Operating a Backstrap Loom with Laverne Waddington

The ancient craft of backstrap weaving is still practiced by many indigenous weavers across the world today. The loom, which comprises nothing more than a set of simple sticks, allows weavers to produce anything from firm, narrow bands to wide, flowing lengths of cloth. Sticks and string spring to life and become a loom the moment the weavers place the backstraps around their hips.
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This video is for all those who have ever been curious about how these wonderfully simple pieces of equipment work. It reveals the secrets behind the smooth and fluid operation of the loom. You will discover how weavers use their bodies as a moving part of the loom itself.

For those of you who wish to try backstrap weaving for yourselves, you will need to have gathered sticks and wound a warp. Free instructions on how to prepare a warp for a backstrap loom can be found at: https://backstrapweaving.wordpress.com/backstrap-weaving-basic-warping-for-backstrap-looms

This video will show you how to:

  • use a variety of methods to open sheds and smoothly operate backstrap looms with both narrow and wider warps.
  • make two kinds of continuous string heddles with tips on how to avoid the most common mistakes.
  • build the skills for creating even selvedges.
  • easily fix heddle errors.
Average rating:
(based on 26 ratings)

Customer reviews:

I feel so grateful with this video. This make backstrap weaving feels easier. Full of tips and tricks to be a better backstrap weaver. Thank you Laverne. Best regards -Andini-

By  Raku  on  Oct 12 2024 15:48 PM
Larverne does an exquisite job in giving tips and troubleshoots in regards to the problems beginners run across without the aid of a teacher to provide the basics. From the beginning of the video one can see the love and passion for teaching Laverne has in regards to backstrap looming and does break down the mechanics in such a simple way one can understand (of course this is a secondary video to the one she has on her blog one can view freely in regards to setting up a loom). Watching it was truly a lovely experience I hope to see more of her visual content in the future. 
By  Lysandra  on  Dec 12 2021 23:44 PM
Fantastic video!  Very good introduction to the whole thing.   Laverne does such lovely work it is a joy to watch.  I would have liked some guidance on progressing the weaving, in particular how to roll it up - this is giving me problems as the darn thing keeps unrolling.  However, it is well worth the money and the photography is really clear and easy to see.
By  Bonnie Mitchell  on  Nov 30 2020 12:37 PM

Excellent starter video class for anyone wanting to learn backstrap weaving. 

The video is set up in nice bite size chapters. Much easier to repeat a section.

Excellent camera work, great close-ups on the project so you can see details. 

By  Teresa Nelson  on  Mar 30 2020 22:18 PM
Laverne, as always, has provided clear and concise instruction for efficiently operating the Backstrap Loom. Thank you for making the journey all the more pleasurable!  
By  Monika Kilian  on  Feb 26 2019 08:38 AM
The contents of Operating a Backstrap Loom are very interesting. Laverne Waddington's explanations are very clear, the camera work is excellent quality. I was just disconcerted by the fact that Laverne Waddington doesn't show how to set up the loom. I know she explains warping on her blog, but I would have been interested in seeing how to install the loom. Neither does she explain how to end weaving, or finishing. She doesn't address the choice of sticks and dowels for making a loom either, although she does give some advice punctually. So, all the issues she addresses are very well explained, but not all aspects of weaving on a backstrap loom are addressed. The other small problem is obvious lack of synchronisation between images and speech. It's not a real problem because we can still follow her explanations easily, and see what she's explaining, but it would be nice if that technical problem was corrected.
By  Jsl  on  Jul 26 2018 15:03 PM
Laverne, the video is amazing. There are some things I was doing right and lots I was doing wrong. Your Operating a Backstrap Loom video is helping me to be better. Being able to see the way it should work is such an immense help. The warping video answered questions I didn’t even know I had. Thank you for this and everything you do for backstrap weaving.
By  Michael  on  Feb 20 2017 04:32 AM