Weaving Tools || The Tapestry Needle

For today’s weaving tool, I’m talking about the tapestry needle. As I’ve said before some tools may not be completely necessary, however they do make weaving easier and quicker. I’ve also found that one weaver might rely heavily on a certain weaving tool that another weaver never uses, so these tools also are dependent on your style and what makes you most comfortable.

For me, the tapestry needle is everything! If I was told I could only use one tool with my loom, it would be the tapestry needle hands down. I use this every time I weave, so it’s a really important one for me.

The tapestry needle can be used to weave in loose yarn ends to finish your weave and can be used to weave different shapes and colors into your piece.

So as you may have guessed the tapestry needles works similar to a sew needle, but instead of piercing fabric, you use the tip of the tapestry needle to weave yarn behind and in front of the warp thread. The ideal use of the tapestry needle is for small areas of weaving due to the fact that if you were to cover a large area you will need to pull a long yarn tail through your weave. There are other weaving tools that are better for working over large areas that I will cover in the next few weeks.

You can also purchase tapestry needles in different materials and sizes. I was previously using a plastic needle, but that broke on me so I don’t recommend those. Currently I’m using a metal needle that is smaller because I usually weave smaller pieces. But you can also get a tapestry needle that is large if you’re going to weave larger pieces. Oh, I also like my tapestry needle to be bent at that end. I have found this really helps me catch the warp threads and allows me to weave quicker then if the end was straight, but that is a personal preference.  I do also have a long and straight tapestry needle that I use with this bent needle.  I feel like they make a great pair!

So now that I have professed my undying love for the tapestry needle, I’m curious, is anyone out there weaving on a lap loom without one? I understand the big floor looms use shuttles and such, because it would be crazy to work all that warp with a tapestry needle. But for us lap loom-ers is anyone not using the tapestry needle? And if so what is your go to tool?

If you’ve missed it, in my weaving tools series, I also wrote about the tapestry beater and the shed stick so far.

Happy Weaving!
Kate

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Long Tapestry Needle

Bent Tapestry Needle

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