The Weaving Loom The Modern Lap Loom Weaver's Resource

I always start and end my warps on the loom with a slip knot, because I feel like it’s easier than tying a double knot once you get the hang of it and it ensures your knot is tight. Maybe it’s just me, but when I tie a double knot, my first knot loosens as I tie the second and it drives me bananas. So if you’re like me this post is for those that would like to try a slip knot, but haven’t yet mastered it. And I made a video to go along with the post.Steps for tying a slip knot:

step 1| bring your warp thread around your loom notch or around your frame, if that is what you’re using, and tie your warp in a single knot

step 2| bring the thread tail over and then through the loop you just formed, so that you have formed a second knot

step 3| your slip knot is now formed, so start pulling on your thread tail and watch the knot slide down the thread and tighten. You may need to guide the knot down the thread in some situations, like when you’re making a slip knot at the end of warping your loom. I usually slowly guide my slip knot, to make sure I’m keeping proper tension on my warp threads.

What knot do you start your warping with? Do you use a double knot or the slip knot? Also if you are having issues, leave me a comment or send me an email. There is a lot I still have to learn, but I would love to help if I can.

Find my instructions on how to warp a lap loom for weaving here.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Weaving Wishlist

Weaving Wishlist || My favorite warp thread

||find my post on weaving a picture here||

I receive a lot of questions what to use for warp threads and as you know from this post, you can use a lot of different threads for your warp. I like to use a cotton warp thread for my weaves. This is my favorite because this cotton warp is wound very tightly making it strong with very little stretch. You might be asking why is that important, and the reason is your warp is the backbone of your weave. You can do a lot of crazy fun stuff with your weft, but if you aren’t using a good warp or didn’t warp your loom properly then you’ll have issues when you take your weaving off the loom. A strong warp lets you add a lot of heavy layers and texture to your weave and a warp that doesn’t stretch means that once you take your weave off the loom, your warp threads will hold their form (for the most part) and your weave won’t shrink or get wavy. Although, it is important to keep in mind that what you do with your weft might cause your weave to get wavy also, as I wrote about my own experience here.

I’m so excited to now be selling my favorite warp thread in my shop. You can find it here! And the best part is there are a lot of fun colors besides white and black.

Have you ever woven with a colored warp? What is your favorite colored warp to use? Also I would love to hear about any wishlist worthy items you have come across.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Weaving Techniques

Weaving Technique || Three Colored Plain Weave

I’m so excited about this pattern, why? Because it’s so simple, but has such a visual impact! And also, this is the exact same thing I showed you last week! I know, it looks so different, but really the only difference is the warp I’m using. And just like in my vertical strips post, we’re just weaving with the plain weave.

So when I posted on making vertical strips, I was using my trusty cotton rug warp, which is thin and allows me to push my wefts together covering the warp. This time I’m using a worsted weight cotton as my warp and keeping my wefts spaced so that my warp really shows through. I am using a navy blue and a indigo which match, but you can see all three colors. The steps again are:

step 1 | weave a row of plain weave with your first color.

step 2 | weave a row of plain weave using the opposite warps like normal, but use your second color

step 3 | continue alternating between your first and second color

When you are weaving a color that ends over the last warp (like my turquoise row), loop it once around the warp and then bring it under two warp threads. Then plain weave as usual.

When you are weaving a color that ends under the last warp (like my indigo row), just bring it under it’s next row and plain weave as usual. This color will hook around the other color’s row which will hold it in place.

Which do you prefer, this three colored plain weave or the vertical strip plain weave? I actually like both because they both have a strong visual impact, and its so cool to see how just a little change makes a big difference.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

|| Shop this post ||
Lily Sugar’n Cream Solids Yarn in Bright Navy, Hot Blue, Indigo

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, you’ll help support The Weaving Loom, and you’ll receive some amazing stuff, too. Whohoo!

