I am designing a whole lot of really fun projects using the Mirrix Chloe Loom and they all are woven using Tabby weaving.
There are a few things that I do when weaving tabby on the Chloe loom that I wanted to share with people, so I have made a video about these tips.
Here’s the link to the video. Oh my…. I had a whalloping huge learning curve to build the video, as the program that I was using is no longer in existence…. sigh…. challenges!
I hope that these hints and tips and hacks are helpful!
The knitted Clancy Comfort Bear is my latest design for comfort bears.
I designed it in honor of my beloved son in law who died last year.
Clancy was kindness incarnate and always kept several Comfort Bears in his pocket to offer to people who were having a difficult time. So, the Clancy Bear is a living legacy to keep his kindness unfolding in the world. With love in every stitch……
THE ‘HOW TO’ VIDEO FOR THE CLANCY COMFORT BEAR IS AT:
NOTE: The finished size of the Clancy Bear is determined by the thickness of yarn and size of knitting needles that you use.
WHAT YOU NEED:
Knitting Needles in a size that is appropriate for the thickness of your yarn,
Yarn: Less than an ounce for each Clancy Comfort Bear
A crochet hook that is appropriate for the thickness of your yarn.
Black 6/0 glass beads for eyes, Stuffing,
Black sewing thread and a needle that is small enough to sew on the beads, Tapestry or darning needle
Sewing machine thread in a color that matches your yarn (optional)
Felting needle, Tape measure, Row Counter, 4 small safety pins, Scissors or thread snip
INSTRUCTIONS: Beginning at the feet:
Cast on 11 stitches.
Rows 1- 16: Work in st st (knit one row, purl the next)
Place one of the little safety pins at each end of Row 6 and then 1 more pin at each end of Row 10.
At the end of Row 16, cut the yarn, leaving a 42 inch/105 cm long tail
Thread the tail end into a darning or tapestry needle and lift all the stitches off the needle.
Pull up to gather the top of the head.
Take the needle through the stitches one more time to secure them.
HEAD:
Sew the centre front seam using the Baseball stitch to the first set of safety pins. (see video for how to).
Take a couple stitches to secure the head. Remove the 2 safety pins.
Stuff the head.
Wrap the yarn tightly around the neck 2 times then stitch over the wraps to secure them.
EARS:
Take the yarn up to the side of the head at the top of the head and stitch over the knitting needle or crochet hook twice.
Stitch over these loops several times to make the first ear.
Repeat for the 2nd ear.
Take the needle back down and out at the ‘shoulder’ to be used to make the arms.
TUMMY SEAM:
Thread another strand of yarn or the sewing machine thread into a needle and stitch the center front down to the next set of safety pins.
Stuff the body.
LEGS:
Fold the cast on edge in half to find the midpoint.
Take the needle through it and stitch it to the end of the tummy seam.
Stitch in place a couple of times to secure it.
Squeeze and fold the edges of the front to meet the cast on edge, forming the leg with the corner point becoming the toe. It’s a bit like origami.
Stitch the leg inseam together, pulling up tightly.
Stitch the second leg inseam.
Secure at the middle.
Take the needle through the body to the back, and snip.
ARMS:
Take the crochet hook through the stitch at the shoulder where the yarn came out.
Yarn over, pull up a loop through the stitch on the body.
Chain by taking the yarn over the hook and pulling it through the loop on the hook.
Do this 7 to 9 times, depending on the thickness of your yarn.
Take the crochet hook through the shoulder on the other side of the body and pull up a loop.
Thread the yarn end into the tapestry needle and stitch the loop to the body.
Take the hook through the first chain stitch at the shoulder, and make a slip stitch in it by pulling up a loop through the chain stitch.
Repeat this for all the chain stitches, ending at the first shoulder.
Stitch the end into the body and use the felting needle to secure the arms to the shoulders and to bury the yarn end.
NOSE:
Take the black thread through the head, coming out at the center of the face.
