Hand-Loom Weaving: A Manual for School and Home by Mattie Phipps Todd introduces weaving through simple exercises, small looms, and useful fabric projects. This revised 1914 edition builds on a book first copyrighted in 1902, adding suggestions drawn from the author’s experience teaching weaving at school and at home.
The manual connects the basic over-and-under movement with the practical decisions that shape a finished piece: choosing materials, stringing the warp, joining the weaving material, managing edges, and finishing the work. Illustrations show looms, patterns, and examples of woven objects. Todd’s emphasis on gradual practice makes the book especially interesting for beginners and readers studying traditional craft education.
Book details
- Title: Hand-Loom Weaving
- Subtitle: A Manual for School and Home
- Author: Mattie Phipps Todd
- Introduction: Alice W. Cooley
- Publisher: Rand McNally & Company, Educational Publishers
- Publication locations: Chicago, New York, and London
- Edition: Revised 1914 edition
- Original copyright: 1902
- Language: English
- Format: Illustrated scanned PDF with searchable text
- Length: 174 PDF pages, including preliminary and unnumbered leaves
- File size: 15.51 MB
What Hand-Loom Weaving covers
Starting with the structure of weaving
The opening chapters discuss early looms and the place of weaving in manual education. Todd then turns to the practical problem of introducing the craft. Felt and paper mats, slats, and strips provide ways to learn the movement before committing yarn to a loom. These exercises help the learner recognize a pattern and understand how the crossing elements form a fabric.
The book also describes several forms of the Todd adjustable hand loom. Some models adjust in width, while others adjust in both length and width or have attachments for small hammocks. These descriptions are useful for understanding the equipment used throughout the examples, although readers using another frame will need to compare its arrangement with the illustrations.
Stringing warp and selecting materials
A dedicated chapter explains methods of stringing warp. It discusses tension, double warp at the edges, stripes and plaid effects, fringe, and continuous warp for pieces longer than the loom. Todd points out how uneven tension and careless handling affect the finished edges. The instructions connect preparation with the problems that can appear later in the work.
The materials chapter compares rug yarn, chenille, cotton roving, jute, raffia, knitting yarn, cord, and strips of fabric. It includes ways to use pieces of old silk and dress lining, as well as cheesecloth and candle wicking. These examples are particularly relevant to readers interested in making useful objects from available materials and understanding how different fibers change a woven surface.
Dyeing, splicing, rugs, and mats
Chapters on dyeing and splicing address the preparation and joining of weaving materials. They sit between the basic setup and the project chapters, showing that a successful piece depends on more than the repeated weaving movement. Joining short lengths and preparing consistent strips are important when working with reused cloth.
Rug and mat weaving receives its own treatment, followed by hammocks and raffia mats. The examples let readers compare textures, borders, and color arrangements on relatively small pieces. The hammock chapter belongs to the book’s school-and-home craft setting; its examples should be read at the scale and purpose shown, without assuming that a small classroom design is a tested adult load-bearing structure.
Projects, patterns, and teaching ideas
The miscellaneous weaving chapter broadens the possibilities beyond a single rug. The materials discussion also suggests cushion covers, table runners, sachet cases, doll blankets, small towels, and woven panels for boxes. These applications show how a basic woven piece can become part of a larger household or gift project.
Later chapters examine rugs described by the book as Oriental rugs and Navajo blankets. They preserve period examples and the author’s approach to teaching pattern and color. A chapter of songs, games, and stories reflects the classroom audience, while a list of helpful books and magazine articles and an index support further reference.
Why keep this on a practical craft bookshelf?
Weaving makes the relationship between material, structure, and workmanship visible. This manual gives readers a way to study those relationships through manageable exercises. It is useful for people exploring small frame looms, traditional textile skills, reused fabric, and the history of hands-on teaching.
Parents, craft instructors, and beginning weavers can compare Todd’s sequence of exercises with their own equipment and learners. Readers building a home reference collection can pair it with Ardbark’s homestead books and self-sufficiency collection.
About this edition
The scan preserves the revised edition’s original pages, illustrations, and preliminary leaves. Its searchable text has recognition errors, so use the page images to check a measurement or instruction. Equipment, dyeing methods, historical language, and educational views reflect the period. The book is an illustrated historical reference for practical study, with methods to evaluate against the materials and tools available today.
Read Hand-Loom Weaving
Explore Mattie Phipps Todd’s weaving exercises, material guidance, and illustrated projects in the 15.51 MB PDF below.
