It all started with this little patriotic heart coaster that I doodled together a few weeks ago. Then I thought it would be nice to write the pattern so that others can weave hearts as well.
Little did I realize that this would turn into an instructions series about pick-up pattern weaving using the continuous-strand weaving method on square looms, supported by seven new videos!
There are very few resources available for weaving pick-up patterns using the continuous-strand weaving method on square pin looms, and I quickly realized that there was a lot to explain before I could share my heart pattern. In this post you will find tips and tools that go beyond just one square loom. I hope that you will enjoy these new resources!
Continuous-strand weaving is typically done on looms with equidistant pin setting (the pins are evenly spread out along the sides).
For my demo I’m using the TURTLE Square, 4″, R-regular sett loom and Yarnspirations Simply Soft.
However, I’ve tried to provide instructions that go far beyond just one loom so that you can apply the principles to similar looms.
Pick-up patterns for pin-looms most commonly weave over/under three threads, though longer floats are possible. The limited number of strands to work with on these little looms and the typically thicker fibers compared to what is used on traditional large looms make 3-strand floats a good choice to show as much “pattern” as possible in a limited space. These instructions use 3-stand floats throughout to keep the demonstration simple to follow.
Now let’s start the journey:
Challenge: Square Looms with Different Pin Setts
There are no traditional standards for square looms with equidistant pin setting like there are for the Weave-It method (pin looms with the classical 3-pin grouped setting). This also means that pin setts and loom sizes vary greatly. Writing a pattern that depends on a proper number of warp and weft threads therefore is of very limited use.
To solve this dilemma I decided to show how you can make a design template for any loom. Once you have that, you can more easily adapt a pattern to your loom and design your own patterns:
- I recommend to start with weaving a plain square.
- On the loom, slide the fabric up as high as possible.
- Take a picture and optionally apply a high-contrast black/white filter.
- Save this image as a reusable image for a blank template. You can print copies and color them in or use online painting apps to mark up a copy.
- Such a template is useful to count warps and wefts, design cross-stitch patterns, and more.
- Next, weave a square with an all-over pickup pattern. The easiest is an all-over honey comb pattern:
- Weave the first five rounds as usual in plain weave. Note that you could start the pick-up pattern after just two rounds, but I recommend to add a plain weave border for a nicer edging.
- On the next round, weave U1, O1, U1, … O3, U1, … O1, U1, O1 to the end.
- For the continuous-strand weaving method you need rounds of plain weave between pattern rounds, so weave one round plain.
- On each following pattern row, start the same pick-up sequence U1, O1, U1, then add repetitions of (O3, U1) to the last three strands and end in O1, U1, O1. The rows are getting longer because you have more warps from the previous weaving. Just repeat U1, O3 until you get to the last three strands.
- Don’t forget to weave plain rows between pattern rows.
- Continue to repeat the last two rounds. The final round should be plain weave to ensure pattern symmetry throughout the square. If your weaving doesn’t end on a round of plain weave, consider skipping the last round or weaving one more round in the beginning before you start the pattern weaving.
- Weave the last pattern row.
- Photograph your honeycomb square and make a design template as described above. Additionally, mark the line where you wove the last row. That’s your first geometry axis. Optionally you can mark the other diagonal as well for fully symmetrical motifs and to make counting easier.
- Use this template to easily convert pick-up patterns to your loom and design your own patterns.
Here are video instructions that show how to weave the all-over honeycomb pattern. Shown are righthanded instructions, lefthanded instructions are available as well.
Challenge: Pattern Symmetry
Take a minute to understand how patterns develop on a continuous-stand woven square.
As is is common to continuous-stand weaving squares, what you weave at the beginning of a round “copies” automatically to the opposite side of the loom when you complete the round.
This means that any pattern stitches that you weave will automatically copy in reverse row sequence to the other side of your future fabric. The final row of the square serves as the geometry axis to join the two halves.
You only design half of a square (the upper right triangle) and the rest will fill in automatically in reverse row sequence as you weave.
That makes it easy to design patterns that are symmetrical in all directions, like a diamond. You plan the upper half of the shape and the lower half will automatically copy as you weave.
See in this video how you can try this out using your new template to design a pick-up pattern:
Challenge: Weaving a Shape with One Symmetry
Pattern design becomes a little more complex for motifs that only have one symmetry axis. The key is to align the symmetry axis of the design with the last row of your square weaving. Then the same rules that are explained above apply.
To weave the heart, you will now start each row weaving differently than ending it.
Here is a chart that shows the pattern for a heart on the Square 4″ R loom (righthanded view).
Weave plain weave for the areas outside the pattern.
To easily find out the row where you need to start the pattern weaving, count the pins!
This video shows how to weave the heart shape. Shown are righthanded instructions. Lefthanded instructions are available as well.
Challenge: Using Two Colors
Any pick-up pattern will look good in a solid color, but you may need to look twice to see the pattern.
You get a much more vivid effect if you use two colors.
Weaving a two-colored continuous-strand square requires a few extra steps:
- To get a single strand at the beginning of the weaving, start with one color at the bottom corner (closest to you) and guide up a single strand to the top corner. Think of it that you weave half a round instead of a full round. Then start the second color at the top corner and weave the next round as usual.
This will add one warp strand to your total count. You can add that to your design planning, or weave another template, this time using two colors! - Change colors every round in the same manner to avoid a frilled edging:
- At the end of a round, guide the current working yarn between the last pin that has yarn on it and the next pin.
- Switch yarns by guiding the next color OVER the previous color (the new color “traps” the old color).
- To start the next round, guide the new color around two pins to get ready for the weaving.
- Weave as usual, starting with going under the first thread. End each weaving with going under the last thread before fetching the working yarn.
And here we are finally reaching the pattern that started it all!
The following information puts it all together … how to weave a continuous-strand pick-up pattern on a square pin loom … with one symmetry axis … in two colors.
I invite you to download the written and charted weaving instructions for weaving the pick-up heart pattern on the TURTLE Square 4″ R loom.
The final video shows the weaving for the heart pattern in two colors step by step. Shown are righthanded instructions, lefthanded instructions are available as well.
Bonus: Opposite Sides with Opposite Looks
When you weave a pick-up pattern, there is no right or wrong side. You will notice that the front and the back of your woven piece look different. The floats on the front (in the example heart pattern) will show horizontally on the front and vertically on the back. If you wove with two colors, the pattern shows in one color on the front and in the other color on the back. Feel free to mix and match those sides in your project!
There’s so Much More
There is so much more to write about but I tried to keep it reasonable. I invite you to ask questions in the comments section. Making all this information fit into one blog post has been a challenge on its own, and if something is not clear or I missed something that is important to you, please let me know and I will do my best to answer.
(c) 2026 Gabi van Tassell All rights reserved.