Secure it with a couple of tiny stitches.
Make several horizontal stitches for the nose.
MOUTH:
Move down and take a couple of shorter horizontal stitches for the mouth.
EYES:
Take the needle up slightly above and to one side of the nose and sew on the bead for one eye,
then the other.
Secure the stitches by going back down to the nose and taking a couple of tiny stitches at the corner of the nose, then taking the needle back through the head. Snip the ends.
PANDA:
INSTRUCTIONS: Beginning at the feet:
Cast on 11 stitches with black yarn.
Rows 1- 6: Work in st st (knit one row, purl the next)
Place one of the little safety pins at each end of Row 6
Rows 7 & 8: Join white yarn and work in st st
Rows 9 & 10: Drop white yarn and work in black yarn.
Place 1 more pin at each end of Row 10.
Cut the black yarn, leaving a tail of 42 inches/105 cm.
Rows 11- 16: Work in white yarn.
At the end of Row 16, cut the yarn, leaving a 20 inch/50 cm long tail
Thread the white yarn end into a darning or tapestry needle and lift all the stitches off the needle.
Pull up to gather the top of the head.
Take the needle through the stitches one more time to secure them.
Stitch the center front seam of the head with the white yarn.
Stuff the head and wrap and secure the neck.
Take the black tail end out through to the shoulder and leave it there for now.
Work the rest of the Panda body, legs and arms the same way as the Basic Clancy Bear.
EARS:
After working the Arms, take the black yarn up to the top of the head and make the ears.
EYE PATCHES:
Take 3 small vertical stitches for each eye patch.
NOSE:
Take 2 horizontal stitches for the nose.
MOUTH:
Take 1 smaller horizontal stitch for the mouth. Secure the yarn by stitching through to the back of the neck and stitching in place the burying the yarn in the body.
EYES:
Sew the eye beads to the center of the patches. Secure the thread ends in the eye patches.
Sampling for a weaving project is a really good idea that most weavers often avoid doing.
But, weaving a small sample can give so much information to the weaver that it is a huge benefit.
Weaving the arms for the Saffron Teddy Bears is a win/win in the sampling department 🙂
The arms are small, but will quickly show you if your yarn is going to make a pleasing fabric for your teddy bear.
If not, then it’s better to make adjustments and weave it over again, rather than committing to weaving the whole body and then finding that the yarn doesn’t work.
So, start your bear by weaving an arm first.
You’ll be glad you did!
The link for all the video tutorials for the Saffron Teddy Bears for the 2022 Summer Weaving Challenge is:
The Saffron Woven Teddy Bears invited some wooden teddy bears and tiny woven bears to have an adventure with them, and then to join them for a picnic.
They climbed onto some tractors and into some wagons and even a bulldozer to ramble off to the picnic place.
The tiny Blue Bear of Happiness was thrilled to drive the clockwork tractor, but found changing the gears was challenging and sent the passengers tumbling a few times.
They didn’t mind, in fact it was kind of fun.
Jimmy Bear drove the larger tractor with style and his passengers enjoyed the ride in the various trailers, carts and chariots, but did find the heat to be rather intense. (It was blisteringly hot!)
A bulldozer was the ride of choice for a few of the Pandas and their friend….
All the bears sang ‘The Teddy Bear’s Picnic’ at the top of their lungs.
Sadly, the carved wooden teddys found the heat to be un-bearable, so they scampered back into the studio and sat in front of the fan to cool off.
The woven Saffron Bears were perfectly happy in their sun hats, so the sun didn’t bother them.
Jimmy Bear played his guitar and all the other bears loved it.
Two of the bears had brought along a telescope to watch birds, but were able to keep an eye on their carved wooden friends to make sure they made it safely back to the studio.
Only one of the bears had remembered to bring a parasol, but shared it when anyone need a little rest from the sun.
The pandas wondered if the grass might taste like bamboo, but the hot sun had dried it out so much that they decided to not sample it.
