A lean, mean, weaving machine would aptly describe this handloom with a double sley picker mechanism designed by experts of the Philippine Textile Research Institute. This picker mechanism enables the loom to simultaneously weave two narrow fabrics with different designs and having selvedges on both sides of each fabric.

Majority of weavers in the country presently use the 40-inch width handloom to produce the ever-popular shawls, table runners, place mats and other narrow width fashion items. Apparently, this is taking for granted the fact that weaving a 20-inch width fabric in a 40-inch loom inevitably results to 50% wastage of the loom's productive capacity. To overcome this, some weavers weave a 40-inch fabric open at the middle to be cut afterwards to produce 2 narrow-width fabrics. The cut portion is sewn to prevent unraveling. Obviously, the fabric will not speak of the noveltiness of a customized hand-woven piece but looks simply like a swatch taken out and sewn from a mechanically produced wider material.

No less than 1,500 handloom weavers in Regions I, XII and CAR presently weaving with the conventional throw and catch shuttle technique could be benefited by this technology by taking advantage of a production rate increase by as much as 160%.(Malu. A. Flores, PTRI S&T Service)