Inkle Weaving with Ann Mullican

If you've ever had an inkling about weaving, you might try an Inkle. Inkle weaving is a centuries old craft with many practical and contemporary uses.

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."

Inkle Loom Weaving workshop

This past weekend, the Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild members demonstrated spinning and weaving at the Ketner's Mill Fair, an annual country craft and art fair in Whitwell, Tennessee. One of the weaving techniques demonstrated was Inkle Loom weaving, and I got to talk with weaver extraordinaire, Mary Lou Scohier, for a step-by-step view of dressing and weaving on this type of loom.

The Inkle Loom is a classic loom for beginners because of its simplicity and ease of use. The tabletop loom Mary Lou used for the demo was small, compact and very portable but she indicated Inkle looms come in various sizes. She has a larger, floor loom at home. Inkle weaving dates back thousands of years and was introduced in the United States in the 1930s. The narrow format of Inkle weaving lends itself to such things as belts, bands, straps, trims, ribbons, garment decorations and accessories. Creativity abounds with the use of color and pattern. 

Worsted weight yarn was used for the warp and weft threads on Mary Lou's piece, but any weight of thread, yarn or string could be used. As an art quilter who creates wearables, this opened up my mind to all kinds of possibilities!

If this technique piques your creative curiosity, the Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild is hosting an Inkle Loom workshop November 14-15. The instructor, Ann Mullican, is a well-known weaver and teacher in the weaving community. Workshop participants (I'll be one of them!) will learn the weaving technique by making a "Woven Doll with Character." Details for the workshop are on the guild's web site. Come and join the guild for a fun weekend of Inkle weaving.

Create your own Inkle Loom Doll with Character!