Free tutorial

Wash Your Hands Towels Photo Gallery

The Wash Your Hands Towels have been such a successful project.

Weavers from all over the world, most of them in some form of lockdown at the time, took up the challenge to weave some beautiful towels.

*This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for further information.

If this is the first time you have come across this project, you can read all about it in this post.

Basically, I wanted to share a free rigid heddle project to help weavers re-focus and occupy themselves in a positive way during the beginning of the pandemic, when none of us really knew what to expect or how it was going to pan out.

When brainstorming for a project, everywhere I turned I was hearing “wash your hands” and that became my inspiration for the towels.

It was also important that the project be easy enough for beginners but lovely enough to interest more seasoned weavers. It was thrilling to see that weavers of all different levels threw themselves so enthusiastically into this project – and that 3 months later towels are still being produced thick and fast!

Almost every day I’m seeing a new set of towels shared on social media. Many of them are so varied and in a myriad of colour ways.

Some weavers have chosen to follow my instructions exactly, others have changed the colours, and some have merely used my towels as inspiration and put their own spin on the design. I love them all!

One of the yarns I recommend for these towels is Sugar n Cream but I’ve also been hearing really good things about I love this Cotton! It’s not readily available here so I haven’t tried it, but from all reports it’s a really lovely yarn and suitable for this project.

I wanted to create another space to showcase at least some of the towels in a gallery:

I hope this gallery of gorgeousness inspires you to weave a set of Wash Your Hands Towels too!

Make sure you visit this post for the printable PDF, materials list and video class links.

This free class is also available at my Online Weaving School.

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

Free Style Tapestry Weaving on a Rigid Heddle Loom

by Kelly 8 Comments

You know sometimes you do something with absolutely no notion of the possible future repercussions?

That is what happened when I made this freestyle tapestry series. I was really doing it for me, but I decided to turn the camera on and bring my Youtube audience along for the ride.

Since then, the 4 video series has gone viral on Youtube, with one of the videos winging it’s way towards 1 million views! Crazy!

These videos were recorded pre professional lighting and sound equipment. I was using my son’s camera.

This video series on Youtube began after a busy morning, a tired me and a desire to weave something that would be rewarding and yet didn’t take too much brain power.

I was too tired to sit down and calculate a project or go through my stash to see whether I had enough yarn to complete a project.

So instead, I found some bits and pieces of yarns left over from other projects, put a short warp of a fingering weight cotton, hand dyed and left over from a previous project, on my rigid heddle loom (which only took around 20 minutes to do), sat down with my bag of left overs, and just started weaving.

How often do we gift ourselves with this kind of luxury? To weave with no set plan, to invest in the process more so than in the expected outcome? I know that I definitely don’t do this enough!

This kind of weaving is so relaxing and free-ing. It is not a fast way to weave, but when you get in the groove it doesn’t seem to matter how long it takes.

With this kind of weaving we use the basic rules but we bend and stretch them. We say, “I want to do this!”, and we do it. We push the weaving around, we beat it up and down, we put in colour as we go, we use all kinds of yarns. And we love the process.

So, what do you need to get started?

*A rigid heddle loom

Well, a rigid heddle loom is really perfect. It will take care of our 2 sheds and our tension beautifully, so that once warped all we have to think about is the weaving. The heddle goes up, the heddle goes down. Repeat. Simple.

You could do this on a Sampleit or Cricket loom with no problems as you don’t need a wide width – you can make the piece whatever size you wish.

I used a 10 dent heddle for my piece.

You can also weave a piece like this on a simple frame loom or tapestry loom, but using a loom that has the ability to change sheds is really helpful. My Mirrix Big Sister is an example of a tapestry loom with a shedding device.

*A stick shuttle or two.

Using a lot of colours in one project doesn’t lend itself well to stick shuttles, as you would need a lot of them. Therefore, I usually use a couple of stick shuttles and for the rest of the colours I just pass them through with my hands and keep the weft yarn in either butterflies or little balls. Butterflies are neater though. I have a video tutorial on how to make them!

*A threading and reed hook

The reed hook is for pulling threads through the slots of the heddle/reed when you’re warping. The threading hook is to pull the threads through the holes in the heddle/reed when threading the loom after warping. I love and use these Ashford Double Ended Hooks, I have a bunch of them in case I lose any and use them constantly.

*A Tapestry Needle

This is really handy for if you intend to hemstitch your piece and also for needle weaving extra yarn into gappy sections if you want to. A tapestry needle with a bent tip is even better!

*Additional beater

You will need this because we are creating a weft faced weave here, meaning that we want the weft to totally cover the warp. The heddle/reed that we normally use for beating does not push the weft down enough as it is designed more for a balanced weave.

There are a number of options for an additional beater. A large fork works really well. I also have a little tapestry beater that I use. There are “proper” tapestry beaters available as well, but I would only purchase one if I was going to be doing this type of weaving a lot.

What about the warp calculations?

Well, as I pointed out, I didn’t calculate at all, but my warp was around 8 inches wide and 40 inches long.

And the yarns?

A variety of yarns were used, but I did use quite a lot of wool in light worsted/dk weight and also in an aran weight. Some were fingering weight. Some were hand dyed, some were commercial.

