overshot weaving rigid heddle loom made in china

Crazyshot - creative overshot weaving - introduces anyone who uses a rigid heddle loom to a whole world of creative weaving. Using just one heddle and one pick-up stick, you’ll explore color, design, and texture, taking your weaving to the next level.

Complete step-by-step instructions are included for weaving all 14 of the designs in this book. Also provided are how-tos for the single heddle overshot technique, reading charts for the rigid heddle loom, and finishing techniques, along with lots of tips and tricks for successful and

Complex patterning is easier than it looks with this simple charted technique. All you need are basic rigid heddle warping and weaving skills to start your next weaving adventure!

We have been getting lots of questions from folks wanting to try out new crafts now that most of us are spending a lot more time at home. We"re excited that lots of new fiber artists are going to enter the world! Since we"re getting so many questions we decided to make a series of blog posts with some basic info to start you off with several different fiber craft disciplines! This week we"re going to cover: Rigid Heddle Weaving!

A rigid heddle loom is an ideal choice to economically learn to weave. The name is derived from the structure of the heddle. A heddle functions to raise or lower the warp threads. A rigid heddle is a fixed panel that moves the warp threads as a group, as opposed to individually thread movement like a wire or Texsolv heddle. A rigid heddle loom is the equivalent of a 2-harness loom, it will allow you to weave light work, such as placemats, dishtowels, scarves, shawls or fabric for clothing. Rigid heddle looms cannot support the tension required for projects like rugs.

At The Woolery we often recommend rigid heddle looms to newbie weavers who want to jump into weaving but don"t want too large of an investment in a new hobby. Rigid heddle looms can be very small and affordable, and are perfect or giving weaving a test drive! The skills and techniques developed on a rigid heddle loom are all transferable to other types of looms, including the larger table and floor looms.

Weaving Width - This is the maximum width your projects can have. It is not something that can be changed later on and is set in stone from the moment you purchase the loom. Remember that you can always weave narrower than your maximum weaving width, so it"s safer to go with a wider loom to make sure you have enough versatility for the types of projects you want to weave.

Second Heddle- This is another thing you need to think about in the beginning because some rigid heddle looms have the ability for a second heddle to be added and some do not. The second heddle has two functions. It can allow a rigid heddle loom to mimic a four-harness loom. It also can allow a weaver to use the finer cotton weaving yarns more commonly used on floor and table looms.

Space- If you are limited on space you might want to consider a loom that can be folded so as to take up even less space than a standard rigid heddle loom.

Wood Finishing - Some looms are sold with unfinished wood. We highly recommend that you finish unfinished loom wood before working with your loom. If you don"t want to bother with wood finishing, pick a loom that has finished wood.

Available Heddle Dents- The dent size of your rigid heddle determines how far apart your warp ends are going to be and also determines the size yarn you can use. Certain brands have a larger amount of sizes available. If you already know you want to use Laceweight or small yarns you might need to take this into consideration. If you are not already attached to a certain size of yarn, then you don"t need to worry about this.

Most of the other differences between rigid heddle looms are going to superficial personal preference type options such as; brand, visual style, and wood type.

We have several rigid heddle loom options, these are our favorite options for beginners:Schacht Cricket Loom - The Cricket Loom is compact, capable and cute! It comes in both 10" and 15" weaving widths. Both options come with everything you need to start your first project in the box. There are floor stands available for both sizes of this loom. The loom comes with an 8 dent heddle (suitable for Worsted Weight) and 5, 10, and 12 dent heddles can be purchased separately. There is NOT a 2nd heddle option for this loom. This loom is made of unfinished maple and apple plywood and comes unfinished.

Ashford Knitters Loom - The Ashford Knitter"s Loom is lightweight, collapsible, and portable. It comes fully assembled and finished. There are 3 available weaving widths, 12", 20", and 28". There is a floor stand available for all three sizes. It comes with a 7.5 dent heddle and you can get additional heddles in 2.5, 5, 10, 12.5, and 15 dent heddles separately. Ashford rigid heddle looms offer the most variety for dent sizes. It comes with everything you need for your first project except yarn. It even comes with the 2nd heddle blocks so you can install them and have the capability for two heddles right away. If you don"t need your loom to fold or care about the wood being finished look into the Ashford Rigid Heddle loom as it has most of the same features (but does come in different weaving widths).

Kromski Harp Forte - If you are into a more traditional style of elaborate turned wood features, the Harp might be the loom for you! The harp is available in two different finishes a light wood and walnut. There are four available weaving widths, 8", 16", 24", and 32". It can fold for a smaller storage profile. The loom comes with a 8 dent heddle and 5, 10, and 12 dent heddles can be purchased separately. It comes with a 2nd heddle block option. There is also a floor stand available.

Most looms we carry come with all of the necessary bits and bobs to get started weaving, but there are some additional items you may wish to purchase to expand your weaving journey.Pick Up Sticks - These allow you to create additional sheds in your weaving to create more elaborate patterns. We do not recommend them for your first projects, but after you have a couple projects under your belt it might be something you want to explore.

