Tag Archives: Mirrix

“Imagine” Banner Weave Along: PART ONE: How to weave the narrow band

To see all the links for the ‘How To’ posts for the “Imagine” Banner Weave along, please go to L I N K S

To order the loom, book and extras kit for the Weave Along from Mirrix, please go to K I T

In order to weave the “Imagine” banner, you’ll need the following things:

Saffron Pocket Loom

Extender rod

Sandy Stand

Innovative Weaving on the Frame Loom Book

HERE IS A LINK TO THE BOOK AND SAFFRON LOOM KIT that is available on the Mirrix website. LINK

Other things that are needed for the ‘Imagine’ banner:

Yarn: Less than an ounce of each of the following colors: white, grey, black, pale blue, brown, beige

Embroidery floss: 1 skein of navy or dark blue

2 small black ‘e’ beads for the eyes and needle and thread to sew them on

Scissors

cardboard

a plastic page protector

a ruler

transparent tape

felting needles,

6 rubber bands

paper

long straight pins

permanent felt tip pen

plastic or metal ring to hang the banner

1 Weaving Needle (5 1/2 inches or 6 inches long with a blunt tip)

1 Shed Stick: a second weaving needle or 6 inch Paddle style bamboo Cocktail Skewer or a short dpn knitting needle

1 craft needle (short metal tapestry needle approximately 2 3/4 inches long)

-1 crochet hook: 4.5 mm crochet hook works just fine

PART ONE:

THE WOVEN AND EMBROIDERED NARROW BAND:

The narrow band in Albert Einstein’s hands is woven (with a couple of small modifications) following the instructions on page 171 of “Innovative Weaving on the Frame Loom” for the Alpaca Blanket. While it’s still on the loom, the word, ‘Imagine’, is embroidered using a simple running stitch.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1: SET UP THE LOOM so it is 11 1/2 inches / 29 cm from the lower set of pegs to the upper set. Lock it into the ‘Sandy Stand’.

2: WARP THE LOOM: Following the instructions for the Alpaca Blanket on page 171 of ‘Innovative Weaving on the Frame Loom’, put on 10 sets of warp strands.

Use 2 strands of #4 Medium weight (Worsted or Sport weight) yarn held together as if it is a single strand.

Skip 6 pegs at each side of the loom and warp the following colors, or your choice of colors:

NOTE: A ‘set’ of warp strands in this case means tying around one peg from bottom to top of loom and snipping it after tying the knot at the lower edge. The 2 strands of warp yarn are held together while warping the loom.

1 set of warp strands Black

2 sets Light Blue

4 sets White

2 sets Light Blue

1 set Black

3: Slide 3 rubber bands over the lower set of pegs and 3 rubber bands over the upper set of pegs to help keep the warp strands from jumping off.

4: Cut 2 pieces of cardboard that are 2 inches/5 cm tall. The piece that will go into the lower edge of the warp strands should be 5 1/2 or 6 inches/15 cm wide. The piece that will go into the upper edge of the weaving once it’s done can be just 3 inches/7.5 cm wide.

5: Weave the shed stick under 2/over 2 across the warp strands at the top of the loom.

6: Weave the longer piece of cardboard into the warp strands – slide it into the shed formed by the shed stick and push it down to the lower edge of the loom. This will make the warp fringe at the first end.

7: WEAVING:

NOTE: The instructions in the book say to pull in on the weft strands while weaving. When using the Saffron loom, that is not necessary.

With 2 strands of white yarn and a weaving needle, following the instructions in the book, weave until the weaving is 7 1/2 inches/ 19 cm tall.

Fold the shorter piece of cardboard in half lengthwise and weave it into the warp strands, then open it up. This will keep the weaving taut while you embroider the word, ‘imagine’.

The 2 pieces of cardboard – 1 at each end of the weaving are essential to keep the weaving in place while embroidering the letters.

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Filed under frame loom weaving, gifts & easy to make gifts & presents, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, Mirrix loom, Saffron Loom, tutorial & how to, weave along, weaving & handwoven

Woven Women – Three Sisters

Three sisters of the heart- tapestry/mixed media pieces that I wove and fabricated this summer:

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

On the left:  Woven Women- Asking for Miracles 36 inches tall
Center: Woven Women- Edith’s Song (no regrets) 31 inches tall
On the right:  Woven Women- Small Bird Sang and All Was Forgiven 36 inches tall

Woven on my Mirrix tapestry looms (16 inch wide loom and 8 inch wide loom).

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, Mirrix loom, tapestry, weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works

Folding stand for my Mirrix tapestry loom

I am pleased as can be- I’ve just built myself a spiffy new folding stand for my Mirrix tapestry loom.

folding loom stand (c)

I’ve done several variations on this loom stand – I began by designing a folding stand for my copper pipe looms LINK

And, then, used the same concept to make a very upcycled version from cardboard tubes and broomsticks LINK

For this version, I used conduit pipes and neat corner thingies to  make it, and it has worked out a fair treat!

Here’s the video that I made as I was building it:

The key to the success of the folding loom stand is a pivoting clamp- here’s the link to how I did that: LINK

I’ve signed up for Rebecca Mezoff’s online tapestry class LINK, and am looking forward to getting my Mirrix warped up and weaving on it.

🙂 I love my new stand! 🙂

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, Mirrix loom, tapestry, tutorial & how to, video tutorial, weaving & handwoven

A slightly different approach to the ‘No Warp Ends’ on the Mirrix

I hate wasting yarn… so I really don’t like loom waste – who wants to toss their yarn in the trash? Really 🙂

That’s why I love Claudia Chase’s ‘No Warp Ends’ technique for the Mirrix  looms.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

The one thing that I wasn’t keen on was using paper clips to be the holders for the yarn ends, so I thought about it and mulled it over.

Hmmmm….  I use ‘S’ hooks all the time to hang things and connect them, but I have never used them on a loom.

This called for some experimenting.

I don’t know about you…. but, I have a tendency to start with a really complicated plan, and have to do a lot of trial and errors to get to the elegant and simple final version.

I was thinking about all kinds of ways of making harnesses to hold the bars for the ‘s’ hooks…. oh my!

I also figured that I wanted to use both sides of the loom while setting up for this technique.

I had woven two affinity bracelets at the same time- one on the front of the loom, and one on the back, so this seemed to stick in my mind as ‘the way to go’.

Well… I twiddled and fiddled, and threw away the whole overly elaborate harness idea, and ended up using 4 loops of double sided velcro to hold the bars to the upper and lower edges of the loom.

That was a  big breakthrough- talk about a simple way to do this! Yay!~

And, I am really pleased with the final method that I came up with- it really works for me!

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

Here is the video, showing how I warp the Mirrix Lani using the ‘No Warp Ends’ technique, with ‘S’ hooks:

Happy Weaving! 🙂

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, Mirrix loom, tutorial & how to, video tutorial, weaving & handwoven