Category Archives: tutorial & how to

June 14, 2012 · 9:31 pm

How to make yarn butterflies and upcycled wooden tapestry bobbins

Some people love weaving with yarn butterflies.

And some people (like me) don’t.

I love wooden tapestry bobbins and I love making each one a unique piece- and I especially like using upcycled wood to make them.

So, for those of you who like yarn butterflies, here’s a video tutorial on how to make yarn butterflies:

And, here’s how I make my one of a kind tapestry bobbins, which wouldn’t suit everyone, but I love them and find them to be a pleasure to use:

Start with a piece of cast off wood. In this case, a wooden plaque (don’t use chipboard or mdf ! This needs to be hardwood)

a thrown away plaque from a garage sale

Flip it over, and draw in the rough lines for the first cuts:

next, saw them into rough shape:

Working on getting more definition and shaping:

All the wooden offcuts are going to be burned in the wood burning stove in the studio in the winter- nothing’s wasted!

When the rough saw shaping is done:

I move over to the belt sander:

and I do a whole bunch of sanding (very carefully)

Did I mention that this is a really slow, meditative process? Yup.

Go slowly… and pay attention….

Then, it’s off to work with a bunch of different small sanding drums:

and files:

And more sanding:

and then, I draw faces on each one, and get out my wood burning tool and draw and burn faces and the year on each one:

Here’s a closer look:

I just listen to what each bobbin wants, and then I draw on their faces. Some of them crack me up.

Like the ‘Get to the Point’ guy… 3rd from the left…. I know, I am easily amused….

And, here they are, all wrapped up and ready to weave!

I hope that the photos will all open for you!

So, happy butterflies, and happy bobbin-ing!

Happy weaving! 🙂

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Tagged as how to make tapestry bobbins from upcycled wood, how to wind yarn butterflies, Mirrix loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, social networking for Mirrix loom, tapestry weaving, textile art, textiles, weaving

June 11, 2012 · 10:27 pm

Working with handpainted handspun yarn in tapestry

My daughter-in-law spins gorgeous yarn. Which makes me very happy.

Because, sometimes a skein or two finds its way into my studio.

Recently, she spun Merino and silk and dyed it turquoise and purple, separated by short sneezes of sunshine yellow.

I love it, and have been puzzling over how to use it in one of my new tapestries in a way that keeps the integrity of the colorway, while working across the entire width of the tapestry. Weaving narrow bands of it in vertical columns would not be a problem with maintaining the colors as units… but… horizontally- ah, well… that’s another cup of soup entirely.

I didn’t want to have the colors end up in little splats of one color arguing with another.

That meant working in short segments, weaving small blocks of each color.

I could have woven little squares of each color, with little slits that would need to be stitched or interlocked. Myech…

I sat down with my trusty little pencil and thought about this conundrum….

and came up with this:

If I started at the left hand edge, and wove a little triangle with one length of turquoise, then, I could use the little bursts of yellow to tell me when to nip down, and start a slanting wedge of purple.

This completely worked for me! I wouldn’t have any joins to deal with, and I could work each little section of color in order, so the colorway of the yarn stays intact.

It’s a happy solution to an interesting problem!

Tapestry weaving is full of nifty little voyages of discovery 🙂

My first little purple patch was not so perfect, but by the time I had woven across to the right hand side I was pleased with it.

Here’s the video:

Working with handpainted handspun yarn in tapestry

My daughter in law will be uploading some of her new yarns and batts and braids to her website soon. LINK

A pin a stick and a loop of string to open the shed

If you have a loom that doesn’t have a shedding device, picking up the warp strands for every row you weave can be a tedious process.

I like to use a stick, a pin and a loop of string to open the sheds. It’s a huge time saver!

I’ve made a video tutorial on how to do this for narrow bands, but this technique also works on wider pieces, too.

Pick up every other warp strand with a weaving stick (even a popsicle/craft stick or a paint stick will work).

Push that stick up to the top of the loom.

Now, use a knitting needle to pick up the ~remaining~ warp strands, to open the second shed.

You’ll be going over the strands that you went under in the first shed, and under the ‘overs’.

Take a loop of string (in this case, I used 2 string heddles from one of my inkle looms held together for more strength, and to make it easier to see in the video) through the open shed.

Pick up the end of the loop with a kilt pin, and then lift the loop strings between each warp strand onto the pin.

Take the second end of the loop up onto the pin, and close it.

Adjust the length of each section of the loop.

And, Voila! you now have a handy, dandy way of opening both sheds!

Here’s a pic of the shuttles that I make by upcycling old rulers and bits of decorative trim:

HOT TIP that I mentioned in the video: If you use a file folder as the separator/background thingie between the front and back of your loom, you can use the pocket of the file folder to park your shuttle and beading needle when you’re not weaving.

