PROJECT

Leno Candle Cover

Alternating twists of leno and plain weave create inter­esting patterns of light and shadow when the candle is lit inside this fabric-covered candle holder.

Loom and Heddle

Width in Heddle

Warp and Weft Yarn

Weave Structure

EPI

PPI

Other Supplies

Measurements

Warping

Wind a warp 1 yard long of 80 threads. Thread the heddle as described in Threading the Holes.

Weaving

  1. 1. Weave a 1" header in plain weave. This will become the hem at the back of the candle sleeve.
  2. 2. Weave a row of 2×2 leno, as described under How to Weave Leno.
  3. 3. Weave 4 picks of plain weave.
  4. 4. Alternate steps 2 and 3 until the cloth is 10" long.
  5. 5. Weave a 1" border of plain weave.
  6. 6. Cut the fabric from loom.

Finishing

Wrap the fabric warp-wise around the glass cylinder. Fold a hem at both ends, drawing the ends together until the piece fits tautly. Press the hem firmly with a hot iron. Trim the hem and secure the ends and edges with Fray Check. When the Fray Check is dry, use sewing thread and whipstitch or mattress stitch to sew the seam. (For mattress stitch, see How to Sew an Invisible Seam with Mattress Stitch.)

Light the candle, and enjoy!

Brooks Bouquet

Brooks bouquet is a structure in which you deliberately wrap the weft thread around bundles of warp threads to tie them together like bouquets of flowers or sheaves of wheat. It is believed to be named after Marguerite Brooks, a popular weaving teacher, who was also an expert in bobbin lace. In traditional Brooks bouquet, the bundles are picked up against an open shed, which creates warp float lines across the back. When weaving this form of Brooks bouquet, you should weave a few picks of plain weave between picks of bouquet to tame those floats.

How to Weave Brooks Bouquet

  1. 1. Open a shed.
  2. 2. Push the shuttle into the shed under the threads you wish to wrap.
  3. 3. Pull the shuttle up through the top warp and out of the shed.
  4. 4. Insert the shuttle into the shed behind the same threads you passed behind in step 2, and draw the weft through. This wraps the threads and creates the bouquet. Continue across the row in the same shed to the edge.
  5. 5. Weave the next plain-weave shed and beat.

Brooks Bouquet Variations

Closed shed (a). Use this wrapping technique on a closed shed for a different look, and to eliminate the warp floats across the back.

Combination weave. Combine Brooks bouquet with plain weave in a single pick of weaving. The thing to watch here is that Brook’s bouquet, because of the way the warps crowd together in the twist, will not pack weft as tightly as the plain-weave area. You have several options for dealing with this: (1) decide this is the look you want, (2) weave the plain-weave areas back and forth as we did with leno pickup (starting here), (3) double the weft in the plain-weave areas, or (4) use a tapestry fork to pack the weft down in the Brooks bouquet areas.

Add ribbons. A fun thing to do with traditional Brooks bouquet is to weave ribbon over the floats on the back of the cloth and under the bouquets.

Stagger the bouquets (b) between rows to create a fishnet look. This fabric loses a lot of width dimensionally when you take it off the loom, but it has wonderful stretch.

Add beads (c) to the weft that wraps the bouquet.

Vary the size and placement of the weft wraps.

How to Thread Beads onto Weft Yarn

Weft yarns are often too thick to go through a needle that is small enough to go through a bead. Here’s a way to get around that problem. You may have to experiment a bit to get the right size beads for the weft you are using.

  1. 1. Thread a sewing needle with a piece of sewing thread about 6" long. Tie the ends together in an overhand knot.
  2. 2. Insert the end of your weft yarn through the loop, leaving a tail long enough that it doesn’t easily slip out of the loop.
  3. 3. Insert your needle into a bead, and draw it along the loop of sewing thread and then onto the weft yarn.
  4. 4. Pull the beads up as needed and push them in place as you wrap the bouquet.

Mistake or Discovery?

I have a theory that many slow and fancy techniques started off as mistakes. Brooks bouquet, for example, looks to me as if a weaver in antiquity dropped a shuttle when she was passing it through a shed, picked it up off the floor, and accidentally twisted the weft around warp threads when she brought it back up. This ingenious weaver, instead of uttering a brief curse, looked at the result and thought, “Huh. That’s pretty. Wonder what it’d look like if I did it all the way across.” When you make a mistake in weaving, I encourage you to look at it a minute before you fix it. In that moment, you just might discover a new weaving pattern!

Spanish Lace

In Spanish lace, the weft weaves back and forth across a section of warp several times before advancing to the next section. You can use it with a thicker or decorative weft to show off the undulating pattern the weft makes, or you can use a thin weft and pull the woven bundles tight to create eyelets in the cloth. (Spanish lace is sometimes called Spanish eyelet in older weaving books.)

In this structure, the tendency of the weft is to move diagonally upward across the cloth. You can allow this to happen, letting progressively larger warp floats build up in the cloth, or you can smoosh the weft when you beat to prevent this migration. Which option you choose depends on the effect you want. In the 1960s and 1970s, Spanish lace was often woven loosely with large weft threads to create wall hangings where the weft appeared to scribble across the warp threads.

