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Weave-It Looms™, clockwise from top: Bias, Rug, Junior, Standard |
Weave-It Looms™ were not the first, but they certainly were the most popular of the hand-held looms. The designer, Donald R. Simonds, filed his patent for the unique pin arrangement in October, 1934. The looms were then produced and marketed by several different companies over the next forty years. The appeal of Weave-It’s patented 3-pin arrangement is that it helps the weaver warp and weave quickly without making errors!
Weave-It Looms™ were available in four main types: 4” square, 2” square, 5” rug loom and the 4” bias loom. The 4” and 2” were first made in wood and later in plastic. (The 4” was also made in Catalin for a brief time.) The bias loom was made of wood with metal pins. The rug loom was wood, with wood “pins”.
My favorite of all hand-held looms is the 5” Weave-It Rug Loom on which I can weave with bulky handspun yarns, fabric strips, raffia, ribbon, etc. Squares made with this loom take no time at all and are quickly assembled. While no one has reproduced the exact loom, there is a maker who has a very reasonable substitute. It's called U-Weave. It has wooden pegs that are set at 4 per inch, giving you the same sett as the Weave-It Rug Loom. The major difference is that where Weave-It has spaces, this loom has pegs. That is no impediment. Warp and weave as usual, but remember to skip an extra peg where there would ordinarily be a space. If you have trouble visualizing that, look at the Loomette Loom Manual, available below in pdf format. If you're handy, here's a site that will help you make your own loom: http://www.rogersstark.com/wool/weave/weave.htm With either of these, you'll still need to provide your own 7-8" needle, available from Buxton Brook or Lacis.
Weave-It standard 4” and 2” looms in plastic are what I use the most—easy to carry, easy to replace if lost or broken (eBay), and easiest to use. The plastic versions of these looms have pins with smooth, rounded tips and that makes a difference to your fingers when weaving hundreds of squares.
The De Luxe Catalin 4” looms are beautiful and warm to touch, but fragile. These came in a sweet little box–called “airplane luggage”.
Most containers were simple cardboard boxes, with some later looms in cardboard with a plastic lid. Toward the end of production, they were in blisterpacks. The containers shown here are collectible, fragile, and hard to find in good condition. (There is at least one other hatbox container that I do not have. If someone would like to send a photo, I’ll add it.)
Catalin loom in “Airplane Luggage” |
Lucite Box |
“Hat” Box |
The Weave-It Bias Loom™ is the rarest version. It’s a 4” wood square with evenly-spaced pins (including corner pins). Woven squares have their straight grain on the diagonal, from corner to corner, with bias edges. Apparently it was never a big hit with Weave-It users.
 BIAS WEAVE-IT BOOKLET DOWNLOAD (1.3MB)
| Magic Loom® was Bucilla’s contribution to the hand-held loom craze. (Not to be confused with Bucilla Magic Looms that are metal, come in a set of three, and are for constructing yarn flowers.) This one is molded ivory plastic and has an adjustable bar insert, like Loomette. The pins are raised in relief on the sides of the loom, with two short, one long, making it easy to maintain correct warping and weaving.
Magic Loom® has
an equal number of pins on each side
and the resulting square is a tiny bit larger than it would be on the Weave-It
Standard loom. The patterned weaves can be balanced and symmetrical, something that is often not possible with Weave-It.
MAGIC LOOM MANUAL DOWNLOAD (856KB) - Loom manual ©Bucilla Corporation. All Rights Reserved. (Permission granted to offer these files here for your personal use only.)
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Bucilla Magic Loom® with adjustable bar |
Jiffy-Loom with adjustable bar |
Jiffy-Looms have wood frames and a slot in each side, which holds a toothed fiberboard insert. I have nothing good to say about these, as the inserts have a nasty tendency to pop out of their slots, or bend, or break, as soon as you get the teeth wrapped. OK, I’ll allow that it did come in many sizes and there were some interesting published patterns.
JIFFY-LOOM MANUAL DOWNLOAD (676KB) |
Jiffy-Loom with adjustable bar |
Easiweave Looms |
Easiweave looms were around before Weave-Its. The earliest looms had carved slots in the wood frame to hold the yarn. Later versions had metal pins instead of slots. Both versions were made with sides that were held together with thumb screws, so you could take them apart.
EASIWEAVE MANUAL DOWNLOAD (768KB) |
| Dubble Weeve has a system that raises the teeth on one side of the loom, like a loom harness. |
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Whiting and Straits metal looms appear at first to be ordinary potholder looms. Two things make them stand out from the crowd—pins close to the corners (helpful for a continuous weave) and modular pieces that allow the loom to be adjusted for a smaller size or even joined with another loom for a larger size. Very useful.
STRAITS LOOM MANUAL DOWNLOAD (724KB) |
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Davis Loom |
Davis Loom has two interlocking metal pieces and is adjustable to two sizes—3” and 4”. It can be easily bent out of shape and has an annoying tendency to come apart at inopportune moments. I want to like this loom, but there are just too many problems.