And, here’s the video tutorial:

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Tagged as heddles, hints and tips for weaving, how to make shuttles, how to open sheds on a mirrix or frame loom, Mirrix loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, shed sticks, social networking for a mirrix loom campaign, upcycled rulers, weaving sticks

June 4, 2012 · 6:49 pm

A neat variation on Card stock bobbins for storing threads and yarn

I love buying vintage crochet cotton at the thrift shop. It speaks to me of the hands that it has passed through, and the pleasure it has brought to other thread lovers.

I like to use it in my weaving, crochet and tatting, as it gives me a sense of connection to needlewomen of the past.

BUT… storing balls of crochet cotton can be a problem. Those hollow cores take up a LOT of space!

So, for many years, I have been upcycling old credit cards or pieces of cardstock to make bobbins like this:

Because, storing yarn or thread on a small flat bobbin is so much more efficient than leaving it on the cardboard tubes:

Last night, I had insomnia, and was thinking about winding off a pile of vintage crochet cotton, when I had a flash of inspiration!!

Instead of making chubby little embroidery style bobbins, if I made ‘dog bone’ shape bobbins, I could use my bobbin winder to speed up the process of winding them. AND, they’d take up less room, as it would be a longer, leaner shape.

I jumped out of bed, and started cutting the new shape bobbins:

And, winding up balls of cotton:

In a twinkling of an eye, I have compactly wound bobbins that won’t tangle with other bobbins, as the thread is taken through a slot and secured. Another bonus! No snaggles!

This shape of bobbin is great for warping the Mirrix loom, as it’s so compact. Yep – it’s a win!

And, they can be easily stored in unusual containers, like this:

I made a video to show how quickly and easily this works:

I haven’t tried using these bobbins for tapestry weaving, but I will, and will let you know how I like them.

I love making tapestry bobbins from wood- especially upcycled wood, so I will be showing you how I do that in an upcoming post.

Happy weaving, and here’s to creative ways of storing yarn and thread stash! 😀

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Tagged as bobbin winder, card stock bobbins, creative storage solutions, Mirrix looms, textiles, thread storage, upcycling, weaving, yarn stash

May 31, 2012 · 10:38 pm

Making string heddles for my Mirrix loom

At the beginning of May, a ‘new-to-me’ loom , a large Mirrix tapestry loom, arrived in my studio. (Courtesy of my son and daughter in law who picked her up in the city 4 hours away, that used to be her home- the previous owner didn’t want to ship her).

I immediately sat down and made a whole lot of heddles for her, as she didn’t come with them.

And then, I warped her up- ooooooooohhhhhhhhhh, I love how easily she warps! Bliss!

As I was warping her up and starting to weave, I thought…. ‘Hmmmm…. there must be a group for Mirrix weavers on Ravelry’

(Ravelry= the facebook of the yarn world)

I looked, and sure enough! There is a Mirrix group…. which I joined, pronto.

And the first thing I saw was that Claudia (the inventor of the magical Mirrix looms) and Elena, her talented daughter, had posted that they were accepting applications for their annual ‘Social Networking for a Mirrix Loom’ campaign. Link

Well… I had decided within hours of starting to weave on my ‘Joni’ loom that I wanted to fill my studio with Mirrix looms.

So, I sent off an application….

Um… I wanted to fill the studio with ~Smaller~ Mirrix looms!

MEANWHILE>>>> The Joni is one big Mamma, and even though I am tall, my arms are short, so I found that I was having shoulder pain.

My clever daughter in law subtly sneaked the information out of me that I was longing for the treadle kit for the Mirrix loom. Then, she orchestrated the family buying me the treadle kit for Mother’s Day! What a sweetheart!

To say that I was thrilled was an understatement!

THEN! on the 18th of May, was just tickled pink to hear from Elena that they had picked me as one of their team for the 4 months of the ‘Social Networking’ campaign. Whee! What a couple of thrilling days!

And, now… I am starting to keep my part of the bargain, which is to chronicle my experiences with the Mirrix loom(s).

So, since I began my Mirrix adventures with making string heddles, I am going to show you my quick and easy way of making the string heddles for the Mirrix looms (or inkle or frame looms, too).

And, here is the video:

How to make string heddles by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)

Happy Weaving!

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Tagged as how to make string heddles, Mirrix loom, Mirrix looms, Mirrix tapestry loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestry weaving, textiles, video tutorial

April 28, 2012 · 3:52 pm

How to weave a heart motif on a pin board loom

Hearts are one of my most favorite design motifs ever.

I decided that I should design a tiny little woven heart motif as a project for the ‘Stitch Red’ heart health campaign, and also work as an embellishment on a special ‘I love you’ scarf for my daughter.

