Backstrap Weaving

Very interesting reading for curious people like me !

your life sounds very vividly and pulsating … opposite to quiet weaving… just the right counterbalance to get the right balance ?

I’d bet you are 50% indian blood, aren’t you ?

yes, Laverne, do consider it viiiiite !!! I’m so impatient … (all but your only fault, don’t forget !)
Michelle

Hi Laverne. My name is Sam and I am in the process of applying for a grant to study different weaving techniques around the world. If you get a chance, I would love to exchange emails with you and get advice about where to go and whom to contact.
Thanks!
Sam

Thank you that is a good suggestion. What seems to happen is that when I move my warps onto the loom bars the warps seem to tangle and get twisted. They are straight at the cross, but are not the same at the loom bars. Last time I resorted to using scotch tape to tape the warps in place before I moved them. That seemed to help.

I thought I had read somewhere that you had been to Oaxaca, but I must have been wrong. I know a few people connected to the Mayan community and maybe they will be able to help me find a teacher in Chiapis. I plan on taking Spanish classes which I keep doing on an ongoing basis, painting in plein air and weaving classes. That should make for a busy 2 months.

Hi Laverne-
First of all, thanks SO much for such a beautiful and detailed website. I’ve been wanting to learn backstrap weaving for many years, since I saw the beautiful textiles my great-grandmothers made back home in Mexico.

Do you have any recommendations for backstrap weaving teachers/classes in the San Francisco Bay Area? Your tutorials are fantastic, but I think I need to learn from some hands-on teaching 🙂

Have a wonderful day!

Hi Laverne, I am so happy that I happened onto your website. I am in the midst of learning card weaving and I came across your website. I finished my card weaving project and began instantly to gather the materials for my loom. All of which I had already in my garage, short of broom handles. I went to work the next day and came home with a bountiful supply of used broom handles. Now I am starting to go through your lesson plan. I have warped for my backstrap. I am so excited. On your Faq Index #13 , 14, 15 through the end of the list don’t link to anything. Is that because you are not done? Your attention to detail on your blog and tutorials are awe inspiring. I look forward to reading updates every day and check for new posts several times a day.

Bobbie

Hi!
I have only been skimming over this website as Im actually a final year textile student in Galashiels – Scotland … My lecturer recommended I look at Ikat dying and this is how I stumbled across your site! I am 21 and have did alot of travelling in the states and worked with kids with special needs. I duno what I want to do when I graduate, i think the only thing I know is traveling in some way! I guess im just wondering how do you begin? your travels sound amazin! xx kate
ps I was born in Austraila .. Manly,new south wales I left when I was 2 and lived in Ireland until i started my studies 🙂

Hi Laverne,
Another question! I am finally weaving a wider piece of plain striped warp, and I want to make a change purse from it. How do I make the sides so the purse has some depth? I think I’ll put a piece of metal tape measure to open and close it. Thanks for your help….again!! Keep it coming. Just love everything on your site.
Lynda (Canada)

I am a self taught weaver who has luckily owns a 4 harness floor loom, a small portable 4H table loom, and an ‘as yet’ tested tapestry loom. I guess you can tell I love everything weaving! I must say however, that my recent experimentation in backstrap weaving (prompted by your excellent basic beginners instructions, videos and photos), has lead me down a new path. There is something inexplicably satisfying about the backstrap weaving process…where the weaver is so intimately “tied” (in every sense of the word), to the creative process. “Weaver” alone, becomes the mechanism by which creativity, color or patterning, and a little bodily coordination seem to yield an insurmountable variety of textile possibilities. There is something truly “organic” about it…for I have found that this early on, (in my backstrap foray), that it involves mind, body and spirit in a way that I have not found in my weaving journey before. As a history buff, it also places me alongside weaving women who have practiced this form of weaving for generations, by simple means,and from simpler times. I am very grateful that you have shared your weaving journey with us, and that you continue to document techniques, patterns, equipment and styles of the indigenous South American people. I am hoping to inspire others in my neck of the woods, (Northern Canada), to ‘strap one on’ with me! Keep up the great work! Lorraine

I recently got interested in weaving and your blog is constantly coming up in all my searches. I made my own backstrap loom after seeing the prices on other types of looms. After my first project I almost gave up on it (tried doing a weft faced weave and my warps wouldn’t stay spaced correctly). I realized I was starting on something a little too hard so I just did a plain warp faced weave in one color. I’m in love with it now and I plan to keep weaving with it. I absolutely love that I can take it places with me and I feel most comfortable using my feet to hold the end warp bar for tension. Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for all this information you took the time to compile for people like me. If your blog wasn’t here I’m not sure I could have figured it all out.

I love your blog! I am starting my round the world travels this summer and I hope to travel around peru, chile and the andes and I want to learn to weave. I studied art and art history in school and I would love to travel the world learning arts and crafts. How did you find the women you worked with? Did you need to learn a dialect or did spanish get you around?

Thanks so much!

HI Laverne- I was hoping to ask your permission to use the photos you took of the exterior of Greenbank Mill. I am preparing a TEDx talk and want to include that collage of photos you took of it. I used to live there so it’s an important part of my talk .I would greatly appreciate your permission to reuse it. Thank you! It is here: https://backstrapweaving.wordpress.com/2015/04/17/backstrap-weaving-sunrise-sunset/

Karen Connell

Thank you, so much, for your eye pattern ebook. It is a great instructional tool. The pictures are so helpful and your written directions are very clear, too. I especially appreciated that you included a “short hand” form for weavers to use once they have made some progress with the technique.

I am an educator and I am especially appreciative of how you were able to anticipate mistakes / challenges and to encourage people new to this technique.

Thank you!

Hi,
Amazing story about your travels and your ability to use your skills to help you on your discovery of the weavers of Latin America.
I also love textiles but I don’t weave. I am a Shibori artist which is using resist dyeing techniques to create designs. I lived in Mexico for 6 years working as a designer and pattern maker for a manufacturer of leather jackets. I enjoyed living in such a creative environment. It was an experience I will never forget.
It was nice to discover you as I was looking for information about four selvage weaving. I just learned about it from a lecture called Conversation on Cloth given by Yoshiko Wada and Ana Lisa Hedstrom.

Laverne,
I am planning a trip to Peru and was wondering if you could give me the name of someone that could show me how to weave with a backstrap loom. I would love to see one being used then do it when I get home! I have a couple of your books but haven’t tried the weaving in it yet. I have just retired so will be starting when I get back from my trip.
Thanks so much for your help!
Debbie