Woven wall hanging

Make a one-of-a-kind wall hanging using scraps of yarn, lace and fabric.

Dig out your craft stash and use odds and ends to make a unique textile artwork. Experiment with different yarns – smooth, bobbly, thick, thin – and add in a mix of colours for effect.

You will need:

Yarns of varying sizes – thick, thin, textured
Wool roving
Thin pieces of lace
Thin pieces of fabric
Old picture frame
Nails
Hammer
Weaving needle
Piece of dowelling (optional)
Driftwood

Make a loom

Find an old picture frame and measure and mark the top and bottom of the frame at 0.5cm (¼ in) intervals. Hammer in nails where marked, placing each second nail slightly beneath, as shown.

Using a fairly thin, neutral-coloured yarn, start by knotting the yarn around the first nail at the bottom left of the loom. Wind the yarn up and down the nails, winding it around only the top nails (effectively every second nail), as shown, and ending at the bottom right of the loom. Knot off, making sure the yarn is pulled tight.

Make a fringe

Starting a little way up from the bottom edge of the loom, create a fringe by tying a row of rya knots. For difference-sized fringe lengths, cut different yarns and lace at different lengths – some 30cm long, some 33cm long and some 36cm long, or whatever length you like. Fold each piece in half and follow this video to tie a rya knot. Do this along the entire length of the loom.

You can add shorter rya knots to the middle of your woven piece as well if you wish, like in the image below.

Weaving

Thread yarn onto your needle and weave under and over along the length of the loom. To make this process easier, you can insert a piece of dowelling (optional) at the top of the loom (as shown in the image above), weaving it between the threads as you would for the yarn, to hold the threads apart.

To create different textures, use wool rovings and fabrics as well.

To create a soumak weave (like a plait), watch this video here. This technique looks especially nice when using wool roving (as shown in the top image) or thick yarn.

Finishing off

Finish your last row of weaving, leaving enough room at the top to hang your woven work on a piece of driftwood. Gently lift the warp strings off the nails at the top of the loom, and, using an overhand knot, tie each pair of strings as close to the top of the weaving as possible. Do the same for the bottom, gently lifting the warp strings off the nails and tying the pairs of strings in a knot. Weave any ends into the work at the back.

Thread the driftwood through the top loops and hang!