Writing
The Weave & Loom journal
Ten articles on looms, fibres, warping, weave structure, drafts, dyeing, finishing, safety and setting up a studio. Written to explain the reason, not just the step.
Featured · Beginner
How to Start Weaving: A Beginner’s Guide
What to buy, what to skip and what your first warp should actually be. A first session planned so that it finishes with cloth rather than a tangle.
Mira Okonkwo · 9 February 2026 · 9 min read
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Choosing a Loom: Floor, Table or Rigid Heddle
Three loom families, what each one is genuinely good at, and the two specifications that decide whether you will still be using it in three years.
Understanding Fibers: Wool, Cotton, Linen and Silk
Four fibres, four entirely different behaviours on the loom. Elasticity is the number that decides how forgiving a yarn will be.
Warping a Loom: Step by Step
The part of weaving that decides everything else. Measure, wind, thread, sley and tie on without losing your place.
Weave Structures: Plain, Twill and Satin
Three families of interlacement that between them account for almost everything woven. How they differ, and what each is for.
Reading and Designing Drafts
Threading, tie-up, treadling, drawdown. Four grids that together describe any woven cloth, and how to read them without guessing.
Natural Dyeing: Indigo, Madder and Cochineal
Three dyes that between them cover the primary colours, and the chemistry that makes each one behave completely differently.
Finishing Woven Fabric: Washing and Fulling
The step that turns cloth on a loom into fabric. What washing does, why wool fulls, and how to plan for shrinkage instead of discovering it.
Weaving Safety: Looms, Tools and Ergonomics
Weaving is quiet and it is not harmless. Moving parts, sharp tools, airborne fibre and the slow damage of a bad posture.
Setting Up a Home Weaving Studio
Space, light, storage and the loom position. What to get right first, and what you can improvise for years.
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