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Loom Weaving Tutorial: 6 Weaving Patterns for Beginners (with picture instructions)
Posted on: 6 Apr, 2019

Overview

Ready to start weaving? Here are 6 basic patterns that will have you weaving in no time!

Once your loom is prepped and you have all your weft materials near by, its time to start weaving, finally! Although I find it really relaxing to build a frame loom and dress the loom with warp, I have the most fun adding the weft yarns.

If you do not have a loom yet, don’t worry- you can learn to build a simple cardboard loom, here. Or if you have not prepped your loom yet for weaving, you can find the steps to take before weaving your first yarn, here.

As I mentioned on my first post, I am getting back into weaving again after some time away from the loom. As a refresher, I have gathered together in this post some basic weaving patterns that are used often by weavers.

The patterns in this tutorial:

plain weave (tabby weave)

twill weave

chevron weave

soumak weave

rya knots

pile weave

TIP: This tutorial is just a simple explanation of these weaving patterns. These weaving patterns are only a handful of the various others. There are many variations to the weaving patterns above.

I have found that by adding (or reducing) a few rows of yarn between a pattern, can really effect and change a pattern. After learning some weaving basics, you can try experimenting with these basic patterns and making others ones of your own.

Plain weave

Plain weave, also known as tabby weave, creates a checkerboard pattern, which is created by alternating warp threads while adding the weft yarns.

Find the full written and video tutorial here, Plain Tabby Weave: Basic Weaving Pattern for Beginners. 

plain weave tabby weave pattern

Twill weave pattern

Twill weave pattern creates a diagonal pattern. Before starting, weave a few rows or plain weave to create a base for the pattern.

Find the full written and video tutorial here, Twill and Chevron Weave Pattern : Basic Weaving Patterns

Chevron weave pattern

The chevron weave is a type of twill weave pattern. Chevron weave creates an arrow pattern.

Find the full written and video tutorial here, Twill and Chevron Weave Pattern : Basic Weaving Patterns.

Soumak weave

The soumak weave pattern creates a bubbled or chunky affect on the weaving. When two rows of soumak weave are woven it creates a braid-like look.

Find the full written and video tutorial here, Soumak Weave Pattern : Basic Weaving Patterns for Beginners.

Rya knots

Rya knots create a fringe. This fringe can be added to the end of the weave, which extend the weave design. Fringe can also be added within the body of the weave. This adds volume and texture to the weave.

Find the full written and video tutorial here, Rya Knots Weave Pattern : Basic Weaving Patterns.

Rya knots weaving pattern

Pile weave

Pile weave is created by looping weft yarns around a rod while woven in the warp.

Find the full written and video tutorial here, Pile Weave Pattern : Basic Weaving Patterns.

pile weave pattern

Conclusion

Patterns are just one part of weaving a design. You will find that yarn with different textures and plies look different and effect the appearance of a pattern. Weaving opens up a lot of different possibilities for designing fiber art in various ways. In later blog posts, I will be exploring various ways to build images and design on the loom.

Thank you so much for visiting my site. I hope that it has helped answer some of your questions about basic weaving patterns.

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