Backstrap Weaving

It all starts with a warping board. Above…a homemade one.

Sometimes you need to improvise.

Finding something FIRM around which to wind your warp is essential. If you think that you will be doing a a lot of weaving it is well worth investing in a warping board or building one yourself. If you are using dowels embedded in a plank, make sure they are firmly embedded and cannot move at all. Leaning warping stakes will seriously affect your warp.

“L” brackets screwed into wood work well using one arm of the “L”  as the stake.

The warping pegs that come with rigid heddle looms are another good option. Clamp two to a table.

An inkle loom can be used as a warping board using two pegs.

The basic moves:

1.Start by tying the yarn in a large loop around stake A. Place the ball of yarn in a bowl or other container so it won't roll around. Pull the yarn off the ball and lead it to and around stake B. 2.When returning to stake A, the yarn needs to cross itself. You are moving in a figure-of-eight path. 3. When changing colors cut and tie on new yarns to each other at stake A. Finish by cutting and tying off the yarn around stake A in a large loop.

Concentrate on keeping the tension as even as possible. Try not to stop or pause in the middle of warping. Remember that this warp will go directly onto your loom. A well-wound evenly-tensioned warp will get you started on the right foot with your weaving.

I show basic warping in the following video:

Four stake warping which allows you to quickly and efficiently separate out two colors into two sheds on the warping board can be seen in this video:

This blog post has a lot of information about warping.