I have an inkle loom – I have made two rather dodgy bands.
I have had this book since 2021, but I hadn’t read it properly.
Here’s the blurb …
Narrow bands of woven tape were important to Americans in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, before the days of elastic and zippers. This book documents the fascinating American history of handwoven tape and offers patterns and instructions to enable today’s weavers to make it. Many Early American households had a tape loom for making the tape needed by the family, and this book offers a discussion of the people who wove tape, the patterns woven, and the types of looms used, along with over 280 color images. The book also gives step-by-step instructions for setting up a tape loom with warp threads, and explains how to weave your own tape. You can weave tape for similar practical uses as our forebears, or to create one-of-a-kind gifts and decorations like key chains, holiday garlands, or lanyards.
It was very interesting – I enjoyed the history of the various looms, and how people used the tape and then the quick demise when industrial made tape appeared on the scene.
I am keen to try some of the drafts on my Inkle loom.
There were some ideas for modern projects with the tapes, but I am not sure how popular they would be (maybe with recreators?).
Here is a post Kate Davies did about her weaving. Reading her adventures spurred me on to buy an inkle loom.
