Kelly Casanova Weaving Lessons

rigid heddle weaving tutorial

Clasped weft table runner

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More of a table centre piece, it doesn’t quite have the length of a runner. This is the piece I wove for my recent rigid heddle clasped weft video tutorial.


I dyed the cottons specifically for this project. I wanted a good contrast between the variegated rainbow and the blues.


I love the clasped weft technique, the finished product and the process of randomly incorporating lengths of colour.


I hemstitched whilst on the loom so that the piece would sit flat on the table.

If you like this piece as much as I do it is available to purchase in my Etsy shop. And if you want to give the technique a go yourself please take the time to watch my video, it’s not as scary as it looks!

Cutting handwoven cloth, one method

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Cutting a length of cloth of the loom is so exciting! But then what? If you’re not leaving a fringe you have to finish the fabric somehow, and if you’re cutting into it you may be afraid of unravelling. This is a great, easy method to use for either finishing to hem or if you need to cut into the fabric.

Firstly, once off the loom, the fabric needs to be wet finished and dried before you consider cutting.

When you’ve determined your cutting line (whether it’s at the end of the fabric or somewhere else) cut a length of light, fusible interfacing the length of the cut and about 2 inches in width. It must be the fusible type or this won’t work. Iron it so that your cutting line is roughly in the middle (so you have half of the interfacing on either side of the cut line). For me, the cut line was where the end of the woven fabric met the beginning of the fringe. Cover with a pressing cloth and iron until fused. 

The underside of the fabric now looks like this, nothing is really visible from the front side.

 Using your cutting line as a guide, serge right across. Can you see where the fringe begins and woven cloth ends? That was my guideline for serging. If you don’t have a serger, a zigzag stitch on the sewing machine will suffice, but the serger definitely does a superior job. Janome is a reliable brand if you are in the market for a serger.

Now you have a neat serged edge. The threads are completely secure and haven’t moved in the serging process due to the interfacing fixed in place. From this point you can go on to use your fabric according to your plans or begin to hem.

To finish the fabric with a hem, I fold over the serged edge once and iron down flat.

Then a second fold to enclose the serged edge and interfacing, press with the iron once again and pin in place if you wish.

Sewing the hem can be done by machine or hand. I used my machine with a straight stitch, close to the folded edge at the back. My machine is a very simple and straightforward Janome, although mine is an older model you can see something similar here.
Voila! Easy peasy and all secure, no loose or displaced threads and the interfacing gives extra support when hemming!


I have a Youtube video covering this topic for your further research.

Another video tutorial

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This video is all about achieving neat edges while weaving, I hope it helps someone out there.

It’s a long time since I bought new fabric and Spotlight was having a 30% off sale so I couldn’t resist! My eldest daughter has a birthday in a few weeks, so I have plans šŸ˜‰

This is my current weaving WIP – a merino scarf with a pastel gradient warp and solid grey weft. I started out weaving in plain weave with black yarn but hated the result, so I “unwove” and restarted with the grey and a warp float pattern – so much better! 




My first video tutorials!

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I’ve taken the plunge and made a couple of video tutorials. I get so many questions related to the rigid heddle loom, I thought it easier to show rather than tell. Yes, I cringe a little at my own voice and despite my best efforts, I do seem to sound rather “school teacherish” but hopefully the videos will be helpful to someone.