The Weaving Loom The Modern Lap Loom Weaver's Resource

A few months ago, I purchased this beautiful circle loom from The Unusual Pear, but had not gotten around to using it until now. This is my first time weaving on a circular loom and I’m very excited about it. So incase there are others of you out there looking to do the same, I’m going to share how to get started. And for those of you who aren’t in the market for another loom, check out my post on circle weaving using an embroidery hoop!

step 1| I tie my warp thread to the loom with a slip-knot in one of the notches.

step 2| pull the warp thread straight across the loom to the next notch. (I share my favorite warp thread here)

step 3| bring the warp thread behind the notch and then pull around the front. I pulled from the left side of the notch around to the right side.

step 4| pull the warp thread straight across the loom again. You will be passing over the middle and bringing your warp thread to the side notch of where you started. As you can see on the back of the loom, the warp threads are just passing behind the notch.

step 5| repeat this pattern of going around the notches until you have reached the last notch. At this point your warp threads are creating a “U” shape in the middle and there is no empty cross notch to pull the warp thread to. It almost seems like you messed up, but don’t worry you haven’t.

step 6| flip your loom over, then bring your warp thread to the middle and pass it in-between, behind, between warp threads again, and back up. Basically you just looped around the middle warp threads once, which helps pull the threads into alignment, but you will notice that some of the threads are making odd gaps still.

step 7| cross the warp thread over the middle again by looping in-between the perpendicular warp threads, again going behind, between again, and back up. If you were to look at the front of the loom you have created a cross or x over the middle of the warp threads and your threads are creating even triangles. I added two colored lines to show the cross over the front in the picture above.

step 8| with the loom’s backside facing you again, take your tapestry needle and begin to pull your warp thread end through the loop you created by crossing over the front. Before pulling the warp tail all the way through circle it back to it’s own loop and tie it in a slip knot. The warp threads are now secure on your loom and you’re ready to weave!!

Rainie from The Unusual Pear has a great circle loom video and instructions of her own here.

I’ll share more on circle weaving as I go. Have you tried circle weaving before? It definitely has a different design structure to think about, which is part of the fun.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Uncategorized

A Year of Yes

Happy New Year!! Last week I talked about how I took more chances in 2015. I like to refer to this as my year of yes. I’m not talking about saying yes to everything that was asked of me, but instead I said yes to more of what I was asking of myself. Prior to 2015, I put off a lot of ideas I had for various reasons, that mostly led back to small fears I had. But in 2015 I really wanted to push my fears aside and let myself try things that I hadn’t tried before. Taking this approach really paid off for me and I would love to encourage you to take the same approach.

Whenever I am thinking about trying something really different and new to me, what usually happens is up pops a list of reasons as to why I shouldn’t even try. Take weaving, for example, I was a long time admirer of weaving artists and I had this nagging desire to try it myself. But of course I starting thinking of all these reasons why I shouldn’t bother (not enough time, not sure where to begin, my weaves won’t be as good as the pros, etc). But then I reached a point where I just didn’t care to listen to the negativity I was creating, and I just started weaving. This happened to me time and again last year with each large idea I had, but I had decided to say yes to myself and I’m so happy I did. The main thing about tackling your fears is that you learn a lot about yourself. It helps you establish your limits and gain more confidence in yourself.

I also learn from my year of yes, that connecting with others is such a great thing. We are not alone in life, there are a lot of people going through similar things and by connecting with others we can gain a lot. I definitely pushed myself to reach out to more people that I admired and was inspired by. This also was a fear of mine, but after I reached out I had the silly realization that people are people, they also have fears and doubts and were also looking to connect with others who are supportive. I have made a lot of friendships I treasure, just by reaching out.

By saying yes more to myself, I’ve found that my perspective has become more positive. I’m not tied down by my negative thoughts of how things won’t work out, but instead I tell myself “yes that is worth a try”. The negative thoughts and fears never go away, but you can acknowledge when those fears are valid, but also work around them.

