..but then I discovered the speed wasn't even the best part. I´ll tell you why.

I've taken part several times in charity campaigns where people knit or crochet squares that are collected and later joined into blankets.

I always felt for the volunteers doing the joining, because the squares would arrive in different sizes, yarn weights, stitches and tension.. putting them together could become quite a puzzle.

And there was another problem: getting enough squares. Because making each one could take hours.

So as I like weaving, I started using a square pin loom in the size the campaign required. The good news? I could weave a square in about 20 minutes!

But when we started joining them, I realized that was actually the best part. The pins keep the size consistent, the weaving is the same on all four sides, and both sides are identical. Fantastic!

I ended up teaching several volunteers to weave them. We could make enough squares much faster, and joining the blankets became surprisingly enjoyable.

They're woven on the bias too, which makes playing with color really fun.

I wrote more about how this works here: https://ullvuna.wordpress.com/2022/08/27/make-blankets-with-woven-squares/

Would you try making a blanket this way?

I just finished this project and I knew from sampling that the yarn changes drastically after it's washed. So I took a photo of this scarf before it was washed and after it was washed. The difference is incredible. The lighting difference makes it look like it's a different scarf, but I swear it's the same lol. The yarn is Harrisville Shetland 1800 yards per pound. I hated it because it's too rustic, although washing it dramatically improved the hand feel.

Sending it off for marking tomorrow 🥰

Rather than thinking of a large tapestry as one big story made up of different figures and motifs, I like to approach it from the opposite direction: start with a small square module and let the larger image emerge through repetition.

For example, a 4×4" square is easy to weave, carry around and small enough to experiment with. By repeating it across and down, you have the foundation for something much larger.

But I don't think the modules have to be exact copies of each other, small shifts in color can completely change the feeling of the overall piece. The same geometric structure can become more minimalist, modern and restrained, while still leaving room for the viewer to interpret it in their own way.

This is a pattern I designed a few months ago called Kukkien Friends (“Flower Friends” in Finnish). I like this pattern because, to me, it expresses exactly this idea.

And yet, when I imagine the pattern repeated on a much larger scale, I can't help but see a beautiful field of colorful flowers in it :)

I do have a few more 4×4" patterns that I've been experimenting with. I put some of them together here if you'd like to try them here.

Hello Weavers,

I would like to buckle down and get serious. I know I’m supposed to be sampling and note taking, and I am coming clean and admitting I haven’t done any of that.

I’d like to start taking detailed project notes, but I am curious at how all of you experienced weavers format and catalog your knowledge. I have tried to take notes, but it gets chaotic as setts and random details change on the fly, and I end up just scribbling random numbers down in circles. I will have four setts written down on one page. Which one did I use? I don’t know! How are you all handling this?

Also, this might be a crazy ask, but if someone was willing to share an image of a page of their notes, I would be very grateful. I’d also copy your formatting and adopt it as my own.

​

loom to living tapestries: Keeping a generations-old legacy alive in Egypt.

I am Mohamed Mohye, an Egyptian hand-weaving artist from Fowa. I inherited this craft from my father and grandfathers, starting at just 5 years old on a tiny 4x8 inch wooden piece. Back then, my father secretly paid a local shopkeeper to buy my simple geometric crafts just to keep my childhood smile alive and fuel my passion.

Over the decades, my skills evolved. I now spend up to 10 hours a day in silent, romantic contemplation, meticulously blending pure cotton warp and rich wool weft to make these detailed artworks come to life with realism. For me, it has never been about wealth; my only goal is pure excellence, mastery, and always challenging myself to surpass my last creation.

Handmade art takes months of silent patience and hard work, and sharing it with people who appreciate true craftsmanship is what keeps my loom spinning. I would love to hear your thoughts on my work!

I love creating patterns that can be adapted to different techniques. Sometimes a small adjustment is enough to discover that a pattern can do much more than you originally thought.

That’s what happened with my 4x4" square patterns.

When I first started weaving them, I only used them with their original loom, which has the pins arranged in groups of three and works with several layers of warp.

But then I realized I could reproduce them on a regular pin loom (equal distance between pins), as long as it had 31 pins, the same number of rows as the 4x4" loom.

The pictures explains it better: I made the Poinsettia 4x4" pattern and made it three times larger on a regular loom, the kind you could even build yourself.

Because the pins are farther apart, you need thicker yarn, which also opens up new possibilities: crochet, making a thick cord from several strands, using a knitting mill, etc. In this case I used a thick t-shirt yarn I had in 2 color shades.

Once it was finished, I turned it into a small decorative cushion.

I love when a pattern stops being limited to one technique and becomes a starting point for experimentation.

If you’d like to try adapting a 4x4" pattern, I’ve shared the steps in this blog post.