Weaving Techniques Weaving Tips

Weaving Tips || The Hem Stitch (video)

Hey friends! Since so many people like the pile weave video I made, I decided to make a short video on the hem stitch. My original step by step post on the hem stitch can be found here.

Follow these steps here:

Starting the hem stitch

Have at least one woven row of plain weave.
Bring the yarn tail under and around at least 2 warp threads (it can be more if you are using a large number of warp ends per inch).
Bring your yarn tail through the loop you just made and pull tight so that the warp threads are brought together.

Making the hem stitch across your weave

Bring the yarn from your loop around the warp threads behind and then through the back of your weave next to the warp threads you just “tied”. I recommend bringing your thread through the top of at least 2 weft rows, as I did in the picture, but you can bring it through more weft rows if you want to accentuate the look of the hem stitch.
Now that you have pulled your weft from behind to the front of your weave, continue by wrapping the weft around the front of the next 2 warp threads and circle all the way around so that your thread ends on the front of the warp threads where you started, creating a loop.
Repeat the pattern of bringing your yarn from the loop around the warp threads behind and then through the back of your weave next to the warp threads you just “tied”. Remember to keep a tight tension.

Finishing the hem stitch

Loop around your last 2 warp threads as you have been previously
This time pull your thread through the loop you just created and pull tight so that a simple knot is formed.
Bring your thread to the back of your tapestry and weave in your yarn end

Now you’re done!

Is there another weaving technique that you’re struggling with? I would love to help if possible.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

Beginner Weaving Lessons

The Unusual Pear Loom Instructions

This post is my collaboration with The Unusual Pear to provide pictures to her weaving instructions. If you don’t have a loom from The Unusual Pear, no worries, you can still benefit from these beginner instructions (especially Rainie’s awesomely easy soumak trick, seriously you need to check this time-saving method out!) This post is jam-packed, so get cozy and ready to weave!

***Oh and if you have a circle loom from The Unusual Pear, click here for a post on that.***

WARP – the lengthwise threads of the weaving

To Warp Your Loom

Tie your warp thread around the first bottom left tooth of the loom.

Tie a double knot to secure and then weave in and out of the teeth along the top and bottom of the loom on the front side only. Make sure to keep a firm tension with your warp as you do this.

Secure the end of the warp around the last tooth on the bottom right of the loom by tying another double knot.
Check your tension by placing your hand on the warp threads – it should be firm, not loose – adjust if needed.

WEFT – the crosswise threads of the weaving

I recommend weaving from the top to bottom of the loom. This means you will have perfect hanging loops at the top when you remove the weaving. Leave a minimum of 10cm (4in) of remaining warp at the bottom of your weaving, this extra room will help when it comes time to take your weaving off the loom – use a piece of thin cardboard as a guide if needed.

TABBY / PLAIN WEAVE

This is a basic over and under technique. As you begin weaving, it is important to remember not to pull your weft thread too tight, otherwise your weaving will end up looking like an hourglass. I recommend not pulling your yarn straight through, rather, as the picture shows, make an arch and beat the yarn down.

ANGLES & CURVES

With this technique you either lose or add a warp thread on each pass, depending which angle you are making. When you weave on the opposite side, you meet your passes again, adding or losing a warp thread.

Note From Kate | As you can see below, I am steadily building an angle, by weaving one less warp thread at a time.

RYA KNOTS / SHAG / TASSELS

Cut yarn into lengths
take 2-4 strands at a time (more if you want it extra shaggy) and lay them over the top of two warp threads
Loop around the outer sides then down and out through the middle
Hold in place with 1-2 rows of plain weave to secure your rya and continue this technique to build thicker layers of shag

Note from Kate | For quicker rya knot production, check out my post here

ADDING A NEW THREAD

Allow the new thread to overlap the old thread for around 4-5cm (1.5-2in)
The cut ends can be tucked back into the weaving using your tapestry needle
Turn your loom around, take the cut end of the weft and thread it up through the same colour weft you have already woven

Note from Kate | For this example I used two different colored wefts to better demonstrate the thread change. When you do this with same colored thread, the change will be less visible in your weave.