Which brings me to failure. I have had my failures this past year, but they weren’t as bad as my prior fears were telling me they would be. I actually appreciated my failures because I learnt a lot from them. I had just finished my first weave, when I heard about a local gallery that was having an open call for a group show. My first reaction was I want to apply, but my second reaction was I’ve only made one weave EVER, am I crazy?! But following the rules of my year of yes, I said fine I’ll do it. I created two weaves that followed the guidelines for the show and submitted them for consideration. And guess what I was accepted! I was so excited to be in the show, but also nervous. The day of the show came and people were buying art off the wall…except for my weaves. This was exactly my fear, but when it became a reality it actually didn’t feel as bad as I had imagined. I actually still felt proud for taking a risk and putting myself out there. There is a lot of learn from failure and I feel like I learned a lot that day and moved on to try new things.

And of course when you take a risk and succeed, that is beyond measurement. I like to consider this blog one of my major accomplishments of 2015. But it wasn’t an instant success. I really had no idea how to blog or photo edit; I was starting from scratch. There was a lot of trying and failing, and changing things until it worked better which added up to a success (I’m counting it as a success, not based on how perfectly it’s set up…because it’s far from perfect. Instead it’s a success because you’re reading it right now, and that I value a lot!). I can say the same thing about the weaving experiments I did. Many times I would fail at what I was trying to make, but brainstormed and pushed past it to either a different way of accomplishing what I was trying to make, or by changing my design completely. I guess my point is there are failures in the success, so don’t let the fear of failure stop you!

Often one of my friends, or someone in my family will say something like “I wish I could make stuff like that”, but the thing is they can! We all have the ability to create and a big part of me putting this blog together is to help people like you learn the basics of weaving so you can move forward to creating pieces that have your own unique point-of-view. I love that you’re here to learn more about weaving and take chances. I really hope that you find encouragement in this blog. I’m definitely continuing to say yes to more bold ideas I have in 2016.

What are your resolutions for this year? Are you going to say yes to yourself more often? Take more risks? What is a new skill you’re interested in learning? If you haven’t tried weaving yet but want to, I have a great post on how to get started.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Draft Patterns Weaving Techniques

Weaving Tips || The Herringbone Weave (video)

Hi friends! I have finished my video on how to do the herringbone weave. This video will give you a good idea of how your weft flows over and under the warp threads to create the pattern. I love how these draft patterns look, but I always have to get my mind in the right place before I make one because to me I like to be more direct when making a visual element. With the draft patterns, they build a visual in a more passive way. And actually it’s fun to see the pattern form, because in the beginning it looks like not much of anything.

The original herringbone weave post is here. As a refresher, the steps for the herringbone weave again are:

step 1| pass the weft under 2 warp threads, then over 2, under 1, over 1. Now I repeat the pattern until I hit my 16th warp thread (ending on over 2 warp threads).

step 2| weaving in the opposite direction, I start with 1 under, 2 over, 2 under, repeating 2 over/2 under until I hit my 16th warp thread (ending on 1 under).

step 3| pass the weft 2 over, 2 under, over 1, under 1, repeating until I hit my 16th warp thread (ending 2 warp threads under).

step 4| 1 over, 2 under, 2 over, repeating 2 under/2 over until I hit my 16th warp thread (ending 1 over).

step 5| here the pattern is a repeat of step 1; under 2 warp threads, then over 2, under 1, over 1. Now I repeat the pattern until I hit my 16th warp thread (ending on over 2 warp threads).

step 6| repeating step 2; 1 under, 2 over, 2 under, repeating 2 over/2 under until I hit my 16th warp thread (ending on 1 under).

step 7| repeating step 3; 2 over, 2 under, over 1, under 1, repeating until I hit my 16th warp thread (ending 2 warp threads under).

step 8| repeating step 4; 1 over, 2 under, 2 over, repeating 2 under/2 over until I hit my 16th warp thread (ending 1 over).

I’ve seen weavers that made a twill weave following my tutorials and at least one weaver that made that double diamond weave. If you’ve made any of these or even the chevron weave, please share! I would love to see how it turned out and here what you think about these patterns in your weaves.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Just Some Thoughts

Reflecting on Creativity

Now that the end of the year is approaching, it’s nice to reflect on what the year has meant and what the goals for the next year will be. For me 2015 was a year of big changes. My overall goal for 2015 was to push myself creatively, which also meant 2015 was a year of taking many chances for me. I started this blog, was super lost working in Photoshop and WordPress (I’m proud to say I’m now just slightly less lost), I started sharing my work on Instagram (are we friends yet?), and connected with many talented people.

