Moving right along with MAKE&GIVE30 project number 4!
I knew if I wanted to get through my yarn a giant weaving was in order. Weavings are perfect for scrap yarn because even if you have just a few yards of something you can make it work as a small accent. I'll warn you though, something this huge (about 2.5×4 feet) takes a lot of yarn.
My (very simple) method for making a loom is to use the back of a canvas. I have a few 3×4 feet canvases and I just staple gun my warp (the yarn that runs top to bottom) into place. This works, for sure, but it's not an ideal method because it's a big hassle to remove the staples and save your loops. (which is a process I skipped this time…I'll explain what I mean at the end.)
I used thin yarn (some white worsted weight and then some very thin Madeline Tosh sock yarn) to create my warp. This is done by just going back and forth and stapling each loop as you go. You're basically creating columns here.
My next step was to loosely create my pattern. I knew I wanted something organic looking – NOT straight lines or triangle shapes – and so I sort of just freehand wove ovals.
Which later, as Instagram pointed out, ended up looking very much like female parts. I sort of love that.
I wove all five of my shapes first and then filled them in. Weaving is just back and forth, over and under, back and forth. That's it. I like working with organic shapes because you can't mess it up. It's not like you're shooting for a perfect circle or a perfect diamond…you're just filling the space. That's the only goal. It's so therapeutic.
I don't use any special tools, just scissors and a plastic tapestry needle (like this). I find that the whole process is really flexible. If you hate what you're doing, you pull it out. If you think a shape needs to be moved, you move it. Adjust and step-back. Adjust and step-back.
After my shapes were made, I filled in the extra space with white yarn. This part is totally mindless since the only goal is to finish.
Once the bulk of the weaving was completed, I tucked in all the extra tails of yarn that were hanging off the sides (this was done just by weaving them back into the main piece).
I also added "tassles" to the bottom which was simple enough. I cut lengths of white yarn, folded them in half and tucked them behind two strings of warp.
Then I pulled the yarn through on itself…
…and pulled it tight. Because I didn't make it to the very bottom of my loom, I ended up weaving the warp back on itself – sort of difficult to explain, but hopefully this photo below helps…
see those little "tails" of thin yarn near my fingers? That's where I wove the warp (which I cut right off the staples) back up onto itself. This is NOT the ideal way to do this, but it holds and looks good enough. So much of my projects are about "good enough."
For the top I did the same thing. I wanted the main hanging yarn to be thicker than my warp and so I cut the warp and wove it back through the piece. Then I took thick yarn and looped it through the weaving to create loops to hang it on. Again…not ideal, but functional.
You can see that the whole thing is a little wavy. I am not positive, but my guess would be that this is because my warp was pulled a little too tightly. It looked great on the loom but when it came off it "relaxed" and bunched up a bit. Not a big deal, sort of adds to the "organic" look, but this would be something to consider if a perfectly straight hang was important to you.
WHEW. That's a lot of words about a yarn project. What do you think? Want to make one? Or…do you want to just WIN this one?!
Leave a comment below telling me where you'd hang this in your home and you'll be entered to win. I'll ship to anyone, anywhere, but please note: you will have to supply your own wooden dowel to hang. I will be sending the random winner ONLY the weaving. Winner will be announced Monday around noon PST.
Winner is #150, HEATHER who said : I'd love to hang this in my entryway so that EVERYONE would see it! i've been following this project and just love, love, love the way it's come together. job well done and thanks for the opportunity to make it mine! xx
Please email me Heather! 🙂 e
See more MAKE&GIVE30 projects here and more yarn projects here!
enJOY it 
375 responses to “PROJECT 4/30 : GIANT WEAVING”
Family room for sure! The colors are beautiful!!
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This is so beautiful! We just made a cross country move and this would look great in our living room.
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I would hang it in my bedroom, above my new desk. It’d be mounted on a brick wall (how, I’m not sure yet), so the colors and textures of your pattern would look amazing against the brick.
Also, I didn’t get the female looking part of it. To me, it looked like that spot on Jupiter. Obviously, still in the organic category. But, I seriously love this weaving. It’s simple, and amazing. Kudos!
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I would hang this up in my entry way! Would be a great art piece that is different from a lot of framed art I have.
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I LOVE this. I’m also kinda loving the lady parts reference.i didn’t see that at first. I think this would look wonderful in my den. 🙂
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Elise! This is amazing! We just bought our first house so I would love to put this in our new living room as a statement piece 🙂
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I really want to win this! I would hang it either in the dining room or the living room. Either way it will look fantastic. Great job!
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My boyfriend and I have only been living in our townhouse for about two months, so we have so many empty walls waiting for art. There is a space against our living room wall with two bookshelves sandwiching an old-fashioned record player. Since the shelves are bigger than the record player, the blank space above it is begging for something fantastic!!!!
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Just moved into a new home and I finally have my own craft/library/office room!! I’d hang it in there! I absolutely feel in love with this when I saw it on Instagram – it’s amazing!
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I have a great spot for this in my living room, above a short bookshelf. Well done! It was neat seeing how you made this! I’ve never woven before, just knitted and crocheted.
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I love it! I’d totally hand it in our hall across from another long hanging. LOVE it!
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I would hang this in our dining room area. The colors coordinate perfectly with the palette I have going on in there!
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Oh I love this! Thank you for sharing your process with us.
(I’d hang this over our dining room table.)