Here’s the link to the previous post about using tambour crochet to embellish the scarf: Link

The yarn used in the heart motif is from Koigu, made specially for the Stitch Red campaign. Link

Here is the pattern to make the pin board loom to weave the heart:(Note: Print it out so the pattern is 2 inches by 2 inches)

Materials and equipment: a square of foam (I upcycled some packing material) that’s about 4 inches square by an inch or so thick.

34 pins or 1 inch fine finishing nails. (You may need a nail file to file rough edges off the tops)

A 3 or 4 inch square of clear plastic from a clamshell package or other recycled thingie.

Knife to cut the foam, scissors.

2.5 mm crochet hook

small tapestry needle

Instructions

1: Copy the pattern, and trim to fit the size of piece of foam.

2: Place the piece of clear plastic over the pattern. Push the pins into the dots.

Warping: The right hand arch of the heart is held vertical and the left hand arch is horizontal.

3: Tie 2 strands of yarn together (Note, you need to be working with fine yarn, like a sock weight) and place over the pin at the point of the heart.

4: Skip 8 pins, go around the next pin and down to the lower edge, and around the pin to the left of the pin at the point.

5: Go up and down across the 5 pins at the top and their mathcing pins on the lower edge.

6: Take the yarn up to th emifpoint pin (there are 3 empty pins above it) and down.

7: Go up and down across the next 5 sets of pins. There will be 3 vertical pins/nails left empty. Make an ‘8’ around the last set of nails to bring the yarn back down to the lower set of nails.

8: Weaving

Row 1: Weave hook from right to left: Over 4/Under 4 between the 1st and 2nd pins.

Make a loop of yarn and place it on the hook, then draw it through the warp strands. Place the loop on the 2nd nail on the right hand side.

Adjust yarn.

Rows 2 & 4: Weave Under 4/Over 4 across, pick up the loop of yarn, ease through, place loop on nail/pin.

Row 3: WEave Over 4/Under 4 across, pick up loop, ease through, place on nail on right hand side of loom.

Rows 5 & 7: Weave )ver 4/Under 4/Over 4/Under 4/Over 4… make loop, ease through, place on pin on right hand side.

Note: on Row 7, the yarn passes by 5 pins before it’s woven in.

Rows 6 & 8: U4/O4/U4/O4/U4 make loop, ease through, place on pin on right hand side.

Row 9: Working with top 3 pins only: U4/O4/U 4 make loop, ease through, place on pin on right hand side. (It already has loops on it, but not to worry).

Finishing:

Wrap the yarn around the circumference of the heart 2 1/2 ties and snip.

Working in a counter clockwise direction: Thread the yarn ends into a darning needle and lift the stitches off, one by one, stitching through them.

Some nails have 2 sets of threads on them, so lift the sets of yarn off one at a time.

Stitch over the long floating threads to capture them.

Stitch twice at the tip of the heart.

Untie the beginning knot and weave in the ends.

Adjust the circumference stitching to shape the heart, and stitch through the outside edge again if desired.

Weave in ends and trim.

The hearts can be used to embellish or trim scarves, hats, mittens, gloves, cowls, hair ornaments, bags, stuffies, dolls, toys, blankets, shawls, stoles, vests, coats, wall hangings, cellphone and tablet covers. The sky’s the limit!

Here’s the video tutorial on how to weave the heart motif:

I think that people might like to have a heart loom in wood, so I asked Donna and Gary McFarland of Dewberry Ridge looms Link if they would make them, and they said yes, so if you want one, drop them a note.

PLEASE NOTE: All content of this blog, including video, audio, written and photographed is the sole work and property of Noreen Crone-Findlay, and MAY NOT be used without my permission. Thanks so much!

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Tagged as easy weaving, embellishment, hand weaving, hand woven, heart health, heart motif, how to tutorial, how to weave, how to weave a heart on a pinboard loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, small loom weaving, Stitch Red, trim, video tutorial

March 13, 2012 · 5:06 pm

Woven Bunny free pattern

I designed a bunny for Lion Brand, using the Martha Stewart loom (which I love) 😀

and, the bunny pattern is now available, freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee on the Lion Brand website.

Here’s the link: Bunny pattern

Happy weaving! and happy bunny fun! 😀

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Tagged as bunny pattern, crone, findlay, free pattern, hand woven bunny toy, happy bunny, how to weave a bunny, Lion Brand, loom, martha stewart, Martha Stewart Looms, woven toy

March 6, 2012 · 10:12 am

How to make Edward Bear’s foot

A lady on Ravelry is having trouble making Edward Bear’s foot, so I am going to show some step by steps on how to do it:

Here is Edward Bear with his head and one leg stuffed.

His foot is turned up and the stitching is started along one side of the foot.

Here’s a closeup of measuring the foot- Stitch the edges together around the fold to stitch the foot to the leg- around the sides of the foot and across the top of the foot.