I had many ups and downs, and often was questioning, is this really worth all the time and work it takes? I even shared a post on how I’ve worked through self doubt. But at least for me, I have found I really need to create. I have these ideas inside of me that need to come out, so whether I share them or not, I just need to make them. I’ve found though, that I also really love sharing with others. I truly believe that everyone has the capacity to create, and if sharing tutorials on my blog helps someone else start on a journey of creating, then that is a great gift for me to receive. And thank you for all the lovely comments and emails, they have meant a lot!

I feel that creating helps us express ourselves better and through creating we start to know ourselves better. Even if you only have time to create once a month, or a little each night, it can still be a powerful experience.

I love to listen to podcasts and audiobooks while weaving and I recently was listening to the podcast Magic Lessons and I heard the best quote from Brene Brown:

“The only unique contribution that we will make in this world, will be born of creativity”

Just think about that, when you’re creating you get to decide what will happen. You can take all that you imagine and make it into something tangible. I’ve talked about it before, but sometimes creating helps me work through an emotion and sometimes it’s a more vague idea that has been in my head. But either way, just the act of taking a thought or emotion and making it into something real is very rewarding and empowering. And it doesn’t matter if others like it or not, that is not the point. The point is that you’ve created something that didn’t exist before.

I would love to hear what creating means to you. Whether you’re just starting to explore creating, are creating in your free time, or have made it your job to be creating, I would love to hear your thoughts. How does it make you feel when you create something? How would you feel if you couldn’t create anymore.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

This post contains affiliate links, which means if you click a link and make a purchase you will be supporting The Weaving Loom, at no additional cost to you. So you’ll get cool stuff and will be supporting all the time, resources, and work that goes into this blog. Whoo-hoo! Plus, I only recommend stuff that I use and love.

If you want to explore more of these ideas of creating and how it helps I really recommend the book Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. And if you’re like me and want to listen to the audiobook, Elizabeth Gilbert reads it herself and has one of the best reading voices (trust me on this, I’ve listened to many audiobooks). How I save money on audiobooks is #1 check my local library. A lot of libraries are now offering audiobook rentals (some can even be rented online!) so ask yours if this is an option. #2 my husband and I have been using Audible for a few years now and we just love it, because we get a lot of audiobooks at a very discounted price.

Uncategorized

Happy Holidays!

Hi friends! I’m off to enjoy Christmas with my family & friends, but first I wanted to give a big thank you to you! Yes, you! Thank you so much for visiting my blog, whether you’re new to it or someone who checks in regularly. I’m so happy to be able to share my love of weaving with all you talented and creative people and look forward to more weaving fun! I hope you’re all enjoying time with your own friends and families.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Beginner Weaving Lessons

Beginner’s Guide to Weaving

If you are new to weaving and need help getting started, then you’re in the right place!

Hi, I’m Kate. I’m the person behind this blog. Back when I started trying to weave, there weren’t many resources available. I put a lot of time into researching old books and experimenting and wanted to share what I had learned. Weaving is such a fun and meaningful art form that I wanted it to be available to others to enjoy too. I started The Weaving Loom as a way to share weaving techniques that I have learned through my experiences.

This blog post is a round-up of a lot of the topics I’ve covered over the years. Especially the topics that are important to beginner’s.

Terminology

Let’s start from the beginning!

A Loom is the structure that you use to give your weave support and tension as you work. There are a few different types of looms and my blog focuses on how to use a lap loom.
The warp thread is the thread that is strung over the loom vertically, and holds the tension while you weave. This is the backbone of your weave.
The weft thread is the thread that you weave between, around, and all over the warp threads. It creates your patterns and design in the weave.

These are the most important terms for understanding weaving, but I have pictures and a few more weaving terms here.

Lap Looms

Of course you’ll need a loom to start weaving. If you already have a lap loom, then great! Any of my tutorials can work on any lap loom. If you’re having trouble understanding how to do something on your specific loom then feel free to reach out to me and I’ll help the best I can (Kate@theweavingloom.com). If you don’t yet have a loom, then no problem. I have two ways to make your own loom:

Make a frame into a loom – doing this gave me a huge 23” x 30” loom!
Make a loom out of cardboard – really easy and can be made from cardboard you already have around the house.
I also have some great frame looms for beginner’s in my shop

Weaving Tools

When starting out it is hard to know what tools you do and don’t need, and trust me you don’t need much. I’ve written on some of the basic weaving tools and some alternatives that might be in your home right now. I’m also including some of the yarn supplies I love.

