The Weaving Loom The Modern Lap Loom Weaver's Resource

I get asked the question of how to weave in new threads a lot, so I wanted to share with those of you who are newer to weaving and unsure how to weave in a new thread. I had covered this for circular weaving, but was surprised I didn’t cover this for normal weaving yet. Well here it is:

My simplest answer to this question is just add the new thread next to the previously woven thread. This is the same for whether you’re weaving in a new color or continuing the same color after your thread ran out. And if you didn’t realize already you can weave in one spot of your warp threads, then weave in a completely different spot and later fill in the empty warp threads. Weaving is really flexible and that is one of the many reasons why I love it. Don’t be afraid to experiment with how you weave, it will help figure out what works best for you and will lead you to your own style quicker.

In these pictures I have woven a few different parts of my weave and now I want to add a yellow yarn next to the middle section of white I have already woven. I weave the yellow thread in, continuing the over/under pattern from the white thread and leave a 2 – 3 inch tail in the back of the weave. This yellow thread is thicker then my white thread, so the plain weave pattern won’t match up perfectly in all rows and that is ok. I just like to try to continue the pattern as much as possible to lock in my weft threads. If you’re weaving a really thick yarn next to a thinner yarn, don’t worry about matching the over/under pattern (or whatever pattern you’re weaving in), just add the threads in the best way possible.

After I have woven all the rows I wanted to in yellow, then I leave another 2 – 3 inch tail in the back of the weave. Flipping the weave over you can see that the two colors just sit next to each other. I then take my yarn tail and pull it through the back of the same yellow woven area to secure it. Later when I fill in my empty warp threads, the structure of my weave will keep these wefts next to each other and the space between the white and yellow won’t show.

Let’s say you were to weave a large square of the white color and a large square of the yellow color next to each other, with both colors stopping at the same warp threads for 5 or more rows. This will definitely create a space, even when you weave across all the warps above and below these two square blocks. If you want the space as part of your design, then great you’re done. If you don’t want a space showing then read here for two ways I have eliminated gaps in my weaves.

Here, in this above picture, is the back of one of my more colorful weaves. Each color is woven next to the other. As you can see I’ve made organic shapes that increase and decrease over a few rows. Since I don’t have a huge vertical block of a color, I don’t have to do anything special to secure my wefts. The same goes for when you weave a triangle, you usually won’t see spaces between your triangle and the surrounding colors because of the increase and decrease of the weft along the warps. However, there are exceptions to this. For example if your warps have a large space between then, or if you are weaving the triangle with two rows for each increase, etc.

I also have some other back to basic posts that can be helpful:

Plain Weave Basics – practicing even tension
Warping a frame loom

If you’re new to weaving and are struggling with some concept or even if you’re not a beginner and have a question, let me know in the comments below and I’ll help if I can.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Weaving Wishlist

Weaving Wishlist || Playful Yarns

I recently ordered some yarn from the very talented Rosie of Miss Knit Yarns. If you love colors and texture, then you will love the yarn that Rosie dyes and spins. I’m always amazed when she posts a new yarn, her color combinations are always delightfully surprising and full of life. Can you tell I have a mad color crush on this yarn?I purchased yarn from her sherbet dye-lot, and I love it. I ended up getting three different hues of it too, from a really pastel to a very bright color. And there is still some of that yarn in her shop (at least as of writing this) including one where she plied it with gold sparkle thread.

She also sells the coolest wool batts, which are probably meant for spinners, but you can absolutely use it as roving in your weaves.

I’m pretty sure if I ended up winning the lottery, I’d have a hard time not spending a lot of the winnings on yarn, haha. I’m sure at least a few or more of you feel that way too, haha.If you’re looking for more hand-spun and hand-dyed yarns, here are some of my favorites:

And here are some more of my favorite weaving threads:

Is there a yarn you love to weave with? Let me know in the comments, I would love to discover more yarns.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Weaving Techniques

Weaving Techniques || Twining Weave

While looking over some old books I came across the twining weave and wanted to try it out. Twining is a process of interlacing strands to make twine, but you can also use this technique to make a weave pattern. I made a basic double side-by-side twining weave and then I tried a single twining weave, both I will share with you.

