We love DIY projects and we especially like creative projects that don’t need a lot of materials and where you can use things you already own: This great upcycling DIY project helps you use any leftover fabric you may still have. It uses scraps of fabric and wool, which means you probably have everything you need at home to do this fabulous DIY.
We’ll show you how to make your own “loom” with scraps of cardboard, and leftover fabric and wool. This DIY would look great hanging up in your home or as a gift. Lets go!
Material list
What you need:
– Two heavy papers with dimensions of 18 x 11 cm
– More small cardboard leftovers
– A comb
– Hobby Scissors
– Optional: a cutter / a scalpel
– Optional: Fabric scissors
– Craft glue, a pencil and a ruler
– Fabric, e.g. leftovers of normal cotton or cotton jersey
– Wool
– A bit of adhesive tape (not on the photo)
– optional: a small wooden stick or a slouch skewer for hanging (not on the photo)
Prepare the cardboard loom
Take your two pieces of cardboard measuring 18 x 11cm. The cardboard itself should be thick and sturdy and not bend too quickly. You can also use any larger pieces of cardboard, which would make your loom bigger. We decided on these dimensions so that this blog is not long. Glue the two pieces of cardboard together so that the loom will be extra strong and sturdy
Next, glue two more cardboard strips on each of the two short sides at the top and bottom, approx. 1 cm from the edge. They will later be used to stretch your thread and to provide space between the thread and the “loom”.
Draw lines at the top and bottom at a distance of 1 cm and cut them with your scalpel, cutter or craft scissors.
Take another scrap of cardboard and cut it as shown above. It becomes an improvised shuttle that is used to thread the threads through. Cut a small hole in the back end.
Upcycling fabrics: making fabric yarn yourself
Now you can prepare your wool and scrap fabric. To recycle old fabrics, you can also turn them into yarn. Use pure cotton fabric or more elastic cotton jersey and cut long strips.
You can then roll the strips of fabric and wool into small balls so that you can organize the colours of your choice and get thicker threads.
When you plan which fabric you want to use, you can either let yourself improvise, test the colours in advance, stick colour samples on paper and combine them and also make a design sketch. This is particularly worthwhile for large-scale and complex projects. Your piece of paper should be the same size as your future piece of web so that you can plan your project out.
Cover the loom
You have now already prepared your simple loom. Now its time to string it. Take a sturdy yarn and do a tear test. Solid cotton is particularly suitable here.
Wrap the end of the thread in some of the crevices to hold it in place (where the finger points), then pull the thread taut up into the next column.
Now thread the thread from left to right again and again from bottom to top until you have reached the right side. These vertical threads are called warp threads .
When you have reached the end, wrap the end of the string again in several gaps so that nothing can slip.
Weaving
Now it comes to the weft threads : This is the name given to the threads that are woven horizontally through the warp threads. Weft threads do not have to be as robust and solid as the warp threads. Various types of yarn and scraps of fabric are suitable here, for example cotton, jute, linen, jersey, fancy yarn, scraps of fabric and scraps of stockings or shirts.
To start, take your shuttle and attach wool or thread to the end. The length of the cord you need depends on how far you ultimately want to weave the selected colour. You have to keep in mind that you will always be weaving from one side to the other and should plan twice as much.
You start on the lower side of the loom. Take your shuttle, go behind your warp threads and stitch in the middle with enough distance from the edge from the back to the front. By starting in the middle and not on the edge, you can fix the beginning better on the back later. Then thread your thread alternately up and down.
Pull the thread straight along the edge and turn, then go up and down in opposite directions until you are on the other side. When turning, it is important to always hold the warp threads lightly at the edge (see photo above right). If you tension them too much, everything would warp and your web project would narrow in the middle.
Use your comb to smooth your fabric . You can also use the comb to adjust the position of your fabric at any time and slide it slightly up or down on your warp threads.
When you’ve woven a few rows and want to change the colour, come back to the middle of the end with the thread and let the end sag. So you don’t need a knot.
Next, start the new thread again in the middle (see photo above right). The blue and white thread is an old cord from an old shirt. It is too thick to be threaded through the shuttle but can be woven easily by hand. The end is also found in the middle again and the thread end is left hanging at the back.
You can now continue to weave colour by colour: Always start with a new colour in the middle and let the beginning and end of the thread hang in the middle at the back.
To weave a diagonal, you just have to gradually weave fewer warp threads around it so that a slope is created.
In the photo above, the woven structure of the diagonal can be seen very well. Here, too, the end is brought back to the middle.
At the diagonal, the next colour starts small and includes more and more warp threads until the fabric has expanded to the full width. Don’t forget to always hold the warp threads gently when turning so that nothing gets warped!
For the next colour change, we used our pink yarn from a scrap of fabric.
The width of the fabric creates a completely different structure and look than normal wool.
You can continue to use your fabric layer by layer and any number of colours, textures and patterns.
Make sure that there is enough space at the top and bottom so that you can knot the warp threads to have a clean finish.
The colorful woven piece is ready!
We were so excited that we made several copies.
You can either leave the woven piece on the frame (looks pretty and can be used as a wonderful decoration or as a gift) or you can remove it from the frame and attach it to a real and more sturdy background,
Conclusion: take the woven piece out of the frame
When you have finished weaving and would like to peel off your fabric properly and then hang it up, now very carefully take one loop after the other from the upper crevices of your loom and knot them at the edge of thw fabric (as seen in the first photo where the thumb is). Be careful that the fabric does not slip and that the thread ends do not fly lose at the back.
Knot all of the top loops.
Carefully fold the fabric over so that the back is visible. Take the two ends of a thread and carefully knot them together so that everything holds extra well.
Optional: Take a piece of tape and fix the knotted ends on the back. This will help everything look nice and tidy, even if you can’t see the back when hanging it on the wall later.
Then carefully loosen the loops on the other side and tie them together too.
Now you have your finished piece of weave!
You can use a piece of wood from the park or a skewer to hang it up.
And we are finally DONE!
We hope you enjoyed making this fun upcycling project! Don’t forget to share your finished version with us on Instagram using the hashtag #makeristcom. To find other patterns that allow you to use fabric you already have check out our sewing with leftover fabrics page on Makerist!
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