When Spanish lace is packed down, it forms a nice decorative border. Sets of Spanish lace, one woven going left, the other woven going right, create a chevron effect. When I’m weaving Spanish lace to create chevrons, I weave one or two picks of plain weave between each area of Spanish lace to spread the warp threads back out and keep slots from forming in the cloth. (Of course, if you’re weaving buttonholes into a cloth, slots might be just what you want.)

An example of Spanish lace

Planning Spanish Lace

If you like symmetry and want the sections of Spanish lace to come out evenly across your warp, make sure the number of warp threads in your warp is a multiple of the threads you use in each Spanish lace cell.

For cloth set at the scale of most rigid-heddle projects, weaving under three to five warp threads is a good place to start, though I encourage you to play with other cell sizes and see what pleases you.

How to Weave Spanish Lace

  1. 1. Weave under 3 raised warp threads (a), and then pull the shuttle up out of the shed (b).
  2. 2. Change the shed.
  3. 3. Weave back toward the selvedge you began at, under 2 threads (a). Bring the shuttle up out of the shed (b).
  4. 4. Change the shed.
  5. 5. Weave under 6 threads, and bring the shuttle up out of the shed (a). This step finishes the first cell of Spanish lace and begins the second cell (b).
  6. Repeat steps 3–5 until you reach the other selvedge.

Spanish Lace Variations

Spanish lace isn’t woven much today, which is a shame. It’s a structure with many possibilities. These are some variations you might want to try:

Extend the height of Spanish lace by adding additional steps. As you do so, keep in mind that the number of steps has to remain odd in order to move forward on the last step. Another thing to keep in mind if you’re interested in adding steps is that as your sections get higher, the amount of unwoven warp between the stacks increases, affecting the stability of the cloth. If you’re doing a decorative wall hanging, this may be fine; in clothing it could spell disaster.

Weave Spanish lace in wool, creating long channels of woven cloth with floats between. Full the cloth, and then cut the floats. You’ve now created tabs of cloth attached at the top (like you’d see in an automated car washer) with no sewing.

Thread the weft with beads (see How to Thread Beads onto Weft Yarn) and weave Spanish lace. Pull the weft tight and position the beads so they’re only on the decorative floats in the eyelets.

Weave Spanish lace with cells of varying sizes.

Weave eyelets by weaving sections of Spanish lace using the ground weft yarn and pulling the weft tightly as you go, creating spaces between the Spanish lace cells. This works best as a single row in a field of plain weave, or as rows separated by several rows of plain weave, to make the eyelet rows distinct.

Danish Medallions

This weave structure typically uses a contrasting, or supplemental, weft to draw the fabric up in lozenge or medallion shapes, but you can also use this technique to create flowers, stars, and other flights of fancy. It is a traditional technique in the Scandinavian countries, but it has also been found in weavings in other parts of the world.

You’ll need a thicker thread to act as the contrast weft. Usually the rest of the cloth is done with a smooth plain yarn to highlight the design element. The contrast weft should be strong enough to take a bit of abrasion, as you’ll be pulling it through the cloth with a crochet hook.

Before you begin to weave, thread one shuttle with the ground weft (this is usually the same yarn as the warp) and another shuttle with the contrast weft. You’ll also want to have a crochet hook handy; I typically use a US F/5 (3.75 mm) or G/6 (4 mm) hook, but you should match the size of the hook to the scale of your yarn.

If you want your Danish medallions to come out evenly across the warp, make sure that the number of warp threads in your cloth is a multiple of the number of warp threads you plan to put in each medallion. You can also choose to make medallions of varying sizes, for decorative effect.

How to Weave Danish Medallions

  1. 1. Weave a 1" to 2" header using the ground weft.
  2. 2. Throw a pick of your supplemental weft.
  3. 3. Weave another section of plain weave using the ground weft. How tall a section you weave will determine the height of your medallions. If you don’t have a preference, three to five picks is a good starting place.
  4. 4. Begin to weave a pick of the supplemental weft, stopping at the point where you want the medallion to end. Bring the supplemental weft up and out of the shed.
  5. 5. Using a crochet hook, dive under the first pick of contrast weft, submarine under the cloth, and come up and snag the loose end of the second pick of contrast weft (a). Pull a loop of the contrast weft under the cloth, under the first pick of contrast weft, and up through the woven fabric to the front of the cloth (b).
  6. 6. Pass the contrast-weft shuttle through this loop (a) and pull to tighten (b).
  7. 7. Put the contrast-weft shuttle back into the shed at the point it came out.
  8. Repeat steps 4–7 to weave the next medallion.

Danish Medallion Variations

The lozenge shape is the most traditional way to weave Danish medallions, but you can also get creative with the placement of the loops. Here are some fun things to try:

Weave other shapes. Stars, Christmas trees, and other shapes can be created out of the lines and circles offered by the Danish medallion technique. See specific directions for weaving stars below; these can be a launching-off place for creating your own designs.

Add beads. When you pull up a loop with the crochet hook, consider threading a bead onto that loop. It’s an easy way to add a bit of glitz to your Danish medallions.

Vary the tension. Control how much your medallions distort the fabric by pulling tighter or looser on the supplemental warp in step 6b.