To start I picked out two different colored threads. The threads I chose were a navy blue and an indigo blue that are very close in color to point where you can just barely see a difference, which I really like. You can pick different hues of the same color like me, use two of the same color, pick opposite colors like black and white, or whatever combination you come up with.

step 1| I cut two very long threads of each color and then folded them in half. I laid the middle of the threads over my warp threads where I wanted to start the twining. I started in the middle of my loom, but you can start at the edge or anywhere.

step 2| bring the thread ends under the warp you want to start on and then up through the loop of the thread middle and pull tight. Basically you’re making a rya knot with the threads.

step 3| now separate your threads so that both strands of color #1 are in the inside and a strand of color #2 is on the far left and a strand is on the far right.

step 4| bring both strands of color #1 under the warp threads and then back up again

step 5| next weave both strands of color #2 under the next warp threads and then back up again

Note: I’m weaving around 2 warp threads because my warp threads are so close on this loom, but if yours are more spaced then follow weave your yarn just around one warp thread.

step 6| take the color #1 threads and bring them to the outsides so that both color #2 threads are on the inside. This creates your twine twist.

step 7| repeat the process of weaving one color under a warp and up, then pulling it to the outside. Then weaving the second color under a warp and up, then pull that to the outside. This will make your double side-by-side twining weave.

For a single twining weave, the process is the same except you only have to focus on two threads.

step 1| weave thread color #1 under the first warp and up, color #2 will be over the first warp

step 2| weave thread color #2 under the second warp and up, color #1 should be pull to the right over the warp.

step 3| weave thread color #1 under the third warp and up, color #2 should be pulled to the right over the warp. Continue like this as far as you want.

If you find the single easier to focus on, you could still create a double side-by-side but work one side at a time.

As you can see in the picture your making a plain weave of over under, but with two threads that are weaving over and under opposite warp threads and are also twisting around each other. The side view helps show that best. When you make a double side-by-side twining, it looks a lot like a soumak braid. One benefit to using the twining weave side-by-side to make a braid would be that your warp threads would be locked in, whereas when you soumak there is the potential for your warp threads to separate off the loom, depending on how many warps you go over and what you have around the soumak stitches you made. The single twining is also really nice, it creates a completely hidden warp. I think there are a lot of ways to use the single twining, like if you wanted to outline a shape in your weave. It’s definitely something I will play around with and explore more.

Have you done this in your own weaving before? Do you think you might do a double side-by-side twining instead of a soumak braid sometime?

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Just Some Thoughts

What to do when you’re stuck on a weave

I often get questions from readers asking for my opinion on their current project. Many times the weaver doesn’t fully like how their weave is starting to look. They will explain that they like a part of it but not all of it, or maybe the colors are not working together the way they thought they would. Often my advice is take out the part you don’t like and it surprises me that many didn’t think this was an option.

I’ve been in this situation a few times and it was the hardest when I was a new weaver. In the beginning I didn’t want to pull any thread out, because hadn’t I just spent that last hour or more weaving that thread in? One time I had put in days of work, just to find that I hated how my weave was looking. And it wasn’t like I just suddenly didn’t like how my weave was looking, I had actually not liked it much earlier in the process. But I was new to weaving and I just didn’t want to give up on my idea. It felt like if I gave up then maybe I wasn’t cut out for weaving, because really, just look at all the makers out there weaving away and making unbelievable art. Well don’t be like beginner me, if a weave isn’t working then try to figure out why and don’t take it personally. It doesn’t mean you have failed and it certainly doesn’t mean you aren’t good at weaving. I blogged about my major weaving fail here, and also talk about how I came back from it. It would have been easy for me to just completely give up on the weave, but once I allowed myself to admit it wasn’t working the way I had envisioned I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders and I ended up really loving the weave I made in the end.

