Machine-Quilting Pin-Loom Projects

Posted on by texasgabi

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.

Using A Quilt Design for Pin-Loom Weaving

Posted on by texasgabi

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.

For demonstration purposes I decided to make a table topper, using a 2″ square loom and cotton yarn (I used the TURTLE Square 2″ F-fine sett loom and Catona by Scheepjes, a fingering weight cotton yarn).

You can weave both, squares (video instructions for square weaving) and triangles (video instructions for triangle weaving) on this loom. Some people prefer the convenience of a matching triangle pin loom.

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 ColorColor# of Squares# of TrianglesYardage
130natural123287
253turquoise0814
388rust122473
401teal368111

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!

International Quilt Festival 2025

Posted on by texasgabi

Next week I’ll be doing something a little bit different … I’ll be presenting pin-loom weaving at the International Quilt Festival 2025 in Houston!

A few weeks ago, Quilt Festival’s Bob Ruggiero interviewed me, and you can read about it on the Friends@Festival website.

The interview resulted in two amazing opportunities for me to talk about pin-loom weaving and how I use this yarn craft to create quilt-inspired projects:

I will be showcasing my work at the Open Studio (Create section) on Thursday, October 9th, from 2 – 4 pm. This includes a one-and-only opportunity for you to see my Flower Garden Throw that was published in “Easy Weaving with Little Looms” Winter 2025 right next to the original Depression-aera Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt that inspired my work.

Saturday, October 11, 2025 is the official “I Love Yarn” day, and I cannot thing of a better way to celebrate than to invite you to weave a little something with yarn.

I will be hosting a Make-and-Take event at the brand-new Sit & Stitch Lounge. Come and sit down and I’ll teach you how to weave a hexagon (using the sample looms at the table), and you will take home a little bag charm. I have Make-and-Take kits prepared to make a little pumpkin charm as pictured (free of charge, while supplies last). I will also have a variety of yarns available for you to sample, or feel free to bring your own!

Over the next few days, I will blog about some of the projects that I’ve made to celebrate the Festival, including the table topper that was inspired by this year’s Festival logo.

I invite you to subscribe to this blog so that you don’t miss any of those stories!

The Lilia Shrug

Posted on by texasgabi

Let’s ring in the cooler time of the year! Sometimes when I go for a walk I want a little bit more than a scarf or cowl but not a full sweater. The modular nature of hexagons let me design just what I needed: A shrug that covers shoulders and arms enough to break a cool breeze, while at the same time offering plenty of freedom to easily move around.

I used one of my favorite yarns, naturally dyed organic Merino wool by Handspun Hope, in warm colors, and the flowery design combined with the rustic nature of the yarn made the perfect boho experience!

Another “one loom” design … the shrug is made using only the Original TURTLE Loom™ in R-regular sett for worsted weight yarns.

Click here to buy the pattern!

You can get the pattern (and the loom if you don’t have it already) at our Etsy store.

The pattern provides step-by-step photo-guided instructions for the shrug. It also contains bonus charts so that you can try your own flower colors or even design your very own shrug.

Please enjoy the beautiful photography by Gale Zucker. I thank Gale and model Sarah Shourds for this second-to-none presentation of my design.

Lastly, people ask me occasionally how I come up with the names for my patterns. I don’t have one source or one plan, and sometimes names just happen, like in this case!

Recently my husband and I shared a bag of Julio’s corn tortilla chips …

I noticed a cute picture on the back of the bag of the company founders, Julio and Lilia Garcia. I loved the sound of the Lilia name and decided to use it for my current design in progress, the shrug.

Doesn’t the real Lilia look absolutely sweet? I want to imagine that she might have liked a Lilia shrug … maybe not boho style, but of a thinner, lacey yarn with a gorgeous drape … we can dream, can’t we?

I hope that you will enjoy making your Lilia shrug!

A Tale of Two Blankets

Posted on by texasgabi

Many years ago, my daughter was taking weaving lessons with a professional weaver and teacher, Charlotte Allison, in Fredericksburg, Texas. I was on taxi duty and spent a considerable amount of time waiting in Charlotte’s lovely home. One item captured my attention every time we visited: It was a Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt, decoratively hanging over a quilt rod at the wall in Charlotte’s living room. “I wish I could weave something like that” kept going through my mind.

Charlotte’s quilt is a classic heirloom. She recalls the maker, her Great-grandmother Mary Mollie Lima St. Peter (1875-1946) from Arkansas.  Charlotte remembers “Though I was very young (perhaps 4 or 5), I remember being at her farm one time and playing with old dolls under a tree.  She hand-quilted out of scraps.”

The original quilt is made of printed flour sacks as was common during the time of the Great Depression.

It was this quilt that inspired me to develop my hexagon pin looms and the continuous-strand weaving method for hexagons.

Busy years went by and the thought of one day weaving Charlotte’s quilt never left me.

It took several attemps to find the “right” yarn for such a project. Last year, while preparing for Handwoven’s first Weave Together retreat, I met Susan Bateman from Yarn Barn of Kansas. In preparation for the retreat I sampled some of her yarns on my pin looms. Susan had just launched her own 4/2 cotton yarn line, Ad Astra, and long story short, I decided that this cotton would be the perfect match for my Grandmother’s Flower Garden blanket.

One design challenge was to simulate the many colors of the original print fabric, and Susan’s new cotton line was not only available in a vast array of colors, but the weight would also allow me to blend colors and get close to each original flower’s appeal.

Single-stranded, Ad Astra weaves up beautifully on the XF-extra fine sett looms. Holding two strands together and woven on the R-regular sett looms allows for color-blending and matching colors closely to the original quilt.

For my blanket, I used the TinyTURTLE™ looms in XF-extra fine sett (single-stranded Ad Astra) and TinyTURTLE in R-regular (double-stranded Ad Astra). However, you may choose your own yarns and use any sett that is suitable for your yarns to tell your family story in a Flower Garden blanket.

I had started weaving my flower garden quilt when Little Looms’ call for submissions with the theme “family ties” posted. Charlotte’s family quilt was the inspiration for my submission, but the relationship between our families had grown over the years from a teacher/student relationship between Charlotte and my daughter to precious “chosen family” ties with deep cares for each other.

The Flower Garden blanket will always have a special place in my heart. I feel humble and grateful to see it featured in Little Looms Winter 2025. We carry the print copy in our Etsy store.

I hope that the tale of two blankets may inspire you to craft your own!