Deisgn

My partner was doing lots of Visible Mending, one of the things she was doing a lot of was Darning using a Darning Mushroom. She mentioned a Small Darning Loom and from here I went exploring to see what they were. There wasn't much reference on the internet, a few kickstarters and a few youtube videos showing them being used. That was enough for me to start creating this prototype. Now however they seem to be everywhere

Creation

The Puck

This was made from some oak offcuts lathed into a puck with a groove around making it into a pully. This puck is the object the clothing is stretched around to be darned. The groove will allow the puck to be attached to the body using an elastic band.

The Base

The base is simply a block with a circle cut out and a then a v shaped edge given to it hole indent as it helps hold the puck into place

The Hooks

The hooks were made from old bike spokes which were bent into shape using a clamp and some pliers

The Hook Box

This was the main challenge I iterated on a few versions of this but finally decided on making a template of the hole spacing and then hand drilling the holes (I didn't have a drill press at the time). Cutting the bottom piece in half, placing in the hooks and then and a brace screwed in keep the hooks in place.

Lessons Learnt

I was very much in the powertools mindset when making this, so there's a lot of places where now, I would use hand tools and have a much better finish. The lack of a drill press and not making a functioning jig for the spoke bending made the hooks not as smooth as they should be. This will be corrected in the final version

Materials