What Is a Loom?
Published · Updated By Paradise FibersA loom is a frame that holds one set of threads tight so you can weave a second set through them. That's really all it is, and people have been making cloth this way for thousands of years, on everything from a strap tied around the weaver's hips to a floor loom that takes up half a room.
This guide covers how a loom works, the parts you'll hear people talk about, and the main types, with a few notes on which ones make sense for a first-time weaver.
What this article covers:
What Is a Loom?
Woven cloth is two sets of threads crossing at right angles. The warp runs the length of the cloth and goes on the loom first. The weft runs side to side, and you weave it in one row at a time, over and under the warp threads.
The loom's job is to hold the warp under even tension and keep the threads in order while you do that. Slack warp tangles and gives you lumpy cloth. Warp threads that wander bunch up and leave gaps. Most of the other parts on a loom exist to make the over-and-under go faster.
Early looms were two beams with the warp stretched between them. A modern floor loom adds treadles, shafts and a lot of hardwood, but it's doing the same thing: holding a warp tight so the weft can cross it.
What Does a Loom Do?
Weaving on any loom is the same three moves, repeated for every row. First you open a shed, which means lifting some of the warp threads (or lowering others) to make a gap. Then you pass the weft through that gap, usually wound on a shuttle or a flat stick. Last, you beat the new row in snug against the one before it. Change the shed so the threads that were up go down, send the weft back the other way, beat again, and you've woven two rows of plain weave.
Where looms really differ is in how they open the shed. On a frame loom you pick up threads with your fingers or a stick. A rigid heddle loom lifts and lowers every other thread with a single heddle. Table and floor looms thread the warp through heddles hung on two or more shafts, and lifting different combinations of shafts is what makes twills and other patterns possible.
Types of Looms
These are the six you'll run into most. Our types of looms guide goes further and adds table looms, knitting looms and pin looms.
1. Frame Loom
A frame loom is a rectangle of wood with the warp wrapped around it or held in notches or pegs. You weave with your fingers, a tapestry needle or a stick shuttle. The warp can't move, so the finished piece is never bigger than the frame. That's why frame looms get used for wall hangings, mug rugs, samplers and tapestry practice. They're inexpensive and fast to warp, and a lot of people weave their first piece on one.
2. Floor Loom
Floor looms are the big ones. They stand on their own, carry anywhere from four to sixteen shafts, and you change the shed with your feet on treadles. Your hands stay free for the shuttle and beater, which makes a floor loom the fastest way to weave by hand. It's also the right loom for long warps: yardage for clothing, blankets, rugs, a run of dish towels. The costs are floor space, money and the time it takes to learn to dress one. We carry floor looms from Glimakra, Louet, Schacht, LeClerc and Ashford.
3. Backstrap Loom
On a backstrap loom, one end of the warp ties to a post or a tree and the other end attaches to a strap around the weaver's hips. Lean back and the warp tightens. Lean forward and it loosens. It's one of the oldest loom designs there is, and weavers in Guatemala, the Andes and parts of Asia still use it every day for bands and narrow cloth with very fine patterning. It rolls up into a bag, but keeping the tension even takes practice, since your body is doing the job a wooden frame does on every other loom.
4. Rigid Heddle Loom
A rigid heddle is one bar with alternating slots and holes. Threads in the holes move when you lift or lower the heddle, and threads in the slots stay where they are, so those two positions give you the two sheds of plain weave. The heddle also does the beating. Unlike a frame loom, the warp winds onto a back beam and the cloth rolls onto a front beam, so you can weave a piece several yards long.
For many weavers this is the step after a frame loom, and plenty never need anything bigger. Scarves, towels, table runners and fabric for simple garments are all well within its range, and pick-up sticks or a second heddle open up more patterns later. Widths run from about 10 inches up to 48.
5. Tapestry Loom
Tapestry is weft-faced: the weft packs down so tightly it hides the warp completely, and you build the picture in patches of color instead of weaving straight across each row. That needs a strong, very tight warp, so tapestry looms are sturdy and usually stand upright, often with a way to adjust the tension or advance the warp. Heritage Crafts has a good overview of tapestry weaving if you want the background.
6. Inkle Loom
An inkle loom weaves bands: belts, guitar and bag straps, trim. The warp runs in one continuous loop around a set of pegs, and every other thread passes through a string heddle. You change the shed by pushing the free threads up or down with your hand. Inkle bands are warp-faced, so the pattern comes from the order you wind the colors in. The looms are small and quick to warp once you've done it a couple of times.
How to Choose the Best Loom for You
When people ask us which loom to start on, the first thing we ask is what they want to weave. That answer narrows it down fast.
1. Your Experience Level
If you've never woven before, a frame loom or one of our rigid heddle looms will teach you warp, weft, tension and edges without much setup. Loom knitting is a separate craft that uses pegs instead of a warp, and our beginner loom knitting guide covers it.
Once plain weave feels easy and you want twills and patterns, look at a four-shaft table loom or a floor loom. Our guide on how to use looms covers the basics of getting started.
2. Project Size
A loom's weaving width is the widest cloth it can make, and on a frame loom the frame sets the length as well. Coasters, wall hangings and bands are fine on a frame or inkle loom. A scarf needs a loom that rolls the warp, so a rigid heddle loom or bigger. A blanket in one piece needs a wide floor loom, or you weave panels on a narrower loom and seam them together.
3. Space and Portability
Frame, inkle and rigid heddle looms sit on a table and go back in the closet when you're done, and several rigid heddle models fold up with the warp still on. A floor loom needs a permanent spot, plus room to sit at the front and get around the back to warp it. Measure before you buy one.
4. Budget
Prices go up with width and shaft count. A small frame loom is one of the cheapest ways into weaving, a rigid heddle loom costs more, and a multi-shaft floor loom is a real investment. You don't need the expensive one to make good cloth, though. Lots of beautiful work comes off simple looms.
If you'd like to try weaving before you buy anything, you can make a loom yourself for small projects.
