I was inspired by Alisa’s Christmas decorations where she painted some faux woven Christmas ornaments. Alisa mentioned she would love to learn weaving, so, with that in mind, I came up with a weaving tutorial. This is one where even if you don’t know how to weave you can just follow these instructions and dive right in. There’s no need to learn it all first, just learn as you go!
You will need:
-A various selection of wools
-Crochet cotton or similar
-Cardboard frame for your loom (I used a mat board from inside a picture frame) with an opening of approx 10cm x 14cm
-Chain
-2 jumprings
-Wire
Also: Wool tapestry needle, scissors, pliers
Use some thin wool that is not too stretchy to set your mini loom up.
(These vertical threads are called the “warp” and the horizontal threads that you weave in are called the “weft”.)
Crochet cotton or similar works well for the warp. Tie one end around the bottom of the cardboard loom, and wind it around six times so that you have 12 strands in the centre of the loom. Fasten the end. Make it fairly tight but not so tight that your cardboard starts to bend. Spread the threads out evenly over the width of the weaving using your template as a guide.
Weave a few rows across the very top and bottom of the loom, adjusting the warp threads to be equally spaced apart. This will keep them nicely in place.
Start weaving with your main colour up until you need to start weaving your triangle. Weave the triangle in a contrasting colour. I found I needed four rows of the triangle colour before I needed to go in one warp on each side to make the triangle shape. I would then weave another four rows before decreasing again.
Once the triangle is complete, use your main colour to weave up the side of the triangle and above. I then went back and wove in the space beside the triangle on the right hand side.
Turn your pendant over and sew all the tail ends in securely.
Take a length of wire and make two loops at the ends by twisting the wire around something small like the end of a paintbrush. Make sure the wire in between the loops is the width of your pendant. Twist the wire ends around the middle to secure. Take some wool and wind it around the wire, using the tapestry needle to sew the end in.
Take a length of wire and make two loops at the ends by twisting the wire around something small like the end of a paintbrush. Make sure the wire in between the loops is the width of your pendant. Twist the wire ends around the middle to secure. Take some wool and wind it around the wire, using the tapestry needle to sew the end in.
Place this wire piece in the weaving as if you were weaving another row. Cut your weaving from the loom, leaving the warp threads quite long. Tie them all up in secure knots and turn your pendant over and sew in the top warp threads to hide them.
Trim the fringe into an arrow shape.
To make this extra secure and make sure no threads come loose whilst wearing it, glue a square of felt or non-fraying fabric to the back.
Attach the jump rings and chain.
Happy weaving and wearing!
Jules :)
You can find more of Jules here:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/julesmadden/