DAVIS LOOM MANUAL DOWNLOAD (148KB) |
Weave Easy and Wonder Weave looms are tiny plastic rigid heddle looms. Hooks at top and bottom hold the wrapped warp and the weaver makes a shed with a knob that operates the heddle. Metal bars on each side function like a temple, preventing the woven piece from cinching in on the sides. The metal bars are adjustable, for smaller rectangles. The biggest drawback that I found is that the loom frames are made of four pieces joined at corners and there is nothing to stabilize the corners. Looms won’t stay square as you use them. I’ll pass.
WONDER WEAVE MANUAL DOWNLOAD (1MB) |
Weave Easy Loom |
Pucki Loom |
Pucki size, compared to standard Weave-It |
Were hand-held looms purely an American phenomenon? Obviously not! The Pucki loom information was sent to me by Angy in Germany. She thinks it was probably made in the 50's and promises to follow up with more details when she gets a chance to sample the loom.
PUCKI LOOM MANUAL DOWNLOAD (136KB) |
The Auto-Weave Loom from January & Wood Co. of Maysville, Kentucky is a sorry excuse for a handheld loom. While the rotating hook part works just like the much better conceived Lightning Weaver, the designer did not add an element to the loom sides to tension the weft. All squares made on this loom are likely to be wasp-waisted. That’s if you can get through the weaving at all without popping it off the bottom uprights, which are totally smooth and have no curve or hook to prevent warp threads from flying off. Grrr! It’s here only to serve as a warning. However…the manual has a couple of interesting ideas for joining squares together that I haven’t seen elsewhere.
AUTO-WEAVE MANUAL DOWNLOAD (860KB) |
Auto-Weave Loom |
Simplex Hand Loom |
There seems to be no end of 4” looms manufactured in the United States. The Simplex Hand Loom was made by F. B. Gustafson of Rockford, Illinois. The only thing that distinguishes it from the Loomette is a minor variation in the yarn-wrapping sequence. I have only a partial, torn manual, so if anyone would care to share their complete one, I’d be happy to put it here.
Simplex Loom Manual - partial (262KB) |
Nu-Weaving Loom |
Another category of handheld looms might be more accurately called reweaving or darning looms. Back in the day when people repaired their clothing and textiles, rather than pitch them in the landfill, there was a big demand for skilled reweavers, who were often associated with tailoring shops. (If you are able to find a reweaver today, be prepared to pay at least $50 for a small repair.) When a damaged area needed a patch and there wasn't enough spare cloth available from the hem or a facing, the reweaver could weave it from scratch, pulling threads from the seams and hems. Threads surrounding the patch would then be woven into the original cloth as invisibly as possible. Some of these looms are very elegant and clever and some are crude, as you can see here.
The Nu-Weaving loom (4" x 6") was packaged with a 45 page "Extension Course in Nuweaving", a reweaving needle, a little cardboard triangle that helped to estimate yarn sett and a suggested price list. After completion of the course and submission of samples, the buyer was to received a Certificate of Competence, a 3-color Oil Painted Display Sign and Two Extra Sized Needles. For $35, plus COD shipping. And this was in 1952! It would be interesting to find out if anyone starting with this course went on to launch a reweaving business. |
 Weavette Looms™ are a faithful reproduction of Weave-It Looms. Four unique sizes are available, in addition to the standard 4” and 2” square looms. They are a 2” x 4” rectangle, 2” x 6” rectangle (bookmark), 4” x 6” rectangle, and 6” square. You can view and purchase these beautiful looms at the website, www.weavettes.com along with a book of patterned weaves, extra needles and other accoutrements.
Hazel Rose Looms fill the need for different sizes of square and triangle frame looms, quite admirably. Currently available are: 3.5”, 7”, 12” and 14” squares, 3.5”, 7”, 12” and 14” triangles. http://www.hazelroselooms.com/
Hazel's version of the Loom Bloom—woven on her Tiny Weaver Square |
The frames are made of your choice of beautiful hardwoods, smoothly finished with nice rounded edges. Weaving “pins” are alternating black and white nails, evenly spaced and with corner pins. The black and white arrangement is critical for keeping mistakes out of your weaving! An afghan crochet hook is the implement that is included for weaving.
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Weaving with the Hazel Rose square looms, according to directions enclosed with them, results in a square with bias edges. The straight, non-stretchy grain is on the diagonal. This can be a good or bad thing, depending on how it’s used. If you don’t want a rug or shawl with fluted edges, some stabilization technique might be necessary.
You can weave squares on the Hazel Rose Looms with a continuous warp, like the Weave-It Loom, resulting in squares with grain perpendicular to the edges. Instructions for this type of weave are not included in Hazel Rose instruction book. The pin spacing is perfect for many hand knitting yarns that are too coarse for the Weave It Loom™. Extra long weaving needles are needed for the 7”, 12” and 14” squares. Find them under “weaving needles” at http://lacis.com/catalog/catalog.html. If you order from them, ask to have the needle tip blunted. (I didn’t know they would do it and had to do it myself, which is easy enough with a sanding drill bit.) |
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