Weaving, Felting & FIbers

26 May, 2011

The Winners

beckarahn2011-05-26T22:11:38-05:00Freebies & Patterns, Weaving, Felting & FIbers|Comments Off on The Winners

My Random Number Generator has picked two winners:

The loom goes to Sadie and her girls, who said: “I would love to learn how to weave, so that I could share that skill with my two young daughters. It would be fun to make gifts and projects together as a family and allowing them to sit behind my sewing machine makes me a nervous wreck. Weaving would be a relaxing and rewarding craft to start.”

I am glad my random number landed on you because your comment made me laugh. I teach sewing to kids and I know exactly what you are feeling!

The quilting hoop ornament goes to Rae, who said: “I would love to learn to quilt. Nothing says love like a quilt. “

I second that. You’ve got to love somebody a lot to make them a quilt and you always feel loved when you are wrapped up in one that someone made for you.

Thank you everyone for the comments and another fun giveaway day. I can’t believe how many wannabe weavers there are out there! I will definitely think about doing some more weaving posts for you.

23 May, 2011

Giveaway Day!

beckarahn2011-05-26T06:36:56-05:00Freebies & Patterns, Weaving, Felting & FIbers|159 Comments

Welcome to Giveaway Day. A little background: Sew Mama Sew sponsors a “Blog Giveaway Day” in May every year. To participate, you sign up, your name is added to a long list of other blogs who are also participating and then you post your giveaway. At the end of the week, winners are chosen and prizes are awarded. Visit Sew Mama Sew to see the complete list and enter to win all kinds of groovy stuff.

MY GIVEAWAY:

Prize Number One is one of my Little Frame Loom kits in cherry red.

It is a simple weaving loom which is great for small projects and is easy to learn for kids and beginners. You can use a wide variety of materials for weaving – yarn, recycled plastic, paper, novelty fibers.

The kit includes:
• 7 x 5 ¼ inch frame loom
• beater comb for packing the rows of weaving together
• needle-style shuttles in 2 lengths
• instructions with color diagrams & photos, including two ways to warp and finish your project
• link to additional video instructions
I designed the loom and tools and have them laser cut for me from acrylic plastic.

Prize Number Two is a tiny quilting hoop ornament in pink and green “flying geese” triangles. The bamboo hoop is just an inch across and the fabric is digitally printed and then hand quilted with some tiny stitches. I also designed these hoops and have them laser cut from bamboo plywood.

(The links above are to similar items in my etsy shop if you want to see more details or photos.)

HOW TO ENTER:

Leave a comment on this post and answer the following question: Which would you most like to learn how to do: weaving or quilting? Why?

Be sure to include your email address so I can contact you when you win. (If you put it in the box, it won’t be displayed to the public.) Yes, I will ship internationally.

Contest will be open through May 25.

Please don’t worry if your comment doesn’t show up immediately. I have to approve it first and I will do that as often as I can throughout the day. :)

Contest is now closed. Thank you!

10 May, 2011

More fun with fibers

beckarahn2011-05-10T16:59:05-05:00Out & About, Weaving, Felting & FIbers|Comments Off on More fun with fibers

Snapshots from Shepherd’s Harvest. We signed up already to be vendors again next year.

9 May, 2011

Sheepy Weekend

beckarahn2011-05-09T17:01:09-05:00Everything Else, Out & About, Weaving, Felting & FIbers|1 Comment

I had a great weekend at Shepherds Harvest Festival! If you are here and looking for where you can order the Little Loom Kits, hop over to my etsy shop and you can pre-order them with free shipping right now. So sorry I sold out! Shepherds Harvest was the debut for the looms and they were more popular than I expected. Thank you! The new looms should be ready about June 1.

28 April, 2011

Coming soon to Shepherds Harvest

beckarahn2011-04-28T14:40:57-05:00Spoonflower & Fabric Design, Weaving, Felting & FIbers|Comments Off on Coming soon to Shepherds Harvest

Going to be selling things at a “sheep & wool” festival next weekend. Spent today writing up instructions for the little looms and packaging up my new weaving themed fabric, which I am selling by the fat quarter and it available online at my Spoonflower shop. Just search for “beckarahn”.

13 April, 2011

Sneak Peek: Little Looms

beckarahn2011-04-13T08:14:14-05:00Weaving, Felting & FIbers|4 Comments

They are finally ready! This is my new “little frame loom” kit for your own weaving projects. I teach beginning weaving to kids and get asked a lot about what would be a good loom to buy for a kid. I feel like a lot of the “toy” looms out there are either overly complicated or too flimsy to be really workable. There was also a fad online for little vintage “Weave-it” looms, which got me thinking I should design my own. I was already making the tiny ornament version, so Andy and I just scaled this up.

This one is big enough to weave a piece that is about 4×5 inches, with or without fringes. It is made from laser cut acrylic plastic – I have had them made in translucent blue and red. You get the loom, a “beater” comb for packing the rows of weaving together and 3 needle-style shuttles, 2 short and 1 long. I am pretty sure I am going to sell the kit for $18 and possibly a “deluxe” version that comes with yarn and some bonus project ideas, maybe all in a fabric zipper bag. The best part for me is that it isn’t strictly a kid loom. It’s not dumbed down or cutesy (or pink or sparkly). I think boys will like it too and with some help warping, I think even pretty little kids could do some fun projects.

We tried it in bamboo originally, but it turned out to be too splintery. Not a problem with the tiny ornaments, but totally a problem when you are making a real tool. I think I could make the bamboo version with an added step of sanding and finishing with a light sealer or wax, but that will make the price go up and I don’ t think it’s worth that. The translucent plastic is pretty and it is slightly flexible, so I think these will hold up to some wear and tear.

This is the first project I have finished, a little fringed coaster with some tapestry weave as well as plain rows. I took pictures as I was making this piece so that I can start to put together an instruction sheet to go with the looms.