Category Archives: Ethnic Textiles

About traditional and ethnic weaving techniques.

Ethnic Textiles, FELTMAKING, Sami Band Weaving, WEAVING

Vadmal

March 30, 2018 Paivi Suomi

Vadmal (Wadmal) is a woven wool cloth that has been felted. Felting the fabric after weaving, thickens the cloth and makes it wind and water resistant as well as warm. Vadmal is generally woven in a tabby or a twill weave on warp weighted or floor looms.
In order to felt the fabric, there are two methods that can be used. The wet fabric can be pounded in a hammer mill for several hours in order to flatten and thicken the fabric. The hammering process creates a fabric that looks more like “real cloth” and produces a stable fabric with very little nap and the wool keeps its shine. The wool fabric can also be pounded and stamped by placing the fabric in a large bucket filled with water and stamping with your feet.

By Ida Dicksson – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42835466

Vadmal can also be felted using a wet felting method. The woolen cloth can be felted by hand by rolling or using a washboard and also by washing the fabric in the washing machine until the fabric stops shrinking. This process can take up to 10 machine washes. The wool fabric can shrink up to 60% in size. Wet felting creates a cloth that is fuzzier in appearance than one that has been pounded.

Vadmal cloth has been used for clothing since the Viking Age. Vadmal was so popular that the woven and felted cloth was used and traded as legal tender in many Scandinavian countries. Vadmal was a major export in Iceland and the length, width, thread count of the fabrics were set by law.
Vadmal fabric is still used today in most of the Saami traditional clothing, hats, mittens, bags and other items. The vadmal clothing is often decorated with pewter thread embroidery.

Digital Museum Norway

By Thorguds – Own work Photo by the owner of Saamiblog, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8056131
Saami Blogspot

Etsy
Look for Saami style vadmal and pewter thread bags and other items in my PaivatarYarns Etsy Shop.

How Vadmal is Made
Vadmal in Saami Clothing
Vadmal and Other Woolens
From Fabric to Vadmel
Viking Woolen Sails
On the Production of Vadmal Wool from Navajo Churro Sheep in New Mexico
Weaving Vadmal
Wadmal – Wikipedia

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Ethnic Textiles, Weaving Patterns

Greek Flokati Rugs

July 9, 2016 Paivi Suomi

A few years ago on a wonderful holiday to Corfu, Greece I purchased a beautiful sample of a Greek Flokati rug. It had been woven by my friend, Agathi the weaver, in Kassiopi, Corfu. She very kindly explained to me how these wonderful rugs are woven. The shaggy weft wool pile was made of handspun wool from local sheep. Her sister had done the handspinning and Agathi woven this fluffy rug that now sits on my rocking chair.

The warp and ground weft is a 2-3 ply wool yarn woven in tabby weave. The handspun wool is cut into 15-20 cm lengths and then laid in between weft sheds, going under 3 raised warp threads. A shot of weft yarn is thrown across, change shed, and then the weft pile is woven back through 2 warp ends. This locks the cut pile firmly in place. Then 3 shots of ground weft are woven in tabby, before another row of handspun cut pile is laid across.

Flokati or Floccata rugs have a long history in Greece dating back some 1500-2000 years to villages in the northern mountainous regions of Greece. Sheepskins were used for warmth and the long shaggy pile of sheepskin was duplicated by weavers who inserted the wool locks into their woven rugs. These shaggy pile rugs are somewhat similar to the early rya pile rugs of Scandinavia, but the method of knotting the pile differs. IN a Flokati the cut pile is laid across the weft. In a Rya rug, the cut pile is wrapped and looped around the warp threads.

The definition of Flokati: “A Hand-woven shaggy 100% wool rug made in Greece.”
In 1966 the Greek government set standards for the Flokati rug industry. The law specified that for a rug to be classified as a “Flokati, it must be hand woven in Greece and must be made of 100% wool (warp, weft, and pile). Total weight of the rug must be at least 1800 grams of wool per square meter. The Flokati must be subjected to the water friction process for the pile to unravel and fluff out.

In the 1960’s Trikkala was the centre of the flokati rug industry and the wool market was held there in May and handweavers came from surrounding villages to buy their fleece, weaving tools and cotton yarns. There was a factory headquaraters in the centre of town where wool was carded and spun by machine. Weavers wovek the rugs in their homes, workig on narrow looms, threaded with singles yarn. The tufts were inserted without knotting at irrgular intervals. Because the looms were small and the woven rugs were thick, they had to be cut off the front roller of the loom frequently. The pieces were stitched together to create the larger rugs.

