photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

But, the boxes have a baffling oxymoron-

a photo of a crocheted granny square,

which could lead people to assume

that the Magic loom produces

crocheted granny squares.

They don’t.

But you can make wonderful squares

with Magic Looms, and then

combine those squares

to make other charming things.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Like this

tiny bog coat

that I made with

four little squares

from the 2 inch

Magic Loom.

Here’s the link

to that tutorial:

Bog Coat on the Magic Loom

The coat in the photo is about 3 inches tall, but, you could make a full size Bog coat for yourself with the Magic Looms.

I’ve made a video tutorial explaining how to work with the Magic Loom: Hope it’s helpful!:

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photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The other day,

on one of my fave lists,

someone posted a link

to Bog Coats.

Bog Coats are an

ancient style of

woven coat that

are rather like

a kimono.

They are made from a

rectangular or square

woven piece of fabric

and are simple to make

but offer endless opportunities for embellishment and exploration.

Because I have been playing with tiny vintage Magic Looms that a friend sent to me, I immediately thought-

Woohoo! I could use the Magic Loom to make a tiny bog coat that would work as a Christmas ornament…….

sketch and photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I knew that I wouldn’t be

able to cut into the fabric

made on the Magic Loom,

so I decided to make 4 squares

and stitch them together

as shown in the sketch.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I used the 2 inch

square Magic Loom

to weave these 4 squares,

but you could use

any size or style

of loom that would give you

squares.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The 2 lower squares are

for the body.

The 2 upper squares

will become the sleeves.

Body: The center back is stitched

together by joining 2 squares.

Then, the shoulder section

of the back is stitched together

(also at the center back),

by joining 2 more squares,

but only stitching half way,

so that there is an opening for the front neck.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

In this photo,

the sections between the

2 needles have been

stitched together,

and from the ‘x’ down to the

center ‘x’.

The other seams aren’t stitched

until the fronts

and sleeves  are

folded into place.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The lower 2 squares

are folded to the front,

to complete the body shaping

and the upper 2 squares

are folded down

to complete the sleeves.

The sleeve seams are

stitched, and then the

remaining seam across

the fronts, and the  bog coat is done!

When I went searching through the studio to see who wanted to model this tiny Bog Coat ( It’s about 3 inches tall and 4 inches from sleeve cuff to sleeve cuff),  Albert Einstein volunteered!

Well, okay…. my Albert Einstein Action Figure volunteered…  and immediately invited a friend over for a cuppa tea to admire the new addition to his wardrobe, and to discuss the nature of the Universe……. If you listen carefully, you might hear them chatting…..

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

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photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The flowers from

flower looms work

beautifully  in combination

with crochet.

I quite like using

unusual yarns with

the flower looms.

This is slubbly quite

hefty silk handspun

in a shawl.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Here are a

bunch of flower loom

flowers in another

shawl- also all

made in handspun yarns.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The rainbow  flower

was made with

spool knitted cord

on a flower loom.

The white flower

was made with chained

yarn…..

so you can really play with

your yarn before you use it

with a flower loom.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

What are those flowers part of?

Well…

a wild and wonderful

freeform crocheted, spool knitted,

tatted, woven, sewn, sculpted

doll made with all manner of

found objects.

Yes…. her

head REALLY is a vintage

shaving brush.

Aren’t her shoes cute?

The red square was made with a

magic loom and soft ribbon.

flower looms and freeform crochet photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Here’s the back of the doll.

I used black  ribbon with

the flower loom,

and with the magic loom,

and a fair amount of spool knitting,

and crochet, with lots

of vintage buttons, a little lego,

beads, and found objects.

Putting together

all the diverse elements

in a cohesive way

can be challenging.

flower looms and freeform crochet photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

But, seeing the possibilities

for creative adaptive re-use,

aka: Upcycling found and

discarded objects and

using them to create

wild and funky dolls

that are an expression

of human experience

is one of the great joys of

my life….

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We find treasures that we send to our friends- so the friends are happy, and the post office is sooooooo happy because Friend B then mails a treasure on to Friend C, to keep the de-cluttering going.

And, oh yes,Friend B has to send a little thank you back to Friend A.  Yes… the post office loves it when we de-clutter.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

One of my friends(Friend A)

started a cycle of

making the Post Office

and me (Friend B)

very happy.

We were talking about

small looms and

flower looms.

She had noticed that I blogged about my broken  much loved flower loom . She mentioned that she had an extra flower loom or two and would I like to have them?

Are you kidding? I went wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee oh yes oh yes oh yes oh yes puhleeeeeeeeeeeze……..

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I was thrilled to bits

when I opened

the box and

whoo whoo!

