Select books HERE then in checkout enter the discount code “HOLIDAYBOOKS” to get 30% off if you order any two print books from the website.
Books and DVD
Give the Gift of Weaving Books! A Free Book When You Order My New Edition of Weaving for Beginners
Go HERE to order the new edition of Weaving for Beginners: an Illustrated Guide.
Read about this new edition in my post of October 20, 2025 HERE
In the cart, HERE enter the discount code “WARPING” to get a free copy of Warping Your Loom & Tying on New Warps by Peggy Osterkamp when you order Weaving for Beginners. (Remember to ADD BOTH BOOKS TO THE CART in order to get the free book.)
About Warping Your Loom & Tying on New Warps:
In Book 2, learn how to prepare your loom for weaving — beginning at the back of the loom. You will learn how to beam on, thread, and sley the reed. Also: chapters on sectional beaming, tying on new warps, knots, and adjusting jack, counterbalance and countermarch looms. Step-by-step instructions and sections at the ends of chapters for quick reference. Having Peggy’s books at your loom is like having a patient teacher at your side.
Fourth edition ©2021, revised edition; 206 pages, over 200 illustrations.
Give the Gift of Weaving Books! A Free Book When You Order My New Edition of Weaving for Beginners.
Go HERE to order the new edition of Weaving for Beginners: an Illustrated Guide.
Read about this new edition in my post of October 20, 2025 HERE.
In the cart, HERE enter discount code “WINDING” to get a free copy of Winding a Warp & Using a Paddle by Peggy Osterkamp when you order Weaving for Beginners. (Remember to ADD BOTH BOOKS TO THE CART in order to get the free book.)
Information about this book can be found on my website under the tab: Books/DVD HERE
Metric Measurements, Too!
Available to order now HERE, the latest edition of my Weaving for Beginners book includes, for the first time, both US and metric measurements.
The New Book is Here! The Fourth Edition of Weaving for Beginners
New for this edition of the book is an envelope inside the front cover. Inside is a poster with directions for warping the loom. One side for “Back-to-Front” the other side for “Front-to-Back”.
This is the poster that is inside the envelope inside the front cover. It has illustrations and page numbers for reference. That makes it easy to quickly see what the steps are, but it has more references if needed. If you already have previous editions of Weaving for Beginners, you can order just the poster that you want.
Here is the information about Creo Press who is now my publisher. Note Printed in USA—the first time that’s been possible for many years!
Here is my introduction to my former apprentice, now my publisher, Vera Totos who now lives in Hungary!
Summer Sale: 30% OFF – My Red Books Are Packed with Information NOT in the Beginning Book
I wrote these 3 red books to pass on the production weaving techniques I learned in a Production Weaving class at Pacific Basin School of Textiles in the 1970’s. Jim Ahrens was the teacher. At the time he was also teaching John Violet how he built his production looms. That was the beginning of AVL looms.
I reminded myself that there is a lot of information in my 3 red books when I went looking for shuttle information in Book #3: Weaving & Drafting Your own Cloth. I was having shuttle trouble while weaving the cloth for my vest woven with the Sunday Comics.
I wrote the first book Winding a Warp & Using a Paddle with one of my production weaving students, Carol Hillestad. We lived in New York City and passed drafts across the subway platform gates. I visited her in her office in one of the World Trade Towers! I gave her the info, then she wrote it for the text. We decided if it couldn’t be said in writing, we would need an illustration. I published it in 1992. In the subsequent editions a lot more illustrations were added! See below for some illustrations in Book #1.
Summer Sale Book 1 – 30% off. Discount applied in cart – Order HERE
Why use a paddle?
“More than two ends will inevitably braid up on each other, as you know all too well if you have ever tried knitting with three or more colors. By the end of the row, you have a tangle of yarns to untwine.”
There is a whole chapter on sett including 14 pages of Sett Charts with entries for upholstery, production weaving, clothing, woolens, and delicate fabrics. Collapse weaving uses the “delicate” sett in general.
A warp comb can be made to order to use as a raddle for fine threads. “A commercially made warp comb, or drawing in comb, is another form of raddle and looks just like a reed, except that it’s only about two inches tall and the top comes off. These are available from companies that manufacture reeds.
Book #2, Warping Your Loom & Tying On New Warps was first published in 1995.
I always envisioned a big book like the Collingwood book, but was afraid it would never get done. That’s why I wrote one book at a time. There is so much in it because I was really afraid that it would be my last book. Sharon Alderman, one of the editors told me , “There is stuff in the book that doesn’t belong there.” See below some of the illustrations from Book #2.
