How could I resist a cover like that?? This book is full of patterns championing the idea that your clothes can actually be squares or rectangles. most are weave-it squares that are crocheted together and lack any general shaping. I have no plans to make anything like any of these, but I can’t stop looking at the pictures.

If you need a comfortable outfit to lounge around in (barefoot) while weaving you could make one of these:

This one is called “Hostess Robe”.

Or you could make a matching hat and overalls set for yourself, and a tank top with fringe and a matching skirt for your friend.

Amazing, huh?

This one is basically a re-interpretation of my needlebook idea. The construction is the same, except that I used 4 inch weave-it squares (made from leftover handspun) to create a button book.

The two felt pages are a great way to keep track of all of the pinback buttons I have been collecting. If you are thinking of making or buying some buttons for someone as a gift, this is a great way to package them.

Buttons by me and Anthropomorphco

My 1 1/2 inch moustache buttons even fit in the tiny needlebooks.

Fun!!

In addition to the series of photos, I took a video of myself weaving a 2 inch square. It is not the greatest quality, but you can definitely see what is going on. This is how I found out that it takes me 5 minutes to weave a square, and my camera can only records 4 minutes and 45 seconds of video. So you don’t get to see me tie off the end, or triumphantly remove it from the loom.

Weaving Masters
If you have already mastered the basic woven square, and you want to try something more advanced, how about weaving some twill? One of my weave-its came with instructions titled “Diagonal Weave.” It uses entirely different set-up rows than the standard square and makes a dramatic result.

Luckily, Abby has provided awesome instructions and pictures of how to do this.

If you have a two inch and a four inch loom, you can whip one of these up in no time…

I really like the scalloped edges on the finished woven squares. I wanted my finished pouch to have the same edging, so I just backstitched around the edge (one row in) of two 4-inch squares stacked on top of each other.

The back side of backstitch isn’t as attractive as the front, but it’s not too bad. I attached a 2-inch square to act as the closure. I sewed a buttonhole in one, and attached a snap to the other. Word to the wise – If you attach a snap, be sure to add a little backing fabric just behind the snap since the woven square isn’t sturdy enough to handle it. These aren’t too mind-blowing, but it is nice to see how a finished one looks, right?

I find it totally amazing that you can use two squares sewn together to a shape as funky as this one.

When I was a kid and would get dragged to my Mom’s quilting meet-ups, many of the ladies had pincushions that looked kinda like this one. I remembered the name sounding something like “biscuit.” It wasn’t until I saw one of the winning entries in the Craft Stitch ‘n Pitch contest that I remembered it was called a biscornu. I thought it would be fun to make a wee one out of 2-inch weavette squares. I hadn’t seen one in ages and was totally surprised (and excited) to see June’s whiplash entry – a tiny biscornu for your wrist! Then, I saw that Miss Wooly was hard at work on a traditional cross stitch biscornu (she also provided a link to a fantastic history and tutorial at Own Two Hands). Time to throw the woven biscornu into the mix!

I have a flickr set tutorial that I will summarize here, but I encourage you to check out June’s and the tutorial at Own Two Hands, as they do an excellent job. The idea is just to offset two squares so that the corners of one square match the midpoint of the sides of the other square (this is the same as turning one of them 1/8 of a turn). It results in a funky little 8 sided pillow. Traditionally it has a button in the middle, pinching everything together – but I omitted it on mine. The pincushion is so tiny that if it gets cinched down, it will be too small for pins!

To get started, place the squares on top of each other and offset the top one by half of its length. In this arrangement, the corner of the bottom square is lined up with the midpoint of the top square.

Sew together as indicated in the picture. The next step is to twist the top square so that the midpoint of the top square is lined up with the corner below.

This is the process (twist and sew) that you repeat all the way around until 6 of the 8 sides have been sewn together. Then it is time to stuff it. I used some fiberfill, and the yarn scraps that I had leftover from weaving the squares.

Finally, sew the last two sides. Sit back and admire your handiwork.

If you have a few minutes more, you can make a matching needlebook!

Two inch weavette squares are my favorite to make. They only require about 2 1/2 yards of yarn, and whip up in no time. I seem to always have scrap sock yarn (fingering weight) lying about, so I like to double it up and weave it into a little square. So far, this is my favorite use for pairs of 2 inch squares – little needlebooks.

I admit it, not everyone needs a needlebook. But your crafty friends sure will love it. And if you don’t already have one, you will wonder how you ever did without. Constructing the needlebook is easy. It has a front and back cover made from 2 inch woven squares and pages made from felt. Want more instructions? Here you go (More pictures in my Flickr photo set).

Little Woven Needebook Tutorial

To get started you need:

• 2 two-inch woven squares (you can substitute knit squares or felt squares)
• Coordinating embroidery floss
• two felt sqares, two inches on each side
• Embroidery needle
• Pinking shears (or regular scissors)

The plan is pretty simple – sandwich the felt between the woven squares and sew ’em together. I trimmed my felt squares on three sides to be just a bit smaller than the woven covers.

Stack the pages in between the woven squares. Make sure that the untrimmed edges of the pages are flush with the edges of the woven squares.

