Artisan Works Weaving

Learning to Weave

by Sidney Eileen

There are many things that I am enjoying about having joined the SCA, and one of those things is the sharing of information on how to do crafty things.  For the month of March, the focus of the weekly Arts & Science meetings in my local area has been weaving.  The first two weeks were on inkle weaving, and the second two on basic card or tablet weaving.  This month I designed and created two lengths of woven tape.

This is my very first inkle weaving project, and my first weaving project ever. I took this photo while it was still on the loom, but I have since finished it. I created the design myself, and I like it enough that I plan to do another length in the same design. This piece, however, is not consistent enough to actually use on anything. I had a difficult time keeping the weft tension even, so I decided to deliberately play with the tension and see how it changed as I attempted to keep looser or tighter tension.   The yarn is all modern blends, mostly synthetic, crochet yarn. This is my very first inkle weaving project, and my first weaving project ever. I took this photo while it was still on the loom, but I have since finished it. I created the design myself, and I like it enough that I plan to do another length in the same design. This piece, however, is not consistent enough to actually use on anything. I had a difficult time keeping the weft tension even, so I decided to deliberately play with the tension and see how it changed as I attempted to keep looser or tighter tension.

The yarn is all modern blends, mostly synthetic, crochet yarn.

This is my very first card weaving project. After the difficulties I had with weft tension on my first inkle project, I expected to use this piece purely to experiment with the cards to create different patterns. I did this for the first few inches, and then I started into the pattern you see. I liked it enough that I decided to finish out the piece in the pattern. Every three diamonds there is an extra "X" of chevrons.   It's far from perfect, but it is pretty consistent. However, I used too much tension throughout the piece, so it very stiff and has a rippled texture to it due to the variation in direction of turning the cards. That means it really isn't suitable to use on garb, but I do plan to use it for something else, like maybe a fabric bag for carrying projects at events.   The yarns used are all modern blends, mostly synthetic, crochet yarns. This is my very first card weaving project. After the difficulties I had with weft tension on my first inkle project, I expected to use this piece purely to experiment with the cards to create different patterns. I did this for the first few inches, and then I started into the pattern you see. I liked it enough that I decided to finish out the piece in the pattern. Every three diamonds there is an extra “X” of chevrons.

It’s far from perfect, but it is pretty consistent. However, I used too much tension throughout the piece, so it very stiff and has a rippled texture to it due to the variation in direction of turning the cards. That means it really isn’t suitable to use on garb, but I do plan to use it for something else, like maybe a fabric bag for carrying projects at events.

The yarns used are all modern blends, mostly synthetic, crochet yarns.

I am very much enjoying learning how to weave, and plan to do a lot more of it.  I’m very excited about the design possibilities with the card weaving, so much so that I have already gathered the supplies to make myself some more durable cards out of wood.