After weaving, the rug was heavily felted by heavy beating and immersion into pools or waterfalls. The flokati rugs were woven in natural white or alternating striped natural colours of browns, greys and creams. Natural dyes were also used on some of the rugs.
Flokati Rug Sample
I had about a meter left of wool warp on my loom after I wove a number of handspun blankets, so I thought I would try to weave a bit of Flokati.

Using the same wool yarn as was used for the warp, I wove several shots of tabby weave.

Cut the handspun yarn into 15-20 cm lengths. I cut a piece of cardboard into a width of 10 cm and wrapped the handspun around it. Then cut the lengths of pile.

With an open shed in tabby weave, lay the cut pile ends across the weft, passing each thread under 3 raised warp ends. Repeat this across the width of the warp.

With the same shed still open, weave across a shot of the wool ground weft.
Change the shed.

I like to work from the right to the left, so I pick up the right side of the cut warp pile, and feed it back through 2 warp ends to the left. Repeat this across all of the handspun cut pile.

With the same shed still open, weave across a shot of the wool ground weft.
This locks the flocati pile firmly into place.

Weave another 2 shots of ground weft in tabby.
There will now be 3 shots of tabby weave between the row of pile.

Lay in another row of cut pile across the width of the warp as above. Each row of pile should be about 1 cm apart, with 3 rows of ground tabby.

I will be weaving this Flokati rug sample with different types of handspun wool, to see what works best.

When it is complete, the rug will be fulled by washing and beating in the bathtub, to fluff out the pile.

References:
CIBA Review 1969/2 Greek Contemporary Handweaving

Where the Greek Flokati Rug is King Chicago Tribune, Apr 4, 1976

Agathis
Agathi, a wonderful and talented weaver I met in Kassiopi, Corfu

Corfu Spindle
Learning to spin on a Corfu style drop spindle.

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Ethnic Textiles, Sami Band Weaving

How to Make a Tin Embroidered Key Chain

April 11, 2015 Paivi Suomi

Tenntrådsbroderi, or embroidering with pewter or tin thread is almost a lost art. The Saami used tin thread since the 1600’s to decorate their clothing. The tin was obtained by melting down old pewter plates and dishes and was spun into thread. The use of pewter thread has recently become fashionable in jewellery items such as pewter braided reindeer leather bracelets worn by actors such as Benedict Cumberbatch.

Tin thread is quite difficult to work with and requires a lot of patience and practice to make. This is a how-to project for making a reindeer leather keychain with tin embroidery.

Working with tin and leather can also be quite hard on your hands so if you have any hand, wrist or shoulder problems, please do not try this project. If you do this project or any other needlework project be sure to take frequent breaks and or work on a different type of project, to give your hands a rest.

Materials
You will need:
a small piece of reindeer leather, about 9 cm x 7 cm
a narrow strip of reindeer leather, 1.5 cm x 24 cm
Tin thread, about 1 meter length
a small square of wool felt, wadmal or a sturdy piece of wool cloth, about 7 cm x 7 cm
light iron on interfacing, linen fabric or natural cotton fabric, about 7 cm x 7 cm
fine leather needle
sewing needle
thimble
silk thread or good quality polyester thread
invisible sewing thread
metric graph paper
fine permanent marker felt tip pens

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The Pattern
Sketch the pattern onto metric lined graph paper. This pattern has been drawn on 5 mm lined graph paper.

Snowflake tin embroidery pattern — Snowflake embroidery pattern

Trace the pattern onto iron on interfacing using a permanent marker. I have marked the end points of each snowflake with dark blue ink. This makes it easier to see the end of the stitch when you are embroidering.

Iron the interfacing onto the back of the small piece of wool felt or fabric. In this example I have used a small piece of handmade wool felt but you can use wadmal (which is a woven wool fabric that has been felted) or other sturdy wool fabric. I have also used linen fabric for the pattern rather than interfacing, because I happened to have some in my stash.
I have stitched the fabric onto the felt using a basting stitch.

Tin Thread
You will need about a meter of tin thread for this project. If you have a longer length of tin such as on a spool, don’t cut it at this point. Instead I sew with it while it is still on the spool and cut the end when I am done, so that I don’t have any waste as the pewter thread is quite expensive to buy.

