Isn’t it every weaver’s dream to have a room of one’s own? To have an entire room dedicated to the craft or passion that you want to explore? I’m incredibly grateful for the weaving spaces that I’ve been able to carve out for my craft. As a weaver, the struggle has often been with looms not being portable or accessible… so I decided to put a loom in more than one room, so that there’s access to weaving wherever I need to be.
Currently, the Louet Spring 110 is in the attic loom room, along with several rigid heddle stands and an old free 4-shaft table loom that someone gave to me. In my dining room, I’ve put the Leclerc Fanny and it sits tucked away in the corner by the window to catch some of that natural daylight. At the SweetGeorgia studio, I’ve arranged the Louet Spring 70, Leclerc Mira II, and Schacht Baby Wolf looms in the filming room so that we can make teaching content for countermarche, counterbalance, and jack looms.
Looms
- Louet Spring 110 8-shaft countermarche
- Louet Spring 70 8-shaft countermarche
- Leclerc Mira II 45″ 4-shaft counterbalance
- Leclerc Fanny 27″ 4-shaft counterbalance
- Schacht Baby Wolf 26″ 8-shaft jack
Favourite Tools
- Schacht open bottom slim shuttle: this one is lovely for narrow widths and smaller sheds. It’s light and easy to hold in my hands. Love that it comes in cherry wood as well.
- Leclerc closed bottom shuttle: recently, I discovered how practical this shuttle can be. With the closed bottom, it sails over the bottom of the shed more easily. Also if you find an older one where the opening for the weft yarn is smaller, I find that it doesn’t get as tangled and there’s less drag on it. The yarn will unwind smoothly and the weight of the shuttle seems to provide a good amount of tension at the selvedges.
- Schacht end-delivery shuttle: this was my absolutely favourite shuttle for many years but they sometimes they need a bit of adjustment to get the best tension at the selvedge and to make sure the pirn is straight inside the shuttle, so that the pirn doesn’t touch the shed as it passes through.
- Harrisville Brass Threading/Sley Hook: love this tool! I used to thread heddles without a tool at all because I found them too fussy to hold, but this one feels comfortable to use both as a threading hook and as a sley hook. As a threading hook, it feels like an extension of your hands and helps you reach the warp ends you are threading in a more ergonomic way.
- Electric Bobbin Winder: Leclerc offers both single and double-ended electric bobbin winders. This has been easily one of the most useful tools I’ve ever decided to invest in.
- Ashford Helping Hands: it’s so simple, and yet it’s so helpful! I use these nearly every time I dress a loom.
- Ashford Warp Thread Weights: for many years, I was lucky… never broke a warp thread and never needed anything like this. But now, I see how useful and handy it can be to have a specially-made tool to weight your warp ends. I use these weights for broken warp threads and also for weighting floating selvedges, if needed.