I also used some cottons in various weights.

Techniques used:

Mostly this type of weaving is just plain weave (1 pick in the up shed, 1 pick in the down shed, and so on) that is packed down tight.

In some areas I would build up mounds or shapes by taking the weft part of the way through in one shed, change the shed and then take the yarn back the same way I just came in.

For example, I brought the green in from my right in the down shed. Roughly half way across I stopped and took the yarn down through the warp at the back rather than continuing it to the left hand side for a full pick.

I changed into the up shed and took the green back to the left.

This is a classic tapestry technique that allows the weaver to begin building up areas of colour, usually to make shapes.

If you keep ceasing the weft yarn and turning back in the same place each time, you will build a block or straight edged shape. Or, by varying the place in the warp where you turn back the weft, you can taper the shape to make it rounded.

The first and second videos of the series show in detail how this technique is used.

In a number of areas I have used outlining. This is basically putting in a darker weft that either outlines a shape you’ve made or just provides a good contrast between one colour and the outline colour. You can see here that I’ve used some black to outline a green section, and the contrast is very effective:

In some places I combined outlining with needle weaving. Needle weaving allows you get weft yarn into tricky spots. I had created a valley in the middle of my piece, but then I wanted to fill it with a small, highlighted section. I started by outlining a “jewel” shape with my black yarn and a tapestry needle:

Next, I brought in a brightly coloured and highly contrasting hand dyed wool with the needle, and wove that into the space that I had outlined with the black wool:

Needle weaving isn’t the only way to do this, but it’s easy to get exact smaller shapes and sizes within the piece.

If you’re interested to know how the piece actually starts out and how you achieve all those cool curves, the 3rd video restarts another piece in order to show just how it’s done.

And then finally the 4th video has an added bonus of demonstrating how to weave a circle within your piece using a simple template. You can also embellish with embroidery, which I did in some sections of my finished piece. This is easier to do while your weaving is still on the loom.

Due to the huge response from this video series, I decided to make a second freestyle tapestry series for Youtube. This one was inspired by the Van Gogh painting, Starry Night. The video series is filmed mostly in real time and is at a very relaxed, step by step pace.

And, of course you will want to check out the original 4 part video series beginning with part 1:

If you want to get a little more serious or delve into some more traditional techniques for weaving tapestry on your rigid heddle loom, I have an online course that will be just the thing for you.

Some of the topics covered in Tapestry on a rigid heddle Loom include soumak, interlocking, straight lines and how to use a tapestry cartoon. I’m sure you will love it!

Do you have any questions? Have you tried this type of freestyle tapestry weaving? Or do you intend to?

Let me know in the comments below, I love to hear from you!

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

3 Ways to Jazz up Plain Weave

by Kelly 8 Comments

I love plain weave, I really do. But sometimes I just think that it is so fun to jazz it up with something special!

Today I’m going to show you three ways that you can jazz up your plain weave, and have some fun with it.

I’ve written several other articles on simple things you can do on the loom for major impact. Things like Colour and Weave , Rigid Heddle Patterns for Beginners and techniques for Making Pictures with your Loom.

*This post contains affiliate links.

I’ve structured this lesson as a sampler for those of you who want to follow along with me and weave a sampler of your own. I used my 10″ Sampleit loom, but any rigid heddle loom will do as we’re only weaving an 8″ width.

All of the yarns, calculations and warp details are contained within this printable PDF, so please download that to access all of that information:

3-Ways-to-jazz-up-plain-weave-part-1 Download

STRIPES

The first example for the sampler is a pretty easy one, but has many variations that really pack a punch visually – stripes!

My example doesn’t look much like stripes because I was using one weft colour in blue and the other matched the maroon warp – so rather than traditional stripes you can end up with dots, dashes and squiggly lines. Pretty cool!

2. LOOPS

This is a super fun technique that requires a bit of patience but is not hard to do. You use a knitting needle to pull up loops of weft between warp threads. This gives a really interesting and textured look, but also has practical applications, like for wash cloths. I employed this technique as a feature in my Lux Hand Towels pattern.

3. BUTTERFLIES

Admittedly, my first attempt at butterflies looked rather spider like, but the second lot were much better. Whatever the case, this is a fun and unique technique where you use a pick up stick to make extra long floats and then CUT them while on the loom! Pretty wild, huh?

In conjunction with the PDF I have for you here, you will definitely want to check out the corresponding video for a full demonstration of all the techniques. You can view that here:

In the video, quite a few links were mentioned. I’m putting them here so that they are easy for you to find-

Online Weaving School

Sampleit loom

Woe to Go! Beginner Rigid Heddle Weaving class

Neat edges for colour changes video

I hope you really enjoy this little sampler project and that it gets your creative weaving juices flowing over! Which of the three techniques is your favourite? Will you weave a sampler of your own?

Stay tuned, as next week I will have part two of this series ready with even more techniques for jazzing up your plain weave!

Until then…

Happy Weaving!

How to deal with warp colour changes

by Kelly 34 Comments

Changing colours in your warp allows you to jazz up your weaving, even if it’s a plain weave project. In this article, I’m going to troubleshoot some of the issues that may arise when you want a colourful or stripey warp when direct warping your rigid heddle loom.