And two little bears leaned back in their folding chair and quietly dozed off right after this picture was taken.
The tiniest bears were so glad that someone had remembered to bring their travelling bed along and after some giggling and wiggling, they fell asleep, too….
While the Blue Bear of Happiness and Wee Brown Bear enjoyed the shade of their umbrella.
All in all, it was a fine afternoon on an incredibly hot and sunny summer day.
I designed and wove all the Teddy Bears for the Mirrix Summer Weaving Challenge 2022.
The Saffron Bears were all woven on the Mirrix Saffron Loom. LINK
The tiny Bears were woven on the Baby Duo looms from Hello! Looms. LINK
All the ‘how to’ links to the videos for the step by step process of weaving all the looms are listed on
L I N K (Note: They will be added one by one through the week of August 8 to 15, 2022 and will remain available once they have been released, so there is no time limit on getting the weaving done.)
Happy Weaving! And, may the teddy bears bring you delight!
When I started designing the Teddy Bears to weave on the Saffron loom from Mirrix for the
2022 Summer Weaving Challenge, I had NO IDEA that I would go down such an amazing Rabbit Hole
There are so many ways to weave the Saffron Teddy Bear.
Even though the same basic ‘recipe’ is used to weave all the bodies, using different weaving techniques and different weights of yarns makes each of the Saffron Bears totally unique.
Here are some video tutorials showing how to weave the variations of the Saffron Bear’s Body:
The Basic Body:
The Black Panda Body:
The Pink Panda Body (How to Weave the Body with Super Bulky Yarns):
The Striped Body (Tapestry/Weft Face Technique):
Some Notes about Tapestry Weave for the Body:
See the Teddy Bear’s Picnic to see all the Bears having a wonderful day:
This post is where I’ll be putting all the links to all the ‘how to’ videos for the woven Teddy Bears that I have designed for the Mirrix Summer Weaving Challenge for the summer of 2022.
The videos will stay up as long as I have a YouTube channel.
For starters…..
Here’s the link to the Summer Weaving Challenge on the Mirrix website: LINK
If you don’t have my book, you can order it from Mirrix, and yup, you’ll want a Saffron loom, too (it’s one of my most favorite looms ever- so adaptable!). LINK
How to carve a weaving hook from a chopstick using a few simple tools: LINK
LINKS TO THE POSTS FOR ALL THE VIDEO TUTORIALS:
INTRODUCTION: The Teddy Bears have a Parade and a Picnic: LINK
1- What is needed for weaving the Saffron Bears LINK
2- Saffron Teddy Bears- How to weave the Arms LINK
3- Saffron Teddy Bears- How to weave the Teddy Bear Body, with lots of variations LINK
4- Saffron Teddy Bears- How to weave the Teddy Bear Head and Nose LINK
5- Saffron Teddy Bears- How to Assemble the Teddy Bears LINK
6- Saffron Teddy Bears- How to Weave Sun Hats for the Teddy Bears LINK
7- Tiny Teddy Bears woven on the Baby Duo Looms from Hello! Looms LINK
I have been weaving up a delightful basket of bears for the week of Aug 8- 14, 2022.
That’s the week that I will be leading the Summer Weaving Challenge that is hosted by Mirrix looms.
The Teddy Bears will be revealed in their full adorableness and by then, I will have finished editing the heap of ‘how to’ videos that I have been obsessively filming about the making of the teddy bears.
The Teddy Bears will be having a wonderful picnic, and I will show how each of them (and those that are still in the works) are in fact, samplers of techniques in my book: Innovative Weaving on the Frame Loom.
I’ll be posting links for the videos for the Saffron Teddy Bears here LINK on my blog beginning Aug 2, 2022.
If you don’t have my book, you can order it from Mirrix, and yup, you’ll want a Saffron loom, too (it’s one of my most favorite looms ever- so adaptable!).
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