Textiles Archives - Poppytalk

Weaving DIY Chunky Woven Storage Box

Jan Halvarson — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 06:16:00 +0000

Today we’re excited to share a project from Anne Weil (Flax and Twine)’s second book, Weaving Within Reach, Beautiful Woven Projects by Hand or by Loom. The book is a real stunner with 25 gorgeous weaving projects from earrings, clutches, pillows to wall hangings, all organized by skill level. Most projects can be woven on found objects like an embroidery hoop or a cardboard box or simple over-under patterns using no loom at all. I also love the detailed instructions featuring step-by-step photographs.

This book comes at a perfect time where you will find gorgeous woven things to make, to use, and to give (maybe as a gift for the holidays)! Weaving Within Reach is available in Anne’s shop or find it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Indiebooks!!

The project we’re sharing today is a beautiful Chunky Woven Storage Box, which can actually be made in as short as one afternoon (the jumbo chunky wool makes it that way). Click past the jump for the how-to!

Chunky Woven Storage Box
An excerpt with permission from Weaving Within Reach
Beautiful Woven Projects by Hand or by Loom by Anne Weil

Reprinted from Weaving Within Reach: Beautiful Woven Projects by Hand or by Loom. Copyright © 2018 by Anne Weil. Photographs copyright © 2018 by Rebecca Stumpf. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.”

Transform a throw-away cardboard box and a pile of yarn into fine decor in an afternoon. If you don’t have access to this jumbo specialty yarn, never fear: hold together 3 or 4 strands of a super-bulky yarn that you can find at any craft store, and the results will be just as lovely.

PROJECT TYPE Made-loom
SKILL LEVEL Beginner
TIME REQUIRED 3 hours

TECHNIQUES
• Plain Weave, (page 168 of book) – see images below.

MATERIALS & TOOLS
• 9″ × 9″ × 12″ (23cm × 23cm × 30cm) cardboard shipping box
• 50 yd (45.7m) of jumbo specialty yarn, 2 WPI, or three 50-yard (45.7m) strands of super-bulky yarn , 5–6 WPI held together
• Color-coordinated embroidery thread
• Scissors, ruler, cutting mat (optional), pencil, craft knife, packing tape, sharp tapestry needle

TEXTILES USED
• Loopy Mango Mini Merino Wool in Oatmeal, 50 yd (46m), 17 oz (482g), 100% merino wool

FINISHED S IZE
• 11″ (28cm) long, 9″ (23cm) wide, 9″ (23cm) tall

1. Flatten the box and place it on a cutting mat or other protected surface. With a single cut, trim off the upper 2″ of the box sides and the top flaps, so that box measures 7″ × 9″ × 12″ (18cm × 23cm × 30.5cm) (A).

2. Beginning at one end of the flattened box, mark a line every 1 inch (2.5cm) across the body of the box, from the top of the box to the flaps that make up the bottom of the box (B).

3. With a ruler and craft knife, cut through both layers of cardboard at each line, stopping at the beginning of the flaps (you may want to switch your blade a couple of times to keep it sharp) (C). Only cut where you’ve drawn pencil lines.

4. Open the box (it will be in two pieces with two corners still intact). Cut the bottom of every other 1″ (2.5cm) strip, removing the strip. Don’t cut the corners yet so you can maintain the every-other pattern of the strips (D).

5. Tape together the bottom of the box (E), bringing the two pieces together. Turn the box on its side and slit the corners with your craft knife. Remove the 1″ (2.5cm) strips according to the every-other pattern around the box (F).

6. To begin weaving, orient the box with the inside (the brown side) face down, the outside (in my case, the white side) face up, and with the cardboard strips (warp strips) splayed out at each edge. Cut 20 yd (18m) of yarn for the weft. Be¬ginning at the lower left, wrap the yarn lengthwise around the bottom of the box 10 times. On the end with 4 warp strips, place 2 strands per warp space. On the end with 5 strips, place 1 strand to the left of the first strip, 2 strands in each opening, and 1 strand to the right of the first strip (G).

7. Bring the yarn end across the width of the box, weaving in plain weave over and under pairs of the yarn (H). This will split the pairs on the end of the box with 5 strips. Flip the box over to the inside and weave under and over the pairs (I).

