We’re not sure if you’ve heard, but weavings are all the rage for 2015. When I first heard about this craze my mind did a rewind to 3rd grade, where my art teacher told us to make a weaving of our own face — not flattering. But these are nothing like your elementary school projects; they’re fun, whimsical art pieces that bring warmth and texture into your decor. Word on the street is these babies can cost around $400 — NO WAY! We bought 16 spools of yarn for $100 and made two beautiful pieces. In fact, we could probably make at least 6 more. As a part of our #31DaysofDIY it’s time to share the secrets of weaving with you.
No idea what #31DaysofDIY is? It’s a brand new tradition here at Brit + Co that’s all about kicking off the new year right. We’ve challenged ourselves to make or learn something new every single day for the month of January, and we’re inviting all of you along for the ride. From DIY basics like Sewing 101 to learning to design and laser cut our own stencils, we hope this month of making inspires you to get creative all year long. Now, let’s wind up our loom!
Materials:
– cardboard
– twine
– textured yarn in a monochromatic color scheme
– pipe-cleaners
– pom-pom trim
Tools:
– scissors
– ruler
– marker
Instructions:
1. Cut out a piece of cardboard to the desired size of your weaving.
2. Mark one-inch dashes on the top and bottom of the cardboard and then cut slits.
3. Using your twine, wrap the cardboard lengthwise sandwiching the string into the slits. You now have a loom!
4. Time to start weaving. Choose the yarn you want to start with and weave it into the loom going over, under, over, under, etc. For your second row you will weave under, over, under, over, etc. You will continue this variation until you reach the bottom of the loom.
5. Try weaving different patterns! For example only weave on type of string half way through, and then using a different string weave the other half. You can also play with different materials, for example, pipe cleaners, trim or rope.
6. To take your weaving off the loom, cut the strings at the back of the loom and then tie two strings to each other. Continue tying the strings together until you have tied all strings at the top and bottom of the weaving.
7. No wall hanging is complete without tassels. To make a tassel, hold one end of the string in your hand and then wrap around your palm until there is a thick buildup of string. Slide the loop off of your hand and tie a knot around the bundle. Cut an extra piece of yarn, tie and wrap around the top 1/5th of the tassel to create a little ball of yarn. Make about ten of these for the bottom of your weaving.
8. To attach the tassels, slip the twine through the top of the tassels and tie the two pieces of twine together.
9. Time to hang that weaving up on the wall!
We chose an 18-inch x 24-inch piece of cardboard to create our loom. Feel free to make your loom as big or small as your would like. Once you decide on a size, create one-inch dashes on the top and bottom of your board. Then cut those dashes about one inch down the cardboard.
Weaving Pro Tip 1: Smaller looms are harder to get your fingers in to pull your yarn, so we suggest using a yarn needle. Bigger looms will take a long time to complete, so try spreading it out over a couple of weekends.
Weaving Pro Tip 2: If you decide to create a smaller loom, measure out dashes so they are closer together.
Time to wind up this loom. Start at the top left and slide your twine into your first slit. Then bring the string down and slide it into the first slit on the bottom left. Bring the twine back to the top and continue the pattern until you get to the end of the loom. The slits are pretty tight so they will hold the twine in place. You can also secure your loose ends by taping them to your cardboard.
You are going to follow the simple pattern of over, under, over, under, until you get to the end of the loom. Your next row will be the opposite, under, over, under, over. Repeat this pattern all the way until the bottom of the loom. If you can see the twine from the loom you have messed up the pattern. By alternating under, over, etc you will sandwich in the loom strings and create a tight weaving!
To secure the yarn you’ll need to tie it onto the loom. This is extremely important; it will make sure your weaving doesn’t unwind.
Another option is tying your different yarns together. You can continue weaving with the knot; it will get hidden in the sea of yarn texture!
Going all the way across the loom can get boring fast. So spice it up by creating blocks of texture within your loom. To do this, weave halfway or however far across the loom as you want. After you weave your first chunk, grab a different textured yarn and fill in the gap. Make sure you weave into that shared twine on the loom. This will make sure you don’t create a hole.
Try weaving in different textures and trim. We played with pipe cleaners and pom pom trim. These really amped up our texture game.
We decided to keep a monochromatic palette and just play with different textures. If we do say so ourselves, it turned out pretty freakin’ awesome!
Time to take the weaving off of your loom. Turn it over and snip the twine. Pull the twine out of the cardboard and tie every two strings together in a double knot.
We are in love! However it looks a little naked on the bottom. Let’s add our favorite accessory: tassels!
Let’s refresh with a mini tassel making tutorial. First wind your hand with tons of yarn, cut the yarn and slip it off your hand. Use the cut end to tie the bundle together. Snip another piece of the yarn and wrap and tie it around the top 1/5th of the tassel. Snip off the extra ends and the bottom loops to turn it into a tassel.
You’re going to need a bunch of tassels. We suggest creating them using the different yarns featured throughout your weaving.
Slide your tassels onto the loom strings, tie in a double knot and snip the twine.
Much better! The tassels really complete the weaving and turn it into a statement piece of wall art.
We”ll be honest; we can’t get over this texture! Investing in a variety of richly textured and colorful yarns is definitely worth it.
We also created an off-white weaving. To amp up the texture in this one we added some thick nautical rope.
Pair your winter wall hanging with fun art that complements your weaving. A white room accompanied with the warmth of a winter weaving = YES PLEASE!