Use different-size cells. Change the number of plain-weave picks in step 3 or the number of warp threads you go under in step 4 to change the size of the medallions. You can also combine patterns of large and small medallions for a fun effect.

Checkerboard and other patterns. Create one row of medallions and then shift your pattern by a half medallion to create a checkerboard.

How to Weave Danish Stars

  1. 1. Weave as in steps 1–4, see here.
  2. 2. Insert the crochet hook to pull a loop under the cloth, beginning two or three warp threads to the right of where the second pick of contrast weft stopped. This will create the right-bottom leg of the star.
  3. 3. Complete step 6, taking care not to pull the tension too tightly. You want the loop to lie flat on the top of the cloth.
  4. 4. Without advancing the contrast weft, insert the crochet hook directly under where the contrast weft in the second pick ends. Pull the contrast weft up and pass the shuttle through the loop as before. This creates the middle-bottom leg of the star.
  5. 5. Without advancing the contrast weft, insert the crochet hook two or three warp threads to the left of where the contrast weft in the second pick ends. Pull the contrast weft up and pass the shuttle through the loop as before. This creates the left-bottom leg of the star.
  6. 6. Put the contrast-weft shuttle back into the shed at the point it came out, and repeat the preceding steps all the way across the fabric to finish weaving the bottom row of stars.
  7. 7. Weave another section of plain weave.
  8. 8. Start the next pick of contrast weft, pulling the shuttle out just above the left-bottom leg of the star. Starting the crochet hook at the middle of the star (where the three legs converge from the previous row), connect to the contrast weft, and pull a loop through. This creates the left-top leg of the star.
  9. 9. Put the contrast-weft shuttle through the loop and advance until the shuttle is right over the middle of the star. Pull up a loop from the center. This creates the middle top leg of the star.
  10. 10. Put the contrast-weft shuttle through the loop and advance until the shuttle is right over the right-bottom leg of the star. Pull up a loop from the center to this rightmost position. This creates the right-top leg of the star.
  11. Continue across the fabric to create the top half of the stars.

Clasped Weft

This is a fun technique you can use to make designs in your cloth. You’ll use two different yarns. They’re often different colors, but you can play with other aspects such as shiny/matte, smooth/textured, and so on. The point is they must be visibly different, or the technique won’t show up well. Clasped weft is a technique that works independently of the weave structure. The basic idea is that one weft goes through the shed, wraps around a second weft, and then pulls the second weft partway into the shed.

In the following instructions, the loom is warped for plain weave and the weaving pattern is plain weave: the heddle alternates between up and down. If you look closely at the resulting fabric, however, you’ll see that the weft is doubled in each pick. The actual weave structure of clasped-weft fabric is half basketweave. You’ll also notice a bump in the fabric where the two yarns join. That extra bit of thickness is the inevitable result of the yarns bending around each other and adds a bit of textural outline to your design.

You can weave many different patterns with the clasped weft technique. My designs tend toward the organic, because I like to play around and design on the fly with clasped weft, but you could also create controlled and precise patterns, such as diamonds and checkerboards.

How to Weave Clasped Weft

  1. 1. Wind one of the yarns onto a shuttle.
  2. 2. Have the other yarn in a package that can freely feed yarn, such as a ball or cone. If the yarn is in skein form, wind it into a ball before you begin.
  3. 3. Open a shed and pass the shuttle all the way through the shed.
  4. 4. Wrap the shuttle around the yarn coming from the other yarn source so the two wefts bend around each other. This is the “clasp”: it’s as if the two yarns are holding hands.
  5. 5. Put the shuttle back into the open shed. It is important that you not change the shed between steps 3 and 5. Pull the shuttle out of the shed on the side that it started on in step 3. Keep pulling until the other yarn is drawn into the shed.
  6. 6. Stop pulling when the other yarn is where you want it in your design.
  7. 7. Beat, then change sheds. Continue from step 3 to weave the rest of the cloth, alternating between up and down sheds.

Clasped Weft Variations

After weaving with the extra yarn package on one side of the design, break the weft and start it on the other side. This lets you alternate the sides the colors appear on.

You could do interesting work with clasped weft using yarns of different shrinkage. For example, weave in triangles with yarn that will felt on the edges of a fabric woven with otherwise nonfelting yarn.

Soumak

This technique is one in which the weft yarn wraps completely around the warp while it is flat. In other words, soumak is worked without first creating a shed. Soumak can be used at the ends of a fabric to prevent the weft from unraveling, and it is also sometimes used inside a tapestry design to outline or highlight a motif. The many types of soumak knots can be categorized into two families: Oriental and half hitches.

There are many types of soumak knots, such as single (a half hitch over one thread), Oriental (a half hitch over two threads), Cavandoli (a double half hitch), and Greek (a treble half hitch). In Oriental soumak, the weft circles around the next two warp threads and then moves forward four warp threads. It may be knotted left to right or right to left. The rows will slant in different directions depending on the direction you’re knotting. Shots of plain weave, using a thin ground weft, are often woven between each row of knots to lock the rows into place and keep the fabric from stretching.

Soumak is often woven with yarn butterflies (see Winding Weft Yarns) or on netting shuttles because of the need to pass the weft source through the loops during the knotting process.