8. Flip the box over again to the outside of the box, and weave over and under across the width of the box, matching the pattern of the strand from step 7 (J). Flip the box again, and do the same on the inside of the box, only this time, be¬fore you flip again, finish with the strand in the next warp space on the box (K).

9. Repeat steps 7 and 8, weaving across the width the entire length of the box (L). You will fill in any gaps in the weaving later.

10. Next, bring the length of yarn remaining up to the warp strips and begin weaving over and under the warp strips around the box (M).

11. As you weave around the box (N), hold the warp strips so that they’re vertical. The sides will tend to drift a bit as you weave, which creates a nice shape. Your initial length of yarn will run out about halfway up the strips.

12. When your initial length runs out, cut a length approximately 5 yd (4.6m) to fill in the sides and bottom before finish¬ing the top part of the box. You’ll notice a visible gap between the bottom of the box and where the weaving starts on the strips. You’re going to add to the coverage along the bottom. Weave the 5 yd (4.6m) length over and under the strands from the bottom of the box, around the box once, as if it were the first row of the side weavings (O).

13. Next, flip the box bottom side up. Bring the 5 yd (4.6m) length down and weave over and under the pairs on the bottom of the box, going around the outside of the current bottom weaving twice to fill in the edge and create an outer ring according to the weaving pattern (P). If desired, bring the yarn length to the in¬side of the box through a warp space and fill in the edges of the weaving inside the bottom. To finish, trim the yarn end with a 4” (10cm) tail and tuck it into the weaving.

14. Return to where you left weaving the sides of the box in step 11. Working with the remaining 25 yd (23m) of yarn, continue to weave around the box until you reach the very top of the warp strips (Q).

15. Using a sharp tapestry needle and color-coordinating embroidery thread, whipstitch (see below) the top of each warp strip, inserting your needle through the topmost strands on both sides of the warp strip, pulling it through the cardboard warp strip itself. This secures the topmost weft thread on the inside and the outside to the warp strip, ensuring that your weaving will not slip off. After 3 whipstitches, bring the needle and thread diagonally through the warp strip space to the left of your stitched warp strip to repeat the same process on the next warp (R). Repeat this for every warp strip.

16. Trim the end of the weft strand with a 4″ (10cm) tail and bury it under strands on the inside of the box.

17. Using the remaining yarn, create decorative stitching around the top of the box by feeding the length through a warp space from the inside of the box to the outside a couple of weft strands down from the top (S).

18. Wrap the length over the top of the box to the inside of the box. Next, pull the yarn through the next warp space to the left a couple of weft strands down (T).

19. Repeat step 18 around the box until you get back to where you started (U). Trim the yarn with a 4″ (10cm) tail and bury the end on the inside of the box.

Whipstitch
The whipstitch is a simple stitch and a good reinforcing stitch used to sew together two separate pieces of material. Thread a needle and tie a knot in the end of your thread. Hide your knot by bringing your needle through the top layer of fabric only. Bring your needle through both layers of fabric starting through the bottom layer so that the thread wraps around the edges of the fabric. Continue to bring the needle out of the top layer and poke it in through the bottom layer, making a series of stitches that wrap around the edges of the fabric.

Weaving Within Reach is available in Anne’s shop or find it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Indiebooks!

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Yarn Planter DIY

Jan Halvarson — Sun, 15 Nov 2015 23:12:00 +0000

We are excited today to share a DIY from Cori Anne of Oh Lovely Bows, a local design student and blogger who caught our eye with this yarn planter project we spotted on instagram a while back. It’s such a great project and we thought our readers would love it, so we asked Cori Anne to do a guest post. Thank you Cori Anne for sharing!

Yarn Planter DIY

We all know how weaving is all the rage these days. But what if some of us don’t know how to weave, or simply don’t have time for a big project? Well, that’s where this DIY can help us! And since most of us like the look of yarn weavings, this seriously easy DIY woven planter is a pretty close second to having a woven piece hanging up in our homes. Let’s get to making!

