Speedweve Darning Loom

Lancashire's Smallest Loom, more commonly known as the Speedweaver or Speedweve, was produced by E & A Chesstok Ltd of Rusholme, Manchester in the 1940s and 1950s. Similar looms were produced in other countries under names as Darn Easy, Daga Darner, Jasco Mender, Fredos, Star Darning Machine and Stoppapparat.

Our Speedweves are replicas of those original designs, and are beautifully crafted tools, handy and practical to accomodate for all your darning, mending and small artistic weaving adventures.

A darning loom has two parts: a wooden disc onto which you place your fabric and a metal loom. The wooden disc has a groove around the side so you can attach the loom to the disc and fabric using an elastic band. Run your fingers across the chain of hooks at the top to make the metal hooks flip one way and the other. This alternates the height of the warp/vertical threads so you can quickly and accurately weave over and under. Each loom comes with a basic set of instructions, but this is a tool for letting your creativity run free, and lots of inspirational videos can be found on YouTube.

We have three different sizes to choose from:

10 Hooks: Wooden disc diameter 7cm. Use for small patches using thicker threads/yarn since there is wider room between the hooks.
14 Hooks: Wooden disc diameter 7cm. Use for small patches, suitable for both thinner threads and heavier yarn weights, with narrow room between hooks.
21 Hooks: Wooden disc diameter 9.3cm. Use for small and large patches, suitable for both thinner threads and heavier yarn weights, with narrow room between hooks.