What is a Tapestry Beater and how does it work?
The Tapestry Needle
The Benefits of a Shed Stick
My favorite warp thread
My favorite hand-spun/hand-dyed yarn shop Amanda J French and yarn shop Hedgehog Fibres

Warping a loom (starting)

Now you’re really getting somewhere. I have a few posts on how to warp different looms. There are many different looking lap looms, but in my experience they warp up in one of two ways:

Weaving Techniques

This is the fun part of weaving! All the beauty and creativity go here, this is where you make your magic. I have posted on a bunch on weaving techniques and have already made a round-up of just the techniques here.
I also have a free beginner’s pattern that I send out when you sign up for my weekly newsletter and I made a Weave Along of fun lacy patterns, that you can follow along here.

And I hope you won’t need this, but incase you do, here’s my Top 7 Weaving Issues & Fixes

Finishing your weave (taking off the loom)

Now that you created something beautiful and unique to you, it’s time to take it off the loom so you can share it with the world. I have posted a lot of different ways to finish your weaves, whether you’re cutting your weave off the loom or using your warp loops to hang.

Whoa, that’s a lot of info! Hopefully you’ve made it to the bottom of this post. This will definitely get you started on your weaving journey!! So now I would love to hear your story, how did you first discover the art of weaving? Have you woven before or is this your first time starting? I love to hear how others have found this art form that I love.

Happy Weaving!
Kate

||In the Shop||

Weaving Looms

Metal Tapestry Needle

Colored Cotton Warp

Twisted Cotton String

Draft Patterns Weaving Techniques

Weaving Techniques || Herringbone Weave

I’ve been really loving how draft patterns are looking in my weaves. They are really easy to weave too once you get the pattern down. Today I am sharing the classic Herringbone weave. You’ve seen this pattern many times before. It makes the shape of diagonals, similar to a twill weave. However, where the twill continues in diagonals going the same direction, the Herringbone will stop and then have an offset of diagonals going in the opposite direction. It’s a really nice interlocking pattern.

For my example I’m weaving across 16 warp threads, but this will work over more or less warps. Here is my grid that I followed to weave. The white squares represent the warp threads, which means I will pass my weft threads under the warp. The black squares represent my weft thread, which means I will pass my weft over the warp. I’m also weaving in my usual upside down approach, which just means I face what will be the top of my weave towards me when weaving. So how you’re looking at the grid now, I’m starting in the top left corner.

step 1| pass the weft under 2 warp threads, then over 2, under 1, over 1. Now I repeat the pattern until I hit my 16^th warp thread (ending on over 2 warp threads).

step 2| weaving in the opposite direction, I start with 1 under, 2 over, 2 under, repeating 2 over/2 under until I hit my 16^th warp thread (ending on 1 under).

step 3| pass the weft 2 over, 2 under, over 1, under 1, repeating until I hit my 16^th warp thread (ending 2 warp threads under).

step 4| 1 over, 2 under, 2 over, repeating 2 under/2 over until I hit my 16^th warp thread (ending 1 over).

step 5| here the pattern is a repeat of step 1; under 2 warp threads, then over 2, under 1, over 1. Now I repeat the pattern until I hit my 16^th warp thread (ending on over 2 warp threads).

step 6| repeating step 2; 1 under, 2 over, 2 under, repeating 2 over/2 under until I hit my 16^th warp thread (ending on 1 under).

step 7| repeating step 3; 2 over, 2 under, over 1, under 1, repeating until I hit my 16^th warp thread (ending 2 warp threads under).

step 8| repeating step 4; 1 over, 2 under, 2 over, repeating 2 under/2 over until I hit my 16^th warp thread (ending 1 over).

It’s a fairly simple pattern, but the offset is where you have to pay attention. Still it’s easier then the double-diamond pattern that I shared before.

I was asked by some readers to share more video tutorials, so I’m working on putting together a tutorial on this pattern. You can find the videos I’ve made so far here, and I plan to go back and make videos on other techniques I have previously covered. If there is a technique that you would like to see a video on, let me know in the comments below.

What do you think of the Herringbone pattern? I really like how the diagonals interlock, it adds a bit more interest.

I’ve added some links at the top of the blog to make it more convenient for all you great readers (whoop-whoop!!). There is a link to my shop, so you can treat yourself to something pretty. A quick link resource page that contains all my weaving technique posts. And last, but not least, a link to all the video tutorials I have made. I hope you enjoy!