I've been thinking about color-and-weave effects and I wanted a way to try out ideas quickly without setting up a full project in drafting software.

https://thoughtsvisions.net/apps/weaving/

It works in color rhythms (like AABB or ABBA) rather than individual threads, composed into zones across the warp and weft. The unit of thought is the rhythm, not the thread.

It also has proportional scales for color distribution, a gradient generator, some layout presets, and a recipe output with warping order by zone.

Free, viewable source, 100% javascript. No account needed, runs in your browser. It's a work in progress and feedback is welcome. Hoping other weavers might enjoy it.

Hi all, I've been working on this website app for quick experimenting with weaving drafts. There is no login or accounts at all and it runs in your browser.

https://asunder.co/bower

Having studied math in college, the problem solving of the threading/treadling/tie-up interactions has always fascinated me. So I built a dobby loom from scratch earlier this year... that led me to building this online drafting playground... and now I'd love to share my passion project here!

I'm currently working on algorithms to directly edit the drawdown and compute the optimal draft assignments. Thinking about block substitution as well, but I have more textbook readings to do...

This is definitely a work in progress and feedback is more than welcome. Curious to know what people might want as features. Hoping other weavers might find it useful!

Apparently there's no way to edit photos on a post. I apologize.

I got tired of the noise and sore trigger finger from using my cordless drill, so I went old-school.

Manual hand drill: $20

Scrap wood (2x3, cabinet underlay, flat and corner molding): $0

Wire brads from a staple gun: $0.10

Zip ties: $0.05

Bamboo skewer that just happened to be the right size: $0

Paper straws, lot of 100, cut in half: $4

It's quiet, ergonomic, and efficient. If I wanted to be fancy, I could use one of the bobbin winder spindles that sell for a few bucks, since the chuck is the same as what a cordless drill uses. The paper straws work as quills in all of my shuttles.

The best $25 tool I've gotten in a while.

My regular spot to get warping yarn stopped carrying it and I was in the hunt. Found Ability Weavers online and appreciated their mission-based business model. I was blown away by how helpful they were. They emailed me about some additional color options and my yarn arrived with a signed card 🥹 Will be ordering all my yarn from them!!!

In the Chenango Highlands of Central New York, I’ve been working to rebuild something that once lived here: a complete pathway from raw fiber to finished cloth, made entirely with 18th‑ and 19th‑century tools, techniques, and traditions.

It started with a few handfuls of flax seed and a collection of old wheels and looms — the kind built for human rhythm, not industrial speed. From that work, two small efforts have taken root:

🌾 CNY Flaxseed to Fabric Initiative
A community effort to grow flax and process it the old way: planting, pulling, retting, breaking, scutching, and hackling with historic tools and methods. We’re building simple standards to guide the work toward strong, fine fiber.

🧵 Heritage Cloth Makers Guild
A small guild forming around the deeper craft traditions of the 18th and 19th centuries: spinning, weaving, finishing, and the knowledge of tools and lineage that make real cloth possible. We’re learning from the ground up, connecting to the land, the animals, the history, and each other.

Both projects are still small, but steady and open to anyone who feels called to this kind of work. If you’re a weaver, spinner, grower, or someone who loves the old ways, you’re welcome to join us or simply follow along.

I’d love to connect with others doing similar work.

I should've titled it sleying in bed 🤣

Sharing in case it helps anyone.

I used to sley at the loom and I live with chronic pain and that was the most brutal part of dressing the loom for me.

I used to warp back to front, but my bestie suggested trying front to back bc it spreads the warp nicely. I tried it and wasn't sold until I realized sleying the reed first meant I could do it from a comfortable spot on the couch (or my bed bc my loom is in my room). Life changing.

She'd never thought to do that so I thought I'd share in case it helps anyone else.

When I'm done, I put the reed back in the loom with the chained warp facing out and the short ends in to start threading ☺️

Cat familiar = Sobek 🐈

Thanks to whoever said to another user that they should try Ravelry for a loom.
I posted yesterday and have managed to get myself the loom I fell in love with for no more than the cost to pick it up!

I'm weaving tea towels for the first time. 8/2 cotton. I read everywhere you need to tumble dry these after washing before hemming. I don't own a dryer and also not able to get one (doesn't fit my tiny apartment). And going to a gas station (they have massive dryers there) with two woven tea towels and pay 8 euros... lol, not a great idea. So wondering... possibly I am not the only one with no dryer and who weaves. How to do the wet finishing?

Hi, I'm an art student and I want to weave a big tapestry for my diploma, I've never done that before so I know this is quite ambitious.

I would like to know how much centimeters the spaces between each warp should be in order to get a pretty detailed work (like medieval tapestries or at least Grayson Perry's tapestries), I built my own loom and left 0.5cm between each warp but I'm scared it's too spaced, can I just double the thread?

