rigid heddle weaving

10,000 subscribers giveaway!

Welcome to this very special giveaway! To celebrate 10,000 subscribers on Youtube I have the pleasure of giving away to one of you lucky people, an Ashford 40cm Rigid Heddle loom along with a one year subscription to my Online Weaving School. How exciting!

To enter, use the Rafflecopter widget below. You can choose the number of entries you get by completing the tasks – the number you complete is up to you.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway will be drawn on December 26th 2017. Best of luck to you!

Weaving for Christmas

by Kelly 3 Comments

My favourite time of the year is coming and what better way to celebrate the festivities than by weaving for family, friends and your home!

I have quite a few free video tutorials to get those creative juices flowing:

Reindeer on a rigid heddle loom

Handwoven No Sew Christmas Hearts

Gift boxes on a rigid heddle loom

Winter Trees

Snowmen on a rigid heddle loom

I also have some festive classes available at my Online Weaving School:

Exploring branoe

Christmas Table Runner

Christmas Bunting

I hope these inspire you to add some beautiful hand woven

Christmas cheer to your home or someone else’s!

Until next time…

Happy Weaving!

🎄 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

Calculating warp for the rigid heddle loom

by Kelly 2 Comments

At a request from a student, I have put together a warp calculations sheet and a companion video. Both are available here. You do need to sign in to access the materials, but I have made these completely free for your benefit. The video can be viewed on Youtube if you prefer.
The printable PDF includes a sample sheet and in the video I take you through another sample, just to make sure you “get it”!
I have already had a huge amount of positive feedback from students who have found these useful, so please take a look if it’s of interest to you.
Happy Weaving!

Three Heddle Adventures!

by Kelly Leave a Comment

I am so pleased to announce that my first stand alone, feature class is now available to purchase!

This is the biggest class yet and involved a whole lot of work. I’m so excited to be able to share it with you now.

This course is a comprehensive introduction to weaving with three heddles. This is an amazing tool to know, as it extends the humble little rigid heddle loom to really show it’s capabilities.

We start with a straight draw twill sampler and progress to the project, which is a beautiful scarf.

I really hope you can join me on this adventure!

For more information click here.

Weaving Suppliers List

by Kelly 28 Comments

Looking for weaving suppliers in your location? This weaving suppliers list isn’t exhaustive, but it’s designed to give new and seasoned weavers a solid starting point for finding yarn, looms, tools, and other essential weaving supplies.

Thank you to the members of my Facebook weaving community who generously shared their recommendations. If you know of other weaving suppliers – especially in countries not currently listed here, please add them in the comments ⬇️ so this resource can continue to grow 😊

Suppliers in Australia:

Petlins Spinning and Weaving Supplies, NSW, Ashford dealer, huge range of supplies.

BB Yarns Supply, QLD, Weaving threads and online correspondence courses.

The Thread Collective – (Affiliate link) Online supplier of threads and looms. Louet and Ashford dealer.

Crafty Frog, Canberra, ACT, Ashford dealer, looms, yarns, accessories, instore classes.

Glenora Weaving and Wool, NSW, yarns, accessories, magazines and books.

The Shepherd’s Choice, NSW

Bendigo Woollen Mills, VIC, Australian wool and cotton yarns

Woolganics, NSW, Australian organic wool.

Aunt Jenny, Fibre arts supplies, weaving supplies, looms, Ashford dealer

Pickers Ridge, (Affiliate link) – Australian hand crafted boat shuttles and belt shuttles. Family owned, sustainably sourced wood only.

The Wool Shop, Tassie

Luxe Handweaving, NSW

Liz Green Arts, Bairnsdale, Victoria

Studio Yarn, Sunshine Coast

Suppliers in New Zealand:

Ashford Handicrafts, New Zealand, large range of looms, weaving accessories, yarns and supplies.

