Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (20) View all

Fiber tools: loom shuttles

  • wcu_craft_revival-6097.jpg
  • A loom shuttle carries the weft fiber for a weaver. The warp is strung on to a loom from the back to where the weaver sits in front. A weaver needs at least one shuttle, and may use several, for different colors or for different threads. Most overshot weaving was done with two shuttles. These metal tipped boat shuttles were used on fly-shuttle looms, which were just coming into use in the 1930s for faster weaving. These loom shuttles were likely created between 1920 and 1950; the name of their creator is unknown.