Who is the boomloom for?

The boomloom is great for beginners and anyone who is curious about weaving but not ready to commit to the size and time of a larger loom. I designed it because I was interested in woven patterns and structure and was not ready to purchase or start to use a bigger, more complicated loom. If this is you too, you might enjoy it!

Our looms are great for ages 7 or 8 and up, though younger children have used them and enjoyed them. They are designed intentionally to be useful for complete beginners and also engaging for expert weavers. They’re also created to be simpler and more accessible than traditional looms for artists and makers with vision and dexterity challenges.

I’ve seen frame looms on Amazon that look similar. How is the Boss different?

There are simple frame looms widely available that have a heddle bar that sit on top of the frame and creates plain weave. Our heddle bars fit into the frame and create patterns like a 4-shaft loom, but without pick-up sticks, threaded heddles, shafts, drafts, or complicated instructions. The pattern is built into the bar, making it the easiest way to create complex weaves without having to know how to read a draft. There are infinite variations possible for each bar. It’s also the only patternmaking loom that can switch to any other pattern in the middle of a piece, simply by switching the pattern bars, because there are no heddles to thread.

What kind of yarn works best?

Mid-weight knitting yarn like worsted or DK weight works perfectly, as does thicker rug-tufting yarn an cotton yarn like Sugar N Cream. For warp, I like to use 8/4 mercerized cotton. You can buy it in big cones from online stores like WEBS.

Can I weave a scarf on the boomloom Boss?

The metal Boss weaves pieces about 6.5” x 8”. You could piece them together. The cherrywood Boss weaves pieces about 6.5” x 10”, but the weaving area can be lengthened if you replace the dowels with longer 1/2” dowels.

How do I join the pieces?

There are great resources on Ravelry about joining woven squares, of the sort that a pin loom makes, that also apply to these squares. Here is one list of methods: https://www.ravelry.com/groups/looms-to-go/pages/Joining-techniques-for-pin-loom-modules

What can I make with the pieces?

Any pieced pinloom projects are possible. People have also made mugrugs, hotpads, pillows, sachets, small stuffed animals, eyeglass cases and small bags (weave one piece longer and fold down to be a flap closure), and used them as patches and pockets on bags and clothing. If you insert a dowel at the bottom before the first row when you start weaving, you can flip it over and hang it on the wall as a mini tapestry when you are done. You can also add a dowel at the end just by tying it on.

Can the bars be used with other size looms?

Some of our customers have adapted them for use with inkle and vintage Boka looms. They are designed to fit the Boss frame and may not integrate seamlessly into other frames, but we like the idea of experimenting with that.

Are you going to make a bigger one?

We’d like to, or a bar that can be used with a rigid heddle loom. “We” is really just me, Lauren, so R&D is sometimes slow.

If it can’t make bigger items, what’s it good for?

We feel—and our customers have told us—that there is something pretty special that happens with creativity in a small space. We have kept the Boss intentionally small and manageable to keep the emphasis on experimentation and creativity—any bigger, and it starts to feel like a project to plan instead of an exploration.

What we also found while developing this loom is that the “how” of weaving is incredibly engaging, maybe even as much as the “what.” By putting the patternmaking directly at your fingertips, the Boss gets you testing — playing — discovering — learning. It teaches you basic principles about how the patterns are built, so that you can use them in your own ways. In some ways, I think of it as a visual art/design tool.

If you would like some ideas for patterns and samplers to try as you learn how each bar works, see our “Make It!” videos on the how-to page.

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