Wheels and whorls, Ashford dealer, huge range of looms, yarns and supplies

Suppliers in Canada:

Jane Stafford, Louet looms, spinning wheels, yarns, workshops

Penelope Fibre Arts, large range of looms, weaving supplies, yarns

Maurice Brassard, Quebec, huge range of weaving yarns

Katt’s Sew Crafty, Ontario

Gather Textiles, Alberta

Tisse Et File

MD Tissage, Quebec

Captain Yarn, Quebec

Sisterhood Fibers, Nova Scotia

The Violet Unicorn, Nova Scotia

Irene Textile, Montreal
Camilla Valley Farm, Ontario, Leclerc looms, weaving yarns and supplies

Jo’s Yarn garden, Alberta

Homespun Haven

The Fibre Garden

Suppliers in USA:

My Amazon Shop

Eugene Textile Center, Oregon

The Woolery, Kentucky, huge range of everything weaving related! (Affiliate link)

WEBS, Massachusetts, Huge range also.

Revolution Fibers Looms, weaving yarns, craft kits, wheels, fibre supplies

Ability Weavers

Cotton Clouds

Yarn Barn, Kansas, lots of yarn options Looms, weaving yarns, craft kits, wheels, fibre supplies

Eowyn de Weaver

Fiber Ops Ranch

Lone Star Loom Room

Great Northern Weaving

Paradise Fibres, Washington, huge range of yarns, looms and fibre art supplies

Melissa’s Yarn Barn

Little Hawk Yarns

Twin Birch and Teasel

Bountiful Weaving, large and little looms, yarns

Weavers Weft

Junction Fibre Mill

Fibre Creek, AZ, range of looms and yarns

Gilmore Looms, looms

Weald and Wool, hand made peg, triangle, tapestry looms and tools

Halcyon Yarn, looms, yarns, everything!

The Spinnery Store, PA

Luvin’ Ewe, Minnesota – small rigid heddle, backstrap, tapestry, and cards. Working with a local carver to get some amazing inkle style looms.

The Websters, Oregon

Tempe Yarn and Fiber

Lofty Fiber, weaving, knitting, spinning, yarn and classes

Red Stone Glen, PA

R & M Yarns, Tenessee

Suppliers in UK:
George Weil, looms, yarns, tapestry looms

Fibre Hut, Ashford dealer

Adelaide Walker

Wingham Woolwork, Wentworth, Ashford and Kromski stockist, looms, supplies, yarns

Colourmart, Online weaving yarn supplies

Frank Herring and Sons, Dorset, Ashford and Leclerc looms, yarns, supplies

Freya Jones, Buckingham (such a gorgeous looking store!)

Weft Blown, Ashford dealer, large selection of looms, weaving supplies, yarns and fibre art supplies.

Wonky Weaver , Located in Wales. Wide range of looms including Glimakra, Schacht and Louet. Spinning, dyeing and fibre arts supplies.

The Handweavers Studio and Gallery, London

Wool For Ewe, Aberdeen

Mary Bobbin, Fraserburgh

Sealy Macwheely, Scotland

Weaving Yarn

Suppliers in South Africa:

Woolcraft

The Yarn Tree

Suppliers in Germany:

Knitart

Heikes-Handgewebtes

Suppliers in Spain:

https://tejoloquehilo.es/es/ – Weaving supplies, Ashford dealer, fibres for dyeing and spinning. This site is only available in Spanish or Catalan but can easily be translated with Google Chrome.

https://www.textilesnaturales.com/ – Ashford supplier but also sell Louet table and floor looms. Their website is in English and Spanish.

Suppliers in France:

https://www.artifilum.com/ – Ashford supplier, they also sell Glimakra, Toika and Leclerc looms. Their website is in French and English.

