Liz Gipson, managing editor of Handwoven has written a great new book, Weaving Made Easy. I have always been fascinated by weaving and plan on getting a triangle loom soon.

The book contains 18 projects and teaches how to combine colors and create beautiful fabrics. Liz agreed to answer some questions about her book and getting started weaving.

ALVB: How did the idea for the book come about?
LG: The short answer is that Linda Ligon, founder and now creative director of Interweave, was meditating one day and had a vision that it should.  The longer story is that when I was just out of college, I worked weekends on an alpaca ranch, Switzer-Land Alpacas. I was convinced by the owner, Chris Switzer, to buy a rigid heddle loom. I couldn't afford a “real” loom. After I bought my first floor loom, my rigid heddle sat abandoned for years. Then one day I had this great idea for a scarf. (All ideas start out as “great,” right? I think I learn more from my happy accidents than my best laid plans.) My floor loom was busy, so I dragged out my rigid heddle loom, warped it up, and wove my project in one day. I thought, “Wow, this loom is easy to use and fast to warp. Why haven’t I been using it more?” So started my love affair with this little loom.  I was totally smitten. I taught for many years using this clever little loom and it was really teaching that led to the book.

ALVB: Is a rigid heddle loom the best loom to start learning to weave?
LG: The best way to learn to weave is to start with whatever resources are close to you.  If you are lucky enough to have a shop or guild nearby and they offer classes, this is an excellent place to start.  Use whatever looms they have available. It is all the same process, really. If you have no shop or guild near you and you are learning on your own, the rigid heddle loom is certainly an affordable, portable, space-saving way to get started.  If you are coming to weaving from other fiber crafts, this loom will blend well with your other passions and is a very good choice for beginners. It is very gentle on handspun and knitting yarns.

ALVB: For those readers who aren't familiar with weaving, what is a rigid heddle loom?
LG: Ok, I'm going to give you a bunch of words for something that is actually very simple. That’s why the book has lot of pictures! A rigid heddle loom is a type of frame loom. The threads held taut on the loom—called “warp”—are threaded through the slots and holes in a “rigid heddle.” The threads in the holes are either pulled above or pushed below the threads in the slots, forming what is called a “shed.” Using a shuttle you can pass yarn called weft, though the shed. The shed “shelters” the weft. By alternately pulling the rigid heddle up or pushing it down, you change the path of the weft from traveling over/under the warp threads to traveling under/over the warp threads to form plain weave.

ALVB: Why does warping make beginners so nervous?
LG: Beginners are afraid that they will do it wrong. You don’t know what to worry about so you worry about everything.  It's fiddly, just like learning to draft yarn or cast on for the first time. I advocate the twenty minutes rule. Spend twenty minutes a day reading about or trying some aspect of what you want to learn. Walk away when it gets frustrating or confusing but come back to it the very next day and have another go. Before you know it, you will have a breakthrough and it seems easy.

Beginning weavers can feel really isolated. Weaving on larger looms doesn't lend itself to a group activity like spinning and knitting do. I started hauling my rigid heddle loom to stitch and bitches and before I knew it we were having little warping sessions where we could help each other out.  This is the beauty of this little loom—you can take it with you!

ALVB: What advice do you have for beginning weavers?
LG: My first thought was “just do it,” but that is too simplistic. Interweave has a page on our website, www.learntoweave.com, with lots of tips for getting started. The Spinning and Weaving Association has a list of shops on their website, www.spinweave.org.  Local shops are a lifeline for beginning weavers. I strongly recommend buying your loom from a shop, if possible.  They will be there for you throughout your entire weaving career.

Thank you Liz for taking the time to talk about the book and how to take that important first step in weaving!