Learn the basics of using the continuous strand–weaving method on a pin loom with this subscriber exclusive and then practice the technique with a free bonus project!
If you’re embarking on your pin loom weaving career, or are ready for some clarifications, here are some 102-level basics. ***Remember, you can click on a photo to enlarge it; click the back …
Have you tried Zoom Loom Weaving? I'm here to tell you it's hella fun! Take a look at this roundup of unique pin loom projects and give this loom a whirl!
Here is my confession right up front. The reason that I have woven blankets and hangings and bowls and every possible thing that I could think of in little squares of woven fabric, a.k.a. "weavies", is that I LOVE weaving on pin looms. I believe that they represent the crack cocaine of weaving. Weavers all secretly (or not so secretly) know that weaving is addictive. It makes you feel good. It is calming and energizing at the same time. It gives voice to creativity and allows it a concrete, whole-body expression. The downside of weaving is that it can take a lot of time and space. Pin looms are little. The most popular size is 4 inches by 4 inches. You get all the good feelings of weaving in an intense little package.The downside (or the upside, depending on how you look at it) is that you end up with lots of little squares. The projects shown below are all proof that I love weaving on pin looms. A Victorian House This was modeled after a house in Tucumcari, New Mexico. One of the things I love about designing with weavies is that it gives a wonderful primitive look that I like very much. Nine Square Afghan The next several blankets owe their design to Amish quilts and, along with the house, were some of the earliest items I made. One of the challenges of using pin looms is joining them. If you look in the instruction books from the 40's and 50's, you will see clothing and blankets where the weaver tried to join the squares so as to make it look like a larger piece of whole cloth. It never works. You can always see the join lines. So I decided to highlight the the fact that these blankets are made from tiny pieces by incorporating colored patterns and using a joining approach that did not try to be seamless. All of these pieces, except parts of the house, were joined by using a single crochet around each weavie and then whipstitching them together. Amish Postage Stamp Blanket This blanket was based on a postage stamp that celebrated Amish quilts. It did not take forever to make but at the time it felt like it was going to take forever. Diamond Square It was only after I finished this blanket that I thought, "wow, those edges would be a great place to use a bias loom." Since then I have made some smaller throws using weavies and bias loom weavies and it worked pretty well. We can talk more about the ups and downs of the bias loom later. Minnesota Winter Blanket I call it that because it took almost a whole winter to complete it and it is too large to be a afghan, its a real blanket. I recommend starting a project like this in the summer, that way by the time you are ready to start attaching all the pieces, its getting cold and you may actually want to hold it on your lap. Dragon Blanket This is a picture of a blanket made for the daughter of a family who had a connection to the Renaissance Fair. I wanted to make something slightly feminine but dragony. It was not an easy pattern to carry off. I finally accomplished it by making a full sized pattern and then just weaving squares and filling in the parts. Making a blanket like this is such an adventure. I spend about a third of the time feeling lost, pretty certain that I'd taken on an impossible task. And then, somehow, it came together and was so much fun. And it looks great! Or at least as good, though different, than I originally saw it in my head.
Intimidated by large-scale pin-loom projects? Here are some suggestions for items you can make that need only 1, 2, or 3 pin-loom woven pieces!
Pin Loom Primer e-book by Marcella Edmund Instant Download, No Shipping! Not a Paper Book-- e-book for your computer. 12 patterns in the e-book for simple accessories and garments. This is an e-book about the different ways to weave pin loom squares and join them together. Familiar methods like crochet, sewing and knitting are used to assemble and trim the squares. Welcome to all knitters, crocheters, and weavers, who want to expand what to make with your crafts. Embroiderers will enjoy working with pin loom squares like aida cloth. Home sewers see the potential for machine assembly with pin loom fabric. Hand spinners find that pin loom squares are perfect to feature beautiful hand made yarns. The possibilities for pin loom weaving are exciting, and it’s fun to make woven squares! The pin loom is simple to use, and the weaving goes quickly. It gives a feeling of accomplishment with every square that comes from the loom. Detailed project requirements, diagrams and instructions are included for each pattern, with three sizes for garments. Yarn suggestions and helpful tips complete the chapters.
