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Tapestry weaving can seem like a pursuit that requires A LOT. A lot of equipment, materials, and knowledge.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Weaving tapestry can be quite simple and your materials and equipment do not have to be complicated. If you want to learn tapestry weaving, below are some suggestions for how to get started. There are also many resources for people already deep into the tapestry experience, but this post is mostly for people who are pretty new to tapestry weaving.
Do you have a closet full of various looms but you struggle with choosing the right one for a project? Or are you a beginner and need some help choosing the right loom perhaps after choosing one that isn’t working?
The answer I find myself giving first for so many questions in fiber art is: It depends.
Last fall sometime I purchased a couple new looms from Everlea Looms in Canada. I had seen a few students using these looms and had others ask me about them, so I wanted to try one for myself. I ordered the 11 inch and the 8 inch versions. In the video I review the larger loom and talk about what I like about it.
You'll notice that there are two of the smaller looms in the video. Jana at Everlea sent me a bonus loom that I didn't pay for (thank you Jana!). But I want to make sure you know that I am not being paid to review or talk about this loom. I purchased the original two because I genuinely wanted to try them and am always looking for substitutes for my Hokett looms.* I showed the second smaller loom at the end of the video and it is made with lovely hardwoods. Both kinds of wood seem excellent for weaving tools, at least in the hands of Everlea Loom's maker!
In my blog post of February 5, 2026, I talked about how to warp a peg loom unevenly for various setts. Following on that idea is how to space warps on other kinds of looms. In this post I’ll mostly be looking at tensioned frame looms warped a couple different ways. You might recognize this sort of loom as being a rectangle with some way to increase the tension on the warp. Examples are:
Many of us like to use small looms we can carry around or weave tapestry on on our laps. A few years ago I made this video for a blog post that Schacht Spindle Company did about their peg looms. In the video I show you how to warp these looms with uneven spacing to get the sett you want.*
The Schacht peg looms come with a rather odd sett of about 5.5 ends per inch and for weaving small, that doesn’t work for me most of the time. Often I warp these looms with a 1, 2, 1, 2 pattern to get 8-9 ends per inch or doubled to get about 11.
I have been weaving on the Schacht Arras tapestry loom for several years now. They have released a stand and treadle assembly for the loom which I have been using for most of a year now and I really love it.
The treadles don’t work without the stand so you do have to purchase both the stand and the treadle assembly to make the whole thing work. The treadles are manual meaning that they work with a pulley system and don’t need to be plugged in. They glide easily and are very quiet.