It was hard to un-weave a major part that I had spent a lot of time working on, but it was so creatively freeing. Have you ever felt that way too? If a design or project is just not working for whatever reason, you suddenly want to give up completely and have little desire to weave again? Well if you’re stuck like this, like I have been, then give yourself permission to move on. Either completely stop the weave and take it apart, or take out the pieces that you aren’t enjoying. And if you’re really creatively stumped and fed up, then do something fun like pull thread out randomly and add in yarn randomly. Don’t plan or force it, just let your right brain run wild, because even if you don’t like the end result your creative side will appreciate the freedom and you’ll probably come up with a new spark for weaving and brand new ideas for future weaves.Here is another example of a weave I re-worked a few times. I started with a rose and a white background, but as I was going it looked just too plain for me. So I pulled out sections of the white and added in some navy blue and some off-white that is barely visible, but adds interest. Then as I was finishing the weave, I really didn’t like how the bottom half looked. I really wanted something bolder, so I took out the soumak and the rya knots and made a straight bottom with side tassels and that brought the piece together for me. Luckily with this weave I was more open to making changes and made them as I went along so I didn’t waste as much time and effort. If you haven’t seen it already, I talk about weaving a picture here.The bottom line is you need to trust your gut. If something is not working for you, then don’t pursued yourself to keep going because it will become a very heavy burden and stifle your creativity. But at the same time, I’ve had pieces that I really did not like. I walked away from them and took a mental break and when I came back I found that I ended up liking them a lot. There were elements in the weave that I didn’t see before because I was too wrapped up in I, but I was able to appreciate the weave overall after taking a mental step back. So I guess I’m saying it’s ok to take a bit of a break and then come back to your weave with fresh eyes. If it still bothers you then take it apart.

Since that first painful time of un-weaving 70% of a large weave I had been working on over several days, I’ve gotten much better at trusting my gut. Now I’ll still have ideas that aren’t working out, but I am much quicker to recognize that and much more ready to make a changes as I go.

I would love to hear how you get out of a creative stump. Have you ever just completely taken apart a weave? Or did you just un-weave part of it? Or did you experience a time that you hated what you were weaving, kept going, and then ended up loving it? I’d love to hear about your experiences.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Weaving Techniques

Weaving Techniques || Shaping your Fringe in a Curve

I love to play around with the shape of the fringe I put on my weaves, it’s fun to cut them to different lengths and add angles into them to expand your design. Today I’m showing you how to cut a curve into your fringe. It really adds a nice smoothness to the fringe.

What you’ll need is some sort of circular plate, bowl, or similar that you can use as a template (and scissors of course). The circular item you pick to use should be large enough to cover all your fringe and the heavier it is the better so that it doesn’t move much while you cut. Although if you only have something light, then put a heavy object on top of it when you’re making your cuts.

step 1| on a table, spread your fringe out as straight as possible.

step 2| place your template over the fringe, putting the edge at the spot where you want your fringe to curve.

step 3| carefully cut your fringe around the template so that it follows the curve.

I learned two things while doing this #1 if you place your fringe tips that you’re cutting off by the edge of the table, it makes cutting around the circle much easier and you’re less likely to disturb the template. #2 don’t try to cut while taking pictures, lol. I had to go back and neaten up my fringe.

I really like the subtle style a curve in the fringe gives the weave. It’s clean, but also interesting. What do you think about the curved fringe? Is this something you’d add to your weaves?

If you missed it, I posted about the weft-over technique to make the shape in this weave here (including links to the beautiful pink and grey yarns I used)

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Creative Links

Creative Links || Framing a Weave

Hi friends! I am so excited to share this with you today (ok, so when aren’t I excited about weaving?). Today I’m sharing a post by the lovely Jelica from A Pretty Fix. Jelica’s blog is full of DIY projects to make your house more beautiful, it’s a really cute blog. Anyway, while looking through her posts, I saw she has a DIY on making a mini weave and then framing it. I was like, cancel all the laundry, I need to do this! I’ve been wanting to frame a weave for a while now, it just looks so pretty. Needless to say, the laundry could not be cancelled, so I haven’t made my own framed weave…at least not yet. But I knew I had to share this with all you weave lovers. The steps for making the mini weave and framing it are laid out all for you to follow at A Pretty Fix.

Have you framed a weave before? If you do make a weave and frame it, let me know! I love to see what you’re all working on. I hope to share a framed weave I make soon.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Weaving Techniques

Weaving Techniques || Making Shapes with Weft Over

Today I experimented with a fun way to weave shapes and have texture in your weaves. The process I used is called weft over, because you pass your weft over numerous warp threads to make a design. There are a lot of options with this technique, you could create a solid shape using weft over, or you could make an outlined shape by passing over and then under numerous warp threads, and also you could pass under numerous warp threads to have a “negative” shape.

