Band Weaving

While my Henning Band Loom is being repaired I decided to try out patterned band weaving on my inkle loom, following the instructions in Anne Dixon's "Baltic Style Patterns on the Inkle Loom".

This is Anne Dixon as in the recently published "Handweavers Pattern Book" or "Handweavers Pattern Directory" as they call the U.S. edition. She has also published three booklets on Inkle weaving which are printed on folded A4 paper. I only bought them this summer, having started Inkle weaving with proper books - little did I realise that Anne Dixon's booklets tell you everything you need to know with very easy to follow directions and diagrams. The three can be bought from Fibrecrafts and P&M Woolcraft in the U.K. for less than £10 - I think every Inkle weaver should invest in them! Anne also taught Inkle weaving at this year's Association of Guilds Summer School, and I have heard very good reports of her teaching.

One thing I learnt from Anne Dixon was to use three lolly sticks at the start of the warp, I used two before, three is better. It gives something to beat against when you start weaving so that the weaving is good and firm from the start. The warp here is all cotton, the light blue is 2/12 mercerised and the deeper blue a 2/6. Both yarns from William Hall & Co., Cheadle, England.

A couple of other changes to weaving equipment, I had seen in "Weaving Bands" by Liv Trotzig and Aastrid Axelsson, that Swedish band weavers use a bobbin shaped shuttle and beat the weft in with a weaving knife. I found an Ashford boat shuttle bobbin (which is a bit too large to handle easily) and an old cake knife. The cake knife as a beater has greatly improved my bands, as I beat the weft in more soundly with this narrow, blunt-edged knife I am getting much neater edges. It also features a fancy tip which is good for picking up the pattern threads.


When I was given the Henning Band Loom I had no idea what it was or what to do with it. Naturally, I turned to the wonderful international weaving contacts I have on the Yahoo "WeaveTech" list and in the Online Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers for help.

The response was superb, many helpful people contacted me with information and advice. In addition to finding a couple of experts, I was also advised to see the website of Anneliese Bläse (for those of us who don't know German, Google will do a reasonable translation). Recommended books were the one mentioned above, plus Bandweben (German) or Bandveven (original Dutch) by M. G. Van Der Schaaf (this can also be found in Spanish translation).

I learnt that patterned woven bands are a long standing tradition in all the countries that surround the Baltic Sea, except for Denmark.

By chance I came across another book that is a special publication about the narrow pattern bands woven in East Prussia.

Here are books I would recommend:

In alphabetical order:

Baltic - Style Patterns on the Inkle Loom, Anne Dixon, pub. by Anne Dixon, 1995, ISBN 1-899972-09-9
and by the same author / publisher:
Inkle Loom Weaving - the Basics and Design, ISBN 1-899972-08-0
Lettering on the Inkle Loom, ISBN 1-899972-00-5

Very good and inexpensive instruction books.

Bandweben, M.G. van der Schaaf-Broeze, pub. in German in 1976 by Hornemann Verlag, ISBN 3-87-384-201-7.

Lots of band patterns that you can read without knowing much more than names of colours.

Byways in Handweaving, Mary Meigs Atwater, first published Macmillan Company, New York, 1954 (other editions since, still in print).

Card weaving, inkles and the inkle loom, twined weaving, brading and knotting, plaiting, beltweaves, and in Miscellaneous "Scandinavian warp-faced weave".

Inkle Weaving, Lavinia Bradley, pub. in 1982 by Routledge Kegan and Paul Ltd., ISBN 0-415-05091-X

Excellent book on inkle weaving, possibly the best, and includes a chapter on pick-up designs, also lettering and Bolivian Pebble Weave

Ostpreußische Jostenbänder, Irene Burchert, pub. 2007, Husum Druck und Verlagsgellschaft, ISBN 978-3-89876-364-6

Specifically written to record and preserve the patterns and techniques of the narrow pick-up patterned Jostenbands woven in East Prussia, used as skirt and apron ties, an inexpensive and useful book, although written in German (I bought from Amazon.de).

Weaving Bands, Liv Trotzig and Astrid Axelsson, pub. in English by Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1974, ISBN 0-442-30032-8 (hardcover) and 0-442-30033-6 (paperback), first published in Swedish with the title "Band", by ICA Forlaget, 1972.

Includes: plain bands, patterned bands using pick-up, tablet woven bands, plaited bands, pillow bands, and over 40 pages of patterns.

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I have also found it necessary to improve my knowledge of the German Language, so have invested in a dictionary and grammar book, and borrowed a CD lesson course from the local public library.

If any of my readers are particularly interested in having a go at weaving these bands, why not join the Online Guild for 2010 so you can participate in a workshop to be led by Sue Foulkes in November 2010 for learning to weave patterned bands Baltic style on a backstrap loom? Sue has been preparing for this workshop with a trip to Sweden to research the subject and has woven many bands to learn and practice the technique.

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I am having to come back and edit this post to add the most wonderful resource of all, the editor of Swedish weaving magazine, Vav Magasinet, Tina Ignell, was able to find for me a copy of an article in Vav Magasinet 1984 / 4 where the Henning Band Loom is reviewed and instructions are given for weaving three bands. I heartily recommend Vav Magasinet!!