*This post contains affiliate links

I’m specifically speaking to rigid heddle weavers who choose to direct warp today, as these issues either don’t occur or are more simply dealt with when using a warping board, or indirect warping.

The two main issues I want to discuss today are how to most effectively deal with a warp that has a lot of colour changes and what to do when your ends are uneven in number.

If you’re not sure of the difference between direct and indirect warping, I’ll briefly explain.

Direct warping your rigid heddle loom involves tying your yarn end onto the apron rod at the back of the loom, taking the yarn through a slot, around a wooden warping peg that is clamped at the desired distance of the warp away, back through the same slot and around the apron rod again. The process then repeats.

In this photo I’m warping a wider warp and am using 2 x pegs in order to spread the warp more evenly and achieve better tension.

I personally love the direct warping method for my rigid heddle loom because it is such a quick and easy process.

Indirect warping is when you make your warp away from the loom, usually on a warping board or warping mill. You then transfer and “dress” the loom with the warp. It takes longer to warp away from the loom, but is necessary for floor and table looms.

If you’re interested in seeing a warping board in action, check out this video:

Let’s talk about the first topic I mentioned, the use of multiple colours in a direct warp. When you want to make a warp with stripes, you will need to warp sections of colour. This usually involves repeating sections of colour in a sequence, so even though you’re changing colours frequently, you are often coming back to a colour you’ve already used. Many weavers ask me the best way to do this – change warp colours frequently.

There are several options.

Tie the colours as you need them on to the apron rod, go through the direct warping process, tie on new colours as you need them but don’t cut them off when you’ve finished with one section. Then when you need to repeat a colour, you pick it up where it was last used and continue on.

2. Tie on each colour to the apron rod and then cut and tie it off on the apron rod when you’ve finished that section. Tie on the new colour to the apron rod, then tie off again when finished with that colour. Continue on across the warp.

3. Tie on to the apron rod and begin to warp, when you need to change colours cut the existing colour close to the apron rod and tie on the new yarn to the old yarn, making a firm knot. This way your thread is continuous even though you are changing colours.

I’ll share which is my favourite option and why. Number 2, wins for me, hands down. Some people are surprised to hear this and wonder why I would take the extra time to do all that cutting and tying on rather than choose to run continuous threads.

It’s a fair question and some are still not convinced when I give my reasons, but that’s ok, we’re all different in our preferences and I encourage you to do what suits you the best.

There are two main reasons why I like the tie on/ tie off method. No crossed threads. I don’t like crossed threads behind my heddle. They are messy and can cause issues like holding some threads down when they should be up and messing up my tension by crossing over the back beam in a higgledy piggledy manner – not my style at all! I can’t even show you a photo of what this looks like, as you will never see it on my loom. The second issue, as I mentioned, is the tension – I believe that my tension is compromised when those warp threads are all over the place at the back beam.

Having said all of that, there is one instance where I would consider using method one – if my colour repeats were extremely short. For example, if I was alternating between two colours every 2 ends, then I would look to decrease my warping time by continuous warping.

But I have found that most of my warps have been larger blocks of colour than that, so I always tie on/ tie off.

A perfect example where my favourite method is employed is in my Log Cabin Table Runner class. Yes, there is a lot of tying and cutting, but look at that tension! Another great example where I use the same technique is my free Wash Your Hands Towels project. I’ll readily admit that this method takes a great deal of extra time, but I also declare that the results are worth the trouble. Perhaps it’s because I’m also a floor loom weaver, and dressing the loom takes a really long time, that using the cut and tie method doesn’t feel excessively long to me. I always say to my students that extra time spent in getting a warp right is never time wasted – it will save you time later with mistakes or hiccups and you will be more pleased with the end results. Each tied section on the apron rod is like it’s own little warp with it’s own individual tension. When you come to wind them on as a whole, the tension is quite beautiful! All of those knots are on the apron rod and won’t move or affect your weaving as you advance the warp.

I didn’t tell you my thoughts on method three. I can speak from experience that it’s less than ideal. Firstly, the knots can slip or come apart, yes, even if you do them tightly. If your yarn is even slightly slippery (as in a soft cotton) you will likely have trouble. Secondly, tying yarn pieces together is more fiddly, in my opinion than tying on and off the apron rod. So, although I’ve tried this option, I now avoid it.

Now let’s discuss the second issue that frequently crops up when direct warping your rigid heddle loom, and that is what to do when your ends are uneven in number.

Sometimes you will come across a pattern or warping chart for your rigid heddle loom that may look something like the following colour sequence:

Blue – 12 ends

White – 8 ends

Red – 11 ends

White – 8 ends

Blue – 12 ends

Repeat from the beginning until you have _____ (however many ends the project calls for) ends.

It all looks good until you come to the “red – 11 ends”. 11 is an uneven number and it means that you can’t just make a loop of your thread for the last end, because then you would have 12 ends instead of the 11. Make sense?

