Tutorial for the 7-loop spanish braid

If you are already comfortable braiding 7-loop square braids, this seven-loop spanish braid might be fun to try next. It has twice as many loop transfers as a square braid (and they are done differently than you might expect!)

[Video tutorial below; Text instructions for the 7-loop (single braider) and 14-loop (two-braider) braids here; My 14-loop solo-braider method here ; Why “Spanish?” structural and historical musings here]




7-loop spanish braids, bicolor loops, departed bowes



Text instructions for 7-loop “Spanish” braid, shown in above video. I learned this braid from Speiser/Boutrup’s Instructions for Letter Braids in 17th c. Manuscripts   (I do the first loop transfer slightly differently than Joy Boutrup describes it, but the result is the same.)


L=left; R=right.


Start with:


2. Lb shifts up to La.




Repeat above moves in mirror-image fashion:


6. Rb shifts up to Ra.




One braiding cycle done.


For the 2-person, 14-loop version of this braid, this is the point where the 2 braiders would exchange their nearest a-finger loops, one through the other, being careful that the loops didn’t get a twist or turn during this process. The shanks that were in upper position on each braider’s hand should end up in upper position on the other braider’s hand with no twist to the loop. This can be tricky, review the info and video in my 2-person braiding tutorial for a way to do this with a 10-loop braid. However, in this Spanish braid, the two braiders’ neighboring hands will each be holding four loops when it comes time to exchange. Because of this, one of the two braiders will probably have to temporarily place a loop onto her other hand in order to free the index finger for the exchange (see suggestion in Joy Boutrup’s letterbraid book)…












Dan Gaiser's 7-loop spanish braids.



Many other patterns are possible than just the ones I show—try other set-ups; single-color loops; and combining bicolor and single-color loops. See note 2b re (lack of) historically notated color-patterns.







a, b, c, d = index–little finger

7-loop spanish braids, bicolor loops, departed bowes





Dom’s  Edge-pattern bracelet


(the result of a mistake):
[braid ID 589 on Gary’s planner]


L hand loops:   all white shanks upper position
R hand loops:   all black shanks in upper position

L hand loops:   all black shanks upper position


How to switch DARKS & LIGHTS seamlessly:





What is a “spanish” braid, exactly???

Several braids were referred to as Spanish in the 17th C. loop braiding manuscripts, not just this particular 7-loop one. Some were single-worker braids and some were multiple worker braids, and they had varying numbers of loops from five to 14. This one is the first Spanish braid I learned how to make —from Joy Boutrup and Noemi Speiser’s recent monograph—though I had read about “Spanish” braids much earlier, without really understanding what they were (in Noemi Speiser’s Old English Pattern Books for Loop Braiding).

When I finally learned this one I was amazed to find out that it was essentially the same as my solo-braider double braids, though with only 7 loops. It may seem different to you, if you’ve followed my double braid tutorials, but that’s just because I teach them as doubled A-fell structures, rather than doubled V-fell ones.

Even though this 7-loop braid is meant to be made by a single braider, the structure/architecture of the braid is very similar to the 10-loop 15th and 17th C. doubled-square braids made by two braiders—in Europe as well as other parts of the world. Surprisingly unlike the European two-worker double-square braids, this 7-loop “Spanish” braid grows on a W-shaped fell. The typical European two-braider braid grows on the reverse-shaped fell. That’s because they were made by two side-by-side braiders using A-fell braiding moves, rather than V-fell moves. (I usually refer to a double A-shaped fell as “M-shaped.”)

The other thing that might seem different is that this “Spanish” braid has an odd number of loops, while the double braids I teach have an even number. However double braids can also be made with an odd number of loops, I just haven’t taught that variation here yet. Braiding them with an odd number of loops slightly changes the way the braider or braiders connect the two halves of the braid—they wouldn’t use a simultaneous and reciprocal loop-exchange move.

Here’s how 2 braiders could make this 7-loop Spanish braid as a two-worker double braid technique (usually done with odd numbers of loops greater than seven):

At the start of braiding, one braider holds 4 loops and the other holds 3, yet each braider will (in turn) do all the braiding moves of a 4-loop braid (the way I teach square braids – the V-fell method).

There are at least two ways this can happen.

One way: the braider with 4 loops starts, braids two loop transfers as for a 4-loop square braid, and then passes the closest index loop over to the other braider—who’s been holding 3 loops, with none on the closest index to the first braider. Now the second braider has 4 loops. S/he braids two transfers, and then passes a new index loop back to the first worker. So there’s no “loop-exchange” swapping move as in regular double braids–instead, the two braiders take turns braiding, and whoever has just braided passes an index loop to the partner who is about to braid. (Notice that each side of the braid is still braided with 4 loops–it’s a very symmetrical braid, in fact it’s more symmetrical than a double braid with an even number of loops.) Noémi Speiser calls this a “giving-taking” type of loop exchange.