Tin thread comes in a number of thicknesses ranging from .25 to .5 in diameter. For this project I have used .3 but you can use a finer tin thread .25 or a thicker one if that is what you have on hand.

To make it easier to thread the end through to the back of the felt, you will need to unravel a bit of the tin from the core thread. The tin has been spun around a core thread. Pinch the end of the thread between your thumb and forefinger about 2 cm from the end. With your other hand give a bit of a twist to the thread. The tin will untwist and can be stretched out.

Starting at the centre of the snowflake thread your sewing needle through the felt and pull the unraveled ends of the tin thread through to the back of the work.

Tin Thread Embroidery
Thread a sewing needle with the invisible nylon thread. I find it best to tie a couple of knots at the end of the thread, one on top of another to make a secure knot.
Sew a few stitches to secure the ends of the tin thread to the back of the fabric.

Using the pattern drawn on the back of the work as your guide, follow carefully along the lines as you stitch the tin thread to the wool felt. Pull the needle to the front of the work, and stitch the tin thread to the wool felt. Work your way along the pattern being careful to keep the stitches in line with the pattern. Use very small stitches to sew the work.

When you get to a corner, push the needle through to the front of the work, and wrap the tin thread around the needle to form the corner. I give the tin thread a bit of a pinch to help hold the shape. Sew the corner securely in place. Pewter thread is quite soft. The thread can break while you are working with it, so do this carefully.

Once you have stitched your way around the pattern cut the tin thread leaving an end of about 2 cm. Pinch the end of the thread and unravel it as before.
Thread this through to the back of the work.

Reindeer Leather
Draw an outline cutting pattern for the key fob on a piece of graph paper and cut it out.

Using this paper pattern cut the embroidered felt to the shape of the key fob pattern.

Cut a piece of reindeer leather using the same pattern.

Put the cut reindeer leather and the embroidered felt together. Using the leather needle threaded with polyester or silk thread, stitch around both of them using a whip stitch. Fold the end section of the reindeer leather under and stitch into place.
To make the key fob a bit thicker insert a small piece of plastic or other thick material in between the felt and the leather.

Reindeer Leather Edge Finish
Fold the 24 cm strip of reindeer leather in half and cut a small slit in the centre. This will fit over the top part of the key fob.

Sew the leather edge to the key fob using small backstitching.

Paivatar Yarn on Etsy

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More About Sami Duodji
Sami Art of Tin Thread Spinning
Sami Reindeer Bracelets
What is Sami Duodji
Sami Open Braid Weaving
Beaivi Rigid Heddle Weaving Video

Saami Band Weaving Workshops

Beginner Saami Pickup Band Weaving Learn the basics of how to weave pickup using a Beaivi double hole rigid heddle loom.
Warp a Beaivi Loom Workshop Learn how to warp a Beaivi loom and how to weave pickup patterns.
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Saami Music – Itunes

Binna Banna – Kikki Aikio
Áphi (Wide As Oceans) – Sofia Jannok
Ulda – Ulla Pirttijärvi & Ulda
The Kautokeino Rebellion (Music from the Movie) – Herman Rundberg, Mari Boine & Svein Schultz
Beaivi, Áhcázan (The Sun, My Father) – Nils-Aslak Valkeapää

Saami Books
The Sámi People: Traditions in Transitions
The Sami Peoples of the North: A Social and Cultural History
Lapps and Labyrinths: Saami Prehistory, Colonization, and Cultural Resilience
Badin and the Secret of the Saami
Saami and the White Wolf
Talk Now! Learn Saami (Northern) (2015) (Talk Now 2015) by EuroTalk Ltd (2015-01-01)
Saami Inspired Bracelet Basics: How to make a Saami inspired pewter thread bracelet. (Saami Inspired Bracelets Book 1)
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Ethnic Textiles, How To, Videos, WEAVING

rya rug video

August 8, 2012 Paivi Suomi

How to Weave a Rya Rug on a floor loom. This rya rug is made of 100% hemp warp and weft. The video demonstrates how to cut the rya pile, tie the rya knots and weave the rug.

The backing for the rug is woven in a tabby weave. The pile for the rya knots is cut to a length of about 3 inches. To prepare the cut pile, wrap the rya yarn around a folded piece of cardboard and cut. After the rug has been woven, trim the rya knots to an even length. Weave about an inch of tabby between each row of rya knots.

