Loom Weaving Tutorial with Hello Chiqui

Excited about today’s DIY loom weaving tutorial with Carolina from Hello Chiqui! We keep hearing about looms and weaving from our crafting readers and we were interested to get in on the action. Carolina sells awesome loom kits on Etsy you can buy to create your own. You can see her shop here.  While the steps definitely take some time, weaving can be a fun and peaceful activity that creates a beautiful piece of art or useful house item. Thanks Carolina for walking us through the world of weaving with a loom!

WEAVING TUTORIAL
ChiquiLoom Beginner Kit includes:
• 12”x16” frame loom (in calico bag) with instruction pamphlet • tapestry needle • 15 yards of warping thread • vintage scissors
• 16” wooden shed stick • 3 yarn skeins
Additional Materials Used:
tapestry beater wool roving wooden dowel

Glossary:
Warp: Cotton thread that runs lengthwise
Weft: Yarn that runs from side to side
Shed Stick: Wooden object that is woven into the warp: If placed in the bottom of the loom, it helps space the warp evenly. If placed on the top, it helps save time when weaving the weft to create a new row
Beater: Used to pack the weft into place (may use a kitchen fork or wide tooth comb)

Directions:
Warp the loom
Since we’re creating a small wall hanging, we’re starting off on the 5th tooth at the top of the loom.
1. Double knot the cotton thread securely from the tooth at the top of the frame. Leave about 2” of string hanging from the knot.
2. Wind the warp down around the corresponding bottom tooth, then up to the next at the top. Continue like this until you’ve reached the 5th tooth (from right to left), and finish with a final knot (at top of frame as well).
Make sure your warp is not too loose or too tight.
Rya or tassels
3. Cut four 15” yarn strands for each tooth, making it a total of 40 strands.
4. Starting at the bottom of loom, lay 4 strands over the 1st two warp threads.
5. Loop the outer sides of the warp and bring the ends of the yarn up through the middle of the 2 threads.
6. Finish by pulling the ends down tightly.
7. Repeat this until you’ve reached the end of the loom.
Plain or tabby weave
8. Weave the shed stick over and under all the way across.
9. Thread your tapestry needle with about 4-5′ of yarn.
10. Stand the shed stick, and starting from left to right, pull the needle through, leaving a 2” tail.
11. Bring the needle back through by laying the shed stick down and going under the 1st warp thread and over the 2nd, and so on until reaching the other side.
12. To prevent the weaving from pinching in at the sides, loosely arch the weft before patting it down with the beater.
When yarn runs out, tuck the end of the old piece of yarn behind the loom and overlap with new yarn.
13. Repeat steps 10, 11 and 12 until you’ve completed 10 rows.
Soumak weave
Because we’re using a thicker material, like wool roving, we’re wrapping around 2 warp threads. But with thiner yarn, we can also soumak by wrapping around a single or multiple threads.
14. Starting from the left side and leaving a 2” tail, wrap the yarn over the 1st two warp threads, then wrap around and then over the next 2 warp threads and then wrap around, and so on until reaching the end of the loom.
15. To bring it back through, repeat the same technique done on the previous step.
16. Plain weave the next 4 rows.
Triangles
17. Starting on the edges, the base of your triangles will be over 7 warp threads.
18. Weave 2 rows before deducting a warp thread on each side to create the triangle shape. Start off with 7 warp threads, then move to 5, then to 3, and finalizing the tip with 1.
19. Cut and tuck the end of the yarn behind the loom, and continue to create the next shape.
20. For the middle triangle, your base will consist of 6 warp threads. Just like the previous step, weave 2 rows before deducting a warp thread, finalizing with 2. Cut and tuck the end of the yarn behind the loom.
21. To fill the empty space around the triangles, plain weave around the shapes until the area is complete.
22. For the remaining of your wall hanging, plain weave and experiment with different colors and textures.
23. Finish off your weaving with 2 soumak rows. Removing weave.
24. Flip the loom over, and secure all the loose threads by tucking them under a series of 3 wefts (preferably of the same color) and trimming the ends.
25. To take the weaving off the loom, click apart the loom and remove bottom loops from teeth first. Cut the warp, tie a knot and trim the ends.
26. One by one, carefully unhook the top loops from the teeth. Wrap each one twice around the wooden dowel. Tuck the threads, cut the warp, and knot in the back of the weave.
Voila! Your first wall hanging is ready to display!