Finally! The loom is dressed – let the weaving commence! To start, I use toilet paper to spread out the yarns from the knots (I can’t take any credit for this lovely idea – Tammy Deck taught me that one!). The pattern of the fabric is a simple plain weave, which allows the gorgeous colors and textures of the yarn to shine. But, it also puts more pressure on me to do something interesting with the fibers.
I prefer to use a long, rag shuttle for the weft. (The weft yarns are those in the shuttle, versus the warp yarns which are threaded through the loom.) I’ll group anywhere from 3-8 yarns together and wind the shuttle by hand. The good news with this method is that the yarns play nice with each other. The bad news, it takes a little longer. But, I love the effect!
Because this will ultimately be cut into pieces for handbags, I don’t worry about the edges being perfect. The ends of the yarns don’t need to be worked back into the fabric like they would if the project was a table runner or a scarf. And the magic begins! Where I started with just a few tubes of yarn, now there is fabric! Once all the yarn has been woven into yardage, it’ll come off the loom and you can really see it! Stay tuned…