Inkle Loom Plain-Weave Pattern Generator

This is SUCH an amazing and simple tool to use while plotting a plain weave pattern for my inkle loom. It is just PERFECT.

That is a sweet little tool. I'll be introducing some people to the inkle loom in June, I'll be sure to show them your site. This beats graph paper and colored pencils.

HGA Bookmark Exchange, Sample 1

Hi Kate - I have bypassed the printer issue by using thesnipping tool, and printed the pattern from there.

I love the Pattern Generator! I used to be able to print my patterns but the Print Button no longer works for me. I have dozens of patterns printed and saved but I can not print my new ones. Any assistance that you can provide would be helpful!

it was fun work

Thank you so much for this great tool!

This is wonderful, I have my inkle loom recently and this pattern generator has been a great ally to make beautiful designs, thank you so much!!!

This is wonderful, I have my inkle loom recently and this pattern generator has been a great ally to make beautiful designs, thank you so much!!!

The hardest part of an inkle project is calculating the length of warp needed. Can anyone recommend a rule of thumb for takeup? I will likely use 8/2 cotton but am considering rug warp. It’s for shoelaces.

...or sometimes it's nice to use a different colour for the weft (different from the border, maybe the same as one of the colours in the middle of the braid). That way, you get regular flecks of the different colour all the way up each edge.

I can't tell you how to set up a backstrap loom, because I've never used one, but I believe that on any warp-facing weave, the only place that the weft shows is at the edges. So for the weft I typically use the same color as whatever my border edges are. That way it blends in.

So how does this set up on the backstrap and what color would I use for weft

Hey MacChick!

So glad you love the tool! I did a stars-and-stripes guitar strap for a friend, I'll have to post the photo. I am still planning on building a project gallery so all my visitors can share photos and patterns. And just a reminder, all your donations are matched dollar-for-dollar and go to help poor women around the world earn a better living by providing them with sewing machines, looms, embroidery machines, literacy classes, and other tools.

Enjoy!  ...but, do get some sleep! LOL

Oh, and I also have a site redesign in the works!

This is a game-changer!!! I'm addicted! So little time, so many ideas! I literally stayed up all night long creating more patterns; like, everytime I stopped b/c I was so dog-tired I was starting to pass out, I would jolt up and go, "Wait! I wonder what that would look like in Greens & Golds!" Or, "I just need to do some Southwest turquoise-and-terra-cotta designs, then I'll go to bed for a while," which got interrupted by, "Wait! 4th of July is coming up! Gotta do some R-W-B variations!," which led to "How abt summer fun! Colors that ice cream comes in! Citrus Colors! Sherbet colors! Cotton Candy Colors!" followed, naturally, by, "Let's just quickly do all the seasons, then I'll stop for the night," obviously propelling me into, "Major Holidays, gotta do the major holidays..." So, hey, I gotta donate to the PayPal button here, leave a comment, post the link on Twitter, and THEN maybe take a quick nap... after I do themes for horses... Appaloosas, Palominos, Bays, you get the idea... which is already jumping to other animals ... giraffes, tigers, ladybugs... and plants... rose garden, cornfield, watermelon... OMG I can't wait to weave all of these!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's kind of neat! It does look complicated to set up, though.

The set up for backstrap weaving is tricky to deal with since you are dealing with so many floating/unfastened parts. I've been doing this for some time but a'm still tinkering with my set up! What I like about it is its portability. No big loom to store or carry around. Also, since you move your body constantly to adjust the warp tension, you feel physically more involved in the weaving process. But I'm also hoping to try using the inkle loom one of these days!

Wow, I had never heard of backstrap weaving! I looked it up, and it looks fascinating and fun! And you're right, as a warp-facing weave, it works just the same as an inkle loom.

Thanks, Kaz! Glad you like it! :-)

I just heard about your site and the pattern generator. IT IS AWESOME!!! Even though I am a back strap weaver and do not use the inkle loom, the pattern is equally applicable and useful. THANK YOU! Just happily sent my donation.