Summer Sale Book 2 – 30% off. Discount applied in cart – Order HERE
Photo 8 of 8
Book #3, Weaving & Drafting Your Own Cloth was published in 2005.
I put in them all that I knew that I’d learned from Jim Ahrens and probably some of what I learned from my teaching. See below some of the illustrations in Book #3.
Summer Sale Book 3 – 30% off. Discount applied in cart – Order HERE
It’s Our 14th Anniversary!
Fourteen years ago on November 19, 2010, my new website was born, thanks to my tech guy. The first of 1,052 posts was a review of my book, Weaving for Beginners, that was in Handwoven magazine. Weather you know the book or not, you might be surprised to find things that are inside and possibly find things you never thought about before if you read the review. HERE (Much of the information in my book is what I learned from Jim Ahrens and my students.)
The year that I was a full-time weaving student at Pacific Basin School of Textile Arts in the 1970’s, I learned many techniques even my teachers had not heard of that Jim Ahrens taught us. He did production weaving for churches, interiors, and high-end shops as well as built looms. He had studied the European looms just before they went to power and didn’t find any looms available at the time that incorporated these technical aspects, so he began to build his own looms. Many of these aspects were incorporated in the looms I’ve seen on my travels to many parts of the world. For example, every loom I’ve seen has the lease sticks in the warp behind the heddles and many use the same automatic tension instead of a brake. Jim Ahrens is the “A” in AVL.
I’m thrilled to announce that the Fourth Edition is in the works! It will be going to the printer soon. It will have a new cover and some additions, too. There will be a pocket with a poster inside with the steps for setting up the loom. One side will be for Back-to-Front and the other side for Front-to-Back, along with illustrations and references to pages in the book. There will be a section about how to use a trapeze, too, and metric measurements!
EXTRA!! Read All About It! – Warping Your Loom & Tying On New Warps is in Print Again!
Almost a year ago I sent my books to a shop in Australia, called the Weaving Room. That’s when Sharon Harris, the owner of the shop, 13,000 km away contacted me because she thought my 2nd book needed to be back in print.
Then a most beautiful thing happened when we two women who don’t know each other, worked together across the world to produce an “amazing book “(her words) that has been out of print for years. The First Edition came out 26 years ago and has been in demand consistently ever since. This is the Fourth Edition.
The books were printed in Australia, and they arrived in the US and are available on my website here: https://peggyosterkamp.com/weaving-books-dvd/
It has been available only as a pdf for several years until now.
The cost may surprise you, but 26 years after the first books were printed costs have increased as you can imagine. The price will be $55. For those people who bought the original pdf, I offer a 15% discount off the new printed edition. To take advantage, send a message in the comments section with your name, address, and email address. (I have a record of all who ordered the PDF). I’ll email you how to send your payment by PayPal.
The cost of the PDF will remain the same as before: $27.50. I’m thrilled to see it in print again. When I look at the chapters, I see that much of the information is valuable and not in any of the other books at all. Of course, thorough explanations of warping the loom are included. In addition, there are chapters on:
Sectional beaming, Tying On New Warps, Adjusting Looms, Two or More Warps, Designing Random Stripes, Knots and more.
In a future post I’ll show example pages. I think you’ll see that “having her books at your loom is like having a patient, knowledgeable teacher at your side” as the back cover says.
Stay at Home Specials End June 2nd
Stay at Home Specials end tomorrow! CLICK HERE
Help for These Trying Times
I’m amazed at how people are checking on and helping each other as we deal with the Covid-19 virus and stay in our homes.
I spent the day cutting fabrics for making 200 masks for our staff. Thank goodness for a rotary cutter! I can’t tell you how good it felt to be doing something. We have a whole team. It’s amazing how people have all we needed—except for the elastic and filter. We needed to search deeply for elastic—everyone seemed out of stock. I had a spool of wire and good cutters, others had fabric—lots of quilting material. Tonight those with sewing machines are busily sewing them up. Our team leader made miniature samples to go along with the directions.
I’d like to help in another way by offering a free book with the purchase of a book. It’s the same sale I have offered during the holidays.
If you can weave or not now, perhaps reading about it will make for some pleasant time—maybe even inspire you to get to the loom.
Many of you know my book, Weaving for Beginners (as a pdf or in print). However, the other books offer more depth and are like reference books. They have all the illustrations you expect. Order your free books on my website: www.peggyosterkamp.com
Here’s what you might be interested in knowing more in depth about in Winding a Warp & Using a Paddle: how to use a paddle, plan projects, understand sett for different projects as well as different yarns, and make perfect warps.