SOUMAK WEAVE

Cut a long piece of yarn
Loop it around the first or last warp thread (first in my case as I am weaving left to right). Pictures 1 & 2 below.
Spread the two pieces of yarn, take the cut ends and thread them through the middle and under the next warp thread and out through the middle again (always through the middle!) Pictures 3, 4, 5 below
Repeat!!!! Pictures 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 below

Note from Kate | In my example, I have woven a section to the left (dark grey) and then added my soumak weave to show that you can start a soumak weave even in the middle of your warp. For those who like a video of this process, check out this video that Rainie put on her Instagram.

FINISHING / TAKING YOUR WEAVING OFF THE LOOM TO HANG

You should have a minimum of 10cm (4in) exposed warp at the bottom of your weaving – cut the warp threads at the very bottom of the weaving, bit by bit (it makes it easier to tie the knots if some of it is still on the loom) and tie the warp threads together two or four at a time – this will secure your weaving. The loose warp ends can be cut short or woven back into the weaving – it can also be used as fringe.
Use a piece of wooden dowel or a foraged stick to hang your weaving. Weave the dowel / stick through the loops at the top of the weaving – just like the tabby / plain weave you started with

^^Here is another weave I made, that shows the versatility of these looms ^^

^^You can warp them on fewer tabs if you want and weave all the way down to around 10cm (4in) from the bottom^^

Note from Kate | Once the bottom warp strings are cut, you will be able to easily pull the loops off the top tabs. Since my loops are larger then my dowel rod, I twisted my loops a few times so that they secured the top of my weave, then put my dowel rod through the loops. You can make your loops smaller while weaving if you wove closer to the top tabs. You could even use the Hem Stitch weave to secure the top of your weave.

Hang up your very own hand woven wall hanging and start all over again.

Congratulations on your first weave and many more to come! Keep up to date with my weaving tutorials that work on any lap loom, by signing up for my email list below!

Happy Weaving!

Kate

I received the mini bamboo loom as a gift from The Unusual Pear. All opinions are my own and I only accept and recommend products that I personally like and use.

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Weaving Wishlist

Weaving Wishlist || The Unusual Pear Looms

If you saw my post on Looms for Beginners, you know I’ve appreciated the lap looms from The Unusual Pear for a while now. Well, recently I teamed up with Rainie from The Unusual Pear to help put pictures to her beginner’s instructions (more on that later), and Rainie was kind enough to gift me a mini loom! I was super excited because this loom has been in my shopping cart for a while now, but beautiful fibers seem to have been taking priority #1, you know how it is ~wink.

Even before using this loom, it was one of my recommended because it is made as one solid piece, so there is no worries about the loom becoming loose as you use it over time. In person, this loom is just as good as I imagined. It is super easy to warp up and work on. And for me the mini size is perfect! It is a little bigger then 6” x 8”. My frame loom and my notched loom are both on the larger size, so this is nice to have a smaller loom to work on that fits perfectly on my lap. This loom can even fit in a purse! But on second thought, with my littles always pulling stuff out of my purse and sometimes sitting or jumping on it (<-glamorous I know), I might only put the loom in my purse if I knew I would only be handling it.

There are two more sizes larger of this loom also, if you’re looking for something bigger. And the price is great for entry level weaving.

What was your first loom? Do you still use it or have you moved on? I would love to hear about your loom or any wishlist worthy items you have come across.

You can view other items that are on my wishlist here:

Happy Weaving!

Kate

As mentioned previously, I received the mini bamboo loom as a gift from The Unusual Pear. All opinions are my own and I only accept and recommend products that I personally like and use.

Weaving Techniques

Weaving Technique || Vertical Strips

Today I have a simple and fun way to add some interest to your weaves and it’s called vertical strips. These are created using the plain weave, however, you weave with two different colored threads and the natural tabby of the plain weave creates the vertical strips.
The first thing you do is weave a row of plain weave with your first color, then weave a row of plain weave using the opposite warps like normal, but this time with your second color. Then you continue alternating between color #1 and color #2.