One of the neat features about designing with soumak is that, because it creates half hitches around the threads, it can be tightened down anywhere on the warp. This means that you can weave structurally sound soumak above unwoven sections of warp. Soumak is also free to wander “off the grid,” undulating in organic waves across the warp. Both of these features open up interesting design possibilities.

PROJECT

Soumak-Woven Coaster

This project makes a set of four coasters, but the same thick fabric would also be suitable for a small rug or mat.

Loom and Heddle

Width in Heddle

Warp and ground weft

Weft

Weave Structure

EPI

PPI

Measurements

Warping

Wind a warp 11⁄2 yards long and 51 threads wide. Thread the heddle as described in Threading the Holes.

Weaving

Note: Follow steps 2–5 of the weave pattern below in this color sequence: 5 picks Sage Green, 3 picks Jute, 5 picks Lilac, 3 picks Jute; repeat this sequence once more, then end by weaving 5 picks Sage Green.

  1. 1. With the heddle in the up position, use ground weft to weave a pick of plain weave from left to right.
  2. 2. Wrap the pattern weft twice around the two left-most warp threads. Wind the wraps so the weft comes out over the warp threads toward the right.
  3. 3. With the heddle in neutral position, use the pattern weft to weave a row of soumak going left to right as follows: advance over 4 and back under 2. Each stitch advances the weft by 2 warp threads. Continue across until you reach the last 2 warp threads: leave them unwoven.
  4. 4. With the heddle in the down position, use ground weft to weave a pick of plain weave from right to left. The ground-weft picks lock the soumak into place and prevent it from stretching.
  5. 5. Wrap the pattern weft twice around the last 2 warp threads. Wind the wraps so the weft comes out over the warp threads toward the left.
  6. 6. With the heddle in neutral position, use the pattern weft to weave a row of soumak going right to left as follows: advance over 4 and back under 2. The two rows of soumak should form chevrons, like knitted stockinette stitch turned sideways.
  7. 7. Repeat steps 1–6 until the coaster is square. End with one pick of ground weft.
  8. Note: Leave a 6" (15 cm) gap of unwoven warp before starting the next coaster. This allows 3" (7.5 cm) room to tie fringe for each coaster.

Finishing

Cut the fabric from the loom. Using a tapestry needle, weave the loose pattern weft ends up through the wraps at the edges of the coasters. Using groups of 4 warp threads, tie an overhand knot close to the first and last rows of weaving, 13 knots at each edge. When all the knots are in a line and pulled tight, trim the fringe to 1⁄2" (1.25 cm) from the knots.

Tapestry Weaving

Tapestry is a discontinuous-weft, weft-faced fabric. It’s woven in plain weave, but with multiple wefts in a single pick. Managing how all of the weft threads interact and creating imagery at the same time makes tapestry weaving surprisingly complex. It is the weave structure most often associated with artistic weaving, and tapestry weavers often call their work “painting with yarn.”

Entire books are devoted to the art of tapestry weaving, with vastly more information than I can cover here. (For suggested reading, see the appendix.) There are many types of tapestry. What I describe here is a variation of slit tapestry, where the ends are woven in as you weave. It’s a form of tapestry that’s similar to Navajo blanket weaving.

The first step for most tapestry weavers is to create the cartoon, which is an outline of the image you want to weave. For your first tapestry, I recommend a simple geometric design, made up of basic shapes such as squares and triangles. Solid shapes reduce the number of wefts you’ll have going at any one time.

Your cartoon should be a life-size representation of the image you want to weave, expressed in simple lines. You can pin the cartoon to the weaving so that it’s under the warp, acting as a reference as you weave. Or you can place the cartoon behind the warp and use a waterproof maker to dot the design directly onto the warp. The first method removes any chance that the marker will bleed through onto the weft. The second method prevents you from having to weave around a rattling piece of paper.

Beginner’s Folly

When I was first learning tapestry, I decided to start by weaving a spiral, not knowing at the time that this supposedly simple shape would require nine different wefts and a lot of fiddly skinny areas of color. It takes experience to be able to look at a cartoon and determine if it’s going to be easy or hard to weave. I find that it requires me to bend my mind in the same way that I do when creating a stencil for screen printing.

Warping for Tapestry

The warp doesn’t show in tapestry. Tapestry is a weft-faced fabric, which means that the weft completely covers and hides the warp. Because of this, the color of the warp is unimportant, and most tapestry is woven on a white or off-white warp. What is important in a warp yarn is that it be strong, relatively smooth, and a consistent thickness. Suitable yarns include linen and tightly spun wools or cottons. The warp remains under high tension and does not bend: the weft does all the work. Tapestry is often woven under a high tension, and the warp yarn must be strong enough to withstand that force.

The thickness of warp that you use depends on the sett and the thickness of your weft. Typically the warp threads are about half as thin as the weft. You need the weft to have enough room to bend around the warp and yet be able to fill the space between warp threads completely. The best way to determine the proper balance of warp, weft, and sett is to sample. For a place to start, see the project.

The fiber content of tapestry warp varies among traditions. Some weavers use seine cotton (a strong cotton yarn traditionally used to weave seine fishing nets), others use linen, and yet others prefer a worsted-spun wool. One feature of wool is that it helps lock the weft in place and prevents sliding. This is an advantage, as it ensures that the weft doesn’t move out of place and distort your design.