I used a blanket stitch to sew up the spine (more details in the flickr set).(edit: Crafty Daisies has piced up some of my slack. Head over to their embroidery lesson #4 for blanket stitch instructions) When it was all finished I added buttons to the front. That’s it!

They are a little on the small side, but even my long tapestry needles fit in on the diagonal.

To be honest, i designed the whole ‘Week of Weaving‘ idea around my Whiplash entry this month… This month, Whipup is focusing on small crafts, and the Whiplash theme is ‘Zakka.‘ I struggled with this a bit as I never had a good idea of what zakka really meant. I don’t know that I have figured it out, but I was able to see some common elements in all of the examples. To me they seemed to be simple handmade projects often for a practical use, that are occasionally tastefully embellished. I don’t have a lot of free time this month so I thought that I might be able to add a little embellishment to something.

Many of the examples used very natural colors and fabrics, which made me remember a stack of 4 inch weave-it squares that I made out of a natural colored hemp-blend yarn. It struck me that they were the size of petite coasters, but had a fantastic hand to them, more like a cloth napkin. As I examined the cloth I noticed that the fabric looked just like counted cross stitch canvas.

And then it hit me… Cocktail Napkins. I started decorating and couldn’t stop. I ended up making more woven squares so I could try out all of my ideas. Want to make some?

Cocktail Napkins – a tutorial

I made my napkins out of a 4×4 inch square that I made on my weave it loom. You could also use a 4×4 knit square, or fabric. I am also figuring that you have some cross-stitch skills. If not, the only skills required are making X’s and the backstitch (which you can learn about here) This is the perfect starter project!

Tools

• 4 inch weave-it or Weavette loom and appropriate weaving needle
• Elsbeth Lavold Hempathy Yarn – less than one skein. You can substitute another fingering weight yarn, but cotton might be best for the look, and the washability.
• Various colors of cotton embroidery floss
• Cross-stitch needle

Weaving the napkin

This part is really simple enough. Weave a standard square on your 4 inch weave-it or weavette using the yarn held doubled. The fact that the yarn is doubled is part of what makes it look so much like cross stitch canvas. If you only use a single strand of fine yarn, your finished square will be too lacy to support your cross stitch. Make sure that that you don’t wrap the yarn too tightly around the pegs. If you do, it will make the needle-weaving part very difficult. Carefully weave in the ends when the square is complete.

Decorating the napkin
I charted up a few of the drinks I designed to get you started.

Click to embiggen – free for your personal use.

The two rows nearest to the edge of the weave-it square are a little loose. Plan the placement of your design carefully so that you don’t have to cross stitch on these rows. Carefully make your cross stitch x’s making sure they all cross in the same direction, and don’t pull them too tightly.

I used appropriately colored embroidery floss, and I used all 6 strands of it. I outlined the designs with a backstitch using 3 strands of black floss. Secure the floss in the back by running it underneath the completed stitches.

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I made 8 napkins decorated with various drinks. Click through to my Flickr set to see them in detail, and figure which drinks they represent…

View all of the posts in my ‘Week of Weaving’ Series.

I first learned about small hand looms from a post on the Craft: magazine blog. Each loom is a wood frame with vertical pins on it (usually metal), and comes with a long tapestry/weaving needle. The simplicity of the set up and the sophistication of the finished squares immediately piqued my interest. It was a matter of moments before I had ordered a 2×2 inch loom for myself (and one for a friend). When I received it I immediately started making squares, and was delighted at the color patterning and textures that were coming out of my short yarn scraps in no time at all.

History
Small hand held looms were born back in the 1930’s, and a popular model was the Weave-it. It was most commonly available available in a 2×2 inch size (junior) and a 4×4 inch size. Production of it in some form continued until the 1970’s and a wealth of pattern books were published in those four decades. The Weave-it was the grandfather to today’s Weavette loom, produced since 1998 by Buxton Brook Looms. Buxton Brook makes a fantastic hardwood lacquered hand loom, and has expanded the available loom sizes to larger looms and rectangular shapes. They are also a source of appropriately sized weaving needles and carrying cases for your looms.

Patterns and Projects
The definitive source for weave-it history, patterns, and projects is eLoomanation. This site has a thorough history of all handheld looms (there were more than just the weave-it), and even has some pattern books available for download (saving you a trip to ebay). Now, there is also an eLoomanation blog where you can find some of Jana’s recent great project ideas.

My looms. top: 5 inch weave-it rug loom, right: 2 inch weavette, left: 4 inch wooden weave-it.

I want to buy one
If you are thinking of buying (especially a vintage loom), research at eLoomanation first. For a modern Weavette, you can purchase directly from Buxton Brook Looms or Purl Soho. At the time of writing, however, both are out of the popular 4×4 inch and 2×2 inch sizes, so you might have to turn to ebay if you are impatient.

But what can I make with it?
Well, you can only make squares or rectangles. Which you can sew together to make larger squares and rectangles. Hmmm… doesn’t really sound that fun… That’s okay, I have the rest of the week to show you how fun they are! Stay tuned!

To the next post..

Click to see all of the entries in my “Week of Weaving”.