Silver Lightning Striped Belt

Over the next few weeks, we will be posting an inkle project every week made by someone here at Schacht! We have challenged ourselves with the task of creating a multitude of projects made solely with the Schacht Inkle Loom, or with an inkle band being an integral part of the project.

This week, the inaugural post is by our Shipping Assistant Donna. She studied fiber arts at Colorado State University. Though inkle weaving is a new technique for her, she has been weaving since 1996, and knitting since last year.

By Donna Conover

This project introduced me to weaving on an inkle loom. I decided to make a simple, striped belt taking advantage of the inkle loom's ability to create narrow bands of fabric. At first, I envisioned that the belt was going to be striped orange and purple with a purple slider belt buckle. Colorful, but I tell you what, I was not able to find such a thing as a purple slider belt buckle. I searched local shops and the internet.

My next plan was to visit the thrift store and there I found an awesome buckle with a lightning bolt on it. I changed my color scheme to black and silver to better match the buckle.

Because the belt needed to fit the buckle, the finished project had to be 1-1/4" wide. At first, I warped the loom using my calculations for a warp faced fabric, but that resulted in too narrow of a band. Then I referred to the inkle loom instructions which suggested 50 warp threads in the recommended yarn, which would result in a 1" band. I adjusted my calculations; this time the belt was too wide. With more measuring and calculating, the third time I warped the loom, I got the results I wanted.

Weaving the belt was fast and simple. There was a bit of a learning process in achieving better looking selvedges. I began to get the hang of it and if you look along the length of the band you can see that my technique improved the longer I wove. And with a little more practice I'll be able to achieve a smoother edge.

To follow along with us as we each make our inkle projects, find us on Facebook and our Pinterest.