Rya Rugs

Rya Rugs
How to Fix a Rya Rug
Hemp Rya Tapestry
History of the Rya Rug
3 to 120 Rya
Rothko Rya Rug Kits
How to Weave a Rya Rug

How To Tie a Rya Knot

Rya Rug Books
Hooked rugs & ryas; designing patterns and applying techniques
Techniques of Rya Knotting
Rugs: Braided, hooked, rya (Pm-832)
Handgenoopte C.U.M. Rya Tapijten

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Ethnic Textiles, How To, Rug Weaving, Videos

Rya Rug Repair

July 10, 2012 Paivi Suomi

Someone recently sent me pictures of a beautiful wool rya rug they had woven. Unfortunately due to wear and tear, the rya has a few holes in it, so they asked me to how repair the rya.

In my opinion, rya rugs should not be used on the floor, rather they should be considered to be works of art and hung as a tapestry on the wall. The weave structure is not strong enough in a rya to withstand floor use and often results in holes in the rug caused by abrasion of table legs or chairs. If you are unfortunate enough to have a rya that has developed a hole, here is how to repair it.

How To Repair a Hole in the Center of a Rya Rug
For the hole in the centre of the rug –
use a strong linen yarn. You may not be able to find an exact match but something similar will work just as well.

Do not trim any of the broken warp threads until you have finished weaving the repair into place – as you will need these for a guide of where to place the repair warp.
Start by sewing the linen warp yarn into the back of the canvas a couple of inches away from the hole
Weave/sew the linen yarn across the width of the rug – weftwise for about an inch or two
then following the first row of warp yarn that is damaged
weave the linen yarn along the warp thread down, weaving in and out between the weft threads, following beside the exisiting warp thread.
This will be like the top of a Z shape. Weaving across the weft first, before weaving down, helps to secure the warp yarn in place so that it doesn’t pull out.
This warp yarn should not show on the surface – except in the section where the hole is.
Then Continue to weave past the hole for another 2 – 3 inches.
Then weave in the second warp row, moving back up and again following the next existing warp yarn.
Continue weaving up and down, following each warp yarn until the hole has been repaired.
Alternate the placement of where you change direction, to avoid creating a bump in the rug.

Once you have rewoven all the warp yarn,
again weave the warp yarn in a horizontal – weftwise direction for a few inches, to lock the yarn into place.
This should be almost invisible from the surface of the rug as the rya shag will cover up the repair.

Now very carefully trim back any bits of broken warp yarn ends that are sticking out. Leave the original warp yarn that has not been damaged in place.

The wool weft backing can now be woven into place.
From the photo, it looks like there are about 8-10 rows of wool weft woven in each section.
Again, if you don’t have any of the original yarn, a good quality wool yarn of a similar weight will work as well.
Following along the existing weft yarn, weave the wool into place, over and under the new warp threads.
Again alternate the beginning and end of the weft yarns so that there isn’t an obvious bump in the repair.

Once the repair has been made, you can add the rya knots into the repaired section. If you don’t have any extra rya yarn left, you can undo a few of the rya knots that use similar colours and remove one of the rya threads from each knot and use these to fix the broken area.
A rya generally uses a lot of yarn so a few knots that are missing a thread or two will go unnoticed.
Hole in Binding of Rya Rug

To fix this, it’s a bit like darning a sock.
Using matching wool yarn weave both warp and weft to cover the existing hole.

Rya Rugs
Paivatar Yarns Rya Rugs Bespoke Rya Rugs made to order.
3 to 120 Rya
Hemp Rya Tapestry
History of the Rya Rug

Rya Rugs – You Tube

Rya Tapestry Books

Hand-made C.U.M. Rya Rugs

Techniques of Rya Knotting

Hooked rugs & ryas;: Designing patterns and applying techniques

Ethnic Textiles, WEAVING

Quilts

May 5, 2012 Paivi Suomi 2 Comments

19th Century Quilts

Mothers of Invention

25 Millennia of Innovation

Curated by Marijke Kerkhoven and Dr. Elizabeth Barber
19th Century Recycling

quilt

Handwoven Quilt
1890
Made from handwoven fabrics

Blocks are all handstitched

tufted quilt

Quilt sewn from handwoven fabric
Quilted with tufts of wool yarn

Handwoven Quilts

Hand woven quilt Pattern
A free quilting pattern that you can use with handwoven fabrics.

