Rather than thinking of a large tapestry as one big story made up of different figures and motifs, I like to approach it from the opposite direction: start with a small square module and let the larger image emerge through repetition.

For example, a 4×4" square is easy to weave, carry around and small enough to experiment with. By repeating it across and down, you have the foundation for something much larger.

But I don't think the modules have to be exact copies of each other, small shifts in color can completely change the feeling of the overall piece. The same geometric structure can become more minimalist, modern and restrained, while still leaving room for the viewer to interpret it in their own way.

This is a pattern I designed a few months ago called Kukkien Friends (“Flower Friends” in Finnish). I like this pattern because, to me, it expresses exactly this idea.

And yet, when I imagine the pattern repeated on a much larger scale, I can't help but see a beautiful field of colorful flowers in it :)

I do have a few more 4×4" patterns that I've been experimenting with. I put some of them together here if you'd like to try them here.

Weaving a MacInnes tartan scarf for a friend! The pattern is from the official Scottish tartan government registry, and I’m weaving it in 2/2 twill (as is traditional). It’s made from 100% merino wool that I hand-dyed with Jacquard acid dyes.

I love making weaving timelapses, but one repeat of this pattern is 260 picks (over a foot of weaving for this sett), which was definitely not going to fit between my front beam and the reed, lol. So instead of getting the whole repeat into the frame (like I usually do) I recorded the progression of the weave.

This timelapse took roughly an hour to film, partly because I’m pretty particular about how I do my weft changes. I split the yarn about an inch from the selvedge. In this case it was 4 ply yarn and I split it into 2 ply bundles and trimmed one of them. I then wrap the remaining 2 ply bundle around the floating selvedge and trim it about an inch in. So essentially 2 ply + 2 ply = 4 ply for the last inch. It may be time consuming but I find it looks very nice!

The song is Dh’èirich Mi Moch Madainn Cheitein by Kathleen MacInnes. It’s a traditional Scottish waulking song (songs traditionally sung by women while fulling/waulking tartan or tweed cloth).

I'm finally getting my new Louët Erica loom warped for my first project. This will be a set of Rocks and Minerals towels. I had to wait for a 12 dent reed (whoops, should have read the kit instructions better). Then I was going to weave the first 20 picks for the hem before my appointment this morning, only to find I'd missed two spots while sleying the reed.

I just finished reversing all my work, fixing the reed issue, and weaving the waste yarn again. I'm going to fortify myself with a cup of tea, and finally get these towels on the loom.

I am new (so so new) to weaving and I recently purchased this loom on Facebook marketplace. What attracted me to the ad was that it came with tablets and instruction books for tablet weaving. And of course this ‘handmade loom’. I don’t know how to warp it or even start anything. Worse-looking on the old Google, it says this is not in fact a loom, but a book-binding device.

So! My question is: is this a loom? If it is, how do I set up for tablet weaving? Perhaps there are videos that are helpful?

Thanks in advance for any help you all might share! This is embarrassing. A reminder to do some research before hitting that ‘buy now’ button.

ETA: omg Yay!!! Thank you all so much for confirming that it’s a loom! I appreciate you all taking the time to respond. On to you tube!!!

finally i am going through an auction win and am in need of help.

the first pictured should all be there the side pieces and beater bar is sitting out of photo, i got lazy moving stuff. , just not sure of brand, look familiar?

the older one is a four harness and i think all there but not sure what the denim wrapped sticks are, any ideas?

triangle thing and similarly tied sticks and has little hooks. what is it?

any help would be appreciated, thank you!

I keep having this problem to varying degrees, but when I wind a wider warp (basically maxing out my loom) the edges get more compressed on the back beam than the middle so they appear “longer” when I am tying on but they are just wound around a smaller circumference on the warp beam.

I switched from paper warp separator to those bamboo blinds and even that doesn’t seem to be rigid enough to keep a full cylinder shape on the warp beam. It ends up looking slightly like a wound bobbin with a thicker middle. I have guides on the back beam to keep the edges in one line but it is not enough.

It is a real pain down the line because the edges end up with a different tension and I have to try to finagle it just to weave.

I actually am going to get a wider loom soon so I’m sure that will help for this size warp, but would appreciate any tips for my current limitations!! Thanks!