Supplies:

Yarn & Cording, various colours and thickness
Hot glue gun
Scissors
Embroidery needle
Pot
Plant

How-to:

1 – Heat up the glue gun and pick out what kind of pattern you’d like to do.

2 – Measure out how long you’d like the cording used for hanging to be. It will depend on how tall your plant is as well as how low you’d like the pot to hang from the ceiling. *On one of mine I did a single piece of cording that attached on opposite sides of the pot, on the other I attached two pieces of cording attaching them on four equal sides of the pot. You can see it more clearly in the photos, if this isn’t clear

3 – Start glueing your decorative yarn around the pot. You’ll want to continually glue all the way around to keep it secure and the rows snug together.

4 – Once you’ve wrapped about a third of the top of the pot with yarn, glue the cording you’ve cut out for the hanging pieces onto the sides of the pot. Then continue to wrap the yarn, covering up the hanging cord as you go along.

5 – Switch up the colour, the texture of the yarn, the placement, the list goes on. That’s the fun part, you get to make it suit your style!

6 – After the pot has been fully covered, add little details. I added a couple of pom-poms and some simple stitches (this is where the embroidery needle will be used) to make it a bit more quirky. The colour pop is awesome! If you have any neon yarn, thread or parachute cord – use it!

7 – Once it’s finished place a plant in it and hang it from your ceiling or wall with an appropriate hook. Done!

**TIP – The pot that has two strands of cording to hang is much more balanced than the one that has a single strand for hanging. Up to you on which look you like, but I definitely will make any future ones with two strands vs one.

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Yarn and Eucalyptus Wall Hanging

Jan Halvarson — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 08:33:00 +0000

Contributor post by Caitlin of The Merrythought

Every time I open up Instagram, I scroll past a photo or two that feature a gorgeous weaving hanging on someone’s wall. I even have a few friends that make them! For those of us that love to craft but lack the patience to attempt to make those beautiful weavings, these basic yarn wall hangings are the perfect thing to satisfy your crafty urges. Chunky natural yarn and some lovely eucalyptus pair together to make this simple wall hanging! You can whip one of these up in under an hour!

Materials:
-12″ Piece of Wooden Dowel
-Yarn
-Scissors
-Dried Eucalyptus
-Floral Wire
-Hot Glue Gun

Instructions:
-Cut out pieces of yarn. (Mine were around 40″.)
-Fold pieces of yarn in the middle, put the looped end under and over the dowel and pull the other ends through to secure. Repeat until all pieces are on the dowel.

Add some braids for additional texture if desired. Put knots at the ends to secure braids.

-Wrap floral wire around ends. Use a dot of hot glue on the back of the dowel if wire won’t stay in place.

Hang and enjoy!

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DIY Hanging Jute Basket

Jan Halvarson — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 22:29:00 +0000

Contributor post by Caitlin of The Merrythought

I’ve been working with a lot of jute lately because I love it’s simple, natural beauty and it’s ability to work with any room’s decor. This hanging basket is super easy to make, but can be a bit time consuming. Fill it with some fruit, plants, or anything else that needs a pretty place to be stored.

What you need:
-Jute
-Sewing Machine
-Leather
-Metal Loop
-Hot Glue Gun

How to make it:
(See instructional images below)
-Start forming a tight circle and use a zig-zag stitch to connect the pieces together.
-Continue wrapping the jute around and stitching them together until you have reached your desired size.

-Cut three strips of 1″ wide leather 6-8″ inches long each.
-Sew one end of the leather to the outside of the basket with the same thread used on the zig-zag stitch.

-Fold the other end down and secure it with two straight stitches across the top and bottom (through both layers of leather and the jute.) Repeat with each of the leather strips.

-Cut three long strips of of jute and put them through each of the three leather loops.. (Mine were 60″ each – adjust this depending on where you will be hanging it. Remember the length will be half of the original cut piece once it’s through the loop.)
-Take the ends of all the strings and pull them through the metal loop. Adjust the strings to make sure each side of the basket is level.
-Use another piece of jute to wrap tightly around the looped pieces of jute. You can use hot glue to secure the beginning and end of this wrap.
-Trim the six loose ends to be an inch or two under the wrap.

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