Above, I wanted to show how I handle switching the rows between the colors. My second color (green/yellow) is on one less warp, so when I pull it down to it’s next row, it loops under color #1 (mint green). When I need to bring my first color (mint green) down a row, I need to wrap it around the warp and then bring it under to start the row. I do the wrap around because my first color is extended out a warp more then the second color.

When you first start out weaving these rows, they don’t look like much, but as you keep going you can see that the vertical strips start to become apparent. I really like this look, and how cool is it that you can make it with just the simple plain weave? I also followed this same technique, but switched my warp to a thicker thread and it created a really cool look that you can find in this post.

If you missed it, I talked about how I plain weave so that my warps are mostly covered here.

What do you think of the vertical strips? Is it something you would add to your weaves?

Happy Weaving!

Kate

|| Shop this post||

Bernat Handicrafter Cotton Yarn color Robin Egg

Shine Sport Yarn similar color Green Apple

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, you’ll help support The Weaving Loom, and you’ll receive some amazing stuff, too. Whohoo!

Weaving Techniques Weaving Tips

Weaving Tips | Loop Weave Video (Pile Weave)

A while back when I made a post on how to weave loops, also known as the pile weave, I was asked by a reader to provide a video. After playing around with making videos and making a few mistakes, I finally made a video I’m pretty happy with. It’s more of a stop motion, but this way my hands don’t block the action. Here is the video and the steps for making loops:

step 1| To start weave some support rows before you put in your loops, I recommend at least 2 rows.

step 2| Weave a plain weave row that you want to make into loops

step 3| Take your pick-up stick and pick up your weft that crosses over the warp by wrapping them around the stick as shown and then pull the whole stick down to your support row. I’m using a dowel rod here, but I’ve found a knitting needle with some slip to it works better.

step 4| While your “stitches” are on the pick-up stick, weave another plain weave row.

step 5| Slowly remove the pick-up stick from your loops, then use it to pick up your weft in the next row of plain weave.

step 6| I repeat the above steps and create three rows of loops, then weave a plain weave row and push it down against all my loop rows to lock them in. You can continue making loops as your design requires.

Did you find this video helpful? Should I make more? They are a bit time consuming so let me know if you like them or not.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

|| Shop this post ||

Dowel Rod

Cotton Warp Thread

Notched Weaving Loom

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, you’ll help support The Weaving Loom, and you’ll receive some amazing stuff, too. Whohoo!

Weaving Techniques Weaving Tips

Weaving Tip || Back to the Plain Weave Basics

I received a question from a reader asking if she was using the wrong warp thread, because she noticed that when she weaves her warp shows more then what she sees in other people’s weaves. My first question was, was she weaving with a bulky thread. I asked this because when you weave with bulky threads, there is more area for the warp to cover and it will end up showing more (just check out my chunky grey thread above). But she informed me she was using a worsted size 4 yarn for her weft. To help with this question, I went all the way back to my first weave and sure enough, I had more warp showing using a worsted weight size 4 yarn, compared to now when I weave the warp is almost fully covered.

Both in my grey and white woven areas of my first weave you can see how the tension of my weft threads is so strong that it’s bringing the warp threads forward so that they show. These are worsted weight size 4 yarns.

So why does this happen? Well when you’re just starting out and getting the hang of weaving, you tend to pull your weft across the warp threads very tightly, where as the correct way to do it is to lay your weft threads between the warps. You probably have seen this many times, as I did when I was just starting out, but I hope to better explain the importance of using a “wave” technique when weaving. I clearly didn’t understand the importance of it when I was just starting out.