The easiest way to get around this problem when direct warping your RHL is to not warp uneven numbers of ends! If you are designing the warp yourself, just ensure that every warp number is even so that you can loop every single thread. It might mean a little mathematical adjustment here and there, but it’s not hard and only requires basic math to figure out (I don’t say this lightly, you’re talking to a mathematics hater here!)

But what if you’re using somebody else’s patterns or instructions (by the way, you will notice that none of my patterns or classes have odd numbered ends 😉). Many patterns might be written for indirect warping, hence the odd numbers. Well, you can still adjust that pattern to custom fit it to your requirements without too much trouble.

Going back to my example colour sequence above, it would be a simple matter of rounding the “11” for red down to 10 or up to 12. Yes, you will have to rejig your initial pattern a little to allow for extra or less ends, but as I said, it’s not all that difficult.

But, if you really want to stick to the original pattern with the odd ends, there is something else you can do with your direct warp. If you warp the single colour end by itself, you will have trouble when it comes time to thread the holes. The hole thread will be missing in the place where you only took that single thread through the slot! This means that you have to use the thread from the slot, then shuffle over other threads in order to make sure all the holes and slots are threaded, thus reducing your warp size and possibly messing up your pattern if it’s meant to be threaded in a particular order. There is another way, but it has it’s own set of problems.

You take your single thread (say we’re doing the red and it’s thread 11) to the warping peg through the slot as normal. When you get to the peg, you cut the thread, leaving some spare to go around the peg and tie off. Tying off loosely with a gap is preferred, so that it comes off the peg easily when you want to wind on the warp. Then, instead of going straight back to the loom, you tie the next colour on to the peg. Following our example, that would be white. Take the white back through the same slot that the red was brought through, then back around the apron rod.

Hold up, what’s the problem with that? Well, if we take the white back from the peg, it then becomes a single. We need 8 ends of white, but now we’re going to end up with uneveness again! Further mathematical adjustments would be required or the warp will not be the width you planned for in initial calculations and once again, the pattern may be off.

You see what I mean? Isn’t it just way more simple to even out all of those numbers and save yourself a big headache? I surely think so, but if you have a different opinion or another workaround for the issue, I’d love for you to set me right by leaving me a comment 😄

OK, weavers, I think that’s quite enough for today, I hope I’ve helped rather than boggled your minds with all this!

If you haven’t already, you may want to check out my Online Weaving School, where there are many classes or memberships to choose from and catering to all different weaving levels. You will also find a range of digital download PDF weaving patterns in my Etsy Shop.

Maybe I should aim for a brief and easy going post next time!

Until then…

Happy Weaving!

Hand woven fabric Yo- Yo tutorial

by Kelly 8 Comments

Many hand weavers these days are keen to sew finished pieces, particularly clothing from their hand woven fabric. This is a wonderful development for any weaving journey, as sewing opens up a vast amount of finished objects the weaver can make.

One side effect of all the sewing with hand woven fabric that is starting to happen is that there will be inevitable leftovers. Sewing, particularly clothing usually requires cutting shapes out of your hand woven, meaning that you will have smaller pieces of “waste” fabric leftover. I say “waste” but it’s only waste if you waste it!

*This post contains affiliate links

There are some fun and exciting projects that can be made even with very small pieces of hand woven fabric. One of these is the lovely Suffolk Puff or as it may be more commonly known these days, especially in America, as the Yo-Yo.

What is a fabric Yo-Yo? It’s a small, gathered circle of fabric, usually covered in the middle by a button or similar. They have been around for quite some time, seemingly dating back as far as the early 1600’s in Suffolk, England.

Suffolk Puffs were made from old clothing, quilts, bed sheets and so on, and given new life when joined together as quilts and cushion covers.

The idea is to gather a small circle of fabric at the outer edge with a running stitch. When gathered, the circle forms a sweet little “puff” that can then either be topped with another, smaller puff or a button can be sewn into the centre.

With the finished YoYo you can embellish clothing or bags, sew many of them together as in the days of old, hot glue them on to hair accessories (I’ve done this a lot for my 3 girls) or sew on a brooch backing and wear it as a one of a kind brooch.

Let’s begin with what you will need to sew a YoYo similar to mine.

*A 5 x 5″ square of handwoven (or commercial) fabric

*A 5 x 5″ square of light, fusible interfacing

*Strong sewing thread (I use Gutermann Sew All)

*A sewing needle

*A button to finish with

Begin by cutting the fusible interfacing to fit on the fabric piece. My original fabric piece was larger than 5 x 5″, so I place the interfacing on first. Make sure that you have the correct side of interfacing facing the fabric, otherwise you may destroy your iron! Place a pressing cloth over the top of the interfacing for extra protection. Iron it on and allow to cool once properly fused.

Use an object as a traceable template (I used masking tape) to draw a circle onto your interfacing. It’s fine to use pen, as it only marks the interfacing and will provide a cutting line.

Cut out your circle. Sharp scissors are very handy at this point.

Thread your sewing needle with around a 15″ length of thread and knot the end. Take the needle down through the interfacing side, about 1 centimetre in from the edge.

Stitch a running stitch, making the length of your stitch also around a centimetre in length and maintaining a fairly consistent distance between the stitches.

Continue all the way around the circle.

