This project has been republished with the permission of the author. The original project can be found in the book Kids Weaving by Sarah Swett. If you enjoy weaving and children, please consider purchasing a copy of this book.

Many thanks to Sarah for her generosity.

Assembling the Loom

Putting your loom together is a straightforward job. As you put the pieces together, label each part neatly with a permanent marker; this will make the warping and weaving instructions easier to follow. Refer

1. 
   Locate all of the pieces on the materials list and lay them out in a big open space where you can comfortably assemble your loom. Keep all of the same types of pieces together at this point-for example, keep all of the 8" pieces of PVC pipe together.
2. Make the Side Bars: Use one of the smaller Tees (") to connect a 20" piece of pipe to an 8" piece of pipe lengthwise, end to end. Make another one. These 29"-long pieces are your side bars. Label them.
3. Make the Top Bar: Put a " elbow on each end of one of the 14" pieces of pipe. This is your top bar. Label it.
4. Connect the Side Bars to the Top Bar: Put the top bar elbows onto the ends of the 8" pieces of pipe on the side bars. The whole frame will look like an upside down U at this point.
5. Make the Cloth Bar: Put the small opening of the 1" x 1" X " Tees on to both ends of the 13 " piece of " pipe. (If using the 3/4 Slip Tees then put the piece of pipe in the connection side of the Tee). Label it.
6. Slide the cloth bar onto the open ends of the side bars (the open end of the U).
7. Make the Bottom Frame Bar: Put one " Tee on each end of one of the 14" pieces of pipe. This is your bottom frame bar. Label it.
8. Put the bottom frame bar onto the open ends of the side bars. The cloth bar can now slide up and down the side bars without falling off.
9. 
   Make Feet: Put a 2" piece of pipe into the shortest segment of one " Tee. Repeat with the remaining " Tee and 2" piece of pipe. Put an 8" piece of pipe in each of the open ends of each T. Put the 2" piece of pipe into each T on the end of the bottom frame bar. You can now stand your loom on its feet.
10. Make the Heddle Frame: Put the last 2 elbows onto one end of each of the two 2" pieces of pipe. Put the pieces of pipe you just assembled into the T's that stick out in the middle of the side bars so that the open holes of the elbow joints are facing each other. Label it.
11. Heddle Bar: There should be one 14" piece left. It is the heddle bar. Label it and set it aside until later.
12. Warp Bar and Big Shed Stick: The 11" piece of dowel is your big shed stick. The 13" piece of dowel is your warp bar. Label them and set aside until later (they are both used for projects in Chapter 4 of the Kids Weaving book).

When everything is in its place and your loom looks like the illustrations above, push firmly on every joint to make sure that your loom is as solid as it can be.