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YOU CAN BUILD A COMPUTER-CONTROLLED LOOM THAT WEAVES PICTURES

A bench-scale Jacquard loom that lifts every warp thread individually so you can weave any picture you draw on an iPhone.

by Kurt (Retro Tech Journal)

FULL CAD BOM FIRMWARE DOCS

WorkshopAutomation

Built withArduino3D printing

difficulty
●●●●●
time
several weekends
license
MIT
repo
repo FINISHED33 stars

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Videos
1
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COMPAREE VERDICT

WeaveMe is a computer-controlled Jacquard-style loom: each of its 60 warp threads is set up or down by its own 3D-printed cam, so the loom can weave image patterns sent from an iPhone app over Bluetooth. It fits on a workbench, runs on a custom ATmega644 board programmed with the Arduino IDE, and drives its mechanism with stepper motors. The entire design is MIT-licensed on GitLab. This is not a beginner project. The README warns plainly that it is files, not instructions, and the PCB has surface-mount parts that need populating and reflow. There is no BOM and no assembly guide; beyond the creator's video and blog post, you are working backward from the design files, though he does invite questions. If you have built electronics from scratch before and can turn an Eagle board file into an order, this is a remarkable thing to have on your bench for the cost of parts and patience. The one thing most likely to go wrong is underestimating the mechanical tuning: the creator says it was fiddly to get working and slow to operate, and he spent about a year and a half on it.

GOOD TO KNOW

  • —3D parts (one Rhino file), laser-cut vectors (Illustrator), Arduino firmware, the Eagle PCB design and the iPhone app source are all in the GitLab repo.
  • —The README explicitly states this is 'not a how-to or a kit' — it is a design dump, not step-by-step instructions.
  • —No bill of materials or assembly guide. You are reverse-engineering the build from the design files and code.
  • —The PCB uses surface-mount components; hand-soldering them requires magnification and practice.
  • —Licence is MIT, fully permissive including commercial use.
  • —No recent commits since the project was published in 2019.

Parts to buy

6 items

From our check of the build. Exact quantities and part numbers are in the creator’s BOM.

  • Custom ATmega644 PCB (you fabricate from the Eagle files)from the repo files
  • NRF8001 Bluetooth moduleFind
  • Stepper motorsFind
  • NeoPixel LEDsFind
  • ThreadsFind
  • Laser-cut partsFind

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Can I build this?

PrintFrame parts and thread guides — all in one Rhino 3D file in the repo, which you export to STL yourself
BuyCustom ATmega644 PCB (you fabricate from the Eagle files), nRF8001 Bluetooth module, stepper motors, NeoPixel LEDs, threads, laser-cut parts
Tools3D printer, soldering iron with fine tip and magnification, laser cutter access (or order acrylic parts cut), AVR programmer for the Arduino, Mac for the iPhone app build
SkillsSurface-mount soldering and reflow, firmware flashing, mechanical tuning of the cams, hooks and carriage, iOS app compilation from source
TimeSeveral weekends: PCB fabrication and soldering alone is a weekend, assembly and mechanical tuning is another, firmware and app setup is a third
Cost$$ — stepper motors, PCB fabrication and parts, and laser-cut parts dominate; thread and filament are minor, though the creator printed well over a hundred cams and hooks.
SafetyNone beyond ordinary electronics care — low voltage throughout, no mains, no blades, no lasers in the finished machine.

Build at your own risk. Projects involve tools, electronics and sometimes mains voltage — follow the creator’s safety notes.

Videos

Building a Computer Controlled Loom

The creator's own 2019 build video, showing patterns and a panda being woven.

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Gallery

Start here

Navigation into the creator’s own docs — we don’t rewrite the guide, we route you to the source.

  1. 1.Read the README in full on GitLab (It is short and honest about what is missing. This is not a tutorial.)
  2. 2.Export Gerbers from the Eagle board file in the repo and order the PCB(You will need to export the Gerbers and upload them to a fab house. Surface-mount parts are listed in the schematic.)
  3. 3.Laser-cut the acrylic bed from the vectors in the repo(Or send the files to a service if you do not have cutter access.)
  4. 4.3D print the frame, cams, hooks and carriage parts(All printed parts are in one Rhino 3D file (loomParts.3dm); export each part to STL yourself.)
  5. 5.Flash the Arduino firmware(Source is in the firmware folder; you will need an AVR programmer.)
  6. 6.Compile the iPhone app from source(Requires Xcode and a Mac. The app sends the pattern to the loom over Bluetooth.)