Pull gently on the end of your thread and the fabric will begin to gather up.

Continue gathering until the fabric forms a hole in the centre and can’t gather anymore.

Now you can decide what you will place in the middle. I’m using a Dorset button that I made previously. If you’re interested in learning more about Dorset buttons or making one yourself, I recommend GinaB Silkworks.

My button is flat backed, so I’m taking my still attached thread through the back of it to begin stitching it on.

Continue to stitch through the button to the back of your puff with small stitches until it’s fully attached and none of the raw edges of your circle hole are showing. Knot off the thread and sink it into the back of the puff where it won’t be seen.

Ta da! What an easy peasy use of scrap fabric! I think these ones should be made into brooches so they can be shown off well.

If you are interested in learning how to make buttons with your hand woven fabric, I have a members only class that shows you how to do that.

This tutorial is available in video format here-

What do you think? Do you have any scraps of hand woven that could be used to make a YoYo? And what about the Dorset buttons, are you interested in having a go at those too? Let me know in the comments, I love to hear from you!

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

How to weave Reindeer on your rigid heddle loom

by Kelly 4 Comments

Weaving Reindeer on your rigid heddle loom is a fun Christmas project! This follows on from my recent post on weaving Snowmen on a rigid heddle loom.

*This post contains affiliate links

To weave reindeer, we use the same technique of a type of overshot. I was originally inspired to utilise this type of weaving on my rigid heddle loom when I was researching Russian Branoe weaving. I was completely taken by the types and varieties of designs I saw in the examples of Russian work. My mind began working overtime as I thought about how to chart designs and which designs might actually work. If you check out my Pinterest Weaving Board, you will see many wonderful examples of this patterning work.

Just like the snowmen, the pattern is all woven by picking up in front of the heddle, with the heddle in neutral. We weave tabby (plain weave) in between the pattern wefts in order to stabilise the fabric.

If this topic interests you, check out this playlist on Youtube to see all the videos I’ve made employing this same technique.

If you’re wondering how I came up with these designs, firstly I would have an idea for a design. Then I would try to map it out using graph paper by colouring individual blocks (1 block would represent one warp or weft thread) in and leaving others empty until I had a good representation of the image I wanted. Using graph paper also ensures that you can plan for the desired amount of space between each image. This is important because the empty spaces are just as important as the filled spaces to make the design. Some images do not translate well to the loom, as I’ve discovered, but it sure is fun to try!

If you want to weave some reindeer of your own here is what you will need

A rigid heddle loom (I used my 24″ but a Sampleit size is fine if you just want a small sample)

10 dent reed

A pick up stick (it needs to be longer than the width of your project)

A knitting needle is handy but not essential

A tapestry needle

Yarns-

There are no set yarns for this project, but I will share what worked well for me and give suggestions for possible alternatives.

For the warp I used a light worsted/dk weight (Australian 8 ply) wool in white.

My tabby weft (background weft) was a lighter but strong coloured light worsted/dk weight (Australian 8 ply) in wool.

For the pattern weft, I used a lovely brown alpaca in a light worsted/dk weight. Animal fibres work really well when you’re trying to depict animals in your weaving!

The red and green borders were made with some green and red light worsted/dk wool.

For the embroidered antlers, eyes and noses I used black and red wool in a fingering weight. You don’t need to be a great embroiderer as the details are all just worked in simple straight stitches. You could also use embroidery floss to work the features, if you prefer. Here are some suggestions:

DMC Embroidery floss (my favourite brand)

Anchor Embroidery floss

If you decide to use embroidery floss, don’t separate the strands, use all 6 of them for just the right thickness. Oh, and don’t forget a red nose for our friend Rudolph!

I’ve made the weaving sequence into a printable PDF to make your weaving life just that little bit easier 😉

Reindeer-weaving-sequence Printable PDF Download

And here is the link to the video that you can use together with this post and the PDF to weave your own lovely little reindeer.

If you’re interested in exploring this technique even further, I recommend my Exploring Branoe Online Weaving class.

I hope this post was helpful to you! I would love to hear your thoughts on this tutorial and answer your questions in the comments section below.

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

How to make a reed stand from wood

by Kelly 8 Comments

If you’re working in a small weaving space like I am, a reed stand is really invaluable for keeping tools organised and tidy.

Until recently, my “reed stand” in my studio space was an old, round laundry basket with medium height sides. All of my rigid heddle reeds were thrown in there together, along with my pick up sticks, stick shuttles and cardboard separators. Oh boy, it was a mess and very difficult to find what I wanted in a hurry.

A purchased reed stand will set you back from anywhere between $250 – 400 USD! I would rather spend that kind of cash on yarn and additional weaving supplies. When I told my frugal minded husband of my dilemma, he was all in.

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He drew up some basic plans based on what I told him I needed. The purchase of the wood for the project cost around $30AUD and he used tools he already had, like his hand saw and electric drill to put it together.

He readily admits that the hand saw is not perfect, and measurements will not always be spot on, but it all came together beautifully regardless. So, if you only have the most simple woodworking tools, you can certainly complete this project.

