The backstrap loom is probably one of the oldest machines invented by humans. Although various versions have been used by cultures around the world for thousands of years, they are usually identified with the Maya and Inca Native Americans. In South and Central America, women still use backstrap looms today to make their brightly patterned blankets, belts, and shawls. I was taught to use a backstrap loom in Nicaragua wayyyy back in 1988, by a young girl who spoke no English but just strapped me in and pointed to various things and showed me how they worked. The basic process is not hard to do once you figure it all out, though it takes a long time to learn how to do all the intricate pattern weaves that the natives do. I only know how to do simple patterns of stripes and bands.

Backstrap looms are good for me, as a vandweller and traveler, because they can be used any place where there is a convenient tree (or inside the van), and when not in use the whole loom rolls up into a small bundle that will fit in a backpack.

So here’s a photo essay on how to make a backstrap loom.

​ The materials for a basic loom. Yes, it’s made from just a few sticks and some rope.

​ The most complicated piece of the loom is the heddle. This is the part that lifts and lowers your warp strings for weaving. Traditional Latin American looms use a heddle made from yet another wooden stick and lots of string loops, but I always preferred the rigid heddle like this, which was used by cultures everywhere from Scandinavia to China. I made this one by gluing a bunch of popsicle craft sticks together and poking some holes with a sharp knife.

​ The finished pieces. From top to bottom, they are the lower loom bar, the roll stick, the heddle, the shuttle, the “machete”, and the top loom bar. The rope on the bottom loom bar is just temporary—only until I weave myself a cloth backstrap. So that is my first project.

​ Loading the loom to make a backstrap. The long strings (called the “warp”) are each tied to the top loom bar, pass through the slot or hole in the heddle, and are then tied to the lower loom bar.

​ Set up for weaving. Most of the loom’s structure is actually made up by the strings that you are weaving into cloth. You can see my knees there: the rope on the lower loom bar passes around my back, the top bar is tied to the doorway of the van, and by leaning forward or backward I can adjust the tension. The shuttle carries the string back and forth for the weft.

​ By lifting the heddle up or pushing it down, I can close and open the warp strings and pass the weft back and forth between them. The machete holds the strings open for me.

​ The partially-finished backstrap. I’ve wrapped part of the finished length onto the roll bar.

​ The finished backstrap. It’s been a long time since I’ve woven so the edges are a bit rough, but it will do the job it needs to do. And maybe later I’ll weave a tidier and more colorful one.

​ The whole loom rolls up into a compact bundle for easy storage or transport.

So my first project will be to make a belt, then a camera strap, then a water-bottle carrier, then a summer blanket.

🙂