Warping Your Loom & Tying On New Warps is only available as a pdf but has lots of information that isn’t readily available to weavers—especially in one place. How to beam perfectly tensioned warps by yourself, use sectional warping, adjust looms, tie on new warps, learn how different types of looms work, and how to adjust them.
Weaving & Drafting Your Own Cloth has in-depth information on drafting, analyzing fabric, creating your own designs, burn tests, multi shaft weaving, besides efficient weaving motions, information about different types of shuttles, making perfect selvedges and weighting them separately. There is a big chapter on troubleshooting as well.
My DVD is available on Vimeo as well as on a DVD. How to warp the loom from back-to-front is what it shows. It’s just like what’s in all the books.
My “Warping the Loom Back to Front” Video is Now Available for Streaming!
The tech world swirls around me again. Now my DVD “Warping the Loom Back to Front” is available for downloading and streaming on demand as well as a real DVD.
I learned that many people don’t buy DVD’s anymore-in fact computers often don’t have a drawer (or slot?) for them-and people don’t even own a DVD player. This reminds me of the VHS videos I used to sell that are now useless. People are now streaming movies and downloading them to watch from their computers or their phones. In order to do this, people must have a good internet connection though to make sure they don’t have to wait for buffering. Internet service providers, like infinitydish.com, have high-speed internet options to make it easier to download and stream movies quickly. That’s what a lot of people are doing.
Now you can either purchase my “Warping the Loom Back to Front” as a real DVD or download it or stream it on demand from the Vimeo website. I am thrilled that I can offer all of these methods to my customers. To kick off this event, I have reduced the physical DVD price from $34.95 to $19.95. The Vimeo options are to buy it for $9.95 (stream or download anytime) or rent it for 48 hours for $4.99. See my Vimeo page HERE. I’m proud to say that after 14 years in production, people are still ordering the DVD.
For anyone who bought a DVD in the last year at the higher price, you can contact me HERE and we’ll make a settlement together-say a free book, another DVD or credit for a download or Weaving for Beginners.
I hope you’ll want this on all your devices. Always have it nearby–handy at the warping board, when beaming, or threading the heddles. Learn how to make great warps with perfect tension and to thread the heddles without mistakes. My mentor, Jim Ahrens said, warping is 50% of weaving and if done well, the weaving will be hassle free without tangles or broken threads.
We even made a real “trailer”. It feels almost like I’m in the movie business.
Remember: The only thread that can’t tangle is one under tension! Happy weaving!—-Peggy
Reminding Myself How to Hemstitch with My Kindle Book
I needed to hemstitch the other day and had to get out my big book, Weaving for Beginners, which was so big that it made it impossible to do the stitching. So I got out my Mini iPad and opened up my Kindle book on hemstitching. Perfect–then I taught myself again how to make the stitches. I was all thumbs at first but when I got it, it was quick and easy.
Then I got out my iPhone and it worked better than ever. What fun! I learned to hemstitch way late in my weaving life so on one piece I even forgot to use it.
So, I got it! Since this will be on the hem on the back of the piece, I didn’t need to be careful about having every group of threads the same size. The reason here is to keep the last wefts from unravelling. You should leave at least an inch of warp on the piece before cutting it off the loom.
You can get a copy of my Kindle Hemstitching booklet for just $2.99 HERE.
Next month I’ll publish my third booklet. This one will be about a unique way of “Tying On New Warps”. FYI: the second booklet is “Weaver’s Knots“.
Coming Soon: My Second Kindle Book – Weaver’s Knots
Last year we were surprised to find that my most popular weaving tip on my website was the hemstitching tip. To date out of 94,000 views of the list of tips, 47,000 are for hemstitching alone. That’s why about a year ago we published our first Kindle book called Hemstitching. It is really a reference/instructional booklet. We decided people were needing more on the basics.
Now we are about to publish our second Kindle book called, Weaver’s Knots. There are 6,000 words and 67 illustrations. showing every step in the tying of each knot. Of course there will be directions to tie a weaver’s knot, but did you know there are several different ways to tie it? How to tell you have made it correctly and equally important, how to undo them. There is also a double weaver’s knot included. Special knots are given for slippery threads, hanging and adjusting shafts, tying up treadles. There is a chart for different situations and what knots to use. I’m very excited about it. When my technical proof reader finished it she was amazed that even though she had a big fear of knots, she could do every one successfully. I’ll let you know when it is published.
In the mean time you can check out my Hemstitching book by clicking it’s cover below.