Have you tried Zoom Loom Weaving? I'm here to tell you it's hella fun! Take a look at this roundup of unique pin loom projects and give this loom a whirl!
Shout out to Brian Whitley for naming this pattern; his was one that jumped out at me as I read, and stuck with me later on when I wasn’t at the computer. I had a hard time selecting a name f…
Another stash busting project is finished. I made a pin loom blanket of a lot of the smaller skeins and balls of handspun yarn in my stash.
Imagine a group of extra-terrestrials gathered in a living room. They’re poking and prodding a…
A friend asked me to do a tartan pillow using her choice of four colours of fine wool. My first test was a gamp (trying every colour with every other colour). I knew nothing about tartan except that the same pattern of stripes is used for both both warp and weft and it is often woven as a twill. There are thousands of tartans. I was at a loss to design my own, so I found a four-colour tartan and copied the proportions. I applied my friend's colours to it and made a "tartan ruler" as a way to chart the warp and weft. From doing the gamp I realized that a full sized pillow with such fine yarn in pin weaving was going to be too daunting. I proposed a checkerboard sampler of 16 squares so that I can work small and modular. Eight squares will be tartan, and the other eight will be a two-colour twill. That way I can experiment with moving the design around on the tartan pattern and try a lot of different twill patterns. I'm nearly finished the fourth square and find them relaxing to make.
A little over a year ago, I ventured into this exciting publishing project: self-publishing a new pin loom weaving book. My book 100 Pin Loom Squares had been published 5 years ago and it had given…
Have you ever made a stack of pin loom squares and then wondered what to do with them? Me too. There is something so fun and relaxing about taking some variegated yarn and just seeing how the color…
Another stash busting project is finished. I made a pin loom blanket of a lot of the smaller skeins and balls of handspun yarn in my stash.
** CLICK ON A THUMBNAIL IMAGE TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL-PAGE PDF ** SQUARE LOOMS 1.2-inch / 1.6-inch / 2.5-inch / 3.25-inch squares (fine sett looms) 2.5-inch / 3.25-inch squares (fine sett looms) 1-inc…
A little over a year ago, I ventured into this exciting publishing project: self-publishing a new pin loom weaving book. My book 100 Pin Loom Squares had been published 5 years ago and it had given…
Weaving on a pin loom is easy and fun! If you've ever wanted to know how to weave with a pin loom, this tutorial has everything you need to know!
WEEK ONE Amber from the Facebook Pin Loom Weaving Support Group we host a weekly weave-along and she asked me to spearhead the project. I’ve never done a needlework-along before, but I said …
Unless otherwise noted, all diagrams are copyright Sue Burton, 2017. You may make copies for personal use only. Please contact me if you wish to publish them in any form. Thank you! Please see also…
Imagine a group of extra-terrestrials gathered in a living room. They’re poking and prodding a…
Abbreviations: P = plain weave U = under O = over Warp loom as follows: Layers 1 and 2: use color 1 (sample shows Caron Simply Soft “Lavender Blue”) At corner 3 change to color 2 (sampl…
Have you ever made a stack of pin loom squares and then wondered what to do with them? Me too. There is something so fun and relaxing about taking some variegated yarn and just seeing how the color…
30 May 2016 Update: I originally learned the “Houndstooth Check” pattern from the book 100 Pin Loom Squares by Florencia Campos Correa. Loved the square, but thought her instructions we…
Let's be real... basting quilts is NOT fun. I spent a couple of years finding a method that made it tolerable for me to complete this necessary task with minimal discomfort. Check out this video where I document my process of basting up to queen size quilts on my 60" x 30" worktable. Here are so
Pin loom weaving is becoming popular again! Here is a step-by-step photo tutorial, to help answer any questions that may come up as you learn how to weave.
