free tutorial

Make a potholder loom

Remember the potholder looms from back in the 70’s?

Well, I actually think the humble potholder loom is a little under rated! I mean, it’s simple to use and it must be one of the cheapest looms out there if you make it yourself.

That’s what today’s post is all about. Recently, my husband and I teamed up to make a cheap and easy potholder loom and now we want to share it with all of you!

We’ve put all the information you need to make one of these simple looms into a simple to download file (you can access that below).

Not only that, but I’ve also made a series that you can find on Youtube that will show you two different ways you can weave on your own potholder loom.

You only need some simple materials to get started. Wood, nails, a hammer, some yarn, some wire (or a Tunisian crochet hook) and a regular crochet hook, I find the 5.75mm size is good. A tapestry needle can also be handy for sewing in any loose ends.

So, go ahead and grab your instructions file below and then check out the video tutorial for weaving further down.

Constructing-a-potholder-loom-2023 Download

I hope you have fun with this project and until next time…

Happy Weaving!

*This post contains affiliate links. For further information, please see my disclosure policy.

Targeted wedging for better tension

by Kelly 17 Comments

In an ideal world we would have perfect tension every time we warp our looms, but that is just not realistic!

There are many challenges to achieving great warp tension, but the good news is that practice helps a lot and this is something you will improve on over time.

But, even for the seasoned weaver, there can be the occasional curve ball just to keep us humble 😆 For me, that was a recent double width project on my rigid heddle loom.

*This post contains affiliate links. For further information, see my disclosure policy.

I warped independently, which is do-able but not 100% ideal when you’re using thicker threads and those threads are doubled. When I started weaving, I found that my tension was firmer in the middle than on either side.

This began interfering with the “cleanness” of my sheds, meaning that not all my warp threads were settling into position well when I changes sheds. And for double width weaving, that can be a huge headache!

I’ve covered wedging before, as you can see in this video:

But I also wanted to get a bit more specific about wedging problem areas in your warp. This is very quick and easy to do and can make a big difference to your tension.

I start out by identifying the areas that need help. For me, that was either side of the middle section, towards the edges. If I wedges all the way across the warp at this point, that would also increase the tension in the mid section, where it is not needed.

There are several materials you can use for wedging (like cardboard separators, cut to size) but I chose to use everyday A4 printing paper. I folded the paper to the approximate width of the loose warp section so that the paper had been folded about 4 times. This provided me with a bit of thickness, but not too much.

It may be easiest for you to pop around the back of your loom with the paper to get close to the warp.

Take the paper underneath the entire warp (both heddles are in neutral at this point) and start to wiggle and jam it into place.

Push the paper in towards the back of the loom. You will feel resistance from the threads and this is good, because you are tightening everything up. There is no set amount for how far back the wedge should be pushed, just until you can feel that the threads have increased in tension in that section.

As you weave and advance your warp, your wedges will move out of place and you will need to reposition them at each advance. This is actually a good thing, because it ensures that your looser threads are constantly being re-tensioned!

If you would like to see the way I place the wedges, please check out this video:

I hope this short tutorial was useful to you! Have you used targeted wedging before? Has it made all the difference to your project? Let me know in the comments, I would love to hear from you!

Do you love the look of the project I’m working on in this tutorial? This is from my Plaid Double Width Blanket Ebooklet, which is available now.

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

Surface embroidery on weft floats

by Kelly 12 Comments

Embroidery was one of my first crafty loves and I still have a very soft spot for this beautiful art.

When my children were young I was very immersed in the world of embroidery. I loved it for several reasons:

It costs next to nothing to get started, and at that time of life we had no extra money!
It is incredibly portable and you don’t need a specific space to set up.
I could easily pick it up and put it down, very important when you have little kids around.
There are many styles of embroidery to explore.
With a bit of practice, you can improve very quickly (like some other fibre arts I may have mentioned previously, wink wink 😉)

Besides the fact that that weaving kind of took over my life, I’ve also not spent much time doing embroidery in recent years due to the deterioration of my eyesight. I definitely took that for granted when I was younger and even though I now have reading glasses to wear, the clarity is not the same.