Hooray! My First Kindle Booklet: Hemstitching
I’m excited to announce that my first Kindle book (booklet) is now available on Amazon. It is in response to My Top Ten List of the most popular of my weaving tips. The most viewed tip was for Hemstitching! Almost 34,000 people have viewed this tip in the 5 years that my new website has been up. That amazes me and thrills me.
Hemstitching is a way to begin and end weaving on the loom without having to sew hems or knot fringes later, after the cloth has been taken off. For years I thought I couldn’t do it but when I was taught it I’ve loved the technique.
I’ve updated the material in the Kindle book and added a gallery of variations from old embroidery books. What makes my instructions special is that there are 9 step-by-step illustrations and text whereas most weaving sources only show one illustration and no text. There are directions for hemstitching at the beginning of your weaving and also at the end.
It is available for download on Amazon for $2.99. Of course it can be viewed on all Kindle readers and on most smart phones, tablets, and computers if you install the free Kindle reading app on your device.
You can buy the book from Amazon here: Peggy’s Weaving Tips: Hemstitching. I’d love it if you would give it a good review. If this is successful I’ll publish more Kindle booklets of weaving tip collections.
PDF Book No. 2 — At Long Last
I am so happy that the PDF is finally ready for my Book #2, 4th Edition, “Warping Your Loom & Tying On New Warps”. Frankly, it is the book with the most “meat” of my reference books in the series, Peggy Osterkamp’s New Guide to Weaving. It has been out of print for some time. I went over the entire book, page-by-page and made minor changes that had come to my attention in the 8 years it was in print. I edited things here and there to make them more clear and added a a completely new chapter on how to use the Warping Wheel.
There are comprehensive chapters on adjusting looms,sectional beaming, tying on new warps, and includes beaming back-to-front. There are references to techniques unique to the Ahrens Looms.
I have just started a website for the looms that Jim Ahrens built, how they work and how to use them. I’ll keep you posted.
This 4-Shaft Tie-up is My Gift to You
This tie-up works for all 4-shaft looms except countermarch looms. I have made two posts about it already and here it is a third time. That is because it is so useful and I think, wonderful.
This way to tie up your treadles is a fantastic gift that Jim Ahrens taught us. You’ll never have to tie up the treadles again on your 4-shaft looms. My looms were built by Jim; this tie-up is the only choice–because it’s so flexible. I love it and pass it along to you as my gift.
One tie up for four shaft looms is described in my book Weaving for Beginners on page 96, figure 226. I describe a tie-up that never needs to be changed, for four shaft jack and counterbalance looms. You can get all the combinations possible with four shafts with this system. Your feet can dance over the treadles for many weaves, and if they aren’t dancing, they can work very efficiently. See Figure 6. Another advantage of this system is that you can change to any weave structure you want in a project without changing the ties to the treadles.
I received this comment about the tie up I posted. (Search for tying up your treadles.) “Thanks for the tie-up, Peggy! What if you have a 6 treadle loom and want to add a tabby tie-up? Is it best to put it in the middle or on the outside treadles, in your opinion?”
Here’s my opinion:
No, no, no!! The extra treadles just get in the way and offer the chance for mistakes. To do tabby put your foot between the treadles and push 1&3 with one foot and 2&4 with the other. Then you can walk the treadles. Which two treadles to not hook up you can decide on depending on how your feet fit the treadles–and what’s comfortable. Getting comfortable helps avoid mistakes. See also page 2 in my third book, Weaving & Drafting Your Own Cloth.
My Beginnig Weaving Book is Back in Stock
The Second Edition of my book, Weaving for Beginners, has arrived! It’s a thrill to see them. There is only one thing that is different, basically, in this edition–a new step has been added to the surgeon’s knot. It will be in a post soon.
On Friday, I’ll be at the Conference of Northern California Handweavers–(CNCH) in Oakland, California. I hope to see you there. It will be easy to spot me because I’ll be wearing my special T-shirt with the cover of the book on it. I’d love it if you’d stop me and say hello. Look for posts from there. I’ll be taking a class in weaving with wire.
Peggy Osterkamp – Working on my first eBook!
I do what I do because I love it. I wouldn’t have this blog if I didn’t think I would enjoy it and I love the fact that so many people learn and benefit from my post. This blog started because a few friends wanted some tips so it was just the easiest ways to get the information to them. Then more people found the blog and people started to ask me to cover certain topics or asked questions – some even showed me the work I had helped inspire them to do! After a while, people started mentioning how I could write a book to share my knowledge but I didn’t think enough people would be interested in it. Then more and more people asked and I decided I sit down and write the book. One thing lead to another and now I’m on my second book with ebook book publishing companies contacting me all the time!