Warping can often be the process of weaving that scares away beginners, but we promise it"s not scary! All of the loom models we recommend here come with booklets with instructions for warping that particular loom. There are also very helpful YouTube videos available:

You can use almost any yarn on your rigid heddle loom as long as you are using the correct heddle dent size. Here are some options that are particularly good for beginners as they can be woven with the heddle that comes with your rigid heddle loom.

Omega Sinfonia - This is a 100% Mercerized Cotton, 6 ply yarn. It comes in balls of 218 yards. This is a sport weight yarn so it"s a little smaller than you would normally weave with on an 8/7.5 dent heddle, but that"s okay your project will just have a little bit looser weave!

While YouTube is a fantastic resource, sometimes nothing can beat a quality book.Weaving Made Easy by Liz Gipson - Author Liz Gipson give you the tools to make working on a rigid-heddle loom a joy in this revised and updated version of her much loved book. Added to this edition is step-by-step instructions on how to set up your loom in twenty minutes or less, finishing tips, and two new projects, as well as more headers to make it easier to find just the tip you are looking for to make your weaving time more enjoyable.

Inventive Weaving On A Little Loom by Syne Mitchell - This essential guide explores the full capabilities of trigid heddle looms, covering all the basics and offering an amazing array of projects. Crafters will be thrilled by the possibilities: satisfying tapestry and transparency projects, bead weaving and e-textiles, and dramatic effects using simple finger-manipulated techniques. Adding a second or third heddle allows for more complex weaving, such as overshot, shadow weave, and very fine threads

Ashford Book of Rigid Heddle Weaving by Rowena Hart - International weaving teacher, Rowena Hart, shows how you can create exciting, beautiful garments and crafts - all on the simple two shaft rigid heddle loom. In the book she guides you step-by-step through the many techniques, showing just how easy it is to make your woven creations come alive through color and texture.

There are so many creative things you can do with a rigid heddle loom! The most common types of projects are scarves, placemats, dishtowels, or shawls. You can also weave fabric and then sew it with other fabrics to create garments or bags. You are limited by the weaving width of your loom so if you were wanting to make something very wide like a blanket you could only achieve it by sewing together multiple panels of fabric. We recommend playing with plain weave (just standard back and forth weaving, no fancy patterning) and then maybe branching out to try some different techniques! We have a blog post, Rigid Heddle Texture Infusion that details how to make a plain weave scarf using some fun different yarn textures!

We also carry some kits that are great for rigid heddle looms!DJE Timeless 2 Tea Towel Kit - The reason things become "a classic" is timeless appeal and usefulness. Woven on one warp, this classic plaid and striped towel kit (1 towel of each design) features The Woolery"s Bluegrass Mills Hemp yarn. The hemp yarns make a super absorbent fabric with great body, durability and just a touch of shine. With the warp already wound, this is a fast, easy weave for all experience levels. You will need two 8-dent heddles.

DJE Bloom Scarf Kit- Featuring Mountain Colors hand-painted 4/8"s 100% merino wool and two variations of leno lace weave, this kit celebrates spring foliage colors. Wet finishing the scarf makes the yarns bloom, creating a super soft, cuddly scarf that is light enough to wear indoors, yet warm enough for snuggly comfort outdoors.

It is important to note - You cannot make rugs on a rigid heddle loom, only rug shaped objects. A rigid heddle loom cannot stand up to the high level of tension required to make a durable rug. This means that any "rug" you create on the rigid heddle loom will deteriorate very quickly to use and be more of a "rug shaped object" than an actual useable rug. If you try to jack up the tension on your rigid heddle loom you will cause the loom to bend out of shape and become damaged over time. If you are insistent that you want to weave rugs you"re going to be looking at a floor loom, not a rigid heddle loom.

We hope this is a good jumping off point for your in your rigid heddle weaving journey and we can"t wait to see all of the beautiful hand woven projects you create!

As you probably already know, I’m a big fan of Ashford looms, I have four of them myself. I have found their looms to be reliable, easy to obtain, excellent learning tools and affordably priced.

Ashford make a variety of looms including the rigid heddle, knitter’s loom, inkle looms, table looms and floor looms. They also make a big range of weaving tools, yarnsand accessories, as well as all their other supplies for fibre artists.

But today I want to focus on two of their looms that are very popular but also cause some confusion among new weavers – the knitter’s loom and the rigid heddle loom.

If you’re interested in knowing more about looms prior to purchasing, or just out of interest, I have a list of articles and videos that will be a big help to you.

Having never actually used a knitter’s loom myself, I knew it was time to call in some expert knowledge on the subject, and who better to answer my questions than Kate Sherratt from Ashford.

Kate was very generous in not only answering my questions but in giving me extra information for all of us to learn from. Let’s start with a little history of the rigid heddle and knitter’s looms:

One of the aims of the knitters loom was to change the mindset that you can only weave with weaving specific yarns. It paved the way for knitters, who already had a healthy stash of knitting yarn, to ease seamlessly into weaving and continue to utilise the yarn they already knew and loved.