I decided to make an outlined diamond shape. I’ll walk you through how I made my shape, but feel free to experiment when you create your own weaves.

step 1| I started with a few woven rows in a design I wanted. Since I’ll be passing over numerous warp threads it’s best to have a plain weave row above the weft over in order to lock in the warp threads.

step 2| for my design I wove the plain weave until I got around the middle of my weave. I then passed my weft thread over 5 warp threads, then continued my plain weave.

step 3| on my pass back, I staggered my weft over to create the diamond shape. I wove the plain weave, then passed over 4 warp threads, under 3, and over 4 warps again.

step 4| for the next row, I staggered my weft over again so that it went over 3 warp threads, under 3, over 1, under 3, and over 3 warps.

step 5| the next row was over 3 warps, under 4, over 1, under 4, and over 3.

step 6| the row was over 3, under 5, over 1, under 5, over 3 warps.

step 7| now I staggered my weft overs to make the decrease of the diamond. This row mimics step 5 where I went over 3 warps, under 4, over 1, under 4, and over 3.

step 8| for this row I went over 3, under 3, over 1, under 3, and then over 3 warps.

step 9| I passed the weft over 4, under 3, then over 4

step 10| I passed the weft over 5 warps in the middle, to create the final row in my shape

step 11| I then wove some plain weave rows to lock in the warp threads

I would love to see what you create with the weft over shapes. If you have a social media that you like to share your weaves on, link to it in the comments below. If you like the yarns I used I’ve include a Shop This Post with links at the bottom. Out of curiosity, do you normally weave with neutrals or lots of colors? I recently had a conversation with my husband about color choices (he’s a graphic designer) and he prefers neutrals and likes their classic style. Just based off this weave you would know I like colors, lol. I know there are a lot of color trends that come and go quickly, but I just feel energized by colors. I often weave with a combo of neutral and color, but I have been planning some only neutral weaves…that is if I can stick to not using color (yikes!). What is your preference and why?

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Weave Experiments

Weaving Experiment || Loops for Days

I was recently asked what my weaving style was, which at least for me is hard to say, but it definitely includes loops. Ever since I wove some loops into a weave, I’ve been obsessed. For me, it’s a very versatile texture so I’ve been experimenting with it many times. My first experience with making loops was in my loopy mass weave, which I wrote about here. From there I tried some other things with loops and these two weaves were some of the outcome. They strike me as very feminine and kind of remind me of butterflies. I first made the smaller weave and actually it is no where close to what I was originally trying to make, but I saw a new design that inspired me to keep weaving. I was really happy with the outcome and then made the second, larger weave. I feel like I say this a lot, but I do think it’s important to experiment in order to grow as a creative and also be open to new things. If you feel you’re stuck in the middle of a weave, try taking a mental break then come back to the weave and try to look at it in a different way. Are there parts that you like and can save? Can you pull out just the parts you don’t like and then weave them differently? And sometimes, even though it’s frustration, it’s best to just move on and start fresh.

And if you haven’t yet woven in loops, here is my post on how to do it!

Have you ever been stuck in a weave before that isn’t working out the way you had hoped it would? Is there something you did to help get un-stuck? I would love some new techniques to use when hitting a creative roadblock.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

P.S. These weaves are currently available in my Etsy shop.

Weaving Techniques

Weaving Techniques || Weaving with Mohair (part 2)

I had my ups and downs but over all I think I actually like weaving with mohair. It was definitely a change of pace from my normal weaving. My style is usually heavy with texture, so this was a challenge to make something lighter. Mohair is much more tacky then the yarns I usually weave with, so this was a little hard to get used to, but there is also a huge benefit to it’s velcro-like quality, it stays where you put it. There is little worry of your weft climbing up or down your warp threads. I look forward to experimenting with mohair more in the future. Here is what I did:

step1| to make my mohair weave, I warped my loom with the mohair thread. You could use your normal warp thread, but I found that using the mohair thread gave the whole weave an airy lightness which I liked. It also aided in holding my mohair wefts where I put them.