Our reed stand is made from untreated pine but you can certainly source your own appropriate lumber. We bought a couple of lengths and then cut them to size. All measurements are given in the printable PDF, which should be used in conjunction with the video.

The basic tools you will need for this project are:

*Wood and wooden dowel

*Handsaw (if you have a more sophisticated woodworking set up with electric tools, obviously you will want to use what you have).

*Electric drill and various drill bits (a hand powered drill would also work but the electric one just makes things quick and easy)

*Screws

*Candle wax (not essential but makes the positioning of screws much easier)

*Ruler or tape measure

*Pencil for marking measurements

*PVA or wood glue

You can download the printable PDF here-

Reed-stand-pieces-and-measurements PDF Download

If you wish to stain or paint your reed holder, this would be much more easily done before assembly.

The finished dimensions of the reed stand are as follows:

66cm length x 23.5cm width x 61cm height

Don’t forget to watch the video, as well as refer to the PDF, as you will find some information in each that is very important for the completion of the project.

Have you visited my Online Weaving School? You can choose from a huge variety of single classes or if you want to dive right in, there are memberships available.

The giveaway is still running until the end of the month, so if you haven’t entered yet, you can do that here.

Hey, seeing as we saved $220- $370, does that mean that I get to buy yarn with the savings? I haven’t broached that topic with my husband yet… 😆

I hope you enjoy the project. Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

Online Weaving School 3 year anniversary giveaway!

by Kelly

It’s hard to believe that 3 years have passed since I began my Online Weaving School. Many of you have been with me for all of that time and longer, but if you’re new here, I’d like to tell you a little about my teaching journey.

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I’ve always been a creative person but making things with my hands became more important to me when I found myself an at home Mum with 4 children. The urge to relax and create became very strong and somewhat vital. I needed that quiet, meditative time away from my regular daily duties.

I started with embroidery after my mother in law gifted me with some vintage supplies. Then I got a sewing machine and started sewing clothes for my kids. From there I started making dolls. This began my relationship with Etsy, where I sold my dolls. Then bear making, quilting, knitting, spinning, dyeing and weaving. Many of these were learned books, some from just teaching myself and some (especially knitting) from Youtube. Youtube was just becoming a thing at that time. When I came to weaving, I found it the perfect culmination of so many of the arts and skills I had already been practicing for years. When I found weaving, I felt like I had come home.

After I had been weaving for some time and felt very confident at my rigid heddle loom, I felt that I really wanted to share some of the wonderful things I had learned. I was almost bursting with excitement and passion but I didn’t know any other weavers at all.

So I made a video and uploaded it to Youtube. I didn’t know anything about how to teach or how to use Youtube. My son helped me to film and edit to make the video passable. I expected nothing, I didn’t even think about whether anyone would be interested. I just thought it might help someone and I wanted to share.

As it turns out, that video is still helping weavers, 5 years later! People loved the video and asked for more. I made more. And I loved it. It was so rewarding to know that I could help others and share this passion for weaving.

After a while, my Youtube hobby was starting to cost a lot of money in materials and the meagre income from Youtube ads didn’t even begin to cover the expense. I was a stay at home Mum, homeschooling her children and relying on my husband to earn enough income to keep us fed and clothed.

So, using a Youtube paid channel, I started to (gasp! how could I even dare to!) charge for classes. This was a big mind shift for me. People wanted to pay me in exchange for classes!! I still ran my free channel, but the paid channel was a huge blessing. Now at least I could cover my expenses, even if I still wasn’t really earning anything extra. When the Youtube paid channels ceased to exist, I had a fairly sizeable following of enthusiastic weavers. And they still wanted more! So, I found Teachable and set up my tiny Online Weaving School and community.

3 years later, that “tiny” weaving school has grown to over 4000 registered users and 750 paid memberships and is still growing! I am still pinching myself. Thanks to the constant support from my wonderful and loyal students, I now provide the income for my family of 6. This is something I never would have dreamed could happen and I have learned so much. I would go so far as to say that having my weaving school has transformed me as a person – or perhaps better to say, it has formed me into the person I was meant to be.

Aside from all of the obvious benefits the success of the school has brought me are the less obvious blessings. The beautiful friendships and relationships I’ve encountered with weavers all over the world. The ability to help others not just to learn to weave, but to share other difficult life burdens. It is amazing to be in a position where you feel you can truly make a difference to the lives of others!

If you already know or follow me, then you will be aware of my recent free project, The Wash Your Hands Towels. I designed these towels in the time of uncertainty while the world was suffering from the effects (and still is) of the coronavirus pandemic. This has been a hugely popular project and seemed to come at just the right time for many weavers at home under lockdown. I’ve seen lots of different versions completed in a big variety of colours, it’s been wonderful to see.

So, I thought a very appropriate way to celebrate this 3 year milestone would be to give away a Wash Your Hands Towels Kit. This kit will be a one off, as I don’t have plans to make kits available for sale.

Included in the kit is all the beautiful Australian cotton yarn you need to make two towels plus a paper printed PDF. You use the PDF in conjunction with the video tutorial. If you wish to know what you need to complete this rigid heddle project, read this post that has all the details.

This giveaway is open to all, wherever you happen to be in the world. Entries are open until the end of this month of May 2020.

