$2 Thrift Store Loom

(click pictures for larger image)

Back to the fiber adventure. Above is a needlepoint stitching kit I bought for $2.00. It has a mesh background with a printed pattern to follow that is tacked to a wooden frame measuring about 10 inch by 8 inch on the outside. It includes over a dozen hanks of embroidery floss. I bought it to make a loom out of it.



Here is the wooden frame. I attached pencils with clear plastic tape to raise the warp and give me some room for tension adjustment. If the tension gets too tight, I'll remove a pencil to give some slack.


Here is the frame with a continuous warp of #10 cotton crochet thread, about 100 ends. I tried to weave some floss with a crosstitch needle. I quickly realized the warp was too close and many of the warps were crossed over each other.


The warp is wrapped around the front and back of the frame. I followed the warp around and around the loom making sure all the warps do not cross over the one next to it. Once it was straightened out, I set the cross using pencils and safety strings. The knitting needle was helpful in picking up threads.


Once the crossed warps are straightened out, I need ot spread out the warps. So I put three rows of twining on the warps. This spread the warps very well. You can also see the string heddle on a pencil.


In this picture you can see I am using the knitting needle to open the shed to make room for the ruler I am using for a shed stick. When I turn the shed stick it opens the shed (spread upper/lower warp apart) so I can push the shuttle stick, which is the pencil with the red floss wrapped around it.


Here you can see the pocket comb I am using as a beater to push the warp into place. Right now I'm getting a very uneven spread of weft, too far apart then very close. Very gauzy in spots so I now have one way of doing gauze which is on my list. I am thinking I should use double floss to fill in the weaving more.

Have a good day!