Thank you so very much for this wonderful tool. I am totally loving it! Am also telling my friends because they will love it too! My weaving group is in the middle of making 500 yards of inkle bands for a project. This is perfect for helping us. Thank you again!

Great program! How about adding the ability to draft floats?

The best inkle pattern design tool I know. I have used this for years - thank you Carolyn for the progressive updates such as heddle markers, pattern saving etc.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!! Your pattern generator has saved me much confusion and headache ;)

I invented a new kind of Inkle Loom and I made a video about it.
https://youtu.be/I3PXh0Am0D0
For patterns I send my viewers to your Inkle Loom Generator.
Thank you for your great work.

I was able to save a pattern on my computer, but it doesn’t seem to work on the iPad. When I click save pattern I get a page of text of the pattern. Am I doing something wrong/

I have spacial disorientation haha but this generator is BEYOND incredible and I am so thankful for this program...it is recommended amongst my CROFTERS.or group...thank you Thank you!!!

Hi Snowwy! Thanks for visiting!

Hi!!!

This is a great program. I am new to inkle weaving and already want to create some of my own patterns. This is my first try and it was much easier than graphing out the colors on paper. Like some of the others, I couldn't print my pattern but used Bretts method of just counting the colors in order. Now on to the loom.

I was asked if donations could be made by PayPal; yes! That's actually the only way you can donate. I'm surprised that PayPal's Donate button doesn't have the PayPal logo! I'll have to look into that.

Brett,

That's a good idea, I may just do that!

Something that would be useful to me, and my engineer mind, would be a thread count list. This is what I do when I warp the loom.

For example, when I setup my 3 color pattern, I wrote it down like this:

8 Red
1 Black
1 Red
1 Black
1 Red
1 Black
1 Red
1 Black
1 Red
1 Black
1 Red
2 Black
10 Red
2 Gold
1 Red
2 Gold
10 Red
2 Black
1 Red
1 Black
1 Red
1 Black
1 Red
1 Black
1 Red
1 Black
1 Red
1 Black
8 Red

Then all I have to do is count to warp my loom! It would be awesome if the patten generator could do this. :)

Robyn,
It's a little difficult to diagnose from the description. Did you download the pattern file from your Google Drive to your PC before trying to upload it to the website? Before you upload the file, are you clicking on the "Choose File" button first, and selecting the file from your local PC drive? You can try sending the saved file to webweaver@carolingianrealm.info, and I'll take a look at it and see if there are any problems.

I don't know what the issue is, but I've tried several times to upload a pattern I made on my phone, But it's not working. I and then download it to my phone, move it to my google drive, and try to upload it on my PC to print. Unfortunately, your program isn't recognizing it, saying, no program chosen, once I click upload pattern. Any thoughts on why this might be happening?

Joan, Yes there is! Just click on the "Choose File" button, select the saved pattern from your local computer, and then click on "Upload Pattern". The pattern itself is data, though, not an image. You have to upload the pattern to this utility to see the images.

Is there a way to open a saved pattern?

It really wouldn't be too much different than manually lifting and dropping threads, as you see in some patterns, though the weft thread will be slightly less secure in that section.

When you are putting you warp threads on the loom,what would be the results of putting three Heddle threat beside each, other vice a Heddle and then an Open? other than change the final design.

I think it would be a great idea, I would use it. Would love to see what you and many others create using the program and can give some great inspiration to your own projects looking what others create. GO FOR IT.

Oh, and Chris (and others)...

I was thinking of creating a gallery page where people could share photos of their work. Do you all think that would be a fun thing to have? Would you use it?

Thank you to all who have donated this month! I just want to let you know that your contributions will be matched dollar for dollar, and are helping poor women around the world earn a better living for themselves and their families through much-needed tools such as sewing machines, embroidery machines, weaving looms, and literacy programs. You're making a difference! Blessings to all, and have a great holiday and a Merry Christmas!

