Things have moved along since I came across Margaret Jager and the exquisite red shawl from squares produced on a weave -it loom she made from an old book.
The creator of the pattern for the shawl is Jana Trent at Eloomanation. There is a wealth of information on weave-it looms at that site.
I decided to make a large weave-it loom and used this 10 in by 20 in frame from the free pile at a church sale. The idea of a rectangle appealed to me. And a modular piece of weaving that is simply warped back and forth in two layers with the third layer being the weft and then can be lifted off the loom – completed – wow!
Here is the template for where to place the brads (headless nails); the corners are the important part – I adjusted for the sides.
The warp threads are heavy duty Irish trolling line (a fibre archeology find at a thrift store dig) and it has taken me several days since the warping to decide on the weft. I wanted something light and airy to contrast with the warp; something substantial to hold its own; something that could still be threaded through the eye of the long metal bodkin because the warp is taut and there is no easy shed as in my backstrap loom so I wanted to be able to weave the weft in and out.
Many ideas came to mind. Cheesecloth, muslin, netting ….. I had come across (and been given) two brand new nylons which were not a pair at the weekly church sale . ("Why on earth do we have two odd nylons and no one would buy them who planned to wear them," the church lady said. I had not planned to wear them; pot pourri twists were what I had in mind.)
What would happen if I used the nylons as the weft – but first put some of the fallen bushmint leaves and dried daffodils into them. The nylon would keep the pot pourri secure but release the scent nicely.
Well, it is working. The fragrance of weaving with scented plants enhances the experience of playing thusly with fibre.
The nylons provided a line of weft for one complete round. Then I took the warp and used it as weft for another round on the outside of the nylon weft.
What next?
Hmmmm. Waiting ……