Easy Backstrap Idea for backstrap weaving

Here is an easy way to rig a backstrap. Take a belt that fits around your waist. Put two loops of rope through it that extend about 12 inches from the belt.



Place the belt around your back with the buckle facing away from your back and the loops extended.

Hook the loops onto your loom bar. You will have to experiment a little bit to get the right loom length. It's not fancy but should hold up until you weave a fancier backstrap.

Other ideas for making the backstrap include some that have been mentioned on this thread already.

- Cut off legs from a pair of jeans for improvised backstrap. I thought about that one because I save old jeans for the purpose of rag strips for making rag rugs. You can also convert the "shorts" into a shoulder bag by sewing the bottoms/legs closed and using some fabric of the legs for sewing the shoulder strap.

- Take a dishtowel, tie a knot in opposite corners so you can attach a rope. You can also take an old terry cloth bath towel and do the same thing. You might have to rip it in half to reduce the bulk.

- A pillow case can be used with knots in the corners.

- In the Curious Weaver Journal #2 article they suggest using a length of rope around your body as a strap while you weave yourself a strap as a first project. You may want to pad that rope with a towel or something.

- Old sheets can be ripped down to a wide sash sized strip, a knot in the ends, attach a rope.

I hope that helps.

Have a good day!

Hot color towel on backstrap loom

Here is another finished towel on left measures about 12 inch x 16 inch. The washcloth on right is about 9 x 9 inch. Details about the towel are below. The colors are Sugar n Creme Hot Green, Hot Orange, with Peaches N Creme White. All cotton worsted yarn.




Here is the start of another backstrap towel. First the warp is wrapped around the upright sticks of a craft frame in a figure 8 pattern. I am using the craft frame as a warping board.



The loom bars and leash sticks are inserted, then the warp is slid off the craft frame/warping board.


I have setup my backstrap and I'm halfway done with the weaving in this picture. I turned the loom around and started again from the other side and finished up in the middle.

This project was started on a Tuesday and was finished by Saturday.

Have a good day!

First backstrap towel finished

(click picture for larger view)
Here is the finished towel. Woven dimensions were 16 inch wide, 24 inch long.

Off the loom without tension, it only measures 13 wide, 21 long. I haven't even wet finished it yet. That would reduce it another 10 percent.

The ends were made with twined edge cords so the piece comes off the loom finished on 4 sides. I put tassels on the corners because of the edgecords. When switching warp color, I change at the end where I tie a square knot and weave the ends into the piece. The edgecord also helps hide the knot.

For weft color change, I change over in the middle, overlapping the thread. I am thinking I should change color at the edge rather than the middle. I think it would look better, but not sure how to hide the knot.

If someone has a neater way to switch colors, please let me know.

Peaches & Creme cotton worsted yarn warp/weft white
Sugar & Creme cotton worsted yarn variegated black/white for borders

Sett 8 threads per inch.

I had some missed picks, but I wasn't expecting perfect on the first try anyway.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios

Backstrap weaving in progress

Okay, I had a false start a couple of days ago. I warped up the loom, for a 16 inch wide by 24 inch long towel using Peaches & Creme white for most of the warp/weft and Sugar & Creme variegated black/white for borders. I adjusted my craft frame and tied the loom bars 24 inch apart. I continuous warped the loom bars. My camera ate the pictures of what happened next.

I tied edge cords onto both ends of the warp so I could get a nice finished edge (selvedge) to the piece. Then I moved the loom bars so I could lash the edge cords to the loom bar, I set a couple of dowels into the warp to hold the crossing of the warp threads (cross). This held up for while and I was able to get myself ready to weave by sitting on the couch with the other end of the loom tied to a bolt attached under a counter top.

As I tried to arrange my sticks, I learned that I had crossed a few warps. Bummer. And my edge cord had missed a few warps also. Bummer.

Then I tipped the loom sideways and the cross sticks fell out. Bummer. I tried to use a pickup stick to recover the warp cross. Very slow going and not very successful. I was extremely grumpy about this turn of events. If I lived in a more primitive setting, I would have gone out and punched a buffalo.

I untied the whole thing and started over. Ahhhh! Much better. I found that double checking every warp and cross doesn't take time, it saves time. Rubber bands are a fast way to tie up the ends of leash sticks to hold a cross. Tying a safety string across heddle and shed sticks also saves time.




Here I am on the second try. I saw pictures of people sitting on the floor with their backstrap looms and so I though I would try it. It's not bad. I need more cushion for sitting. Also need a cushion under my knees to put a little bit of flex in my knees to keep from hyper extending the knee joint. Otherwise it's not bad. I had joked about my legs being too short for my feet to hold the far end of the loom, 30 inch long trouser leg, and it turns out it is not a problem when weaving a 24 inch towel!


Here is my view of the weaving. The loom bar at the bottom is tied to my belt strap. Then it is tied to the lashed edge cord dowel. Then we have about 2 inches of black/white border to go with the two inches of black/white warp border. There is a pickup stick that is used to hold open the shed for the stick shuttle to go through. There is the string heddle on a stick, with a safety string. Behind that is another flat stick for making a shed. Then a round shed stick, with a safety string. Then the far edge cord dowel lashed to the far loom bar. And finally, a loop of rope to go over my shoes.

Did I mention that safety strings save time?


Here is a picture of the string heddle in action, holding up a set of warp for the shed stick to go under.


Here is the really cool part. You can put your shuttle stick on top of your work in progress, start rolling from the loom bar until you get to the far loom bar and you now ready for transport! Most of the loom parts are 18 inch long, the heddle stick is 24 inch long, but still easy to pack and move. I can cut down that heddle stick.

I'm halfway done with the towel and I'll probably be done tomorrow. More pictures then.

Have a good day!

Saturday Guild Jun 18 2011

At the Saturday meeting of the Sacramento Weaving and Spinning Guild on June 18. From left: Ken and Betsy, Loren, Linda, other Linda, Kathy,


From left: Connie, Rita, Stephanie, Janet, Monica


Here is Franco demonstrating a backstrap loom.


The piece is being woven with cotton yarn. This will be a small cotton towel. The loom can be rolled up for easy transport.


This is Linda talking about knots and some of the small weaving pieces she brought to show. Although she looks very serious in the picture, she smiles a lot when she talks about weaving.



Linda brought a mini-inkle, some weavette looms, some nail looms, a card loom and a FastSam.



This is a FastSam. It's a small frame loom for testing patterns. You warp it to the sett you want (like 12 ends per inch). Use an elastic band that fits in the grooves around the FastSam to hold the warp in place. Then use a tapestry needle to weave the weft.


Here Susan is showing us how she spins newspaper. She is making a gift for a friend from the library, hence the paper theme.

That's it for this month. Next meeting is July 23, 10 am to 12 pm

For more info visit
http://www.sacweavespin.org/saturday

It was a good day!

Washcloth and handtowel finished

(click on pictures to get larger view, then back to return to blog)

Above is the washcloth to go with the dishtowel/handtowel. I wove on my little frame loom to finish it more quickly. I warped with white cotton. I started a two inch stripe with the black/white cotton yarn. Then I turned the loom over, moved the string heddle to the lower shed and started with a two inch stripe, then filled in the middle with white yarn.

Here is the washcloth and handtowel together, after wet finishing. I finished the edges of the smaller washcloth with twining edge cords. The hand towel was woven on a backstrap loom.

Finished size of the handtowel is 12 x 17 inch. The washcloth is 8 1/2 by 9 inch.

Have a good day!