r/weaving • u/dont_mind_me_passing • Aug 13 '26
Work in Progress Backstrap weave
I basically made this whole thing out of wooden dowels from the craft store, and the sword is just a big ruler lol
the pattern is the M's and W's twill, and you can see, there's a section where I lost track of the pattern.
I have some tension issues, so I added extra cotton twine selvedge that seems to work pretty well
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u/No-Passenger2360 Aug 13 '26
Thats so cool! Do you feel like you could comfortably weave double that width or more with this setup? Is it difficult to get back going after putting it away for a bit, as in more issues with tension or quality?
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u/heyheyfifi Aug 13 '26
Traditional backstrap to toe weaving by a master weaver who can go really wide:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8GcSS9p5th/?igsh=aTg3aTJubjl3ZGpv
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u/No-Passenger2360 Aug 25 '26
the wider width looks really uncomfortable, but interesting tecnique, thank you for sharing!
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u/dont_mind_me_passing Aug 13 '26
It's fairly easy to adjust the tension, you just adjust the strap length and the distance you sitting, and I have carried the loom around in a backpack, works perfectly fine. The only issue I've had so far with this is finding a place to hang the other end so that it stays level and doesn't tilt, as that makes it harder to work with. As for width, I'm sure twice the width should also be easy to work with, more than that might need much more practice tho
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u/shoreditchcalling Aug 13 '26
I didn't even know that was possible without a loom, wow! How long did the setup take?
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u/dont_mind_me_passing Aug 13 '26
A backstrap loom IS in fact a loom, just a very primitive one that existed since thousands of years ago. Most of my set up was more troubleshooting than anything lol. It took, I think, around 20 minutes winding the warp and moving it onto the loom bars. another 10 to adjust the warp thread spacing and pick out the threads for the heddles. Around 30 minutes to an hour making the heddle strings and securing them. So in total it took maybe 2 to 3 hours, but that's because I fumbled quite a lot during the process lol
Btw, this backstrap loom is super portable, I just have to roll everything up and I can carry the whole project in my backpack wheeeeeeeeeeeeee
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u/shoreditchcalling Aug 13 '26
You're right of course, I should have said "modern loom". 3 hours setup is very impressive for such a cool pattern! Thanks for sharing (:
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u/dont_mind_me_passing Aug 13 '26
the pattern is a fairly simple 4 shaft draft that loops every 22 threads, so it's fairly simple to set up, only 44 heddle strings!
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u/shoreditchcalling Aug 13 '26
I've actually started out with yarn spinning and tablet weaving originally - just bought my first table loom last month. Shafts have been a bit intimidating for some reason, though they're really not different from the tablets in function. Seeing this photo, I really want to try them out now - thanks! (:
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u/dont_mind_me_passing Aug 13 '26
the main issue I've had with the heddles was with the string material and slipping, both of which are easy to fix. The wrong material, like acrylic or wool yarn can catch onto the warp and make the friction insanely high, but you can avoid that simply by using cotton twine or nylon (I have had some slight pilling on nylon as well tho). As for slipping, the heddle bar has fallen out when the loom wasn't balanced, but it's easy to secure the heddles via a long strand of rope or cotton twine uwu
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u/EstarriolStormhawk Aug 13 '26
You ever see someone make someone so beautiful you just want to bite them for their crimes?
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u/No_Sprinkles9459 Aug 13 '26
Beautiful! What yarn?
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u/dont_mind_me_passing Aug 13 '26
I remember the red yarn is from a brand called Sheep General, but I think it's a Taiwanese brand as I can't find any non-Taiwan sources for it. And it's a 50 50 blend of acrylic and sheep wool. The grey yarn is 100% wool (at least the tag says it is) that has no brand
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u/vetiversummer Aug 13 '26
So cool! Do you use separate pieces of string or a continuous strand for your heddles? Most instruction online for backstrap is for warp faced weaving and I've found that when I use those techniques for making the heddles with a continuous piece of string for a balanced weave, they move around a lot, which can cause inconsistent spacing and for the different heddles to start being different lengths which makes it harder to get a nice shed. I started wrapping the heddle string around the bar a few times between heddles (how many times depends on how many warp threads before the next one that's going in a heddle) and that seems to be working better.
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u/dont_mind_me_passing Aug 13 '26
I use the multiple string method, and once all the heddle strings are on the stick, I use another long thread and secure them in place
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u/miss_daisy_23 Aug 16 '26
I used weave on my backstrap loom all the time! I have taken a long break since but maybe I’ll pick it up again. Thanks for sharing your work!! Looks good!
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u/TheHandThatFollows 10d ago
this is amazing I was looking into a backstrap setup and Im going to try to copy yours!!
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u/TechnicalDot9 Aug 13 '26
Gorgeous!