The sett of tapestry is much wider than you’d use for a balanced cloth. This is necessary to allow the weft to sink down between the warp threads and completely encapsulate them. Common setts for tapestry are 8, 10, and 12. This spacing corresponds nicely to the commonly available rigid heddles.

Once you’ve picked your warp and sett, warp the loom as you would for any other plain-weave project.

Choosing Tapestry Weft Yarns

The design of tapestry typically comes from the graphical placement of color, not from texture. Keeping this in mind, you’ll probably want to use weft yarns that are all the same type of yarn, in a range of colors. (If creating tapestries with textured yarns makes you happy, by all means go ahead.)

Because the weft yarn does not need to be as strong as the warp, you can use singles or plied yarns. It should be a yarn, however, that won't fray and that can handle the rigors of being passed through the warp threads and beaten into place.

The size of the weft should be such that it can completely cover the warp threads without distorting them out of position. A quick way to estimate if a weft is the right size is to double it up and slide the doubled weft between the warp threads. The doubled yarn should fill the space without pushing the warp threads out of alignment.

Smooth, strong yarns suitable for tapestry warps

Weaving Tapestry

If you are using a rigid-heddle loom as your tapestry loom, you have two options for weaving tapestry on it. You can use the rigid heddle to beat the weft into place, in which case you would weave the tapestry edge to edge. This means that you would open the shed, advance all of the wefts the entire way across the warp by one pick, and then beat. The other option is to use the rigid heddle simply as a shedding device and to beat areas of weft into place using your fingers or a tool such as a tapestry beater or fork.

The #1 rule of tapestry is “Thou shalt weave plain weave.” The reason this is so important is because if you weave any structure other than over one, under one, you will create a visible irregularity in the fabric that will distract viewers from the tapestry image, and the warp threads may show through the weft.

Weaving plain weave sounds easy, until you take into account the fact that you have many different wefts, each of which might be moving left or right in any given pick. Managing all these directions and making sure that you are always weaving a perfect tapestry gives rise to most of the rules and guidelines you’ll read in tapestry books. There are many tricks that make tapestry weaving successful, such as moving over a weft by an odd or even number. Here are three simple guidelines that will get you out of most technical difficulties, especially if you keep your design simple.

Tapestry Troubleshooting

Use the superpower of the turnaround. The warp thread where a weft turns around and goes back the other way counts as both an under and an over. If you run into a situation where threads in two consecutive picks need to go under or over the same warp thread, one way to fix it is to move one of the weft turnarounds over by one thread.

Change the direction of the weft. If weft is moving from right to left and causing problems with its neighboring weft, consider breaking the weft and moving it to the other side of the area and weaving in the opposite direction. This often fixes the problem. Overlap the wispy ends of yarn where you broke it, and weave them in as you ­continue to weave the tapestry.

One of the problems that can come up in tapestry is an uncovered warp thread between two sections weaving in opposite directions.

Add another weft. What happens if you have an area between two others and on one side you need to be weaving left to right and on the other you need to be weaving right to left? You can add another weft of the same color to the center area so that half of it will weave going left, and the other half going right.

Bubbling the Weft

Remember how you learned to bubble the weft in chapter 2 (see Finessing the Throw) in order to keep the selvedges from drawing in? This is even more crucial in tapestry, where selvedges can exist in the middle of your fabric. In addition to the selvedges at the sides of your tapestry, selvedges exist along the slits created each time one weft turns away from another and goes back on itself. One of the things that makes tapestry such an intriguing challenge is that you might be managing dozens of selvedges in a single pick of weaving, and if you mess up these selvedges, the error might be smack in the middle of your fabric.

To counteract this, bubble the weft more than you think necessary. The weft needs to be long enough to bend around the warp and cover it completely. If you see draw-in where the weft changes direction, you need bigger bubbles. If you see floppy loops where the weft changes direction, bubble less. Bubble just as much on rows with only one weft as on those with multiple wefts. To do this, make several small bubbles across the row.

Weave the Bottom First

If you are weaving in the build-up style in which you beat with a fork or your fingers and build up areas across the warp at different rates (as opposed to the edge-to-edge style of weaving), you need to be aware of one potential problem. In the design below, if you weave area A and then area B, you won’t be able to weave area C: you have no way to beat it into place because it’s overhung by area B. The correct sequence to weave this cartoon is A, C, and then B. Weave from the bottom up.

PROJECT

Tapestry Cover for a Digital E-Reader

This tapestry sleeve is for an e-reader. I have a Kindle Fire (43⁄4" wide × 71⁄2" long × 1⁄2" deep), but you can easily resize this project for a smartphone or iPad, or use it as a cover to protect paperback books. The warp should be as wide as half the circumference of your reader (or book) + 25 percent to cover draw-in, shrinkage, and a bit of extra room to slide the e-reader in and out.

Design a cartoon for your project on a piece of paper that is as wide as your warp, or use the design provided.