The release of the knitter’s loom brought a whole new wave of crafters and fibre artists into the weaving world. It had features that were very attractive to the brand new weaver who wanted to get up and weaving really fast.

It folded with weaving in place, it was lighter and more compact than previous rigid heddle looms, it had the factory lacquer finish and it was assembled.

SL are smaller, lighter and more compact – the most prominent difference is the depth of the loom – which will only effect the weaving when using non elastic yarns like cotton.

All our rigid heddle looms come standard with the double heddle sideposts – as far as using three heddles go, I cannot personally comment as I have not tried it myself but I have seen people using three heddles on all our rigid heddle looms – including the SampleIts (see Amy McKnight’s recent posts).

I will also add here that I have several classes available on using more than one heddle. The most popular classes are Three Heddle Adventures and Weaving with Two Heddles

On the Knitters loom the reed is held in the bottom position by the warp tension. It does not click into place or stay there when there is no warp on it, it is not supposed to. (the standard rigid heddle reed does not either, it only hangs from the upper rail, and as the KL has to fold the rails needed to be different).

See the attached snippet from the Learn to Weave on the Knitters loom booklet (that comes with the loom)  – the design of the loom, so it could fold etc, requires the back half of the loom to be angled up when weaving. This is probably the number one issue people have when starting out “help I have no shed” – to which the simple answer is lift the back up into the correct position.

The heddle position are actually the same on all the looms – the distance is the same from the top to the bottom and to the neutral positions – it has to be the same as our reeds (the distance from the top rail to the eye and to the bottom rail) are all the same. And the sheds are the same…..

You can do the same things on all the looms – there is not one that performs better technically – it really does come down to personal preference – and my personal preference is the good old work horse – the standard rigid heddle.

The question when buying a rigid heddle loom should not be “what can I do on a rigid heddle loom?” it should be what can’t you do!  And although I do have Jack and Katie (and a couple of table looms) – my Rigid heddle looms (of course there are several) hold a special place in my heart – my love of weaving came not only from being taught to weave on a rigid heddle loom but more from all the possibilities there was from a simple piece of equipment – I know it sounds corny but there really are unlimited possibilities!

I get a little cranky when I here people say “oh you are limited on what you can do on a rigid heddle”  – because really when you control the type of yarn (or fibre) you use, the colour you use, the texture you use, the sett you use, the patterns you create – the limits don’t really come from the loom they come for your imagination. And as 75% of the woven fabric in the world is plain weave – do you really need something else?

One more thing I want to clear up is how to clamp the knitter’s loom to a table. This can confuse new weavers, because although clamps do come with the knitter’s loom, there are no holes present to insert the clamps into, like there are with other RH looms.

Do you own a knitter’s loom? A rigid heddle loom? A Sampleit? Was it a difficult decision for you? What helped you decide? Let’s keep the conversation going!

I wove some samples and decided to make this for my scroll. The warp was handspun singles from Bouton. I wanted to see if I could use this fragile cotton for a warp. I used a sizing for the first time in my weaving life. The pattern weft is silk and shows up nicely against the matt cotton.

This illustration and quote are in The Weaving Book by Helen Bress and is the only place I’ve seen this addressed. “Inadvertently, the tabby does another thing. It makes some pattern threads pair together and separates others. On the draw-down [draft], all pattern threads look equidistant from each other. Actually, within any block, the floats will often look more like this: [see illustration]. With some yarns and setts, this pairing is hardly noticeable. If you don’t like the way the floats are pairing, try changing the order of the tabby shots. …and be consistent when treadling mirror-imaged blocks.”

Hello, friends. What a busy week we’ve had here in Harrisville. I’ve made a new acquisition to my home studio: a trestle stand for my rigid heddle loom! I’m really excited about it. The stand allows one to position the loom at an angle appropriate for her and keeps the loom off of the floor when not in use. Assembly of the stand was not difficult. I’m really excited about the possibility of taking my loom outside on the patio on a nice day and working outdoors!

I designed this rigid heddle scarf to introduce color and weave effects to newer weavers. The warping of the pattern is a bit fiddly, so it helps to have a solid understanding of warping a rigid heddle; it is not a good “first” project. The pattern is available for instant download in my Etsy shop. You may also purchase the pattern right here with Paypal and I will email the file to you.

Also related to rigid heddle weaving, the workshop at Harrisville Designs went well. My goal as workshop leader was to help new weavers gain the background and confidence needed to warp and to weave on the rigid heddle loom on their own, at home, and be excited about it! Here are just a couple of photos of the lovely creations woven by class participants:

We were even able to touch on a couple of techniques beyond plain weave, including basket weave (a plain weave variation) and Brooks bouquet, which adds a lacy touch to handwoven plain weave fabric with no pick-up stick or crochet hook or extra heddle required.

Using more than one color in the warp (I’ve used 3 here) is an interesting exercise. To my eye, the texture of the weaving structure really seems to shine. Of course, after the cloth is off of the loom and finished, we might be looking at an entirely different kettle of fish. But that’s what makes this whole gig so fun, right?