I cannot begin to tell you how much I rely on this app. .I love it. I use it every time I weave and it's a life saver! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Oh Carolyn You are a GEM THANK YOU SOoooo MUCH. That is SO MUCH BETTER. I love this page and use is regularly, this will make things easier. I am in the middle of making my mum's Birthday present I created two new bands to make a roll case for the shuttles I crafted to go with an Inkle loom my dad has built her for her birthday. I love the bands I created on the generator. Wish I could share a picture with you when it is finished. THANK YOU AGAIN BIG TIME. BIG FAN CHRIS.

I totally understand; I've gotten to the point myself where I prefer things to be easier on the eyes. See if this helps a bit.

Oh, and if you don't see the change, it may be that your browser has cached the style sheet... if you force-refresh the page, that should reload the style sheet. (That would be, shift-refresh, or control-refresh, depending on your browser.)

Love all the changes you made love the dots that show the heddles and being able to save and then upload to work on again AWESOME FEATURE, I use that all the time. You wouldn't be able to make the squares larger and slightly more space in between at the bottom which shows the threads the representation of the threads would you? They kind of run together and I tend to repeat the odd line younger eyes are obviously better than mine, but it would really help. As always a devoted user and fan of your program. Chris.

Love the dots. Thank you!

Thank you SO much for sharing this wonderful app. I tell everyone about it!

Wow - thank you for the updates! Nice.

Hi Folks!
Just want to let you know that, thanks to some friendly user suggestions, the Pattern Generator now lets you save your designs, and upload saved designs so that you can keep working on them! Also, in the pattern, threads that go through the heddles are now marked with a dot. Enjoy!

I've expanded the thread count for now; I'll look into saving and retrieving files when I have more time.

That's a good suggestion, I'll give it some thought!

Thank you for the generator. It's a great tool! I'd love to see a paid version that would allow for more threads (over 100), and allow me to save multiple designs. I'm saving my final versions as screen clips, but would love to be able to bring in a design back in to alter it.

Thank you so much for this pattern generator. It has brought me hours and hours of fun and kept me from tearing my hair out having to do it manually. God bless you.

Raine,
When you print, be sure to enable background colors and images, or background graphics, in your browser. This may vary depending on the browser. Click here for instructions and screen shots.

I LOVE YOUR PATTERN GENERATOR. But when I print out the chart none of the squares are colored. Help!
Raine

Just found you, looking forward to lots of fun

Thanks for getting back to me Carolyn, and the new colour controls are an awesome addition. BIG THUMBS UP. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Oh as for the yarn I use for my dog collar, I use a Bamboo cotton mix which is 70% Bamboo, 30% cotton. It's 4ply it is so silky and shiny and my inkle loom loves it. I just have to attach a buckle and add holes and its ready.

AWESOME ADDITION TO PLAIN WEAVE PATTERN GENERATOR. This is really going to help me when working out my warp colours for a pattern. Cheers.

Chris

Love the new color controls!

Hi Chris,

You're absolutely right; who doesn't need more color??  Since such a vast range of color is possible, instead of adding more swatches, I've added controls to let you customize the color exactly the way you like!  You can pick something from the swatches that is close to what you want, and then use the sliders to tweak it until it's just right.

Also, I'm really curious to know what material you used to weave your dog collar.  Ordinary yarn, or something more rugged?

Its a fantastic little tool and I designed my first band for my dogs collar on this, I was skeptical I admit, but I was thrilled to see my pattern coming to life as I wove my first large piece on my inkle loom. Thank you for providing such a neat tool for us all to use.

I only wish there were more colours in the colour bar to use, its kind of hard to picture how my colours will look sometimes, yes more choice of colours would make it even more fab.

Kind Regards
Chris.

Thanks for this webpage. I especially like the Inkle loom Generator

Love the Inkle Pattern generator. It is a very helpful tool to have access to. Thank you

You are very talented; your crafts are so inspiring, Thank you for the inkle pattern generator. I am new to inkle weaving. After much practice the light bulb went on today, and I am finally getting it to look neat and tidy! Your little app makes it a snap to design a pattern quickly. I can 'see' a pattern now, but at first I did not grasp how e warp thread placement made the pattern. Your app has helped me 'get it'. This is a great teaching tool.