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Cool! I’ll probably hang it above my couch!
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This is beautiful! Weaving is my “to so” craft project for the month of March, so thanks for the inspiration to finally get the ball rolling. I’ve been trying to fill our home with more organic and handmade decor, and this beauty would look awesome in our family room. Thanks for the chance to win.
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i love this! you broke down the process so easy. i’m super inspired to try it out. I’d love something like this in my room 🙂
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Make that “to-do” craft project… Lol!
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Would totally hang it in our living room! Love how it looks different up close versus far away. The texture is amazing!
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This would live at the top of my hall stairs. There’s a place there waiting for it!
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Beautiful! I think this piece would be perfect in our craft-playroom – which is the space we spend the most time in. Our color scheme is already fuschia + tangerine, so I think the deep warm colors would work perfectly! Plus, as a family of 3 females and 1 male, the female parts would fit excellently! Teach our young girls to appreciate female parts!
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I would hang this in my office with my other Elise stuff!
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There is something very ethnic in the shapes and colours of this beautiful piece. I can see it hanging in my mum’s apartment, along with the African masks she brought back from Nigeria and South Africa when living there many years ago ! Such inspiring work Elise.
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This would definitely go in my new bedroom!
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I’d hang it in my kitchen in my new house!!! Fingers crossed!
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Beautiful! I would hang this with me in my new apartment in Seattle. I’m moving out there for residency and I won’t be bringing much since it’ll only be for a year, but this would sure help it feel warm and homey!
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Dining room. Love it!
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gorgeous! I would hang it right above my big red couch 🙂
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Love this weaving, E! We just moved into a new apartment and there’s an awkward wall on the side of our living room that is just screaming for this wall art. Would love to have it to inspire me creatively day-to-day!
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i would love to hang this in my living room.
we have it painted a light blue color so im pretty sure this would stand out because of the colors!
i think my mom would LOVE it and its such a perfect statement piece!
and if not there then right above my bed!!!
i have nothing there and this would also look perfect there!
i love this!
thanks for the giveaway! (:
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I really want to weave now. I’d hang it in my living room – there’s a blank wall space there begging to be filled with a statement piece. If I don’t win maybe I’ll just have to make my own 🙂
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O my goodness I have been anxiously awaiting this post ever since I saw the beginnings of the project in Instagram! Ive really gotten into weaving lately and love this organic look which I haven’t tried yet. I have a wooden dowel ready to hang this beauty in my living room 😉
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I absolutely love this! It’s so beautiful but so simple at the same time. I am constantly inspired by the fact that your “good enough” aesthetic. So many times I’m intimidated by a project because I don’t know how to perfectly execute it, but really that’s not what it’s about. It’s about jumping in and creating something with your own two hands.
All that to say, I’d hang this in my studio space to remind me that “good enough” is more than enough.
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Oh!! I love this! My wife and I were just talking about trying to find some sort of woven hanging for the empty wall in our living room and this is PERFECT! Thank you for the chance!! 🙂
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This is beautiful! I would hang this in our living room right beside our big front window.
Thank you for the giveaway!
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Your weaving is so rad and I would love to win this beauty. My husband and I bought our first house in July and we’ve been slow to hang stuff on the wall. If I won this I’m pretty sure I would hang it by the front door, it’d look great there!
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I don’t have my own home, but I think this would look cool under my lofted bed in my dorm next year! Until then, I would love it in the hallway in between my sister and I’s rooms.
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I love this. I would hang it on my fireplace which is made of stones to help soften it.
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Elise, I am loving your project and all the great things you’ve been creating. You are inspiring me to start trying new things because I’ve worked only with paper so far. I would love this yarn art over our bed, since it’s red and represents love, besides that it would match my ceiling which is red. Thanks for chance.
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This turned out so beautiful! 🙂 I love it! I will be renting a house during medical school – and the area is much larger than anything I’ve ever worked with. I’ve always lived in an apartment, so I’m trying to figure out what to hang on the walls. This would be perfect as a piece in the living room of my house I’ll make home during school! 🙂
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Wow! That’s so cool! Love the colors. How long did it take you to complete? I’d hang it in our open loft space above the couch on the blank wall.
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I would hang this above my desk in my dining room, or perhaps my fireplace. Both need something fun to spice up the walls. The colors are gorgeous! So inspired. Thanks for the opportunity to win (:
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I love this like crazy! I think I would hang it in my front hall as you walk into my living room. It would bring it to life!
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In love with this!!! I would hang it on our wall in our living room that is bare and has been bare for over a year, I have been waiting for that piece that “speaks” to me… If I don’t win I will be doing my best to recreate this!
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Wow this is beautiful, reminds me of my granny who is in heaven and gives me a sense of peace when I look at. I would hang it on the wall in my yoga/meditation space. Your work is timeless… Thanks
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So LOVE this piece !!! I know you will have a ton of comments to go through, anyone would love to hang this in their home! I would hang it in my entry so it can be greeted by all that stop at our door! GREAT job & can’t wait to see what’s next!
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This would go perfectly in my living room!!
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This is awesome! It would hang in our dining/art room.
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So beautiful! What a fun project – and you’re right – very therapeutic, I’m sure! I’d love to hang this in our office, which is slowly but surely getting its walls filled with beautiful and unique crafts. Thank you!
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I have the perfect spot in my living room. It is empty now and this would look awesome there!
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In our living room!
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