Complete a woven band using the inkle loom. Use at least three colors with good contrast. As you are weaving be sure to keep the width and warp even. Observe the demonstration in class and work steadily.
Participate in the “Warping demo” in class. Learn to tie a “square not”. You will need to use the square knot to connect your strings. Based on our pattern choose 3 colors and warp your loom. The weft thread needs to be one of the warp thread colors.
Participate in the “Weaving Demonstration”. Tie the beginning to the end and begin weaving. Be sure to keep the width of your woven band the same throughout as well as keeping the woven warp rows horizontal. Do not let them go diagonally.
Finish the ends by braiding them in small groups of three warp strings at a time. Trim so they are even.
Pattern Drafting for the Inkle Loom
Pattern Drafting is a fancy term for drawing up the pattern you wish to weave. It makes it a bit easier when you’re starting out to have a drawing that you can refer to as you string the loom. Basic inkle weaving consists of alternating two rows of threads to produce a pattern of stripes and/or checks in a horizontal and vertical format.
This pattern has a central horizontal stripe (11 threads wide: 4 green, 1 rust, 1 gold-,1 rust, 4 green), flanked by 4 rows of gold and 4 rows of rust. 28 weft strings total.
Every other thread will need a heddle string to keep it in place, so that’s 14 heddles needed.
When you warp (or string) the loom, you’ll do one thread from Row A then one from Row B, then Row A, then Row B, alternating all the way through the rows. It does not matter which row you start with, nor which row you decide to pass through the heddles and which row goes straight; just stay consistent throughout the warping process. You can put the heddles on as you put on the warp threads, or do all the heddles at once after all the warp threads are done.
That’s pattern drafting in a nutshell.
