Materials List Weaving Tapestry on Little Looms

Home , Shed (weaving), Twine, Upholstery

In the course, I talk about all of these materials and where you might get them. I recommend watching this part of the course before buying too much yarn or other materials so you understand what you might like yourself. This handout is updated as of January, 2021. Links do change, so if you can’t find something, let me know!

REQUIRED MATERIALS

• A computer with a fast enough internet connection to play video • A loom. The course talks about various looms, but you will need one! • Warp yarn • Weft yarn • scissors • tapestry beater • Permanent ink marker for marking warps (I use an Industrial Sharpie) • measuring tape or ruler

OPTIONAL MATERIALS

• A digital camera to take snapshots of your progress and upload them. This is handy if you have questions as it is much easier for me to see what is happening from a photograph than from a verbal description. This could be the camera on your smartphone or tablet. • bobbins • shed stick • yarn needle • “open shed” bar • tapestry needle for sewing slits • upholstery thread for sewing slits

Details about some of the points above

Looms I talk about looms extensively in the course and you might wait to purchase one until you see what looms are best. I do have loom information on my blog in this category: https://rebeccamezoff.com/blog?category=Looms

For this course, I am focusing on small looms, many of which do not have tensioning ability. Most of them have pegs or slots but you can also make a copper pipe loom which does have the ability to increase tension. Watch the loom videos in the course for more information.

Yarn I also discuss warp and weft yarn, but you can get an idea of what I’ll say by looking at this blog category: https://rebeccamezoff.com/blog?category=Yarn and a few more details below.

Warp yarn: I love cotton seine twine for tapestry warp the best. The size warp you use will depends on your weaving sett. (We will talk about this in the course!). If you are weaving at 8 epi, you should get 12/6 or 12/9 cotton seine twine. If you are weaving at 12 epi or smaller, 20/6 cotton seine twine is a great size.

All of these warps are available from Glimakra USA (website is: http://glimakrausa.com/). The 12/6 is 1800 yards/pound. This size also comes in a wide variety of colors. At 8 ends per inch, 12/9 cotton seine twine will also work just fine. It is a little thicker than the 12/6. These are also available from The Woolery online as well as through many weaving shops. Halcyon Yarn also has it in 12/6 or 12/9. If you’re in Europe or elsewhere in the world, you’re looking for a cabled cotton seine twine. This is different than rug warp. There are excellent cotton seine twine warps made in Sweden, Finland, and Norway.

Wool warp is also a great thing to use. Brown Sheep Company makes a very nice singles wool warp. Linen is an acceptable warp material but it is harder to work with and I don’t recommend it for beginners.

Weft yarn: There are a wide variety of yarns you can use for weaving on little looms. If you are a new tapestry weaver, I do recommend using one size of yarn for an entire piece. If you start mixing thick and thin yarns, managing the resulting tension and shape problems is more difficult. You can break this rule once you get a better feel for how weaving works. Please see the handout, Yarn Sources for some ideas about what yarns you might start with.

Tools Tapestry beater: You will need some kind of small beater to push the weft in. A dinner fork will actually work on most small looms. If you want something more elegant try one (or all) of these options. The tine spacing should not be too narrow. I recommend something between 6 and 11 tines per inch for working at a sett of about 8 epi. The tines per inch does not need to match the warps per inch.

1. Magpie Woodworks makes several sizes of tapestry forks which are perfect and of the highest quality. Their Little and Mini sizes are perfect for this course. https://magpiewoodworks.com/ 2. Threads Thru Time has a shop on Etsy. Barbara and Dale make lovely tapestry forks/beaters. https://www.etsy.com/shop/Threadsthrutime. They don’t always have beaters available, so keep watching their site or email Barbara to be put on a waiting list. 3. There are many other tapestry beaters out there. Some have wooden teeth. Some are just plastic hair picks. For very small things, these solutions are just fine. As you get more experience in tapestry you can search out tools you really like.

Bobbins: Some people are bobbin users. I find them difficult to use on very tiny looms, but if the loom you are using is not super small, bobbins might be for you. I do frequently use small bobbins on my Hokett looms, but only for sections where the weaving is not very complicated or I’m filling in with one color all the way across. I also always use them with handspun to protect the yarn from abrasion.

The bobbins I use are either sold by Glimakra through The Woolery or made by one of two excellent bobbin makers: Milissa Ellison Dewey and Alexandra Iosub. The hand-turned bobbins are works of art and are a joy to use.

Shed stick: This little device is very helpful on small looms to open a shed and allow you to get your weft in accurately. Try Weaving Rainbow or The Weaver’s Loft for nice shed sticks. One that is about 7 inches long is my favorite for small loom weaving.

Yarn needle: I often use metal or wooden yarn needle instead of using butterflies or bobbins to put the yarn in. On small pieces, it works great. I like Susan Bates 5 inch weaving needle or a shorter yarn needle works also.

“Open shed” bar: A thin rod placed in one shed to keep it open all the time speeds up the weaving on looms without a shedding device. You can use a bamboo skewer or I use an old double pointed knitting needle in a very small gauge.

Sewing slits: You may not sew any slits in this class, but if you come to a point where you have slits you want to sew, a tapestry needle is a useful thing. This is a blunt-ended needle available at most sewing stores by the needles. I like size 20 though this is quite small for some people. I also use Coats and Clark upholstery thread for sewing my slits. If the piece you are making is quite small, regular sewing thread will work just fine.