Not only had my

friend sent me

some flower looms

(I’ll take pics)

she sent me

a set of Magic Looms, too..

And, I just  cracked up when I saw that the big box of new loomies has EXACTLY the same photo, (only upside down), as the little box that I already have.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Magic Looms are

really quite

wonderful.

They make neat little

squares of all descriptions….

and it struck me

today, that you could

use them as flower looms, too….

(That’s on my ‘give it a try’ list.)

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I have been

experimenting with

using the Magic Loom

for making needle lace .

I love using the motifs

from the Magic Looms

in dollmaking  and

freeform crocheted

pieces, too.

There are a lot of ways of

working with the

rather appropriately

named little loomies.

(I don’t think they’re made anymore, so you’ll have to watch for them in garage sales and at thrift stores and places like that).

The one thing that the Magic Looms ABSOLUTELY DO NOT make would be anything remotely resembling a crocheted Granny Square.

So, tell me….. why, oh why, would the manufacturers show a photo (repeatedly and then upside down) of something that their product is totally incapable of making?

Why would they do that?

Don’t they understand how ticked off some poor person was going to feel about it, if the only reason why she bought it was because she thought that she could make a granny square on it?

Ah well, customer relations were obviously not part of their picture.

That’s okay, because The Post Office is pleased.

And,  Friend A is hopefully going to be pleased, because, of course, I will have to send her a little something to say thank you, and then there’s Friend C that will be receiving a little something from my stash. (In the interests of de-cluttering).

Yep…. the Post Office loves de-cluttering…. don’t we all?

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Anyhow…. in spite of the crazy storm, and fingers crossed that it doesn’t turn into a tornado (oh please oh please) (the clouds are VERY wild and ominous looking- eep)  um… where was I ? Oh yes, jumping out of my chair….

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Well….. actually, I am ALSO jumping up and down with delight,

because I have been working for months and months on a new self published book:

Virtuoso Vests to Weave on the Potholder Loom

(well, actually, it’s been years in the making,

as I have been weaving vests on the potholder loom for yonks,

and have been meaning to ~finally~ get around to

building proper patterns, graphs, charts,

schematics, instructions, photos etc)

and I have FINALLY finally gotten it all done!

Wheee!

I am oh so pleased!

The Virtuoso Vests are totally versatile… they are all meant to be made as an expression of the creativity of the person who makes them, so I have included lots of ideas for embellishment……

everything from fairies and mermaids to teddybears.

The storm is getting worse and I am running on battery power, so I think I had better sign off for now!

There are more pics at Virtuoso Vests to Weave on the Potholder Loom

I think I am going to batten the hatches here and keep an eye on the sky.

Hope your weather is better where you are!

Happy weaving and stay safe…..

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For centuries, tapes and ribbons were essential for so many reasons:

They were used for a lot more things than they are now-

Woven tapes were essential to hold clothing up, hold clothing together, hold shoes onto feet,as well as being used around the house and workshop in a miriad of other ways.

Fancier woven tapes and ribbons were used to trim and embellish all kinds of textiles, from clothing and fashion accessories to curtain ties and trims to all kinds of home decorating accessories.

Nowadays, there are lots of people who are working with tape looms, not just to re-create history, but for the pure pleasure of creating beauty in a unique way.

There are 2 styles of tape looms.

One has a box base and ratchet system to wind the warp strands onto a back beam.

photo by Grace & Fred Hatton used with permission

The other is a paddle style, held between the weaver’s knees.

photo by Grace & Fred Hatton used with permission

There are advantages to both, and both are very beautiful.

Here’s a great little video of a woman in historic costume, working with a paddle style tape loom, held between her knees.

Video of tape loom in use

Here is the  most wonderfully useful and comprehensive website about tape loom weaving: Tape Looms

Luckily there are some talented craftspeople still building these beautiful looms:

Jonathan Seidel

and

Fred and Grace Hatton

Grace Hatton has written several excellent articles about how to weave with their double hole Norwegian style rigid heddle tape loom.

Here’s a link to the article she wrote for Weavezine.

Small looms can be sooooooooooo enchanting….. and these are especially so!

Happy Weaving!

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I have been spool knitting variegated handspun for the edging, so I posted a tutorial about how to spool knit a sturdy cord on 2 pegs with thin yarn.  Tutorial

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Here’s a pic of the 2 shades of yarn that I spun for it, as well as the Butterfly loom, a spool knitter, my Nostepinne, and a flower loom (I think I will add flowers soon….)