L’atelier de Micky

Suppliers in The Netherlands:

Wools of Nations – Excellent range of natural knitting yarns

Mirrix (EU distributor)

Suppliers in Sweden (special thanks to Mari for this list):

Suppliers in Finland (special thanks to Mari for this list):

Suppliers in Singapore:

Craft Atelier

Suppliers in Japan:

Mariya Handicrafts

Craft Hitsujiza

La mer

Suppliers in the Republic of Korea:

Studio Atcoat

FINE

Suppliers in Switzerland:

ZSAG – Yarn supplier

Suppliers in Czech Republic:

Dobro Děj

Can you really weave that on a rigid heddle loom?!

by Kelly Leave a Comment

I hear that a lot. And most of the time, the answer is yes!

Take my newest pattern release as an example. Did you know I have 2 patterns in my Etsy shop now? Yes, I’ve been a busy little bee.

My new project is entitled “Happy Fibonnaci Kitchen Towels”. “Happy” because of the happy colours and “Fibonacci” because I based the design on the Italian mathematician’s sequence. These are a perfect example of using the rigid heddle loom to obtain the WOW factor.

With the right arrangement of colours and a pick up stick you can weave a towel that looks like it’s hot off a multi shaft loom.

I hope you find the time to weave some beautiful towels for your kitchen or to give as a special gift.

Log Cabin Table Runner series

by Kelly 2 Comments

The newest series on my Weaving Lessons Channel is a beautiful table runner that utilises the log cabin technique. This is a colour and weave technique on a rigid heddle loom that looks very complicated but is all about the colour order and arrangement.

The exciting news is that this project is also my first PDF weaving pattern in my Etsy shop! Hopefully it will be the first of many patterns for me.

And if you don’t fancy a table runner, how about a gorgeous scarf?

So many possibilities with a striking pattern and simple loom!

Houndstooth sampler placemats

by Kelly 1 Comment

I present you with the newest lesson on my Weaving Lessons channel!

I haven’t really delved into colour and weave in any previous lessons and I thought it was high time to explore these fascinating techniques with you.

Like much of rigid heddle weaving, houndstooth is deceptively simple. The weave structure is plain weave, the wow factor comes from the threading of colours. The lesson includes detailed video instructions as well as a printable PDF with extra information and calculations.

Perfect for beginner weavers and a quick project for the more experienced, I hope you can join me for this one!

A little glimpse into creative family life

by Kelly Leave a Comment

I filmed this yesterday afternoon because it felt like a bit of milestone. In steaming hot weather, with a pedestal fan blowing on us, my 9 year old, set up and weaving mostly independently on the rigid heddle loom while I was weaving at the floor loom. It’s funny how things can happen so naturally and then you suddenly realise you’re living a dream moment. I posted it on Youtube, thinking it would probably be largely overlooked as viewers seem to prefer my instructional videos to anything else.

But what a response! Quite a few commented that the video had brought tears to their eyes, for different reasons. For one subscriber, it was that her parents had never invested the time in her that she craved. For another, the video brought back wonderful memories of her own creative homeschooled upbringing. Many commented on the simple beauty of the video.

Wow, was I surprised. And so pleased. It reminds me that I am so blessed to be able to share with others in this way. It encourages me that, even if I feel like I don’t do a good enough job as a parent, others think I do. And it gives me joy, that God has much work for us to do, if only we will co-operate, love and trust.

I hope you are all having a most blessed week, until next time 🙂

Slouchy satchel bag – new lessons

by Kelly 1 Comment

Remember that gorgeous looking warp from my last post? This is the result! The whole project was woven on the rigid heddle loom with two heddles but different techniques. The bag was woven as a tube so it’s completely seamless, and the strap was woven as double weave, providing a firm and sturdy fabric.

A lot of people have commented on the yarn, and rightly so, it is wonderful. It’s called Bloom and is available from Bendigo Woollen Mills.

If you’re interested in weaving your own bag, the lessons are available on my Weaving Lessons channel and include all the instructions you will need from materials, warping, sewing and finishing.

I look forward to seeing you there!