Like many of the arts and crafts I’ve enjoyed over my life, I’ve found that embroidery can be married beautifully with weaving, and in many different ways.

One example is my bread towel project from a couple of years ago. I wove the towels and then embroidered some “bread themed” text on them.

But if you feel that you can’t embroider a straight line to save yourself, that doesn’t mean you have to strike embroidery off your list completely.

One time I was experimenting with some weft floats on my rigid heddle loom and thought to myself “these look nice, but if feels like something is missing” 🤔 I felt that I needed to introduce some more colour, and I just happened to have some lovely hand dyed rainbow yarn handy. A little while later, I had some gorgeous diamond shapes happening!

This technique is a surface embroidery, meaning that unlike the usual needle in and out from front through to back of the fabric, the embroidery yarn sits on top of the fabric and is incorporated by “tie downs” or anchors.

Today, I would love to show you how you can achieve this patterning with just a tapestry needle and some contrasting yarn.

Firstly, you will need to work some weft floats. These form the basis for your embroidery thread and gives it a path to travel. The weft float sequencing that I’m using for this tutorial is detailed in this video:

Start by threading your tapestry needle with a good, long length of your embroidery thread. You don’t need to specifically use embroidery floss (though that certainly looks lovely!) I used some light worsted/dk weight wool that was hand dyed and my warp was the same weight of wool, commercially dyed. I think ribbon would look lovely too.

Knot the end of your yarn so it doesn’t pull through. Starting on the first horizontal row of weft floats,(the second row of floats from a vertical perspective) bring your needle through from the back, at the bottom right hand corner of the pair of floats.

Now, take the needle underneath the float pair but not into the fabric itself. Pull the yarn through.

Now take the needle to the pair of floats on the right, they are in a diagonal position from where we just were. Take the needle underneath this pair and pull through.

Now take the needle to the pair on the left diagonal, go underneath the floats and pull through. Starting to see a simple pattern here? We’re basically zig zagging the embroidery yarn back and forth between the weft floats. Pretty simple, huh? 😉

When you get to the top of the row and have no more weft floats to go to diagonally, take the needle down through the fabric to the back. Do this just underneath the top of the last floats you went through, so that it’s not visible. This is to help anchor and secure the row of stitching you’ve just completed.

At the top of the next vertical row of weft floats, bring your needle up through the fabric from the back. The needle should be positioned to the top right of the pair of floats, as shown in the photo above.

Instead of travelling upwards through the weft floats, the time we’re travelling down the vertical row. Take the needle underneath the top floats and pull through.

You may start to guess what comes next. Take the needle underneath the weft floats to the right, on the diagonal. Pull the yarn through. Continue in this fashion, zigzagging downwards until you reach the bottom. Remember to take the needle down through the fabric each time your finish a row, in order to anchor the thread and prepare for the next row.

Once you’ve practiced a couple of rows, you can speed up the process by taking the needle under 2 pairs at the same time. This makes it go much faster and is a natural progression from embroidering under one pair.

There are further variations on this theme that are possible. Experiment and see what you can come up with!

Would you like a free video tutorial so that you can see this surface embroidery in action? I already have that covered, check out my video on Youtube:

Don’t forget to like and subscribe, thank you!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Let me know if you love this technique and intend to give it a try by leaving a comment below, I love to hear from you.

Other resources you may be interested in:

Troubleshooting loose slot threads

All about finger controlled techniques

Weave neat edges on the rigid heddle loom

How to weave clasped weft

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

Baubles and Candles on a rigid heddle loom

by Kelly 11 Comments

With Christmas fast approaching, I wanted to gift you all with something fun and achievable, as well as having a festive theme.

I came up with some simple baubles and candles that I’m confident is suitable for any level of rigid heddle weaver.

This project is very decorative and better suited to low wash items.

