Just popping in for a short intro to todays freebie! Lucy from Peas and Needles contributed this awesome super tassely woven wall hanging as part of our weaving tutorial course. Please let us know if you’re enjoying the We Make Collective freebie week so far! I really hope so! But for now take it away Lucy!
What you will need:
– Your We Make Collective travel loom kit
– Fabric scissors
– A piece of doweling, roughly 25cm long
– Cotton thread
Once you have put together your loom following your instructions in the subscription box, you will need to warp up the cotton thread. Starting in the bottom left hand corner tie a double knot. This needs to be tight so it doesn’t slip off. Working top to bottom locking the thread around each notch. Make sure these threads are tight.
Once you have reached the other end start working back on yourself. This means you will double up on your warping threads and will give you more threads to work with. Tie off when you reach the end.
To start your weave we need to make some fringe tassels. The quickest way to do this is by wrapping your wool around a small book or notepad. Do this a few times and then trim them off using a sharp pair of scissors.
Centre the wool over two warp threads and pull ends up through the warp. Go across one row. To make the fringe thicker, create a second layer.
Once you have completed your fringe row, changing colours half way its time to move on to some weaving. Starting from the right hand side, insert the end of the skein in and out the first few warp strings. Starting from right to left, weave over and under each warp thread with the wool needle provided.
Once you have reached the end, using the same technique go from left to right weaving the opposite way to before. Keep going back and forth either side. Remember to keep it quite loose, – if its pulled too tight it’ll pull the warp threads together and the tapestry won’t be straight.
To create the fluffl tassels in the weave, cut some more threads in the same way as before. This time halving them so they are roughly 8cm long.
With 2 pieces of wool tie these with single knots around each warp thread. Do 2 rows of single knots.
Using the traditional weaving technique that you learnt earlier, weave the gap on the right. Making sure to weave right up to the knotted tassels so there are no gaps.
Tear off a small section of the roving and weave through the warping threads, up and over. Weave two thirds of the way across and repeat back on yourself a couple of times.
Following the picture, add some knotted tassels to the right of your roving. Once you have done two rows, weave in the same colour wool across both techniques.
Double up your wool in a different colour. Starting from the left this time, weave in the end pieces of your wool to about half way. Following the image above using your needle take your wool over and around the warp until you have reached the other side of the loom. Repeat the same technique coming back. This technique is called Soumac.
Carry on working up the loom using the various techniques you have already learnt. Once you are near to the top of the loom, about 1.5cm away this is time to stop.
Now you need to take the weave off the loom. Working from the bottom first. Take each warp thread off one at a time.
Take the top warp threads off the loom at the top and insert your doweling stick in the loops. You will have a loose thread left over, tie this to the next warping thread along. Tie a piece of wool or cord to your doweling stick. Your super-tassle weave is all finished and ready to hang in pride of place!
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