Needle Weaving on a Frame

Basic requirements are a bunch of threads. Yours will probably be in a less tangled state. Mine have been wonderfully tangled by rusty pups who think messy is better. Have a variety of threads, mat and shiny, thin and slubby....anything that you can thread through your needles. You will need blunt tapestry needles or bodkins. The curved giant thing lying beside the bowl was my mother's. Have no idea what it's for, but the curving is quite handy for weaving. Last but not least you will need a small frame. Mine is about 6" square made from an old wire hanger; but a small picture frame would work too.

Wrap threads around the frame in one direction. Knot them to the frame when you run out and start a new thread. The grey thread here is in fact string that was wrapped around one of my dye bundles. It has a knot right in the middle and I've decided to leave it right where it is. Now the weaving starts. Thread a needle, tie one end of the thread to the frame and weave over and under all the way across.

When you get to the other side, wrap your thread around the frame and weave back from whence you came! Go over the warps that you previously went under and so on and so forth. Carry on until you have completed quite an open grid. Do not worry if you go over or under more than one thread at a time. This is going to look more like darning than weaving.

Now go back in and weave in any direction you wish to. I have used a lot of rusted string...don't recommend this..other threads don't glide smoothly past them! Do you see my piece of knotted string that I left dangling in the middle... I like it! Basically your weaving is finished whenever you want it to be. It could be left more open than mine in which case you would see the cloth that you place underneath it. Mine is quite dense; but even from here you could carry on adding layers as long as you can get your needle through.


To remove it from the frame you could tie knots with the weft and the warp on all four sides. You could darn those ends back in. You could carefully applique it by hand to a background around the edges or of course a machine zigzag stitch could be used (but I find that too obvious myself).

Hope that at least gets you started.

Oh, and by the way, the beaver is back!