There’s almost nothing that you can’t make with pin looms. Meet Joe the lonely goat marionette, which was inspired by the lonely goatherd story in the “Sound of Music”.
Three looms help to shape the head and the body, and flexible legs and neck:
Worsted weight yarn for body and head ensures a solid fabric that holds the stuffing, fingering weight yarn for the legs and the neck, woven on a regular sett loom, provide just enough fabric to connect the pieces but are bendable enough to enable the marionette to move. I used Signature Blend by The Rogue Skein for a most natural look, but you can substitute and use your favorite yarn or some precious handspun.
Joe is easy to weave and craft, even for a beginner who just wants to set out to explore marionette making. The 20-page pattern provides photo-guided step-by-step instructions for:
How to make the goat
How to make a simple cross bar for handling a four-legged creature, and
How to string up and test the marionette.
Use the basic marionette construction of this pattern to make other creatures, too, for example a horse, unicorn, cat, dog, giraffe, and many others.
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).
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 a small 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!
Solid color, front.
Solid color, back.
Two colors, front. Pick-up is woven in green.
Two-colors, back.
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.
While I have always enjoyed designing and making quilt-inspired pin-loom projects, I usually don’t “quilt” them, which means adding a backing with some batting in between, and then stitching all layers together.
I’ve done some tie-quilting, where every few inches apart you pull and tie off a piece of string through all layers.
During my recent visit to the International Quilt Festival, seeing all the quilting equipment, I started to wonder if or how machine quilting might work for pin-loom woven tops.
I decided to ask the Gammill quilting equipment experts at the show; the company had sponsored all Open Studio sessions, including mine.
What started as a question turned into a proof-of-concept experiment … with a stunning outcome.
I showed Gammill representative Sue Kleinschmidt one of my woven projects that I had brought to the Festival, and she suggested that we could try quilting a smaller sample, which I agreed to put together. Sue also suggested to stabilize the fabric with light interfacing, and I just happen to have some at hand from another project.
I wove a flower like for the Flower Garden Throw, but with one ring only, using the same Ad Astra cotton that I had used for the original project. After sewing the flower together, I added some Pelon interfacing to the back.
The sample passed Sue’s inspection, and Gammill representative Cathy joined us when we started to prepare the work.
I asked if we can try the fully computerized method (compared to the hand-guided approach) and they agreed.
We started by basting the flower to the other layers so that it would stay in place.
Sue then traced the outline of the flower, and at the computer calibrated the quilting pattern that we had picked in size and direction. I was surprised to see how similar the software looks compared to the CNC router work that we do when we cut our pin looms out of wood!
Sue suggested a smaller stitch size and a slower speed than for a typical quilt. The latter would also give us an opportunity to intervene if needed. I held my breath when she pushed the start button …
The sewing head floated smoothly over the fabric, sewing stitches in beautiful sways. It was a delight to watch and I found it very calming. Everything worked flawlessly, and after a minute or so the flower was beautifully quilted!
Because of the coarse fabric, Sue suggested that for a real project she would use a thicker thread for quilting. And for a large project, she would baste the fabric by blocks, to keep the layers in place during the quilting process.
Working on the Gammill equipment was a prestigious treat, but you can even try some quilting on your sewing machine at home as well.
Whether you have access to a longarm machine or work with your sewing machine, it is my hope that you may consider giving quilting your pin-loom woven projects a try!
I would like to send a big, heartfelt thank you to the Gammill company, and particularly to Sue and Cathy Kleinschmidt, for the opportunity to sample computer-guided machine-quilting on a pin-loom woven project. The experiment went far beyond a simple proof of concept. Watching the process was an absolute delight.
Pin-loom weaving means creating small pieces of self-contained fabric in certain shapes. Traditionally, squares were the most common shape, by now accompanied by rectangles, triangles, hexagons, diamonds, and a few other shapes. Those little pieces of woven fabric are perfect for modular projects that combine shapes, and the quilt world provides a vast ocean of inspiration for just that.
In this blog post I’d like to walk you through the process of creating a traditional star quilt design, inspired by this year’s International Quilt Festival logo.
The traditional eight-point star design (Lone Star) can be easily broken down into squares and triangles. For those shapes, pin looms are available in many sizes and a variety of weaving methods.
The chart shows the color distribution “wrong side”, so it’s ready for you to use.
If you are weaving along this blog, here is a list of pieces that you will need to weave. Once the pieces come off the loom, they are ready for assembly. You can use the yarn tails for sewing.
Catona Color
Color
# of Squares
# of Triangles
Yardage
130
natural
12
32
87
253
turquoise
0
8
14
388
rust
12
24
73
401
teal
36
8
111
When assembling pin-loom projects, I usually look for how I can join the pieces into rows first, then join the rows. This keeps the project manageable, allows for frequent checks to make sure that there are no mistakes, and it nicely shows the progress while you work. Use the chart above to assemble the table topper.
To assemble the Lone Star design, start by “thinking in squares”: Join triangles first into squares. Then it’s easy to connect the squares into rows, and lastly connect the rows.
Weave in the ends and clip to about 1/3″ to avoid that the tails travel to the right side of the fabric. You don’t need to weave in the ends if you plan to add backing.
Block as desired. A 20-minute soak in cold water with a no-rinse detergent will do.
While I chose a small loom for the demo project, you can work the same design on any loom size and still follow the same process. Make sure to adjust your yarn requirements to the loom that you are working with. I’m working on a blanket right now and will show it here on the blog when it’s done!
You will need 3 plastic eyes for the eyes and nose. You can also embroider or use small pieces of felt to add the face.
Use a small amount of stuffing of your choice for the bunny’s body and tail.
Weave 7 hexagons (4 for the body, 2 for the ears, 1 for the tail).
Using whipstitch, sew two hexagons together as shown for the Front. Repeat for Back.
Assembling the Body
Put Front and Back on top of each other, right sides facing towards each other.
Sew all but the bottom side.
Turn.
Install the eyes and the nose.
I put the nose button into the center of the hexagon and each eye four rows up and four rows over. Adjust to your liking.
Stuff and close.
To make the Ears …
Thread the end tail of one hexagon. You will gather the two sides that are marked in red.
Start with “securing the thread” … guide the yarn around the outermost warp thread and pierce the yarn. This will ensure that the yarn does not pull the weaving.
To gather, go through every other edging turn of the weaving as shown.
After gathering the stitches on both sides, pull the thread and secure with a stitch.
This is what the ear will look like. If you prefer a less floppy ear, close the side seam and gather the two remaining sides at the top the same way you did the bottom.
Sew the ears onto the head, right behind the upper two corners of the head hexagons.
To make the tail …
Use a secured yarn tail or a separate piece of yarn to gather all sides of a hexagon.
Add a little bit of stuffing.
Pull close the Tail as shown and secure the thread.
Mount the Tail to the back of the bunny … if you position it as shown (right under the center of the lower back hexagon), the bunny will be able to “sit”.
Enjoy your bunny!
Be creative …
Weave the tail in a different color, or make a pompom.
Make a patchwork bunny where each hexagon is different.
Add some embroidery like eye glasses or flowers.
Add a bow tie.
The bunny can be worked on any hexagon loom. The yarn requirements will vary if you use a different loom. Make bunnies on different loom sizes for a bunny family!
