Setting Up the Loom

• 1). Wind a 1-yard warp around two pegs driven into the ground, or on a warping board if you have one. Make a figure-eight cross at one end or in the middle. This warp requires a total of 92 warp ends. Preserve the cross by tying a string through both sides of it.
  
  
• 2). Put one of the 1-inch dowels through each end of the warp. Tie a rope to both ends of one of the dowels and attach it to something stable like a post or tree. Attach the backstrap to the other bar. Put the backstrap around your hips. Sit so that the warp is under some tension; tension the warp with your body.
  
  
• 3). Put one of the small dowels in each of the two sheds formed by the cross. Put the sword (or ruler) in the shed closest to you and turn it on its side. Make the string heddles for that shed. Take the tail end of the ball of string through the shed from right to left. Tie a slip knot on one end and attach the knot to one end of another small dowel. This dowel will become the heddle stick.
  
  
• 4). Reach down between the first and second warp thread and pull the string up between the two threads. Give it a half twist and place the loop on the heddle stick. Reach down between the second and third warps, and pull up another loop of string. Twist it, and place it on the heddle stick.
  
  
• 5). Continue in this manner across the warp until you have made heddles for all the top warp threads. Adjust each heddle as you go to make them all the same length. At the end of the stick, put an extra two or three slip knots and then cut the string. Tie the two string tails together in the middle, over the heddle stick.
  
  
• 6). Put the sword (or ruler) in the other shed and turn it on its side. Insert another one of the larger dowels in this shed. Tie a string to one end of this dowel, take it across the top of the warp, and tie it to the other end of the dowel. This way, you can't lose the other shed by having the stick fall out.
  
  

Weaving the Purse

• 1). Open the stick shed by inserting the sword into that shed in front of the stick, behind the heddles. Put your hand in the shed and open it further. Take the sword out and put it in front of the heddles. Turn it on its side to open the shed, and insert the weft. The weft should be wound around a belt shuttle.
  
  
• 2). Open the heddle shed by leaning forward to take some tension off the warp. With your left hand, grasp the heddle stick and roll it forward to separate the threads. Put the sword into the shed and beat. Then pass the weft, wound onto the belt shuttle or on a stick, through the shed.
  
  
• 3). Open the stick shed by putting the sword in the shed next to the stick, behind the heddles. Turn it on its side. Put your left hand in the shed. Move the sword in front of the heddles and turn it on its side. Beat. Insert the weft again in the shed. Adjust the selvedge edges when you put the weft in, to avoid drawing in too much.
  
  
• 4). Continue weaving in this manner until the fell (the edge of the cloth) is too far away for you to reach. At this point you will need another 1-inch dowel. Put it underneath the dowel next to your body. Unhitch the dowel from the backstrap, and roll the warp over the two sticks. Re-attach the dowel to the backstrap. The rope to the backstrap goes over the dowel closest to you, and loops around the ends of the other dowel.
  
  
• 5). Continue weaving until the bag measures the length that you want, 12 inches or more, as you will fold the bag in half to sew it up the sides. Cut the weaving off the loom.
  
  

Finishing the Purse

• 1). Fold the purse in half lengthwise. Thread a yarn darning needle with matching thread. Sew up the sides of the bag.
  
  
• 2). Turn the top of the bag down to the inside to form a hem. Turn under the raw edge. Stitch down the hem of the bag.
  
  
• 3). Weave a narrow band for the strap in the same way that you wove the bag, but use only 28 warp ends. Insert a 6-inch piece of cardboard in the shed at the beginning of the weaving, to leave room for fringe. Leave 6 inches at the end as well. Weave a strap 17 1/2 inches long. Sew the band to the purse beginning 1 inch below the top of the purse.