Loomettes, making a good pin loom almost perfect

The Loomette is a vintage pin loom that has a lot to offer. Like the vintage Weave-It, it is readily available on Ebay and other online venues for very reasonable prices. It is a sturdy little wood-framed loom. The wider pin spacing means that there is more room to use variable yarns and the weaving needle won't get stuck between the pins. You can find lots of Loomettes that look as though they were never taken out of the box, in perfect condition after 60 or 70+ years. Unfortunately, there is a reason for that.

The downside with the Loomette is that, because the pins are not clustered in groups of three, it is more challenging to wind on the yarn. Each time I have done it I had to stop and think about it, I couldn't pick up an easy flow like the Weave-it or Zoom Loom.

So I decided to fix that. Now I can use my Loomettes with the same ease as my other pin looms and all it needed was a little nail polish. 

Some of the Loomettes came with two weaving bars that expand the weaving options to 17 different pieces. 

The Loomette pin pattern is slightly different than the standard Zoom Loom type pin loom. There are two less pins on the Loomette. Beginning from a slot to hold the starting end of the yarn, you follow a pattern of going around two pins, skipping one.


In order to make this easier to see, I painted white nail polish on each group of two pins that you go around for the first two layers. I marked the two pins that you go through to the third layer in green.

This pattern shows the pins that need to be marked in order to easily wind yarn onto the loom.

I have also marked the "gateway pins" to transition to the third layer.

You can see the different layers wound onto a Loomette below- making use of the marked pins.

Be aware that in the picture of Layer 2, the loom is now sideways, it returns to the starting side for Layer 3.

Original Loomette instruction patterns.

The final question is whether the Loomette is compatible with other pin looms. The woven Loomette below was so close to identical to the Zoom Loom product that I had to mark it with masking tape when I took it off the loom for fear of confusing the two.

I am certain that there are many weavers who are as comfortable winding the Loomette as any other pin loom. If you are not one of those, I hope these directions will help.

This gives me one more chance to include a plea for collaboration. If you have a couple pin looms or if you decide to pull out an extra Loomette and some nail polish, you now have the opportunity to share this craft with family and friends, and that gives you a superpower.  You now have the ability to create a baby toy or prayer shawl or other gift from your heart and hands in an incredibly short period of time through your unified work. And that becomes a gift of its own.
     Be well. Happy weaving!

Constructing a pin loom - definitely not perfect but maybe good enough

I love my pin looms and I have a BIG collection of them. I am convinced that I need to have at least two of every size loom that I commonly use. I have a bunch of 4" x 4" looms and will often wind three or four at a time before weaving. I use looms made by all the current and past pin loom makers and I love them. I am mentioning all this in order to demonstrate that I am a really big fan of good, well made looms. You can get a perspective on good pin looms here.

But in the midst of my loom fandom, it is easy for me to forget that any loom you can weave on will work. In other words, let's not forget that a cobbled together pin loom can be just as rewarding, weaving-wise, as something much shinier.

I am sharing pictures of this poorly made loom
in order to make a point. And I am also embarrassed to be
sharing it with everyone because it looks awful.

And if we want an example of a non-shiny loom, this one will definitely take the prize. I recently decided that I needed a 3" (7.6 cm) x 3" loom. I only needed it for one project, so it probably would only be used a few times and I wanted it now.  So I pulled out my 4" (10.2 cm) x 4"  Loomette Loom and copied off the pin placement on to a 3½" (8.9 cm) x 4½" (11.4 cm)  piece of half inch (1.3 cm ) plywood, removing an inch from each side of the layout since I wanted this loom to be 3" (7.6 cm) x 3". I used 1¼" (3.2 cm) wire brads for the pins, pounding one in at each marking. Here's how it looks. 





I did a terrible job, at least half the pins are bent and that doesn't include the dozen or so brads that were so badly bent over that I had to pull them out and try again. (I didn't take a picture of the reject brads, it was too humiliating.)  And yet the loom still worked reasonably well.


