving. 2. Hand weaving--Patterns. 3. Handlooms. I. Title.

TT848.G57 2008

746.1'4041--dc222008014303

To the Giants, for we all stand on their shoulders.

I owe much to many. Mom and Dad provided the foundation on which I stand. My vast, extended web of familyGipsons, Woodroofs, Howes, Heges, Tharps, and Dammansbuilt the framework, and my husband, Jim, helped me with the rest and was oh, so patient and encouraging during the process of constructing this particular part of our lives.

It takes a village to make a book, and Im lucky to live in a darn great one. The book would simply not have happened if Linda Ligon hadnt meditated one day and had a vision that it should. She more than helped it along its way. Madelyn van der Hoogt gave me the encouragement, space, and support to make this book happen. Weavers and I owe her much for her dedication to the craft. Jane Patrick championed this poorly named loom after Betty Davenport lay down the torch (which she has recently picked up again, by the way). Ann Swanson is a beautiful ball of talentfrom mothering to photo stylingwhose inner resources are great and whose love for this loom is much appreciated. Amy Clarke Moore, colleague and personal cheerleader, stepped in and helped with the section on color, including weaving the color samples. Judy Berndt is a model of compassion, wit, and good grammar. Liz Good, my officemate, listened to the endless chatter about this book and jumped in to reweave the Grab it and Go Bag when I ran out of time.

I am also grateful to Tricia Waddell for giving me the time to get the book right and for offering a non-weavers perspective; Ann Budd for her consummate editing skills; Diane Kelly for consumate technical editing skills (and love of goats); Joe Coca, who is at once a fine photographer, sage, and jester; Connie Pool for loaning us her house for the photo shoot and great cover design; Laura Shaw for her clean approach to interior design; and Nancy Arndt to whom we are all grateful that her eyes cast over final pages and make them better. And finally, Marilyn Murphy, who is ceaseless in her dedication to Interweavethose of us who work here owe her more than we know.

Weaving is an enchantress. Im not sure exactly how I came under her spell. I was fortunate to learn to weave at a young age. All things fiber charmed my imagination. As a child, I would wrap my little hands around the fence surrounding the llama at the petting zoo in order to prevent my grandmother from hauling me away. I read in a book that you could weave with that llamas coat, and I wanted her to teach me how! Working with yarn simply makes me happy, and we tend to stick with things that make us happy.

Weaving, for me, is also a small act of rebellion. We are so far removed from how the items we depend on everydayfood, clothing, and shelterare made. Now, Im not even close to making everything I wear or all the textiles in my home, but at least I know what it takes to make the fabric that I depend on.

This little loomthe rigid heddleis the perfect avenue for you to discover what weaving has to offer. Small and portable, its the ideal blend of ease and functionality. Weaving is one of the fastest ways to produce cloth, and it meshes beautifully with all of your other craft skills. If you sew, youll be in heaven creating your own fabric. If you knit or crochet, you can combine these techniques for truly unique garments. If you spin, you can create yarns for woven cloth that no one else can buy. If you have never tackled any other craft in your life, you learned all you need to know in third-grade math. Really. Its that easy!

Its time to get weaving, and this little loom is your ticket to the party.

With every new avocation comes a new vocabulary. Weaving is no exception, but fortunately, there are only a few simple terms to master. When first used, the terms are printed in boldface type; see . Woven cloth is made by interlacing the warp ends with weft picks. Long ago, weavers came up with a variety of looms to hold the warp ends taut to facilitate interlacing them with the weft picks.

The rigid heddle is perhaps the most straightforward loom available on the market. The warp ends are threaded alternately through holes in plastic bars cloth.

Cloth Beam Holds the woven cloth at the front of the loom.

Warp Beam Holds the warp threads at the back of the loom.

Shed Blocks Hold the rigid heddle in the up or down position.

Rigid heddle Apparatus through which the warp is threaded and with which the weft yarn is beat or aligned perpendicular to the warp.

Front Apron Rod Where the warp is tied and tensioned at the front of the loom.

Back Apron Rod Where the warp is tied onto the back of the loom.

Reed The holes and slots in the rigid heddle.

Stand Holds the loom at a comfortable height for weaving. If you dont have a stand, prop the back of the loom on the edge of a table and rest the front in your lap.

Shed The space between adjacent warp threads through which the weft travels.

Holds the weft.

The yarns stretched on the loom.

Yarn that interlaces the warp in an over-under fashion.

Brake Allows the tension of the warp to be released or tightened.

Whats in a Name?

Although the details are lost to time, it would have been nice if whoever named the rigid heddle loom had come up with a sexier name. Although rigid heddle describes the loom perfectly, it sounds so stiff and, well, rigid, for such an ingenious invention.