You’ve seen all the gorgeous wall hangings in your Instagram feed, on Pinterest and even in your favourite home magazine and now you are keen to make your own!
What do you need to start and what are all these fancy weaving tools for? Well, let me help you out.
1. Loom
Otherwise known as weaving loom, tapestry loom, lap loom.
This is the wooden frame used to hold your weave while you work. It should be sturdy and have notches that are evenly spaced, otherwise your wall hanging will look different after you take it off the loom. A loom with legs gives you added comfort while weaving. Yo can even get some that are adjustable in size, giving more options and also saves on materials.
2. Warp Thread
This is the vertical thread (technical term is warp) which holds the entire wall hanging together. You want to get something strong that won’t snap and something that doesn’t stretch. The best type of warp thread is cotton or linen. You can get different thickness of warp thread. The start size is 4/8 or 8/4, but you can always use a thicker warp thread for a different visual effect.
3. Shuttle
This is a flat piece of wood with 2 cut outs, one on each end. It holds a lot of yarn. A shuttle is perfect for creations that require you to weave large sections with the same yarn. Yarn is wrapped around the shuttle and is used to weave across the warp. They also come in different sizes depending on what size loom you are using and the amount of yarn you want it to hold.
4. Shed Stick or Sword
This is a flat piece wood, usually rounded or angled on the ends. A shed stick is used to flip up every other warp thread allowing for faster weaving.
5. Heddle
A Heddle is a tool with notches along the length of it that match the notches on your loom. It is inserted behind the warp on the loom then lined up with the warp thread notches in the heddle. By twisting one end you flip the heddle up, lifting every other warp thread up allowing you to weave quickly in one direction and then flip it down to lift all the opposite warp threads up. Heddle = super fast weaving
6. Comb/beater
This tool looks similar to your every day comb, except the teeth are longer and sometimes the spaces between are a little wider. A comb is used to pack down your yarn evenly as you weave so that the weft (horizontal yarn) is secure.
7. Needle
This handy little tool makes it super easy to weave smaller sections of yarn. There are many different sizes of needles, which can be made of plastic, metal or wood.