To enter the giveaway, please leave me a comment here (only comments on this blog post will be considered entries) and tell me why you would like to win.

Make sure you are on my email list to keep up to date with the giveaway and for the winner announcement.

I look forward to reading all your comments and drawing a winner!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER – VEENA RAGHAVEN!

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

How to weave Snowmen on your rigid heddle loom

by Kelly 9 Comments

Snowmen are not something you might naturally think of when wondering what to weave next on your rigid heddle loom, but I love any excuse to make pictures on my loom, especially if they are as cute as these little snowmen guys are!

Weaving snowmen on your rigid heddle loom may not be as difficult as you think. We employ a type of overshot technique to create floats. Depending on the length of each float, we can then arrange them to make pictures. We warp the loom as we normally do for plain weave.

Overshot usually uses a thicker weft for the patterning (or floats) and a thinner, contrasting weft for the background (plain weave, commonly known as “tabby” when used in this way).

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The weft floats do not become incorporated into the fabric, they literally float on top, which is why we use tabby in between pattern rows to tie the whole thing down and create a stable fabric. It also gives that lovely, slightly 3D effect of the pattern or picture being slightly raised.

Because of the varying length in floats, there is something you need to keep in mind when doing this kind of weaving. Quite often, and particularly with a thicker yarn like I’ve used for this sample, the floats at the back of the work will be long. This might make the piece unsuitable for some uses. For example, a kitchen towel with long floats on the back is not ideal. The floats will catch on things and likely become a bit ratty and not neat looking over time. That is the other consideration – the back does not always look attractive and you may not want it on show. In my sample below, you can see the added untidiness of my having embroidered on details like the scarves.

A way around this issue is to plan to use this technique in a pattern where the back of the work will not show. Some ideas are notebook or journal covers, a table centrepiece or runner where you intend to sew a backing to the piece, a cute Christmas wall hanging and so on.

Here is what you will need to weave a sample like this one:

A rigid heddle loom (I used my 24″ but a Sampleit size is fine if you just want a small sample)

10 dent reed

A pick up stick

A knitting needle is handy but not essential

Yarns-

There are no set yarns for this project, but I will share what worked well for me and give suggestions for possible alternatives.

For the warp I used a fingering weight (Australian 4 ply) cotton in a hand dyed medium to dark blue. Rug warping cotton would work fine.

My tabby weft (background weft) was a lighter but strong coloured light worsted/dk weight (Australian 8 ply) in wool.

For the pattern weft, I used a cream coloured aran weight (Australian 10ply) in wool.

For the little hats, I used some black fingering weight wool – you don’t need very much of that.

I love to use wool, particularly for the patterning in this type of weaving because it works so well. Because it has that lovely fluff and bounciness, it fills in any gaps between pattern wefts and makes the design look full. You will notice that my pattern weft is only slightly thicker than my tabby weft, but the pattern weft still stands out due to it’s loftiness.

The embroidered details are what really bring these little snowmen to life. Stick arms, scarves, eyes, carrot noses, buttons down the front – the amount of detail is up to you. You don’t need to be a great embroiderer as the details are all just worked in simple straight stitches. For the scarves, to give them that really nice shiny look, I used Bambu 7. This yarn can be quite difficult to obtain, so here are some alternatives:

5/2 bamboo weaving yarn

Pure Bamboo yarn

DMC Embroidery floss (my favourite brand)

Anchor Embroidery floss

If you decide to use embroidery floss, don’t separate the strands, use all 6 of them for just the right snowman thickness.

If you would like to weave some snowmen of your own, here is a printable PDF that gives you the weaving sequences and details:

Snowmen-on-a-rhl Download

You will also want to watch and follow along with the instructional video to see the weaving in action:

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Let me know if you weave some little snowmen of your own, and as always, leave any comments or questions underneath, I love to hear from you!

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

7 Tips for weaving on an Inkle loom plus free pattern!

by Kelly 25 Comments

Inkle loom weaving is so fun, easy to learn and affordable to begin.

If you’ve been thinking about starting to weave on an inkle loom, I strongly encourage you to have a go. Inkle looms are simple devices that won’t take up much space and won’t break the bank either.

If you’re an absolute beginner weaver, an inkle loom is the perfect way to test the waters without making a big investment. Ashford makes two sizes, the Inkle Loom and the Inklette. The Woolery have put together a nifty starter’s kit that includes an Inklette, yarn to get you started, and Anne Dixon’s fabulous pattern book.

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There are only two sheds on an inkle loom – up and down. In the warping process, you alternate between heddled and unheddled warp threads. When you are ready to weave, you an either push down on the warp threads to achieve a shed or lift them up to achieve the other shed.

If you’ve never seen an inkle loom in action, my Youtube series in which we weave a lovely floral band, from start to finish is an excellent place to start:

If you want to learn more about the basics of inkle looms, I wrote a blog post about it here.

First we will go through the tips I want to share to help you weave better inkle bands, and then we will talk about all the details of the free project.

Tip 1- Use a warping stand or similar to feed the yarn easily off the cone while you’re warping the loom.

