Freestyle weaving Tutorial Part 4: chain stitches

In the previous parts I have shown how to construct improvised looms. There are many more methods to do this, I have just shown the ones I use. I also have shown traditional weaving techniques.

In this part of the tutorial I will show a few things that can’t be easiely done with a shuttle, on a normal production loom. At least for modern people, these techniques are too time consuming for producing the amounts of fabric needed for clothing and should best be used for things like ATCs, postcards or small panels.

You can do chain stitches over the warp instead of weaving.

This is how the chain stitches look when carefully done and worked to and fro. Achieving a nice and regular look with this is not easy because you have to maintain even tension. Practice will improve the outcome.

Another possibility is to work the chain stitches in one direction and then work the row back in normal weaving. If you alternate after every row (the purple rows) you won’t see the rows of plain weave and get chain stitches pointing all in the same direction. You also can do more plain weaving between the rows of chain stitch in order to get stripes (the brown part).

Another thing to remember is that warp and weft don’t need to be at right angle to each other. you can weave at a different angle with any technique, but something like chain stitch is definitely making it easier.

You can probably use more stitches over the warp of a weaving piece than chain stitch. Just try out.

Another fun thing I didn’t get round to do in my recent pieces is knots with a pile, as in carpets. Yes, oriental carpets are woven/knotted on a loom, over warp threads. See Marla Malletts explanations on how this is done.