Resources

Documentation, files and community threads for this build — we link straight to the original sources and never rehost the creator’s files.

KNOWN ISSUES

  • The README says 'not a how-to or a kit' and it means it. If you need assembly instructions, this is not the project to start with.
  • The PCB uses surface-mount parts that the README expects you to populate and reflow; the creator also had boards die from power-on transients until he switched to a Traco TSR 1-2450 regulator, so check which board revision you are building.
  • There is no bill of materials. You have to extract the part list from the schematic and the code comments.
  • Mechanical tuning is not documented. Getting dozens of threads to lift cleanly without binding or skipping takes patience and there is no guide for it.
  • The iPhone app must be built from source. There is no pre-built binary, so you need a Mac with Xcode to install it on your phone, and an app this old may need updating for current iOS.
  • The project has not been updated since 2019. If you run into a dependency issue with the Arduino libraries or iOS SDK, you are on your own.

Can I weave colour pictures?

The loom only lifts warp threads; you pass the weft by hand. Pictures come from which threads are lifted on each row, so colour depends on your warp and the weft you pass; the app's sample patterns include multi-layer designs, but the creator does not document a colour workflow.

Do I need the iPhone app, or can I control it another way?

The app talks to the loom over Bluetooth LE (an nRF8001 UART module). If you do not want to compile the iOS app, you could write your own BLE tool that sends the same commands — the protocol is in the firmware source.

How long does it take to weave one picture?

The creator does not give a timing, only that the loom is 'pretty slow to operate'. Jacquard weaving is slow by nature because every row requires many individual thread lifts.

Can I scale it up to weave larger pieces?

Not easily. The finished loom runs 60 warp threads, each controlled by a 3D-printed cam on a shared shaft and positioned by a single stepper-driven cam mover. The creator says he could go only a tiny bit higher, because one cam mover limits the travel; he abandoned a two-mover design, and tolerances added up badly when he scaled from 40 to 60 cams.

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Discussion1

FROM THE COMPAREE TEAM

The README warns this is files, not a kit, and the PCB has surface-mount parts, but the result is a bench-scale Jacquard loom for the cost of stepper motors, electronics and filament. If you have built one, what was the hardest part: the soldering, the mechanical tuning, or something else?

CompareeTEAM7d agoedited

Practical notes from our verification: the GitLab repo has not been updated since July 2019, so expect to work around any dependency drift in the Arduino libraries or the iOS app yourself. The README links the creator's video about the loom and a blog post on RetroTech Journal, and it invites questions. It is also refreshingly blunt that this is 'not a how-to or a kit', which is exactly the kind of honesty that saves someone a weekend. The loom is driven from an iPhone app over Bluetooth, with stepper motors on a custom ATmega644 board; the printed parts are in a single Rhino file rather than ready STLs. If you have surface-mount soldering experience and are comfortable reverse-engineering a build from design files, this is a rare chance to have a computer-controlled loom on your bench for the cost of parts. Correction (4 October 2026): we re-checked this page line by line against the project's own repository, documentation and videos, and fixed errors in earlier versions.

Kurt (Retro Tech Journal)

Kurt, who writes Retro Tech Journal, started WeaveMe after giving his son a simple loom for Christmas, wanting a computer-controlled loom that could weave any pattern, in the spirit of the original Jacquard loom. He spent about a year and a half getting it to weave reliably at 60 threads and published the design files and code under MIT in 2019.

Star the project on GitHub

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  • Comparee is not the author of the projects featured here. All rights to each project belong to its creator — every page links to the original source, and we never host creators’ files.
  • Information is provided without warranty and may become outdated as projects evolve. Prices are indicative bands only — always check the creator’s parts list for current costs.
  • Building and operating any project is at your own responsibility. Protective equipment, safe workshop practice and compliance with local regulations are the builder’s responsibility.
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