The instructions that come with the loom show how to stitch the layers of yarn together with a blunt craft needle. I use a different  technique to  interlock the layers of yarn:

I really like to use spool knitting for the edges of ButterflyLoom pieces.  This is how I attach the spool knitting to the fabric:

Make several rectangles on the Butterfly loom and join them, to create a very spiffy narrow scarf :

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

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They can stretch and stretch and stretch. Not so good.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

So, I use a couple of techniques to get around that problem.

Spool knitting with 2 interlocking colors works well.

Another way  to make a spool knitted handle that doesn’t stretch

is to spool knit over a stabilizing core of non stretchy yarn or cord.

I have been working on a bag that I have woven on the Lily Speed-O-Weave Loom.

I decided that I wanted to spool knit the handle and have the handle become the sides and bottom of the bag, too.

To make handles like this, you need to make a loop that is the desired length of the handle plus the measurement of the sides and lower part of the bag. Having a continuous loop for the handles and outside of the bag gives a really nice finish to a bag.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I used 2 strands of Lily Sugar’n Cream in black and one of my larger 6 peg spool knitted cords.

I spool knitted 86 inches.   Then, I cut 2 strands of parachute style cord that are each 180 inches long.

I folded them in half and put a large safety pin through the fold. Before I took the spool knitting off the spool knitter, I slid the safety pin into the spool knitting, drawing the parachute cords through the spool knitting:

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I folded the ends of the parachute cord through the loops, and then used duct tape to secure the ends:

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

When the ends were secured, forming a big loop, I slipped the ends of the spool knitted cord together. I stitched the ends to each other.

And, now, it was a spool knitted loop that would not stretch.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

And then, I pinned the loop around the  back panel of the bag.  I stitched the loop to the back of the bag:

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

And then pinned and stitched the front of the bag to the spool knitted cord:

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The Butterfly fairy on the front of the bag ended up with a few changes.  I included 2 tatted fairies in the butterfly wings, too.

Here is the bag that I made using the Lily Speed-O-Weave loom, spool knitting, vintage flower looms, crochet, tatting and hand sewing.

Lots and lots of techniques in a fun new bag:

photo and project by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

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photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Why do cats always need to sit on freshly warped looms?

I worked with 2 looms set to their smallest dimension. (And was supervised well and truly by Ms Kitty)

You choose the size that you want the Lily Speed-O-Weave loom to be by matching up the holes on the sides and bolting them together.

I used Lily Sugar’n Cream in Black and White to make the front and back of the bag, and to spool knit the cords that form the edgings for the bag front and back.

The front of the bag is embellished with spool knitting, crocheted and vintage flower loom flowers. See: Flower Fairy

project and photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Today, I made a video, showing how I stitch the spool knitted edging to the perimeter of each piece.

This is done before the piece is removed from the loom.

Take off the rubber bands that are holding the loops on the pegs.  Untie the yarn ends from the loom and tie them to each other.

Weave in the yarn ends.

Spool knit a cord that goes all around the outside edge of the loom, and tie the ends together.

Thread up a needle and click on the video.

Stitching the lining to the woven piece is done by hand. If there are any little ‘oopses’, you can clean them up while you are stitching on the lining.

Note… I wanted to jump ahead to show how the lining is attached, so I popped the weaving off the loom before I finished stitching the edging to it.  DON’T do that! erk.

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The project that I am working on is going to become a bag. I’ve been working on 2 looms at the same time.I have finished doing the knotting on both the front and the back of the bag.

Now I am working on the embellishment for the bag. It’s a butterfly/fairy, drawn with spool knitted cord.

drawing by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

This is the pattern for the butterfly/fairy. It’s about 9 1/2 inches wide and about 8 inches wide. I made 2 copies of the drawing.

I glued one copy to a piece of cardboard, and cut out just the butterfly shape. This made a template for the butterfly outline.

The outline of the butterfly takes approximately 52 inches of spool knitted cord.

Pin the template to the fabric on the loom, then stitch the cord around the template:

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Then, place and stitch FLOWERS [click these links for tutorials on how to make them] (crocheted and flower loom) on to the butterfly:

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Spool knit a cord that is approximately 15 inches long for the body of the fairy. It’s made by folding up the ends and wrapping the ankles 2 inches from the end. Fold the cord in half and wrap around the neck:

chart by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The arms are made from a spool knitted cord that is  approximately 8 inches long. Fold the ends of the cord up an 1 1/2, and wrap to form wrists and hands.

chart by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Stitch the body of the fairy to the butterfly, and fill in the spaces with beads and buttons (I am still working on that).

project and photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Stay tuned!  There are more steps (and more tutorials) for making the bag on the Lily Speed-O-Weave Loom!

Project and all drawings and photos are copyright. Please do not copy and ’share’ without Noreen Crone-Findlay’s permission.

Thank you!

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