step 2| I started with a single thread plain weave and found that the mohair didn’t pack down the warp threads easily. When I normally weave, I will weave my row above the previous row, where the warp threads are loose and you can maneuver your tapestry needle easily, then I pack the weft down together. The mohair did not let me do this easily. I do like the spacing that was created, but if you want a tighter weave, then you’ll have to place your thread tight next to each other as you go.

step 3| I tried weaving with two mohair threads together and this gave me a bulkier look, which I liked. At first I wove it with the same spacing as I did with the single mohair thread. After a few rows I wove the two threads tighter together, leaving little space which created a neat ombre effect. Again trying to pack the rows down after the fact is hard because the fibers grip each other like crazy. But this works in your favor when you want the wefts to space apart.

step 4| I wove another single row of mohair to even out my design.

When I was done weaving I tried a few finishing techniques and found the simplest worked best for me, but there are many different ways to weave and you might find a different finish works better for you.

step 5| to finish my yarn tail ends, I simply wove them through two warp threads in the back, following the same over/under pattern as in the front of the weave. This worked very well with the double thread yarn tail end which was well hidden in the front of the weave. For the single row, I made sure to pull the yarn tail through directly over the already woven row. This helped hide it as much as possible, but it’s still somewhat visible from the front.

step 6| I cut my bottom warp threads and tied two warps together across the bottom. I was surprised at how hard this was, those little fibers slowed my progress way down as they kept catching and getting in the way, but I made it to the end (haha).

step 7| I tied off my warp loops to finish the top, and again it was slower and harder due to those little fibers. Find my post on how to tie warp loops here.

After I accepted the fact that mohair responds differently then my usual wool and cotton yarns, I actually liked it in the end and appreciated what you can make with mohair due to it’s velcro-like properties. My next step would be to try mixing mohair with my normal yarns and see what happens.

I think it’s always a good idea to push yourself out of your comfort zone and try new things. What are some new-to-you weaving techniques you have been trying? Or what is a technique that you are planning on trying for the first time?

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Weaving Wishlist

Weave Experiment || Mohair part 1

Last time I was buying yarn, I decided to add a ball of mohair into my cart. It was on sale and I have never worked with it before, but I’ve always been intrigued by the weaves that contain it. And actually this mohair I bought has some silk in it too, you know because sometimes I’m fancy. And if you’re asking what is mohair even? (I didn’t know before recently myself). Mohair is the long hair of an angora goat that has a silky quality to it.

Mohair yarn is really thin and fuzzy and I assumed it would be delicate, but the yarn I purchased was the opposite. It might depend on how it’s spun, but what I got was strong and had very little stretch to it. I put it next to my normal warp thread and a Sport weighted yarn to show how thin mohair is in comparison. You can even see the fuzz on the mohair, it’s a funny little yarn.

I’m really excited to give weaving with it a try, and I’ll be sharing with you the outcome and of course any tips I discovered along the way. If you want to know more about the yarn I got, check out my ‘Shop this post’ below.

Have you ever worked with mohair before, even if it wasn’t in a woven project? I’m curious what you think about the yarn. I love to hear what you’re working on, even if it’s not mohair related.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Older Posts

Newer Posts

Weave This || Off-Center Circle Weave Part 2

Weave This || Off-Center Circle Weave

How to off-center warp a circular loom

Free Circular Weave Pattern – Permafrost Weave

Starting (warping) a circular loom

Prepping your weave to hang nicely

Weave This || Weaving without a loom part 3

Can you make changes to areas already woven?

Weave This || Weaving Without a Loom Part 2

Weave This || Weaving without a Loom

Back to Basics || How to Weave in New Threads

Weaving Wishlist || Playful Yarns

Weaving Techniques || Twining Weave

What to do when you’re stuck on a weave

Weaving Techniques || Shaping your Fringe in a Curve

Creative Links || Framing a Weave

Weaving Techniques || Making Shapes with Weft Over

Weaving Experiment || Loops for Days

Weaving Techniques || Weaving with Mohair (part 2)

Weave Experiment || Mohair part 1

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