How to make a darning loom

Once upon the Internet, I stumbled across a nifty vintage darning tool called a SPEEDWEVE (speedweave, darn-easy, stoppapparat, in any case: thanks to the Instagram #visiblemending community for bringing them into my life).

These tools (and their associated mending and darning skills) were commonplace a couple generations ago and helped extend the life of countless socks and other textiles. Now it's 2020(2021!)(2022!!), mending is BACK with a vengeance and I am happy to be a part of bringing everyday items back to life -- as well as helping you bring your own everyday items back to life!

It is with this energy that we at Worth Mending designed the Swift Darning Loom.

What's a Swift Darning Loom?

Our most popular product to date, the Swift Darning Loom is an upcycled take on classic vintage mini looms like the Speedweve (UK) or the Darn Easy (Canada). Like its vintage predecessors, the Swift Darning Loom is an heirloom in the making -- this time, with a modern and earth-conscious twist.

How do you use it?

Using a darning loom can make darning and small-scale weaving easier. As you weave, you slip your needle through all of the loops then flip the hooks and repeat the process. The width of the hooks moves your threads up and down subtly as you flip the hooks side to side, so you can very easily create an over-and-under woven pattern. It's a lot faster than weaving over and under manually, and you can achieve a tidy, even patch even as a beginner.

For full video tutorials, visit and please subscribe to Worth Mending on YouTube.

What makes the Swift different from other mini looms?

We designed this loom with our core values in mind. We use reclaimed solid hardwood paired with high-quality birch plywood for the base, reclaimed stainless steel bicycle spokes for the characteristic hooks, and stainless steel hardware to hold everything together. The wood is sanded to a fine finish and left bare, allowing it the potential to develop a beautiful patina with age and use.

Each of the work surfaces is unique in character, and in many cases the original finish is left intact as a hat-tip to the previous life that the wood has already enjoyed.

My personal Swift Darner styled with an old version of the Weft Pick and a patch in one of my favourite colour combinations, pink and green!

The Swift Darning Loom comes with one 14-hook darning loom & my "standard size" work surface (3 x 4.5"). The rectangular shape of the work surface means that you can create a much bigger patch per 14 hooks, compared to the "original" circular disc design. (They're also more efficient to make -- less waste in production, more function in the end product! A total win!)
+ 2x 3.5" sewing needles
+ the most thorough mini-loom instruction booklet that exists! (print+digital)
+ access to lots of how-to videos on the Worth Mending YouTube channel!

 The unique rectangular shape of our loom has allowed us to develop an extra-long work surface that you can use to easily create a woven patch up to 9" long! Or use the extra space to weave freehand and create little patches, tiny tapestries, bracelets, bookmarks, ribbons -- your creativity is the limit ;) and we look forward to seeing what you come up with. Tag us @worthmending and #SwiftDarner!

Everything that comes in the Swift Bundle including the XL Work Surface, weft pick, needles, pick, pouch and loom.

Why mend?

I will admit that darning a sock takes a heck of a lot longer than buying a new sock, but a heck of a lot LESS time than knitting a new sock, which was more commonly the standard for comparison in times past. These days, I love mending socks and extending their functional life for the reduced environmental and social impact as much as for the money saved from not going out and buying new socks. But mostly I love it for the art and the intention behind the act of mending.

An older iteration of the Swift Darner alongside some socks it helped me to mend

Examples - Darning with the Swift Loom

But let's not stop there -- darning is for far more than just fixing socks! Essentially, when you darn, you are creating a new woven fabric to bridge a hole, repairing the integrity of the fabric you've worn out whether that's a sock, pants, a sweater, a tea towel, a blanket or really any textile. I've also used darning decoratively! The Swift Darner can make LITERAL PATCH POCKETS like I did here, on this cute little cardigan.

Here's what it looked like on:

Loom darning is most frequently used to create decorative and visible mends, but it is also possible, and quite striking in its own way, to create tone-on-tone mends like I've done with this sweater I mended for a client:

My latest experiments have led me to explore tiny tapestries using my loom. Did you know the Swift Darner converts easily into a mini weaving loom too?

For more examples and inspiration, find all my social links here - I regularly post photos, videos, and other updates via Instagram/Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube <3 happy mending!

How do you make a Speedweve loom?

How do you use a mini loom Speedweve?