Things to Consider Before Buying a Loom

There are so many types of looms it can be overwhelming. There are backstrap looms, inkle looms, frame looms, tapestry looms, barn looms, rug looms, vertical looms, horizontal looms, lap looms and triangle looms. If you haven’t learned how to weave yet, I suggest you get a simple frame loom or lap loom and try it out first. They are inexpensive ways to experiment before putting out cash for a more expensive loom.

Frame looms can be purchased or made inexpensively and can give you some idea of what you’d like to weave later on. You can do tapestry as well as plain weave on a frame loom. Some experienced tapestry weavers prefer the frame loom and have many sizes to accommodate any project.I have some instructions here for making your own frame loom.

Another option is to take weaving lessons if there is a class nearby. If they have looms available, you can learn to weave and try out looms at the same time.

Another type of inexpensive loom that is a lot of fun is an inkle loom. They were designed to weave strips for belts, bag handles and other items, but can be sewn together to make interesting fabric.

You can use the same loom to do card weaving which also make beautiful strips. The cards for this type of weaving are very inexpensive and you don’t really need a loom at all, although I find it easier to manage when it’s secured on a loom

If you want to weave fabric for dishtowels, clothing, or other projects but don’t want to spend a lot of money, I highly recommend a rigid heddle loom. The come in a variety of widths, from narrow child sized looms to wide models that have their own stand. They are much less expensive than multi harness looms, and with practice, you can weave interesting patterns with pick up sticks. I’ve done some of the patterns in the book, The Weaver's Idea Book: Creative Cloth on a Rigid Heddle Loom, and was excited to see how easy it was to do patterns usually seen only on multi harness weaving. A rigid heddle loom can also serve as a portable loom when you want to travel as well as a loom to weave samples and experiment before warping a bigger loom.

Multi harness looms

Harnesses are the means by which the warps are raised and lowered. Multi harness looms can have 2, 4, 8,16 or more harnesses. The more harnesses you have the more complex patterns you can weave. Too many harnesses, however, makes it more difficult to warp the loom.  Multi harness looms come in many sizes so you need to consider how much room you have to set up your loom.

Table looms come in many widths. Some even have their own stand so that you don’t have to sacrifice table space to set it up. However, a stand will take up floor space.

This is a picture of my home made table loom.

Floor looms can take up space as small as a coffee table to the size of a room. Barn looms were kept in their own shed because of the space they took up. They were older looms used to weave rugged fabric and rugs with a wide width. Some looms are designed to fold to make them more portable.

Don’t forget to think about what type of weaving you really like to do. If you really like to do scarves, you don’t need a big rug loom. If you like to do rugs, a light weight, narrow loom won’t do the job for you. If you’re not sure, a mid sized loom will do a little of all types. Reeds can be changed to accommodate different thicknesses of warp. Wider fabric can be made by sewing strips together or learning to do a double width weave.

You can pay a lot of money for a new loom or you can hunt around for a used one for less money. Study the parts of a loom before looking at used looms to make sure everything is there. Often people sell old looms that have been in their family for a good price, but don’t know themselves anything about looms or weaving. The more you know, the better chance you have of getting a good loom for a decent price.

_{All photos by LN Pettey}