Loom and Heddle

Width in Heddle

Warp

Weft

Weave Structure

EPI

PPI

Other Supplies

Measurements

Warping

Wind a warp of 52 threads, 11⁄2 yards long, and thread the heddle as described in Threading the Holes.

Preparing the Weft

Wind 6 yarn butterflies of Kiwi, 3 yarn butterflies of Chianti, and 5 yarn ­butterflies of Autumn Harvest.

Tip: Untwist and pull yarn apart instead of cutting it when you separate it from the skein. If there’s a blunt cut edge at the start of the skein, untwist and pull this off. Doing so creates tapering wisps of yarn at the ends of the weft. Weave those in (as you normally would weave the weft) when you start or end weaving with a yarn butterfly. This way you weave the ends in invisibly as you go, and don’t have any ends to weave in once your tapestry is complete.

Weaving

  1. 1. Using warp yarn, weave a couple of rows of soumak to spread the warp and form a firm base for the tapestry. This will not be part of the finished cover.
  2. 2. Working with the pattern upside down, weave the front of the e-reader cover. Use a tapestry beater to beat the weft into place so it completely covers the warp. Bubble the warp generously to achieve minimal draw-in. In areas where you are weaving a single weft thread from one side of the warp to the other, make three to five small bubbles across the warp so the draw-in in those areas matches the draw-in in areas where you weave multiple weft threads across the warp.
  3. 3. When you’ve woven an inch of the design, secure the cartoon to the back of the fabric, using either straight pins or loose basting stitches.
  4. 4. Continue to weave the design, taking care to always weave plain weave. Weave each row from side to side as you go.
  5. 5. When you've woven the entire tapestry design, continue weaving in Kiwi to create the back of the cover. Be sure to bubble as much as you did when weaving the design. The back is done when it's 11⁄2" longer than the design. This extra length is folded over to make the flap.
  6. 6. Use the warp yarn to weave another 2 picks of soumak to secure the warp. Take the fabric off the loom, taking care not to cut too closely to the fell line. You'll want at least 5" of unwoven warp to use when weaving the warp ends back into the fabric.
  7. 7. Thread the first warp end onto a tapestry needle. Take it over the final weft pick and back down into its own column, taking care not to catch the soumak thread. Bring the warp end out on the surface of the fabric that will be inside the e-reader cover. Pull the warp thread taut, so it tightly encapsulates the last weft row and won't work loose. If this is hard on your fingers, use pliers to pull the needle through. Clip the warp end close to the fabric, being careful not to cut the fabric itself. Repeat for the other warp threads. After all the warp threads are woven in, the soumak threads will not be attached to the fabric and can be removed. Repeat for the other end of the fabric.
  8. 8. Using sewing thread that matches the Kiwi weft, sew closed any slits in the tapestry design longer than 1⁄2". Use mattress stitch (see How to Sew an Invisible Seam with Mattress Stitch) and pull tight, so the sewing thread is hidden inside the slits and does not show.
  9. 9. Thread an 18" piece of Kiwi weft yarn onto a tapestry needle and whipstitch over the edge of the fabric to conceal the ends of the warp threads and create a firm edge. If the yarn starts to untwist or become overly twisted as you stitch, stop and add or remove twist as necessary. Repeat for the other end of the fabric.
  10. 10. Hand-wash the fabric using warm water and a wool-friendly wash. Rinse well. Roll it in a towel and gently step on it to remove most of the water. Allow it to dry fully. If you have draw-in irregularities at the selvedges, you can block the fabric by pinning it taut to a firm surface while it dries to reduce or remove them.
  11. 11. Fold the tapestry fabric lengthwise, with 11⁄2" of overlap at the top of the back to form a flap. Seam the selvedges at the sides using Kiwi yarn threaded in a tapestry needle and whipstitch.
  12. 12. Create a braid 12" long using each weft color. This will be used to create the closure. Using sewing thread that matches the Kiwi weft, wrap and stitch one end to keep the braid from unraveling and trim it close. Tie an overhand knot in the other end and let the raw tapered wisps hang free. Sew the wrapped end down to the inside center of the flap so the rest of the braid hangs straight down the front of the e-reader cover when the flap is closed.
  13. 13. Attach a decorative button to the front center of the cover. You can now close the cover by folding over the back flap and wrapping the braid end around the button.

You’ve now created a beautiful protective cover for your favorite reading device, phone, table, or book.

Transparencies

Like tapestries, transparencies often depict woven imagery. The difference is in the sett of the cloth and the weave structure. In tapestry, the cloth is a dense plain weave, and the weft is integral to the cloth. In transparencies, the ground cloth is open and airy, often having a window-screen appearance, and the design is woven as a supplemental inlaid weft. You could cut all the pattern weft out of a transparency and end up with an intact ground cloth. Because of this openness, transparencies take less time and yarn to weave than tapestry does. This openness also makes transparencies magical. The inlaid portions block light, while the open areas allow it to shine through. Backlit transparencies create bold silhouettes. With softer lighting, the background cloth visually disappears, creating the illusion that the inlaid designs are floating in space.

I hang this flag up when I'm writing, to remind loved ones not to disturb me. It glows, backlit by the monitor.

