Patience, as the old saw goes, is a virtue – it’s just not one of ours.
In our Christmas Day column we mentioned that we were so taken with weaving on the featured children’s loom that we ordered an adult loom.
Well, we couldn’t wait for it to arrive, so we decided to take the advice offered in one of our how-to books and make a lap loom out of cardboard.
To our surprise and delight, the cardboard loom works very well for making one piece, so we are passing on the instructions for making the loom in this week’s Craft Corner column.
Make note, though, that we did specify the loom works well for one piece. Since cardboard bends easily, the notches – and the teeth formed by cutting them – get flabby pretty quickly and you’ll have trouble keeping the yarn in place for more than one project.
But making the loom only takes about 10 minutes, so having to do it for each project isn’t really a problem.
| WHAT YOU’LL NEED,
* Cardboard * Ruler or yardstick * Pen or pencil * Craft or X-acto knife * Yarn and yarn scraps * Long weaving needle * Scissors * Flat plastic ruler * Bulldog clip |
Here’s what you do:
* Take a piece of heavy cardboard (the size is up to you, but we used one that was roughly 12 by 17 inches) and, using a ruler or yardstick, draw lines on it lengthwise that are -inch apart. Make sure the lines are straight up and down.
* We marked 20 lines on our loom, but you can make as few or as many as you choose, depending on the width of the item you plan to make.
* With a craft or X-acto knife, cut -inch-deep notches on the top and bottom of the lines.
That’s your loom.
To weave on it, cut equal pieces of yarn that are longer than the project you’ll be working on (we made a scarf for our first piece) and attach them lengthwise to the loom to form your warp threads.
If you are making a scarf, leave at least 5 inches of yarn at the bottom of the loom to form fringe on that end, and leave the long ends on the top of the loom.
To begin weaving, take a flat plastic ruler and weave it over, under, over, under the warp threads and leave it in place.
Thread a long weaving needle with a piece of yarn that’s between 1 and 2 yards long, turn the ruler on its side and run the needle through the space created by the ruler. The crosswise yarn is the weft, and when it’s all the way across, flatten the ruler again and gently push the weft yarn into a straight line across. Move the ruler up to the top of the loom, keeping it in place.
Now you’ll work from the opposite side of the piece and weave the long needle under, over, under, over in the reverse pattern of the first weft thread, and when you reach the other side, bring the ruler down again and tap the second weft thread into place.
Turn the ruler on its side again and run the needle through the space, flatten the ruler and tap the third weft thread in place, move the ruler to the top, reverse-weave the fourth weft thread to the other side, and repeat this pattern until you run out of yarn or finish your project.
We used multiple yarn scraps to make our first scarf, so it was necessary to change yarns often.
It’s simple to do: just leave the end of the first piece of yarn somewhere in the middle of the weaving, thread the needle with the new color and start at the opposite side of the woven piece, pulling the weft thread across and leaving a 2-inch tail on the side of the piece. Pull the ruler down and tap the two wefts into place as tightly as you can without putting too much strain on the cardboard.
Tuck the 2-inch tail toward the center of the weaving, then pull the weft thread from the other side to be on top of the tail; tap into place with the ruler and continue weaving the new color.
Note: You may encounter different instructions in whatever weaving book you follow. The technique we’re giving you here is actually a combination of several suggestions. We recommend that you try different weaving techniques to find the one that works best for you, as we are just learning this skill and not an expert by any stretch of the imagination.
When you’ve woven to 3 or 4 inches below the top of the loom, you’ll need to move your work down on the loom so that you can continue weaving.
To do this, pull the warp threads out of the bottom notches and tie the ends off two by two to form fringe and to keep the weaving from unraveling.
Next, slip the warp threads out of the top notches but do not tie off.
Move the warp threads down the loom and fold the woven section under at the bottom of the loom and clip it in place with a bulldog clip to secure, then re-thread the top warp threads through the top notches and continue weaving until you finish your project. Tie off the top warp threads as you did the bottom to form a fringe and finish; trim both fringed ends to even them up.
Weaving speed will depend on the individual, but we finished a fairly long scarf in about 4 hours.
Contact Jonetta Coffin at jrocoffin@aol.com.
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