The exact same passage of loops can also be accomplished in another, more efficient way: The braider holding only three loops starts the braiding, and in one of the two loop transfers, goes through his/her own loops and takes a loop directly from the other braider’s closest index finger—and ends up with 4 loops. Then it’s the other braider’s turn to repeat those moves in mirror-image fashion. That’s essentially what’s happening to the left and right hand loops in the 7-loop spanish braid directions above, across the two hands of a single braider instead of the four hands of two braiders. ***

And since this hypothetical double braid only has 7 loops, it’s fine to do it that way—there’s no need for it to be a 2-worker braid. All four loop transfers done by one braider, the same way I make odd-number-of-loop double braids as a solo braider.

My assumption is that 17th C braiders used the term “Spanish” for any braid in which each braider makes four loop transfers per braiding cycle, rather than two (the more usual case). Noémi Speiser never said that anywhere in her description of “Spanish” braids in Old English Pattern Books for Loop Braiding. But from what I can glean from Joy Boutrup’s instructions for all 3 “Spanish” braids that form the three letterbraids, and from Noémi Speiser’s descriptions of the structure of the braids called “Spanish”, that seems to be thing they all have in common. Some were one-worker braids, some multiple-worker braids. But all seem to have 4 loop-transfers per braider, in each braiding cycle. [update – Joy Boutrup corroborated this when I asked her about it at Braids 2012].

In OEPBforLB, Speiser defines Spanish braids by their weave structure rather than their method—as being plain weave, or occasionally a mix of plain weave and twill, rather than pure twill. But that’s a given with 4 loop transfers and a limit of 5-7 loops per braider. An all-twill braid would require a minimum of 9 loops per braider, which isn’t possible without using thumbs, or carrying multiple loops on some fingers. I’m guessing that braiders in the 17th century gave this name to certain braids based on their unusual method, not on the necessary result that such braids were plain-weave or mixed plain weave and twill.

So then there’s the question Why did they call it “Spanish?”… Did this braiding method come to England from Spain, or maybe from even further away originally?  In the few traditional spanish braids I’ve learned, loops are always transferred “outside→inward” in direction, which is the direction loops are transferred in the V-fell braiding method, not the A-fell method that was common in Europe.  This seems a little strange to me, because you can just as easily make them the opposite way. [which is the way I usually make double braids, actually — in a doubled A-fell shape rather than a doubled V-fell one]. V-fell braiding pulls outer loops to the center of the braid, while A-fell braiding pulls center loops to the outer edges of the braid. If European simple square braids had later evolved into spanish braids—doubled square braids done by one braider—then why didn’t these braids have the typical European A-shaped fell, doubled into an AA fell?

In India, and the rest of Asia and the Pacific, square loop braids are made with a V-shaped fell. To me it seems possible that this 4-transfer “spanish” braiding method—even though we only have records of it from 17th C. England—actually had its origins in India or Asia, before eventually being introduced into England (maybe via Spain), sometime in the 17th C. [new note: Loop braiding has been documented in Asia as long ago as 3 or 4 thousand years, cf Mari Omura.] There is no mention of ‘spanish’ braids in the English loop braiding manuscripts of the 15th Century, that term only appears in the 17th C manuscripts.



Please note: The actual instructions in the monograph are very brief, with no pictures or diagrams of the moves. I suggest learning the braiding method here first! The monograph is primarily a structural analysis of the letterbraids, not an instruction manual for them. This series of monographs is a supplement to Old English Pattern Books for Loop Braiding, and it assumes that the reader already knows how to make 2-person braids, and other basic info covered in the earlier book.

(More info about the Letterbraid monograph here).






Please let me know where the instructions aren’t clear enough, it’ll help others who might not ask. Leave comments / questions here, I check every day when I’m in town.

My [recently edited and improved] solo braider method for the 14-loop letter braid. Below is a blow-by-blow description of how I make the doubled version of the 7-loop Spanish braid (the 14-loop letterbraid) as a solo braider. The trickiest parts are the inner two loop transfers of each hand. These are the ones that involve the three loops held on the d-finger. I recommend the following steps before tackling this braid—if you like loop braiding, these will all be very fun steps, and some great braids!:

First learn how to use thumbs, and multiple loops on the little finger, as well as 10-loop double braids, and the 10-loop Nun’s letterbraid as a solo braider. Then the13-loop square braid, since it also requires holding 3 loops on the d-fingers, but is a simpler braid.

Also, learn the 7-loop Spanish braid above—it’s the root of this 14-loop letterbraid, so it’ll help to know those moves when you are transposing them into the same loop movements done with all 7 loops on a single hand.

Learn this 14-loop braid as a divided braid first, keeping the upper and lower layers of the braid completely separate. Start with all dark shanks in upper position.
[nb: the shank that must be considered the “upper” shank of a thumb loop is not obvious, this is covered in all my tutorials that involve using the thumbs.]
Each time you transfer a loop, make sure it hasn’t turned over—that the dark shank is still uppermost with no twist to the loop. If the two layers of the braid keep getting linked together, review my solo Nun’s letterbraid video and practice that braid, the loop movements are very similar.