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Weaving Wishlist

Weaving Wishlist || Colorful Twisted Wool Roving

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Weaving Techniques

Weaving Techniques || Tie-off Hang a Weave

I discussed some ways to hang your weave from your warp threads (first way and the second way) but for those who are cutting their weave from the loom, today I’m discussing a way to finish and hang it. I always recommend giving yourself 3-4 inches of warp thread when cutting off of the loom. This will make sure that you have enough thread to hang your weave from.

step 1| take two warp threads (or more) and tie them together using a single knot. Continue tying until all warp threads are in a knot. If you have an un-even number of warp threads, then you can tie three threads together at the end. This establishes the base of how you will hang your weave, while securing your weft threads at the same time.

step 2| flip your weave over so that the back side is facing you and with your tapestry needle pull each warp thread pair through the back of the weave. I always recommend checking the front of the weave before continuing. You want to make sure the warp threads you pulled through are fairly invisible and that you didn’t grab a front thread on accident. Make any corrections necessary.

step 3| Now tie two warp thread groups in a tight, single knot together. Continue until all warp threads are knotted. This will secure your weave to hang

step 4| trim the warp ends below your knots and you’re done!

This leaves the back slightly messier then if you tied off the ends and wove them in, as I posted about here, but this way gives you a more even and secure hang to your weave. The other way, you have to sew your weave to the dowel rod, and I’ve found that is a little harder to make sure all the loops are the same size. Also you’re putting the weight of the weave on your weft threads, which can potentially be an issue depending on your weave’s style. I also don’t feel the backs of my weaves need to be perfect, it is the back after all. And I don’t want to sacrifice the front design for the back to look nicer.

If you want to see more of this weave, it is currently available in my shop here.

What do you think? Do you like your weaves to be perfect in the back or do you feel it doesn’t matter?

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Weaving Techniques

Weaving Techniques || Twist Loops to Hang a Weave

Last week, I shared how to tie your loops to keep your weft from floating up your warp threads once your weave is hung. I was so happy to find that it helped out a lot of readers, so this week I’m sharing another way to hang a weave using your warp loops…by twisting them. As I pointed out last week, if you are weaving on a notched or peg loom, you can use your warp loops to hang your weave. Using the warp loops can save a lot of time, but weft threads will often float up your warp threads and cause your finished weave to look not as neat as it could.
Here is a picture of what I’m talking about. The before shows how I hung my weave using the warp loops off my loom. You can see how it looks messier than the after. You can also see the weft thread floating up, since there is a large gap in my warp loops. What I love most about the twist technique is that it is super easy. I recommend using this technique if you didn’t use a hem stitch on the ends of your weave and if your weave has smaller loops that you can’t tie in a knot. Here are the steps:

step 1| take the first warp loop and twist it twice around in-between your fingers.

step 2| pass your hanging rod through the twisted loop.

step 3| repeat; twist the next loop twice and pass the rod through until all loops are on the rod.

Isn’t this crazy simple? And it makes the weave look 100% neater. You may be asking why not just do this all the time? Well I have found that if you have very large loops, you would have to twist them many times around. This then causes the loops to start bending in different directions and makes your weave look less neat again. That is why I use this simple technique only if my warp loops are very short. Otherwise I will use the previously mentioned hem stitch/tying the loops technique.

If you don’t have warp loops to hang your weaves from, don’t worry I have another way to hang your weave from cut warp threads, that I will be sharing. Oh and want to know how I wove that three colored pattern? It is really easy and you can find that here.

I also don’t want to forget to mention, I’ve added some links at the top of the blog to make it more convenient for all you great readers (whoop-whoop!!). There is a link to my shop, so you can treat yourself to something pretty. A quick link resource page that contains all my weaving technique posts. And last, but not least, a link to all the video tutorials I have made. I hope you enjoy!

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

Weaving Lessons || Warping a Circle Loom

A Year of Yes

Weaving Tips || The Herringbone Weave (video)

Reflecting on Creativity

Happy Holidays!

Beginner’s Guide to Weaving

Weaving Techniques || Herringbone Weave

Weaving Wishlist || Colorful Twisted Wool Roving

Weaving Techniques || Tie-off Hang a Weave

Weaving Techniques || Twist Loops to Hang a Weave

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