Tag Archives: inkle

The Gift That Inkle Saved

16 Monday Apr 2012

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What gift should I give to dear friends celebrating their 7th wedding anniversary? Hmmm… Oh, wait, I know, how about the gift I started making for them 7 years ago for their wedding and never finished!

Here it is ready to be wrapped.

The back.

Why did this pillow take me so long to complete? Because I can embroider, sew basic straight seams, but I can’t sew piping! Sometimes my ideas are bigger than my abilities and I can fake it ’til I make. Not this time.

I had such high hopes for this gift. My friends are bird watchers, so embroidering birds was an obvious theme. The pillow is made of the same color dupioni silk as the dresses that the bridesmaids wore. Perfect, right?

Nope. This project went so wrong.

I ripped it apart, sewed it again, apart, sew, apart, sew, until, out of frustration, I put it in a box and there it stayed. For seven years. I thought of it every year around their anniversary, but my skills had not changed and neither did the state of the pillow.

What the pillow was waiting for was for me to learn how to inkle weave. An inkle band added the perfect finish to what I couldn’t achieve before.

I wove the band with DMC embroidery floss, which gave the band a pretty sheen that matches the silk, then sewed it to the front piece. The design of the pillow is a little different than I initially planned; it was supposed to be a removeable pillow case, but I lost some material taking the piping off again, so it is stitched closed on all sides.

I’m very happy with how it turned out and that it is FINALLY finished. I hope they like it.

Happy anniversary you guys! May you have 7 years times infinity more.

warp, weave, be happy!

Jennifer

Try Your Hand at Inkle Gardening

06 Friday Apr 2012

Posted by in Projects, Tutorials

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How cute are these little carrots?!

With my non-green thumb, these are the only carrots I can grow – besides, I’m not all that crazy about digging in the dirt. I had a blast designing them. Quick and easy, they are a great stash buster, ok, really they didn’t even make a dent in my stash but, I did use yarn that I had on hand. Carrots come in a rainbow of colors, so use the yarn you have!

If you “grow” your own carrots do let me know how they turn out. I’d love to see pictures and if I get enough I will do a garden post!

You will need:

Materials

  • 1”wide inkle band at least 18” long

*(a little wider or narrower is okay) with two shades of orange 10/2 or 8/2 perle cotton, tatting yarn, or needlepoint yarn. 8/2 perle cotton and needlepoint yarn are a bit thick but will work.

*The carrot in the rabbit’s arms is woven using needlepoint yarn and the other two are woven with both 10/2 perle cotton and tatting yarn.

  • green worsted or sport weight yarn
  • cotton or poly stuffing batting
  • woven fusible interfacing
  • straight pins
  • needle and matching thread (forgot to put in picture –oops!)
  • scissors
  • glue (Alene’s tacky)
  • ruler
  • fine felt-tip marker

Equipment

  • sewing machine (very helpful but optional – can be sewn completely by hand)
  • iron
  • ironing board

Have fun!

I hope you enjoyed the first Inkled Pink tutorial! Don’t forget: show me what you come up with – I’d love to see!

warp, weave, be happy!

Yay! The Check Is in the Mail!

30 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by in Design, Teaching, Travel

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I have never been so happy to mail a check. Ok, that is a bit of an exaggeration, but I had a smile on my face when I dropped it in the box.

Not long after I learned how to inkle weave I ran across this picture.

Anne Dixon inkle woven bands. The Braid Society

The orange and white band stumped my limited knowledge of inkle design, as did the others actually, but that orange one… How was that done?! I did a little internet slouthing and found it was woven by the gifted weaver Anne Dixon. So, I emailed Ms. Dixon – and she replied with a great email outlining the process. I was ecstatic. But the funny thing is, I had no idea she was the Anne Dixon, author of “The Handweaver’s Pattern Directory: Over 600 Weaves for 4-Shaft Looms”. And now the author of the soon to be released “The Weaver’s Inkle Pattern Directory: 400 Warp-Faced Weaves”. Woohoo, I’ve already preordered mine!

So where did I send the check? To the Western North Carolina Fibers/Handweavers Guild to become a member of the guild and to attend an Anne Dixon inkle 3-day workshop in July in beautiful Hendersonville, NC! I met a lovely bunch of ladies from the guild last weekend and I am so glad to join their group.

Is it July yet? This is going to be an amazing birthday present to me and if all works out we will be able to make it a family trip. Does it get any better than that? Yeah, I don’t think so either.

warp, weave, be happy!

Shuttles Fly Again

23 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by in Projects, Teaching, Travel

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Weaving shuttles that is, and spinning wheels, knitting needles, crochet hooks, and kumihimo bobbins, too. Last weekend was the Florida Tropical Weaver’s Guild Annual Conference; a three and a half day unbelievably fun weekend filled with over 45 mini-workshops, laughing, chatting, eating, learning, and creating, not necessarily in that order. This was my first time attending the FTWG conference and boy will I be there next year. Are the registration forms ready yet?

I taught my first inkle project class this weekend! “Beyond Belts and Bookmarks” was my inaugural class. What do you do with an inkle band after you weave it other than turn it into a belt or a bookmark? Well, eight lovely ladies allowed me to show them how to make a necklace, wristlet keyfob, and a coaster out of inkle bands. Inkle project samples

Some brought their own bands and others used bands I provided.

Inkle coaster Inkle Necklace

Everyone said they enjoyed the class, and I am so glad, because I had such a great time!  Busy prepping for the class, I only got five hours of sleep in two nights. I was sooo tired, but the excitement and friendly students kept me awake – and lots of coffee.

I also took a kumihimo class from the talented Jennifer Wiles . We learned how to make a kumihimo lariat with beaded tassels.

Inkled Pink Kumihimo Super fun!

The conference was held at the beautiful Lake Yale Baptist Center, in Leesburg, FL. It is such an aesthetically inspiring place. Spanish moss covered trees provide shady viewing spots to take in the lake.

Florida Tropical Weavers Guild Conference Florida Tropical Weavers Guild Conference

Florida Tropical Weavers Guild Conference

I met such wonderful people this weekend and got to spend more time with the ladies from my own guild; I was reminded again what a special community the weaving community is. I can’t wait until next year’s conference!

warp, weave, be happy!

An Inkle Celebration!

21 Saturday Jan 2012

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Celebration time – January is National Hobby Month! Really, there’s a month for that? How cool, a month dedicated to exploring one’s hobby. My hobby (a.k.a. passion) and reason d’être for this blog, is inkle weaving. We met two years ago. It was love at first warp.

An awesomely talented weaver (B.L.) in my guild, Weavers of Orlando (WoO), offered to teach me and a fellow member how to weave on an inkle loom. During that lesson I knew I’d found my weaving calling. The creative bug that lives in me couldn’t stop smiling. Nor could I.  The process was almost instant gratification. Warping and weaving were fast. The fabric it produced was beautiful. Oh, this was for me.

Every year WoO holds a holiday sale of members’ lovely handcrafted items. Being a new weaver with little time I had never participated. That year I wanted in and wanted a not too time consuming, but quality, project to submit. I came up with watches using inkle weaving for the bands.

my first inkle project

I recently turned the first band I wove into a belt for a friend. It only took me two years to do it, but she loved it.

My first band.

Merrium-Webster’s dictionary defines a hobby as “a pursuit outside one’s regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation”. Yes, inkle weaving is relaxing, but it also energizes me. I find so much joy in watching my inkle bands grow as I weave and coming up with ways to use them. While January is designated as National Hobby Month, I celebrate my hobby every month.

warp, weave, be happy!