Each hand holds 7 loops. I hold 3 loops on each d-finger—1 at each joint—and 1 loop each on all the other fingers, including the thumbs. (My Lth, a, b = Traditional left braider’s La, Lb, Ld. My Lc, dLow, dmid, dhigh = Trad. left braider’s RIGHT d, c, b, a) There are 4 loop transfers on each hand in one braiding cycle. The loop transfers are performed by the a- and b-fingers of the opposite hand. After all 8 loop transfers (both hands) are done, the dHigh loops of each hand are exchanged. (My left and right DHigh loops are equivalent to the neighboring/ adjacent index fingers of two traditional braiders working as a team—the a-fingers of their so-called inner hands).


For example: first move: Left hand’s “leftest” loop (The outermost left loop, which now happens to be the thumb loop, but would have been the left index loop of the left braider in a two-braider team) must go through only the loop next to it, the L index loop. Look at those two loops and figure out how to accomplish that, using your Ra finger. [this exact move is demoed in my solo nun’s letterbraid video, though there it’s the third transfer, not the first.

Any loop-shifting is done before the transferring loop is placed onto its new finger, as shown in my double braid videos, and the Nun’s letterbraid tutorial. The transferring loop is held by the operator finger (a-finger, and occasionally b-finger of the other hand) until the loop shift is done.

The second transferred loop must move in the opposite direction of the first transfer. This is exactly equivalent to the second loop transfer of the 7 loop Spanish braid. If you review the second transfer in the Spanish braid, you’ll see that this time the taken loop must be pulled through two loops, the second of which is the loop that was just transferred in the first move. So the next loop to be transferred has to be the the loop on the left ring finger. It will end up on the index finger (after the two loops it went through are shifted down to make room). It’s important to bring any “upward-moving” loop through the other loops in the correct direction!–watch the first and fourth loop transfers in my Nun’s letterbraid video. For these transfers, the operator finger must be inserted through the passive loops from back to front to fetch the loop that will be transferred.

Third loop transfer: dHigh, the tip-most of the left 3 d-loops, goes through only one loop—dMid. (in the 7-loop spanish braid, this is the the left braider’s right index loop transferring leftward through the b-loop—a mirror image of the very first loop transfer.) I do this by using an “outside-around” move. I don’t actually move the “transferring” loop. Instead, the operator finger Ra lifts the middle of the three left d-loops, and brings it over/around the outermost d-loop, then holds it temporarily through the following loop transfer. The net result is that dHigh moves through the middle d-loop. The loop that starts out as dHigh is the actual ‘transferring loop’, even though it’s not not the loop you move! The actual transferring loop traveled “upward”—toward the thumb—one position. The next (4th) transferred loop will travel in the opposite direction—away from the thumb.

Ok, before moving on to the 4th transfer, here’s a tricky bit: after that third loop transfer above, I don’t set the “outside-around” loop down onto its new high position on the d-finger yet. Instead, my operator finger (Ra) temporarily keeps holding it all the way through the fourth transfer, with the B-finger (middle finger) acting as the operator for that fourth loop transfer (explained below). Then, don’t put that fourth transferred loop down yet either!—Its operator/ “fetcher” Rb-finger temporarily keeps it, and then that same B-finger also lifts and temporarily holds the outermost of the two remaining D-loops (holding it near the tip, a bit separate from the just-transferring loop it is also holding). This temporary-hold of the outer d-loop allows the one remaining D-loop (DLow) to shift up to the C-finger. At that point the two hands pull apart to carefully tighten all the left loop transfers in one tightening move. After the tightening move all three temporarily-held loops are set onto the now-empty D-finger–this happens as a single move, not as three separate moves. The loop held by the operator A-finger should be the new outermost D-loop (LdHigh).

Details regarding that fourth loop transfer: In that fourth transfer, the C (ring finger) loop is taken through the two loops remaining on the D-finger. This is an awkward move at first, but you get used to it. After the temporary holds and loop-shift are done, that ex-C-loop will end up as the new middle d-finger loop (Dmid) when all three temporarily-held loops are placed back onto the left d-finger.

I tighten loops after the 4th transfer of each hand (while the three loops that will end up on the D-finger are being temporarily held by the other hand, the two hands stretch apart to tighten). I also do a slight tightening, just a little tug, after the final loop exchange. With letterbraids, I watch the just-braided section every time I tighten, and adjust accordingly. The letters have a tendency to slip into a slant one way or the other if you don’t keep an eye on the braid when tightening, and do it with conscious attention, rather than automatically.

Leave a note below or send a mssg thru my contact form if you are trying this braid and want some more details on the way I do it. Try it out first, though! There are more ways than one to accomplish the same loop movements. I used to do them slightly differently than I do now. You may find a way that works better for you than the particular method I use.

© 2011–2015 Ingrid Crickmore

5 thoughts on “Tutorial for the 7-loop spanish braid

  1. And now a second question –



      Hi Doug,
      Thanks for being so interested!

      1st. Get comfortable using thumbs as well as fingers.



      Thanks again for commenting!

  2. Hello!

    Firstly, what a marvelous blog!



    • Thanks!




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