Since the plain weave is just going over and under the warp threads, it is very tempting to just pull the weft straight across. This, however, puts unnecessary tension in your weave and causes the warp threads to pull forward, which is why they are prominent when woven in this way. What I do is pull my weft thread across my weave but up, about an inch, above my already woven rows creating a “wave”. I then take my tapestry needle (or you could use your tapestry beater) and I push down part of the wave a few warps over and create a smaller wave that I smooth down. If I were to push the wave down right at the next warp and then the next, I would end up getting uneven tension. So if I push the wave down a few warps over this better spreads the tension of the weft. I continue pushing down my weft a few warp threads over and then smoothing the weft down all the way across the row I have woven. As you can see I’m more laying my weft threads over my warp threads, instead of pulling them and my warp threads are better covered to the point where you barely see them.

If you’re looking for even more warp coverage, check out my post on the weft facing weave technique.

As always, I love helping out with weaving questions when I can so please leave me a comment or send me an email.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

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4 Ways to Deal with Self Doubt

So self doubt pops up in almost all aspects of life, and it can especially happen when you are trying to create. When you create, you are putting a part of yourself into what you are making, so it is very easy to start to doubt yourself and your work. I think it’s especially hard when you are just beginning your creative journey in a medium, because beginner’s work is always rough and you see a lot of amazing things others have created, making it hard not to compare. Keep in mind that everyone struggles with self doubt, even those who’s work you admire. It’s just a part of the process and I think it helps push us forward to create even better things. Think about it, if you never questioned what you were doing, you would never bother to improve or push yourself more.

Ok so here are my 4 ways to deal with self doubt:

1| Keep Making!

Whether you just made your first piece or your hundredth, if you were trying for something amazing and it turned out really bad, that can be quite a blow to your confidence. It is good practice to note what parts of your piece you really dislike, so that you can try to avoid that in the future. However, don’t fall into nonconstructive negative thoughts. You know those thoughts that say stuff like you’re not good enough and give up, push those guys away. You just want to make constructive notes and move on. Start fresh and make something new, even if you’re feeling defeated.

2| Share your Creations

This might seem kind of odd, to share your creations when you feel like you’re not making great things, but trust me it works. There are a lot of people in the world and chances are some will like what you make. My favorite platform to share on is Instagram. It allowed me to right away connect to many people who were on a similar creative journey as me, but also it connected me to people who just liked what I’m making and that is pretty awesome! My beginning, like so many others, was not pretty or perfect. Sharing helped me gain confidence and a desire to keep pushing myself.

3| Learn about Someone Else’s Beginnings

Whether you talk to someone in person, or read about it, it is always helpful to learn about someone else’s beginnings. It really solidifies the idea that everyone starts somewhere and everyone struggles, even those who are super talented. One of my favorite beginning stories is Maryanne Moodie’s interview on the Woolful podcast. If you haven’t heard of Maryanne Moodie, then #1 whhhaatttt? #2 Google her, you’re in for some great woven eye candy!

4| Stop Trying to be Perfect!

Whenever I’m feeling especially frustrated and down on my work, I stop and ask myself am I creating freely, or am I trying to be perfect? Nothing kills creativity quicker then trying to be perfect. Being perfect is impossible, and if you’re trying to be you will quickly run into self doubt. And when I say you’re trying to be perfect, it maybe that you have something pictured in your mind that is just not working. Instead of forcing it, try just going with what is happening and owning it or try moving on. I wrote about a time I had to start over here, and it really helped me gain confidence in myself back.

Are there other ways you overcome self doubt? Was there a time when you pushed through self doubt and accomplished something great? I’ve love to hear about it.

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 Tips || How to tie a slip knot (video)

Weaving Wishlist || My favorite warp thread

Weaving Technique || Three Colored Plain Weave

Weaving Tips || The Hem Stitch (video)

The Unusual Pear Loom Instructions

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Weaving Wishlist || The Unusual Pear Looms

Weaving Technique || Vertical Strips

Weaving Tips | Loop Weave Video (Pile Weave)

Weaving Tip || Back to the Plain Weave Basics

4 Ways to Deal with Self Doubt

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