Weaving is a way to turn yarn into a textile that can be either used on its own (e.g. scarves, towels, etc.) or sewn into something else. At the most basic level, you set up warp threads (long, usually vertical threads under some tension), and weave the weft material over and under the warp threads. How visible the warp or weft are in the final creation depend on the type of weaving.
- Warp-facing weaving show the warp threads, but not the weft threads. The design is created through specific combinations of colors in the warp threads, and the patterns of which warp threads are raised and closed. An Inkle loom is a tool that produces (usually narrow) bands of fabric through warp-facing weaving. You can also use them for Card weaving.
- Weft-facing weaving shows the weft, but not the warp. A Tapestry loom (also known as a frame loom) is used to create weavings with images built up using weft yarn; a piece of recycled cardboard can be used for a simple, free cardboard tapestry loom. You can also set up a Floor loom to produce a weft-facing weaving.
- Balanced weaving shows both the warp and weft, so it matters what color(s) you use in what pattern as you’re setting up the loom. A Rigid heddle loom can do a balanced weaving, as can a Floor loom depending on how you set it up.
Weft-facing weaving (tapestry) is arguably the most immediately intuitive if you’re trying to weave an image or text, or drawing on shape as a way to convey your data. That said, with some practice you can produce shapes and even letters on an Inkle loom with warp-facing weaving. Inkle looms are inherently limited in what they can produce; if you don’t want a relatively narrow strip of fabric, the inkle loom is not the right tool.
Balanced weaves allow you to create complex designs through the interplay of warp and weft thread colors. You can also use a technique called Overshot to weave specific shapes, letters, etc. into a weaving pattern that otherwise follows a set pattern.
Supplies
The tools you need for weaving can cost nothing (recycling a cardboard box for simple tapestry weaving), or up to several thousand dollars. If you have access to a laser cutter or 3D printer, there are models you can use for a simple Tapestry loom (also known as a frame loom); you can also 3D print an Inkle loom that lets you weave narrow bands.
With the least-expensive looms, you’ll be manually moving the yarn over and under the vertical warp threads; more expensive options let you pass yarn through openings the loom creates. Looms that can create multiple variations of these openings (e.g. lifting different combinations of vertical warp threads) tend to be more expensive.
Wider looms that let you weaving a wider piece of fabric are also more expensive. A 15” wide Rigid heddle loom that gives you two kinds of openings is around $250; a similar 4-shaft loom that gives you 14 possible openings is around $760. You can start weaving for free by cutting slits in a piece of cardboard and wrapping it with any yarn or string.
Resources and Tutorials
More resources and tutorials are linked from the pages for individual types of looms.
- Weaving Overshot 101 - YouTube (8 min), Acton Creative
Weaving and Data
Weaving on a Tapestry loom gives you a range of tools similar to drawing: you can use shape and color and size. It is perhaps the best-suited type of weaving for rendering typical data visualization styles (e.g. pie charts, bar graphs, etc.)
The Inkle loom offers some interesting challenges for data visualization, especially since changing color would require knotting and tying another yarn in the warp, which is less than ideal for stability or the aesthetics of the final product. I would imagine the use of cards with inkle weaving might get you somewhere, but inkle weaving in general is difficult for me to visualize, so my imagination is struggling. I’m hoping to do some inkle loom experiments as part of the spring 2026 Data Visualization with Textiles class and learn things.
You can do a lot of compelling, abstract things with data on a Rigid heddle loom or Floor loom set up for balanced weaving. One approach that has had reasonably wide uptake in the weaving community is known as Name drafts. Name drafts use letter substitution within a weaving draft pattern to spell out a message. For an example, see Gist Yarn’s ‘Resistance is American’ draft, which includes the substitution mappings so people can spell out other messages.
The more shafts you can bring into play, the more complex designs you can weave, which can enable more complex forms of data mapping.
A simpler method that involves less planning and calculation is to use color and/or texture to map different data values, and weave one pick (row) of weft yarn in that color/texture for each piece of data using plain weave. You can convey additional facets of data with different finger-controlled weaves, like Leno or Danish Medallions or Spanish Lace. Even limiting yourself to plain weave, if you match the data that you’re mapping to the warp and weft yarns to color-and-weave patterns, you can end up with a woven design with a fair amount of symmetry (e.g. Computers, Archives, and Librarians in Star Trek).
Even if you prioritize the data over a pre-planned design, balanced weaving can produce something that ends up looking evocative of canonical patterns, like plaid (see 2 Year Anniversary).