*This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

For the project, I just wove a sampler to illustrate the patterns, but you can use the designs however you please.

What you will need:

A rigid heddle loom (any size is fine if you just want to weave the sample.

A 7.5 dent heddle

A threading/reed hook

A stick shuttle wider than the width of your weaving

A pick up stick wider than the width of your weaving

A tapestry needle

Yarn options:

For my warp I used a light worsted/dk weight wool in white. I used this same yarn for my plain weave. The same yarn, but in different colours was used for the pattern weft. Please see the video for colours used.

For embellishments, I used small amounts of DMC embroidery floss.

Sampler Specifications:

If you wanted to weave a sampler just like mine, here are the basic measurements.

Number of ends: 64 (32 slots)

Approximate width on loom: 8″

Sett: 7.5

Total warp length: 35″

The baubles and candles use the same overshot weaving technique as my reindeer, snowmen, gift boxes and winter trees.

There is a pattern weft that forms the picture or design, and in between every pattern pick is a plain weave pick (either an up or a down shed).

Weaving Instructions:

The Baubles –

I left a border either side of my designs in order to centre them and make sure that none were inadvertently cut in half! I left 6 threads on each side. This is optional, and you an adjust the border threads to suit.

I’m not including the border threads in the weaving steps, but if you watch the video you won’t have any trouble following along with these instructions.

Remember that you need to weave a plain weave row in between every pattern weft.

Step 1. 6 up, 2 down, *7 up, 2 down, repeat from * (7 up, 2 down for the rest of the way across)

Step 2. *5 up, 4 down, repeat from *

Step 3. 4 up, 6 down, *3 up, 6 down, repeat from *

Step 4. Repeat row 3, with a contrast colour

Step 5. Repeat row 3, with the original colour

Step 6. *5 up, 4 down, repeat from *

Step 7. Repeat row 1

The Candles:

For the candles, I left a border either side of 5 threads instead of 6, to work in better with the required calculations for the design.

Step 1. *4 down, 4 up, repeat from *

Step 2. Repeat row 1, alternating plain weave rows with pattern rows.

All of these details are available in a handy PDF for you to print out. You can download and print that right here:

Baubles-and-Candles Download

And you will want to watch the video and follow along with the instructions. You will find the free and detailed video here:

I hope you enjoy this project! Thank you all for your AMAZING support this year!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! 🎄

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.

*This post contains affiliate links

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!

Stashbuster Woven Notebook Covers

by Kelly 9 Comments

Otherwise known as “the project that began with a messy drawer”.

This is the yarn drawer that my girls have access to. I could use this photo opportunity to blame it all on them, but if we’re being truthful, I’m pretty messy myself!

*This post contains some affiliate links

Anyway, this mess inspired me to make something, so it’s not all negative. A lot of my yarn stash is smaller pieces leftover from warping or are thrums (what is left on the loom when you cut your piece off) and can be difficult to find uses for.

Perfect for the idea that struck me, and it’s also a great project for little loom weavers, as it can be done on a Sampleit.

I had to break this into a series of 3 videos, you can either view them on Youtube or my Online Weaving School. You can download the printable PDF from my weaving school or view the information here:

Notebook Essential Information

I thought it might be a great time of year to do a tutorial for all my followers and students as a thank you for your support. The bonus is that you can make lots of notebook covers as Christmas gifts, they don’t take much yarn and they are quick to weave up.

The only part of the project that you need a longer length of yarn for is the warp. Here are some suggestions for your warp:

Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 8ply

Cleckheaton Country 8 ply

Patons Classic dk superwash

I always use Gutermann Sew all thread because it is so strong and multi purpose.

During the video series, you will notice that I mention some other helpful links, I will list them here for easy access:

Clasped weft tutorial

Woe to Go – Beginner Rigid Heddle Weaving

How to weave neat edges

I really hope you enjoy this project! Let me know in the comments if you intend to give it a go.

One more thing! If you like this project I would really appreciate you sharing links with your friends or on social media so that even more weavers can benefit.

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!