When I was thinking about weaving something nature, I thought of weaving a leafy garland, or using little wood twigs for snow man arms, or to weave something with straw (still thinking about that), or weaving something with angelically white feathers … (rabbit trail) … angelic … (rabbit trail) … angels … (rabbit trail) … can I make an angel? Yes! And it’s SO EASY!
I used hemp as the weaving material, so there’s the “nature”. 20lbs hemp works great, because it is sturdy enough that the fabric will support itself, but not too dense, because I also wanted to use … some lights.
Here’s how to make an angel …
Materials
- Original TURTLE Loom™ and TinyTURTLE™ loom
- About 18 yards of hemp (size 20 lbs; I used some plain, and some that has a metallic thread, see picture)
- A battery operated 20 LED light chain (the one used here is about 6.6 ft long, craft store or ebay)
Instructions
Caution: Hemp is not easy to weave. It has no stretch, so you have to weave it very loosely. It is stiffer than regular yarn, but weaving more slowly will help you to manage. I do suggest, though, that you don’t plan on making a dozen or more of these angels, to prevent frustration and hurting wrists.
Weave 2 hexagons on the original TURTLE Loom™ (4”) for the head.
Weave 2 hexagons on the TinyTURTLE™ loom for the body and wings.
Match up the two smaller hexagons at their “starting thread” (there’s no right or wrong side) and sew along 5 sides of the hexagon, leaving one side open to insert the lights.
Match up the two larger hexagons. Sew them together along the lines where you switched weaving between the bias weave and the traditional weave. Then sew the “wings” together along two sides of the hexagons. Use the photo (blue lines) for guidance. You now have a tube in the center, and two “wings” on the sides of that tube.
Starting at the end as shown, wrap the light chain around two or three fingers to build a coil.
Insert that coil into the body tube. Pull a few coil turns out at the other end and stuff them into the head. Spread the lights out a little bit, occasionally turning on the lights to check until you like the position of the lights.
Shape the tube so that it stands on its own, then gently push the head onto the top opening of the tube. Optional: You can secure the head to the body with a thread and a few stitches.
Instead of hemp and lights, you can use regular yarn to make a cute angel ornament. Weave the first, bias part in white or silver, then do the second, traditional weaving in a color of your choice for the “dress”. Weave the two small hexagons in beige for the head. Sew as described above, but then gently stuff the head and the tube/body. Close the bottom of the tube and sew on the head.
Size as Shown
Height: about 5.5”
“Wingspan”: about 4”
Enjoy!