Choosing the Yarns

The background warp yarn for a transparency needs to be able to weave an open and yet stable cloth. Traditionally, transparencies are woven in linen, because that material is inherently stiff and has tiny little fibers poking out of the yarn that make it sticky and that hold open the holes in the fabric. Other fibers you might consider are the wool stainless-steel yarns by Habu Textiles sett at 12 to 16 ends per inch (see appendix, for address), worsted-spun wool, wire, and monofilament fishing line (though this last option can be tricky to work with).

Inlay weft yarns need to be thick and flexible enough to fill in the holes of the background cloth without deflecting it. Wool, silk, and rayon are good choices here.

Designing Transparencies

Keep in mind that each time a horizontal line in the pattern is interrupted by empty space or a color change, you’ll need a separate yarn supply. Start with simple, solid designs, rather than a trio of spirals. (My passion for spirals has gotten me into trouble on several occasions.)

Weaving Transparencies

You will find that when you are weaving the inlay yarn, sometimes it’s ambiguous about exactly where you should end the weft pick. Neither warp thread you could turn around on exactly matches the cartoon. My advice? Color inside the lines. Err on the side of keeping the weft inside the lines on the pattern.

You will need a separate butterfly (or bobbin) of pattern yarn for each noncontiguous part of the pattern. Because transparency inlay is woven edge to edge, you will start every element on the same pick at the same time.

PROJECT

At Home

This charming transparency glows and looks especially lovely when hung in front of a window, backlit by the sun. You’ll need a rigid-heddle loom with a 12-dent heddle to weave this project. The tapestry bobbins for the cotton weft are optional: you can instead simply wind the cotton into yarn butterflies. The cartoon for this design can be found here.

Loom and Heddle

Width in Heddle

Warp and Background Weft Yarn

Pattern Weft Yarn

Weave Structure

EPI

PPI

Other Supplies

Measurements

Warping

Wind a warp 2 yards long of 96 warp ends (48 loops). This will give you plenty of room for loom waste and will let you make two or three designs.

Thread the heddle as described in Threading the Holes.

In order to deal with linen’s inelasticity, I recommend tying onto the front with the heddle in the up or down position (that is, not neutral). This adds a bit of extra length to the hole threads and ensures even tension while weaving. When you put the heddle in the neutral position, you’ll notice this extra length. Don’t let it bother you. It’s the tension while weaving that’s preserved in the cloth.

Weaving the Header

  1. 1. Weave an inch or so of plain weave using the linen yarn (which you will use throughout as the background weft). Practice gently pressing this weft into place. You want the background cloth open and lacy so the pattern yarn can float between the linen picks. Ideally, you should be weaving to square, with 12 weft picks to the inch. This section of your cloth will look very cheeseclothy; it’s supposed to. The linen yarn is sticky and stiff enough that it will hold its shape. It is the openness of the background cloth that makes the transparency work.

Weaving the Pattern

  1. 2. Now that you have a bit of cloth woven, pin the transparency cartoon under the fabric. Now comes the fun part: you will alternate weaving the background (linen) weft with the pattern weft (wool). The fluffy wool yarn should fill in the gaps between the linen background cloth and create solid areas.
  2. 3. Open a new shed. Place the pattern weft in the areas outlined by the pattern, and gently squeeze it into place.
  3. 4. Open the same shed as in step 3. Throw the background weft, and beat it gently into place.
  4. 5. Open the next shed and repeat steps 3 and 4 until the entire pattern is woven.

You might find yourself wanting to simply beat both the pattern and background wefts into place at the same time. Don’t. This will cause the pattern yarn to slip under the background weft in an unbecoming way. Take the extra time to place and beat in the pattern weft separately.

When you turn the pattern weft yarn to fill the image sections, pay attention to the way you wrap the warp threads. For the verticals, take care always to wrap the same warp thread; for diagonals (such as the roof), choose threads that will move smoothly along the angle of the line.

Weaving the Casing

When you are done weaving the pattern, weave another inch or so of background cloth, and then weave 3" of fabric with the linen weft, beating firmly. This will be hemmed to make the casing for the knitting-needle hanger. It needs to be more firmly woven to support the hemstitches and the weight of the transparency.

Finishing

Cut the fabric off the loom, leaving about 5" of unwoven warp. Thread each warp end through a tapestry needle and weave the ends up into the fabric for about 1" to form a neat hem (a). Trim the ends. Apply a line of Fray Check to secure ends. Note: This is a delicate and fragile edge finish. For a more durable finish, hem or fringe to finish off the warp ends.

Weave in the ends of the pattern-weft yarn by taking a tapestry needle and carefully retracing its path in the fabric (b). After two or three rows, trim it close to the surface of the cloth; the stickiness of the yarn will hold it in place.

To create a casing at the top, fold over 1⁄2" of the firmly woven cloth twice and hem it by hand using the linen yarn and a tapestry needle. Slip the knitting needle through this casing (c).

Make the hanger by plying the linen yarn into a rough cord. The hanger pictured here has 8 ends total. Start with a single length of yarn about 9 feet long. Fold it in half twice, then fold it once more; you will have two bundles of 4 threads each. Twist the bundles of 4 until they begin to ply back on themselves, then tie them together with an overhand knot at the cut ends to maintain the twist, and slip the loop at the other end over the knitting needle. Insert the tip of the needle through the cord near the knot.