Twenty-five Stories

Japanese Kimono

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Ethnic Textiles, How To, Tablet Weaving, Videos, WEAVING

Card Woven Edging

April 22, 2012 Paivi Suomi

Card or tablet woven edgings have been used in Finnish and Sami textiles since ancient times. Blue Skirts and Golden Belts – Textile fragments have been found in Viking Age textiles of Finland. Card or tablet weaving was used for weaving belts but it could also be used as a woven trim. The tablet woven finish was applied to the warp ends of the woven fabric as a finish. In traditional Karelian clothing, card woven trim can be found at the bottom of skirts and aprons or as belts.
Sami Band Weaving
The Saami also weave bands at the start of a weaving project. Once the card weaving trim has been woven, the warp is then attached to the top of a warp-weighted loom to continue the weaving.

Tablet Weaving Pattern #102
The weaving pattern for this card woven belt.

Instructions for How to Weave a Trim to the Edge of a Warp using Card or Tablet Weaving

Fasten the woven fabric to a table edge. I use an art board and attach it using large paper clips. This helps to hold the fabric in place while you are weaving.

Weave a length of the card woven belt – If you are going to be using the trim as a belt then weave a sufficent length for the end of the belt.

Continuing on in the card weaving pattern, turn the cards 1/4 turn. Instead of weaving the weft with the yarn you were using, you will replace this with the warp ends of your fabric.

For the first shot, pick up 2 warp ends and pass these through the open shed.

Turn the cards 1/4 turn.
Pull the warp threads to adjust the tension so that the edge of the belt is snugly against the edge of the fabric.
Pass the 2 warp ends back through the open shed.

Turn the cards 1/4 turn and adjust the tension of the weft.
From the back of the fabric, pick up 1 warp end and bring this to the front and pass it through the next open shed.
Pick up 1 end from the previous warp threads and pass it through the open shed.

Turn the cards 1/4 turn and adjust the tension.
Pass the 2 warp threads back through the next open shed.

Turn the cards 1/4 turn and adjust the tension.
Again pick up 1 new warp end from the warp fabric.
Pass this warp thread through the open shed.
Pick up 1 warp end from the previous warp threads.

Turn the cards 1/4 turn and adjust the tension.
Weave back the 2 warp threads.

Turn the cards 1/4 turn and adjust the tension.
Continue weaving in this fashion, picking up 1 new warp end from the fabric and 1 warp end from the previous group.

In this example I am weaving the edging onto a wool and hemp wall hanging. The wool weft of the woven fabric that I used was quite fine, so I am picking up and weaving 4 warp ends at a time. If you are using yarn of different weights, you may need to adjust the number of warp ends that you pick up, to match the weight of the weft that you were using at the beginning of the belt so that the width of the belt remains consistent.
I am using Finnish Kalalanka weaving yarn for the warp of the tablet weaving. You can substitute with any good quality cotton yarn.

How to Weave a Card Woven Trim onto Fabric – You Tube

I made this video with my new Sony HD video Camera. I edited it with Vegas Platinum software. Please excuse the slight camera bumps etc – as I am still learning how to use the software.

The music was kindly supplied by

Moby Gratis.

Please check my PaivatarYarn Shop on Etsy for my new tablet weaving cards.

I now hand dye high quality worsted wool yarns with plant dyes that are suitable for tablet weaving. Please visit my shop on Etsy for more information. PaivatarYarn on Etsy.
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Small Loom Weaving

Spears Weaving Looms
2 Hole Weaving Reeds
Backstrap Looms
Tablet Weaving Pattern

Card Weaving Books

Card Weaving
With nothing more than colored yarn and simple cardboard squares, crafters can produce exquisitely patterned woven bands.

..more Card Weaving books

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ashford traditional spinning wheel

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Ethnic Textiles, How To, WEAVING

V-Neck shaping: aa030505

April 21, 2012 Paivi Suomi

As I wander through the numerous museums in and around London, and view the exhibits and artifacts , I see lots of intricate pottery in the collections. A lot is known about pottery because it is an art form that is durable and can withstand being buried for centuries. But textiles are fragile and often all that is found is small fragments, that are often overlooked by the archaeologist. When textile fragments are found they are carefully cleaned. They are brought out on display in museums for short lengths of time and then stored in carefully controlled vaults to help preserve them from the elements.