Since I followed the pin placement on the Loomette, which weaves up exactly the same as the Zoom Loom and Weave-it, I could be sure that it would match the sett on the other pieces I was weaving. Because the Loomette has equal spacing between its pins, it offers a little bit more space for the weaving needle. 

Completed square on a very poorly made loom.

The next two pictures show the finished 3" square on and off the loom. You can see that one side is pulled out by the poorly placed pins. However, it didn't make any difference in the completed item because none of the edges will show.

So in return for a very small financial investment, a little time, one hammer blow to a finger and the continued embarrassment of sharing this ugly loom with you, I have a brand new, workable loom. It was totally worth it.

A few more words about the loom. You may notice that it has a rounded out opening in it. This loom was small enough that I could have woven with it without that opening but it is always easier to weave if you are able to get at the yarn from the underside.

At my request, my husband drilled four 1" holes in the wood. I took a coping saw and sawed between the holes to open it up. I sanded all the surfaces so that it was comfortable to work with.  You may also notice that the shape of the wood base does not match the pin pattern. This is because I found the wood in the scrap pile and just started pounding away on it. It turns out that having an even edge around the pins is another of those attractive features that is not entirely necessary.

Another important word about this loom. This is not the method for building a pin loom that is detailed in the Pin Loom Weaving book. If you follow the directions in the book, you will get a reasonably attractive and very usable loom.  The point of this article is that there are a lot of ways to make a pin loom and if you are able to weave the piece of cloth as you intended, you have been successful.

I have a feeling that there are many people who would disagree, feeling that the quality of the tools is as important as the product. And I agree with them most of the time. A great loom should support great weaving. I just don't want the need for a great loom to impede weaving.

The perfect way to end this post would be to be able to show some of the exquisite looms made by hand that people are weaving on. I don't have any pictures of those excellent looms, but I know they are out there. My woodworking skills, as seen above, encourage me to rely on my husband and other good loom makers.

Pin Loom Containers

Here is a not very well guarded secret-- I haunt thrift shops. Well, I don't actually haunt them, I just spend an inordinate amount of time in them, keeping track of when each one is having a sale day, what days they are most likely to put out new stuff and etcetera. I like thrift shops because they display the best, or at least the most popular, items of the past four or five decades, not just of our own time.

So here is where the pin loom container comes in. Every thrift shop worth its salt will have a supply of Tupperware and other hardy plastic ware. If you have an older 4" pin loom, keep an eye out for a sandwich size box that can hold a 4" and a 2" loom.  If you have a variety of looms, keep looking, it is amazing what is available over time. I am particularly partial to the old style Tupperware. They make a pin loom truly portable while keeping it safe and snug. The red topped box to the right is a 6" by 6" Rubbermaid container.

 The box on the left is a really cool bread slice shaped container with attached lid-- no identification except a sticker on the back that says "MADE IN CHINA".

The wooden Loomette is in a FREEZETTE container, popular in the 70's. I think my parents' freezer was full of them.

Not all sturdy plastic containers have to be hunted down in thrift stores. The collection of looms on the right are nested in a Sterlite container, 10.5" x 6" x 2.5" with locking handles. This box came from Target, I've seen similar styles at all the big box stores and craft stores. The cost in the Minnesota region is $2.50 to 4.00.


 I like having room to stick in needles and scissors although if I am going to be on the road for a while, I usually take a separate bag of needles, scissors and other tools. 

I have been crowing about old Tupperware and these two are my favorites. The red box to the left is a 11" x 6.5" x 2", big enough for a bevy of pin looms plus all the necessary equipment. It is extremely sturdy and it cost just a quarter.

Going to thrift stores is all about the thrill of the hunt and I was delighted to find a secure container for my Zoom Loom. The loom comes in a really nice cardboard box but I like to keep my looms in something non-crushable. This loom is now housed in a gorgeous 7" x 7" Tupperware container that cost about a dollar.

Am I happy with these containers? Yes. Do they help to preserve and protect my pin looms? I believe so. Does it make a difference that I got them for a really good price? I am a bit embarrassed to say, "Yes, it thrills me no end!"


What are you using for pin loom containers? Please share your discoveries.  Thanks, Meg