Hello! Thanks so much for the Inkle Pattern Generator! It is fabulous! If you ever decide to make it a plugin, let me know. I would love to have it on my web site as well! Thanks again, Dawn

Thanks for the Inkle Pattern Generator; I'm teaching two friends to inkle-weave tonight, and will be showing it to them. One thing: since you tweaked it, it now prints a pattern on two separate pages, even though a pattern only needs about 1/2 page to fit. I get a page-jump between the bar of boxes showing the Pattern, and all the other info (page header, website-URL, "Swatch" preview pic., text, # of threads...) I'm using a Safari browser on an iPad 3, iOS 7.1, and printing on a Bluetooth-connected Canon printer... I haven't yet updated to the latest iOS (7.1.1).

Thank you for the pattern generator it is a great tool for so many projects. I am also very happy about your Bible study and your detail to the word of God. The later is the most important.

Thank you for making the pattern generator available. It's a great tool that works well and is fun to use!

Thank you for providing the pattern generator!

I loved using your pattern generator very much! Thank you!

I like the new format for the Pattern generator,,super improvement,,,Thank you ever so much,,

Thank you! The inkle loom pattern generator is the really great. It saves me so much time. Love it.

Thanks for the pattern Generator and all the wonderful information on your site. How fun!

Is the Owner of this site still monitoring it? I haven't seen any responses from them since July 2011. Use this site alot, love it..

I am, I'm very sorry. I have noted your comments about the inkle loom pattern generator, and I do intend to make improvements to that tool. Just been busy with things! Tell you what, I'll try to take a look at that by the end of this month.

Attractive website. LOVE the inkle pattern generator. Just what I was looking for. Wonderful! Last night I did my first warp on an inkle loom to get used to it. I'm more familiar with the cricket rigid heddle patterns showing both warp and weft so your pattern generator helps me feel less blind with warp faced weaving. Glad I found this now. My second warp will be much more interesting! Thanks again!

I like the site very much,,however if I could put the pattern colors directly on the PREVIEW pattern and then have them fill in the PATTERN line would be most helpful,,just the reverse of how it is done now..and be able to print them when done,I get blank Patter/Preview at this time. I can see in my mind what I want to achieve ,just have problems with the transition from mind to paper.

I love the inkle pattern generator! Unfortunately, when I printed them out, using the printer friendly page, both of the grids were blank, no color, even though I had color patterns in them. I was able to copy the colors from the last one (because it was the only one still on my screen) into the grids, the others I will have to make up again. I printed 3 out before I realized they weren't printing anything but empty squares. It's still a really useful site, but being able to print the patterns would be great! I think I used this site several years ago and it did print out colors then. Not sure though.

Thanks!
PS
What's with the human thing?

I thank you immensely for the Inkle Loom Pattern Generator! I'm just a beginner and it's a huge help!

I have been playing with your Inkle loom pattern generator and I think it is very clever! I have one question though. I am new to Inkel weaving, and I don't understand how to read the pattern. Which threads go in the heddles and which do not? The patterns I have seen have two rows so I know how to warp the loom.

Thank you for your help!

This pattern generator is just for plain weave, so every other thread goes through the heddles.  It doesn't really matter whether the first thread goes through the heddle or not, just so long as you alternate threads.  Hope that helps!

Love your site, just found the pattern designer from conversation on inkle loom group. Thanks for sharing, can't wait to play with this.

Today I was amazed and excited to discover your Inkle Loom Pattern Generator. I've put a link to it on the resources page of my blog here.

http://aspinnerweaver.blogspot.com/p/resources.html

For all the years I've been weaving, I've not seen anything like it and think it is the cleverest thing ever! Thank you so much.

~Annie

I just wanted to tell you how much I've enjoyed the inkle pattern generator. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.