I would also like to know if it's possible to make the tapestry in several parts and sew them together at the end (my loom is only 1m long and I would like the final work to be at least 3 m long)

Hello! I am semi-new to weaving. I have a Schacht Cricut RHL that I just upgraded to a four-shaft with the Cricut Quartet. I cannot get the concept of reading a draft and how it correlates with the levers and what you do with the shuttles. I would greatly appreciate resources to help me understand these concepts. TIA!

LINK: Warpseed

I wanted something that would give me combinations I wouldn't think of myself. You can have between four and ten colors and it will put it in a stripe sequence for you. Then you can download it as a WIF if you like. It uses language strings as the seed so once generated, the combination remains addressable.

Happy to hear feedback and suggestions. I think it is fun. A bit like bird watching.

I'm interested in learning to weave, tapestry weaving specifically. There's a class I'm thinking of taking. Do I need to take a class? I'm a crafter and know how to knit and crochet. Would an online class be sufficient? I can also learn from books. Just wondering if the class would be worth the money and the drive. Thanks.

Old School Wool and Weaving Center in Central NY specializes in weaving on Early American looms and preserving the skills of the home textile weaver from 1750 to modern day. Seen here are two variations woven after the original swatch from 1825, Homer, New York. The weavers were the Miles - Andrews family - 3 generations weaving cloth in Cortland, County, N.Y. by hand. The large blocks on the right, is the original pattern modified to be a woolen throw blanket. The smaller, lighter colored cloth on the left is the pattern adapted to linen cloth, done in both twill weave and plain weave. The small swatch on the top of both, is the original, taken from a piece of clothing, woven in 1825.

If you are interested in learning to use these heritage tools of the 18th and 19th century to weave cloth as was done in Early America, and to preserve and pass on the knowledge for future generations, you can learn more on Facebook : Old School Wool and Weaving Center - The Journey. Upcoming classes to be listed soon.

I have been using more roving and loosely spun fiber as weft for texture and color blending this year, and it’s really opened up the work. problem is sourcing. I need heritage breeds and specialty fibers, Every project ends up coming from a different shop, which means multiple orders, shipping charges, and way too much time figuring out who carries what. Would love to narrow it down to one or two suppliers if anyone knows a source with real variety in one place.

I have a rigid heddle loom (Willowdale) and I've mastered (?) houndstooth and log cabin. Can anyone suggest a new pattern to try? FYI the works above are all using Yonkey Monkey cotton/bamboo yarn with 6.5 dent heddle. These are all dinner napkins which I'm making for Christmas and House Warming gifts.

I've seen a few posts here showing industrial loom woven jacquard blankets and such. To own a jacquard loom is as someone said, "a tad pricey".

I follow LMRMChicago on insta. If you learn the software and take their operation courses, you can, IIRC, go in and weave on a big old honkin' TC2 jacquard loom. It's something like $50-$75 bucks a yard, depending on the warp they have on it, but if you want to do a one-of-a-kind woven panel this might be a thing.

I did a quick math in my head and to train yourself up, then rent the loom and do the weaving, it would be SOOoooOOOoooo much less expensive than actually owning a TC2. YMMV of course, but every time I see something come off those looms, I'm like maybe I'll get to do that before I'm 80.

Anyway-for all you really talented folk out there- check it out. And there may be other maker type spaces that offer big over 16 shaft looms for rent.

If I've got this story wrong, please correct me! But how cool would that be????

Happy Weaving!

Hello expert weavers!

I am looking for resources on how to combine tablet weaving and floor loom weaving, both on the warp end and selvedge end of the fabric. For context, I have been tablet weaving for over a year and am proficient at that skill, but I'm only on my 4th project on the floor loom so I have more to learn there.

I currently have a shawl project on my loom and want to finish the warp ends with tablet weaving. I've seen people use the warp fringes from the loom as weft for a tablet woven binding, but I have some questions about how that works. I am weaving at 20 EPI, and I am not sure if it is best practice to use the same weight of yarn as the tablet weaving warp or to use a larger warp and weave multiple ends per pick of tablet weaving. I'd love to hear from experience how this works.

Then for my next project, I am considering trying adding tablet weaving to the selvedge of a floor loom woven piece, but I am also not sure how to best go about this, especially given that the tension/EPI is so different in tablet weaving vs a balanced weave on the rest of the fabric. I assume I need to put all of the strands for a single card through the same reed dent and not through a heddle, but is there anything else I need to consider?

Thank you all!

I'm seeking recommendations from people who have taken intermediate-level online weaving classes. I'm currently in season 7 of Jane Stafford's School of Weaving, but that's not enough to keep me off the news until November, so I'm considering adding either School of Sweet Georgia or Handweaving Academy. If you've done either one and have an opinion, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Also, Laura Fry is offering a seminar series based on the Intentional Weaver for approximately the same price. What I want from a class is to either improve the quality of the cloth I produce or to learn design concepts that will help me be more confident in planning my own projects. What would you do if it were you?