As you can see, I’m up to my neck getting my Book #2, “Warping Your Loom & Tying On New Warps” ready for it’s 4th edition–this time as a pdf. There aren’t many hard copies left, so for only a little while, I’ll have both available. Both will be available on my website. It will be an e-book in pdf format. We will set up the website for ordering when we have it ready–maybe the end of February. It’s a job, checking every page and every item in the 13-page index.
For now, the posts I’ll be doing will be some of my favorite weaving tips.
A Wonderful Testimonial
Getting this email from Judy Wheeler really made my day!
I just wanted to say THANK YOU!! for writing the New Guide to Weaving books. I have all three, and literally could not weave without them. I learned to weave many years ago at a weaving shop that was only in business a short while…
I love weaving, but it was always a struggle. Warping was difficult, tension was never good, and my projects rarely turned out like I had hoped. Then I found your books. Weaving is now so much more enjoyable and rewarding, and your books are just amazing! I always refer to them when weaving, but often I pick one up and just read it, because I always learn something new.
Thank you again!
Peggy’s Planning Weaving Projects Worksheet
I gave a lesson the other day about planning projects and gave out the worksheet my students have liked and that is in my book, Weaving for Beginners. I thought it would be good to share it. It is used to calculate the many things needed when planning a project. This worksheet lets you figure out how long and wide the warp should be and the amount of warp and weft yarn you need. When I was starting out, I was always worried that I’d forget a critical calculation. I’ve used it with my students for many years so I don’t worry that I’ve forgotten a calculation they needed for their projects. You may download the worksheet HERE.
A Book of Weaving Art
I’m so pleased to have this book showing my art work which I’ve woven over the past 37 years. Many of the pieces are still for sale and having this book is allowing me to part with them. They have been like my children and I haven’t wanted to sell them until now. See my website to order. Note that I have a special discount offer for the holidays. I hope you’ll like seeing some of my work in the video. There is much more in the book with over 60 pages of photographs.
Holiday Weaving Book Specials
Click HERE to see the great deals for the holidays on my weaving books and DVD.
Weaving and Credit Cards
- Square up: credit card for buying weaving
At Convergence I needed a way to offer customers the option of using credit cards. You see, the idea of the credit card has always been popular. Well, it has been in my mind anyway. Not only does it provide people with the opportunity to build their credit and to improve their overall credit score, protection against credit card fraud, as well as increased purchasing power. Yes, you heard that right. With a credit card, you could walk into any physical store, or visit any online site, and purchase any of the products and services that they have available. You are essentially borrowing money against a line of credit. In simpler terms, this means that your bank pays the merchant the desired fee, and later when it shows up on your bill, you are required to pay this money back. People, my friend included, seem to forget that they have to pay this money back at a later date, which is why I always tell her to make sure that she has enough funds in the bank to be able to do this.
Because I want to be able to move with the times, and ensure that my customers can pay with any payment method that suits them the best, I need to think about incorporating more options into Convergence. And that is when I realized that allowing them to use credit cards is definitely the way forward. What I needed to have was a smart phone. Then I got (for free) a gadget called Square Up which goes on top of the phone so you can swipe credit cards. What fun–for me and the customers who “signed” using a finger. Now I’m having fun with my iPhone–a toy that I really didn’t need. Pay Pal has just put out their own gadget.
My Weaving Books Sold Well
My book table was laden with everything. The new, A Woven Retrospective, looked great and people loved it. I sold quite a few and several people said they would ask their guild library to order copies. I worked hard on all those books and since I sit in California in my studio all alone, I was greatly pleased to hear that lots of people are using them–and teachers, too. I especially made Weaving for Beginners for teachers, so that pleased me greatly. The Retrospective can be ordered from my website.
My Weaving Art Book Goes to Press
My art book went to press on time: April 25. I will be printing 50 copies to have at Convergence, the national weaving convention, held in Long Beach, California. Dates are July 18-21. My booth is #535. I can’t wait to share my work over 37 years with people stopping in. I’ll have many of the pieces shown in the book for sale in the booth as well as the book and all of my other books. This book will have numbered copies and of course, I’ll sign them. Let me know if you are interested. By only printing a few, the cost is significant. I’m just covering my expenses for this First Edition. Introductory and Convergence price: $175. Regular price: $200. (There are over 60 pages, all in color with many detail photos–hardbound, too.) Everyone says it’s beautiful and I think so, too.