Please come visit The Little Loomhouse with me,
A historic site and center for weaving education, creativity, American craft preservation and cultural exchange………
Tucked into the hillside of Kenwood Hill in Louisville KY, is a discreet spot bursting with the history of American handwoven coverlet weaving. It’s a joyous celebration of hand weaving, then and now. Historically, a Cherokee community site, by the 1890’s a cluster of cabins housed a group of women artists, until it became the Little Loomhouse in 1939.
The windows are filled with woven samplers by children and experts; everywhere you look there are spindles, table looms, patterns, skeins of yarns, spinning wheels and dye materials….and people weaving and celebrating this ancient form of hand work.
The shop and gallery are packed with woven treasures.
The weaving cottage hums with the sound of heddles and beaters, Little Looms warped and ready for anyone of any age to sit and weave.
The epicenter of this profoundly historical spot is LOU TATE. (1906-1979) A graduate of Berea College (where I worked to preserve the textile collections and teach students conservation) was inspired by an elderly weaver who gifted her five generations of weaving patterns – a veritable treasure trove of weaving ‘maps’. Lou Tate began traveling through Kentucky on horseback, collecting 18th and 19th c. patterns or ‘drafts’.
Lou Tate at her loom, and as it remains today
Known as drafts, they are veritable ‘blueprints’ for setting up a loom, the warps, wefts, heddles, tie-ups, draw-downs….it’s mathematical and exacting. The shelves are heavy with the collection of historic weaving drafts amassed over the years by Lou Tate.
Tate personally preserved old weaving traditions of America, Appalachia, and indigenous weavers and basket makers, and then inspired a revival of weaving – adapting the history and skills into new, exciting and accessible modern weaving. President Hoover’s wife engaged Tate with the Dark Hollow School in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and projects with the Girl Scouts. In 1936, Tate designed and patented the Table Loom, aka the LITTLE LOOM. The little loom had broad reach, and during WWII Tate introduced weaving as a physical therapy for hospitalized soldiers. Made of maple, it retailed for $42.
In 1937 the Speed Museum Louisville and the NYC Folk Arts Center gave Tate her first exhibition of handweaving. Tate continued to collaborate with artists, weavers, universities, mathematicians, holding exhibits and classes.
A highlight in Tate’s career was meeting First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who celebrated Tate in the ‘My Days’ syndicated column. In 1934 Mrs. Roosevelt commissioned table linens for the White House, distinctive by their one color white woven ground and a modest ‘R’ in the center…..a set of 12 for $16.75.
Today, the cottages are on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Little Loom House is a foundation, archive, gallery and shop, and active weaving studio for all ages, using the exact table looms designed by Lou Tate. Current efforts include digitizing archives, expanding classes, and promoting the extraordinary traditions of overshot weaving and contemporary expressions of weaving.
In 2025 LLH is raising funds to launch an important project to organize, catalog and preserve the archives, develop public access to the materials, and develop a preservation plan. These archives include stories and artifacts from not only Kentucky, but from weavers, artists and folks across America. Donations are MUCH APPRECIATED!
To make a donation please click on https://www.littleloomhouse.org/membership Or contact Executive Director Michelle Amos directly. [email protected]
Take a trip to Louisville and spend a day or two at the Little Loom House.
References
https://www.littleloomhouse.org/ Little Loomhouse & Lou Tate Foundation, Inc.
https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/articles/tw_3_1-04.pdf
https://hyperallergic.com/985991/the-women-weavers-of-the-little-loomhouse/
https://library.blog.wku.edu/tag/lou-tate/
Key Words: The Little Loomhouse, Lou Tate, Kentucky, weaving, hand loom, coverlet, textile preservation, archives, Eleanor Roosevelt, Lou Henry Hoover, Dr. S.W. Mather, Berea College, Speed Art Museum
All photos by Julia Brennan unless otherwise noted.
What a treasure! Thanks for sharing Kentucky ‘s Little Loom House.
I’m rem I need of my days in the loom room st Penland School of crafts in Norty Carolina