I made a few of these woven coasters with the Zoom Loom a while ago and I thought it would be fun to show you how I made them. When you weave a square with the Zoom Loom, you will notice that the woven fabric looks like a grid pattern. I thought it would be neat to cross stitch a design on it. After a few trial and errors, I got the results I wanted. I found that using a thinner yarn for the cross stitching looked way better than if I used the same weight I wove with. When I tried it with worsted weight, the cross stitching was bulky and not as clean looking. I have seen pin loom coasters on the internet and often they just consist of 1 woven square. A coaster that is double sided is much more absorbent in my opinion. Also I like to hide the wrong side of the my cross stitching inside to give it a much cleaner look. That way, your coaster is reversible and you can also cross stitch on both sides if you like. THE MATERIALS - A Zoom Loom (Your local yarn stores may carry them or you can find them online. I got mine from The Woolery.) - 2 skeins of Worsted Weight Wool, each a different color. (I used Cascade 220.) - 1 skein of Fingering Weight Wool, in a contrasting color. (I used what I had from my stash.) - 1 tapestry/yarn needle - Crochet hook size US F/3.75mm Following the instructions for the Zoom Loom, weave 2 squares with 1 color. Cut a few yards of the fingering weight yarn and thread it through your tapestry/yarn needle. Cross stitch your design. On my coasters, I chose to cross stitch a heart. I suggest using some graph paper and coloring in squares to map out your design beforehand. Each thread (horizontal and vertical) of the woven fabric represents a square of cross stitch. To join your woven squares, take your finished cross stitched square (right side facing you) and put it on top of the second woven square. Be sure to match up your loops on the squares. Using your crochet hook and second color of worsted weight yarn, pull a loop of yarn through both loops of the squares. Chain 1, then SC (single crochet) into the next loops of the 2 squares. Chain 2. SC (single crochet) into the next loops. Another SC (single crochet) into the next loops. Continue around the squares to join them together. So the pattern for the edging is: *2 sc, ch 2; rep from * until the end. Finish with a sl st into the first sc. Cut yarn and weave in your ends. The final finishing touch is to use a iron to steam the coaster. Or you can soak and dry it. Just like wet blocking in knitting and crochet, it helps even out the woven fabric and the fibers fluff up. It really makes a big difference in the final results. Since it's just a coaster, I like to use the iron to steam it. I hope you give this a try. Have fun!
I had the opportunity to talk with some people from The Woolery who are now involved in putting together a special Critter Kit that includes gorgeous yarn, a Zoom Loom and directions to make one of several Critters. They were kind enough to invite me to talk/blog about pin looms, pin loom history, stuff you can do with them... etc. My only difficulty was that I felt bad about not putting the same material right here. And then I realized, I can do that. So here is the link for Pin Loom Weaving with Meg Stump! As it mentions at the end of the article, I am looking for pictures of pin loom projects, whether completed, still under way or stuck. I would like to put a page of all our works together, but I'm not posting it until I have a bunch so that no one has to worry about what someone else has sent in.
It’s only four inches across, and it weaves teensy-tiny little squares, but I’m enchanted by my Weave-It, which I found on eBay. I had one of these as a child, and I remember how much I…
Another stash busting project is finished. I made a pin loom blanket of a lot of the smaller skeins and balls of handspun yarn in my stash.
Invisible Join for Pin Loom Squares As You Weave: I love weaving squares on my pin loom, but I really don't like all the sewing required to join them together at the end. Even crochet joins take a lot of time and don't always look great. So I decided to figure out how to join the squares as I wea…
For the original post of this pattern see Hearts and Diamonds Overshot. This is a really beautiful pattern in the Pin Loom “overshot” technique. I have this theory that all “overs…
Quick Update - I now have plans for you to make your own adjustable loom that is much better than the picture frame! I highly recommend you check it out :)