Weft-Pile Weaves

Pile weaves refer to those with loops or cut ends coming vertically out of the face of the cloth. These may be weft threads, as we’ll see in this section, or warp threads, as when weaving velvet. Both kinds of pile weave can either be cut to create a velvety plush surface, or left uncut to create loops reminiscent of the loops in a terry-cloth bath towel or candlewick bed coverings.

A rya sample woven using yarn from leftover bobbins as the pile weft. Designed and woven by Elisabeth Hill.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m a sucker for interesting yarn, so I wasn’t able to resist when I ran across two handspun yarns from Nepal. One was hemp and the other aloo (nettle.) Both were singles yarn, naturally colored, and with a rough, rustic texture. My plan was to weave organic, exfoliating spa-style washcloths and give them as gifts with a bar of artisan soap. Hemp, being naturally antibacterial and moisture resistant, is perfect for bath items, and aloo smells great and is good for buffing skin. You may be able to find hemp yarn online at websites like Etsy.

Plain weave, however, seemed a bit too plain, especially given the rustic nature of the yarns. I wanted a weave structure that would show the two yarns off to best effect, keeping them distinct and special. I also wanted something that could be made on a simple, rigid-heddle loom so I could weave them during my summer travels.

Inspiration hit: handwoven looped pile, which you can weave on a rigid-heddle loom since it’s just a hand-manipulated variant of plain weave. When I was done weaving my rustic yarns, I was thrilled with the results. They looked like something you’d see in an upscale spa: rare, funky, and authentically textured.

You can substitute 20/2 wet-spun linen for the hemp warp. Linen is also great for bath linens and can be easier to work with than the high-energy singles yarn. The aloo is more flexible than the hemp, so I used it as the weft, because it made pulling up the pile loops easier. You can also use the hemp singles as the weft, though it is less flexible and more abrasive. It all depends on how exfoliating you want your scrubby washcloth to be.

Because not everyone shares my hippy-granola aesthetic (or can get their hands on handspun hemp and aloo), I’ve also included directions for weaving the washcloths in Lily Sugar’n Cream, an inexpensive worsted-weight cotton available from most yarn and craft stores.

Misty Magic

Bast fibers, like hemp and linen, behave better when there’s humidity in the air. If you live in a dry climate, spritzing the yarn with water occasionally will help even out the warp tension and help the weft turn. I keep a spray bottle full of water on hand when weaving with bast fibers.

PROJECT

Looped-Pile Washcloths

A quick and satisfying weave, these looped-pile washcloths make a great gift, especially when paired with a bar of handmade soap.

Loom and Heddle

Width in Heddle

Warp Yarn

Weft Yarn

Weave Structure

EPI

PPI

Other Supplies

Measurements

Warping

For four washcloths, wind a warp 2 yards long of 72 ends, and thread the heddle as described in Threading the Holes.

Weaving the Washcloths

  1. 1. Weave 11⁄2" of plain weave. This will be folded into a hem later.
  2. 2. Change the shed and throw the shuttle. Leave the shed open. Do not beat the weft into place.
  3. 3. With the shed open, use a knitting needle (or other pointed stick) to pick up loops of the weft between the raised warp threads. I find a small crochet hook helpful for lifting the loops and sliding them on the knitting needle. Make sure the weft has slack when you are picking up the pile loops. You’ll need a lot of weft to form the loops. I like to leave a plain-weave border on the edge of my pile block. To do so, I simply do not pull up pile loops between the first four and last four raised warp threads in the shed.
  4. 4. Leaving the knitting needle in place, beat in the weft. You can angle the heddle back to beat under the knitting needle.
  5. 5. Weave one to three picks of plain weave to secure the pile. The number of plain-weave picks between each row of pile loop is up to you. Fewer picks of plain weave makes a denser pile. Experiment until you get the cloth you want. I used three plain-weave picks for the hemp/aloo version and two plain-weave picks for the cotton version.
  6. 6. Remove the knitting needle and begin again at step 2. Continue in this manner until you have woven 8".
  7. 7. Weave a second 11⁄2" of plain weave for the second hem.
  8. Repeat the steps above for each washcloth. (Note: Remember that this means you’ll have 3" total between washcloths.)
  9. If you have extra warp at the end, you can weave the rest as plain weave and sew a soap bag (a simple drawstring bag that you tuck scraps of soap into and then use as a washcloth).

Finishing the Washcloths

Cut the washcloths off the loom and hem them with a 1⁄2" double-fold hem (see How to Make a Double-Fold Hem). Wash in a load of machine laundry on hot.

Looped-Pile Variations

You know how you created a plain-weave border by not picking up pile loops between the four threads on the edge? You can actually do that anywhere along the pile row. Each potential loop can either be picked up or left down to create patterns or designs in the pile. The photo below shows what I did in a free-form heart design.

Think about it: you could weave in a message, an initial, a teddy bear, a skull and crossbones — whatever you desire. Needlepoint books and counted cross-stitch patterns are a great resource for creating your own designs. Or you can design your own on graph paper.

Think of these little washcloths as a small, fun, creative palette, and in no time you’ll have a pile of these little treasures to hand out as hostess gifts or during holidays.