Textiles woven on an inkle loom are long and narrow and lend themselves to items such as belts, bands, straps, trims and other narrow-format pieces. The inkle looms are portable, easy to use, and perfect for beginners.
I attended an Inkle Weaving workshop this weekend with instructor Ann Mullican from Hendersonville, NC. Ann is a wonderful teacher and a very accomplished weaver. The workshop was sponsored by the Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild in Chattanooga.
At the workshop, students used tabletop inkle looms to weave long pieces approximately 1.75" wide. The woven bands were then sewn to form a tetrahedron and made into a 3-dimensional doll.
Ann taught us how to design and graph the pattern, warp the looms and make a "butterfly" of the weft threads.
Here I am with weaving instructor, Ann Mullican (center), and Pat (right), a fellow fiber arts guild member and fellow NIU (Northern Illinois University) alum.
These are the 3/2 pearl cotton warp threads on my inkle loom. The chartreuse thread wound into a butterfly is my weft.
Our inkle loom "dolls with character."