When I do come across the textile pieces I get quite excited, I look at them carefully and then often wonder, “Now, how did they do that?” Lots of questions come to mind whenever I look at an ancient textile.

As weavers and handspinners, we appreciate the work that can go into a piece of fabric. We know what was involved in the processing of the cotton, hemp, linen or wool. The work that was needed to clean and scour the fleece, or to harvest and rett the flax, and then hours involved in handspinning the yarn.

If the garment was dyed, then what was involved in the dye process? The dyeplants would have been gathered in season, and prepared for the dyebath. The yarn would have been mordanted and then dyed.

And if the piece was woven, what type of loom was it woven on? How many shafts? Is there a pattern? The warp would have been carefully planned and calculated. What was its use? Who was it for? How many threads per inch? How should the yarn be spun? At what twist? The weaver of this cloth of ancient time would have had many of the same thoughts in mind as we do now when we plan our projects.

During an afternoon touring the British Museum, in London, I noticed this handwoven cotton top. On closer examination, I realized that the V-neck had no sewn selvages, so I think it must have been shaped on the loom.

This particular piece of work has been on my mind for some time. How was it shaped? How could I duplicate this piece of work? I had an idea and to test my theory of the shaping of the neck of this garment, I tried it on the end of a hemp warp that I had on my loom.

I tested the weaving for the neckline, but still have further questions and things to explore at another time. There is some sort of pattern at the bottom egde of the garment. And how was the fringework done?

woventop70.jpg, 109860 bytes

woventop72.jpg, 103177 bytes

cottongarment71.jpg, 30702 bytes

Cotton Garment
3rd-4th Century ADFrom Qasr Ibrim
This section of undyed cotton formed part of a garment resembling the modern ‘bikini’
top
British Museum, London, UK

On closer examination, it looked like the V-neck had no sewn selvages, so I think it must have been shaped on the loom.

To test my theory of the shaping of this garment, I tried the technique on the remaining yardage of a hemp warp that I had on my loom.

I had previously woven a couple of hemp shawls on this warp and had about a yard of warp left to weave.

Warp:

3 ply white and natural hemp, random warp dyed with Cochineal, Madder

Sett: 10 epi

No. Ends:200

Armhole Shaping:

Starting at one of the outside selvages (left side), I cut one warp thread at the selvage (at the back of the warp) and wove it as weft to the opposite edge (right side). I changed sheds and wove it back across 3 ends, to make a clean edge finish.

Working from the right side this time, I cut one warp thread on the right selvage edge at the back of the loom, and wove it across to the left selvage. I changed sheds and wove this back 3 warp threads.

I continued on in this fashion for about 1 -2 inches, cutting 1 warp thread at a time and weaving it across and tucking it back into the edge. The weft ends can be cut after the warp is removed from the loom. Sometimes I find it easier to trim them as I am weaving.

V-Neck Shaping

To start the beginning of the V-neck, I cut 1 warp thread from each side of the warp and using it as a weft yarn, wove it to the centre of the warp. I changed sheds and then wove the warp thread back to the outside edge, tucking it in as before.

Then I cut 2 warp threads from the centre of the warp (at the back of the loom)

Treating them as a weft yarn, I wove them to the outside edge, changed sheds and wove them back to the centre.

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I then continued on weaving, alternating with cutting the 2 outside edge warp threads and the next 2 centre threads.

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The weft threads can be trimmed as you are weaving, or can be left and trimmed after the fabric is off the loom. I have trimmed the weft threads on the right side of this but left them on the left side.

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The British Museum
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Handweaving Books

Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times
New discoveries about the textile arts reveal women’s unexpectedly influential role in ancient societies.
Twenty thousand years ago, women were making and wearing the first clothing created from spun fibers. In fact, right up to the Industrial Revolution the fiber arts were an enormous economic force, belonging primarily to women.

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Paivatar Yarn on Etsy

Saami Band Weaving Workshops

Saami Music – Itunes

Rya Rugs

Rya Rugs – You Tube

19th Century Quilts

Handwoven Quilts

Instructions for How to Weave a Trim to the Edge of a Warp using Card or Tablet Weaving

How to Weave a Card Woven Trim onto Fabric – You Tube

Small Loom Weaving

Card Weaving Books

Warp:

Armhole Shaping:

V-Neck Shaping

Handweaving Books

Your guide to all fiber arts