This is not essential but it just makes the warping process so much easier. I don’t have to worry about yarn cones toppling over or not feeding off the cone smoothly. It also helps to keep the cones separate and far enough apart that the threads won’t tangle with each other as you’re changing colours. I just pop the warping stand underneath the table that I have the loom sitting on for warping and away we go.

You can purchase warping stands complete and ready to go, but if you want to save some cash, you could make one yourself like my husband and I did:

Tip 2- Find a comfortable position in which to weave

One of the bonuses of an inkle loom is that you can take it anywhere. But it’s still important to think about your posture and find the most comfortable ways to weave, especially if you’re going to be at it for a while.

Some inkle weavers will clamp the loom to a table to keep it sturdy but I like to have it close to my body where I can comfortably reach to change sheds and beat. I also like to rest the loom against my body to keep it sturdy, as I find that feels most natural to me. If I’m using a table to rest the back of the loom on, that position would look something like this:

Note the comfortable, high backed chair with additional cushion to keep my back comfy. The loom rests on the edge of the table by placing the horizontal wooden bar against it, and the front of the loom rests at about the bottom of my bra level (sorry, couldn’t think of a better description!)

My favourite position is sitting in my recliner with my feet up. That’s my idea of relaxation!

Once again, the front of the loom is pressed against my body for sturdiness and ease of beating.

Tip 3- Additional warp tensioning

You should do your best to achieve really good tension using your tensioning peg, but if you feel you are lacking a little, you can take a small section of cardboard separator and wedge that in at the starting peg, underneath your band.

You can also wedge an additional piece at the top back peg if needed. It really does make a difference!

Tip 4- Weft tensioning is different to other weaving.

If you come from rigid heddle weaving, you will be used to fixing up your edges as the weft travels around the warp threads, especially if you use my neat edges technique. But inkle weaving is different. Your warp threads are under high tension and the weave is warp faced, not balanced. If I’m asked how much tension to place on your edges with your weft thread, I would say probably more than you think. You want to really pull each weft pick into place and feel it move to create a very firm band. This is something that each inkle weaver needs to find a sweet spot for, but a hint is that you need enough tension so that your weft thread is not looped, bubbled or otherwise really visible at the edges, but not so much that your edges end up bumpy, lumpy or wavy rather than nice and straight.

Tip 5- Use the first 2 inches as practice

To be honest, your first 1.5 – 2″ is probably not going to be so pretty. It takes a little time for the warp to come together and for you to find the right amount of weft and warp tension, as well as a suitable beat. Don’t worry about those first couple of inches, I generally cut that part off and don’t use it.

Tip 6- Your woven band will be much, much narrower than your warp

I have some measurements here to demonstrate just how much narrower.

Here is my warp before I began weaving and the threads are all sitting in order. They are not pushed really close together or anything, so there is a little bit of natural spacing.

As soon as I start to weave, the band begins to narrow and draw in. It’s up to me to practice and find the right amount of draw in and tension to make a firm, consistent band.

And, by this stage I’m in my happy place with tension and the band remains a consistent width as long as I keep tensioning in the same way.

Tip 7- Your tension will improve

At the very beginning of your band, you may find it hard to get as tight a tension as you would wish for. If that is the case, try tip 3, but also know that when you have woven a little and can advance your warp for the first time, your tension will improve dramatically. Actually, the same can be said of all the looms I own. The initial weaving is a little “getting to know you” session and once you are over the first hump (advancing the warp) everyone becomes much more settled and happy.

OK, that was the last tip I have for you today, so let’s get onto the free project discussion!

I must admit that I’m quite smitten with this inkle band and that’s why I knew I had to share it with all of you.

I have included the pattern draft I designed in the PDF, but if that is a bit beyond you, don’t worry, I’ve also included the colour order so that you can weave this band, regardless of your level. You can download and print out the pattern here:

Free-Inkle-band-pattern Download

If you are interested in using the exact same yarns that I have for this project, here are the details:

8/2 Maurice Brassard unmercerised cotton in Navy

8/2 Maurice Brassard unmercerised cotton in Fuchsia

8/2 Maurice Brassard unmercerised cotton in Limette pale (green)

8/2 Maurice Brassard unmercerised cotton in Peacock

8/2 Maurice Brassard unmercerised cotton in Jaune Fonce (yellow)

I’m not going to give exact quantities, but this band does not use an awful lot of yarn and is a great way to use up smaller quantities of leftovers. I made the shortest warp that my inkle loom takes. I used navy as the weft, as it is best to use the same colour as your warp edges, it helps to blend it in and make neat looking edges.

My band measurements when finished and off the loom were about 59 x almost 1.5 inches.

I hope you enjoy weaving your own band! If you are interested in increasing your knowledge or want access to a lot of pattern examples and types for your inkle loom, I highly recommend Anne Dixon’s wonderful book The Weaver’s Inkle Pattern Directory. I do have this book listed in my Amazon shop as well, but for some reason it is crazy expensive to buy on there at the moment!

Be sure to check out my Inkle weaving tips video on Youtube to see some of the tips in action:

If you’re looking for comprehensive Inkle instruction, check out my Inkle Weaving Course online.

Leave me any questions or comments you have down below, I love to hear from you!

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!