I-Loominating! Scrapwood frame loom for under $2

The Idea

Weaving seems like a fun, low commitment, low pressure hobby. No deadlines, lots of potential yarns and fibers to experiment with. Let's build a frame loom! Even better, let's build a frame loom for almost free using scrapwood, some screws already on hand, and a box of wire brads that cost less than $2. Yeah.

The Creation

I had some easy-to-handle sized scrapwood pieces, so I laid them out on the floor to see how big my loom would be if I didn't make any cuts.  I thought it might be nice to have a wider piece across the bottom, so I just went with these pieces as they were and decided to make a 'vertical' (portrait orientation) loom.

Loom pieces

Not pictured in this post, but I happened to have a vat of indigo blue dye already on hand when building the loom, so I dipped the pieces in the dye bath just for funsies.  After the wood had dried for a few days I gave it a coat or two of shellac (already on hand from another project) because I wanted a smooth surface to minimize any yarn snagging.

Next step was the placement of small brad nails to hold weaving warp.  This stage is where I confirmed that I wanted to make a 'vertical' loom rather than a 'horizontal' loom. I laid out a piece of painters tape on each of the short pieces to make a straight edge and then measured 1 cm increments.  I then nailed in each brad at the marked increment.  I chose to use brad nails because they have a small head which seemed like it would make warping the loom, and later removing the warp, easier.

Tape measurements and nailed in warp supports

Tip: Do not nail your nails through the painters tape, nail it NEXT to the painters tape edge. The small space between each nail can make removing any stuck tape a bit tedious. I think I used tweezers at some point because I couldn't fit my finger between the nails.

Brads nailed in place

Once the brads were all in place I assembled the 4 loom pieces together, using two screws at each corner. If you only use one screw there is a possibility that the pieces could get 'out of square' with each other, and nobody wants a wonky loom.

Loom top with warp threads

Conclusion

The loom is heavier than if I had used MDF or some sort of thin plywood, but as far as a scrapwood loom that cost $2 and some time it works juuust fine.  Here it is with a test weaving showing that everything is holding together under the warp tension and (light) weight of the weft fibers.

Loom in action

Happy freestyling, or bargain creating if that is where the wind takes you!

Basket liner from thrifted skirt lining

The Find

This lovely basket was out on the curb one night, and I liked the color, size, and generous flat handle. It seemed like just the thing to hold some yarn supplies, so home I went with my new-to-me basket. After a thorough vacuuming and  cleaning wipe down it was ready to go back into service.

Basket: side view

Basket: top view

Basket: worn label on bottom says 'Handcrafted Philippines'

 

The Makeover

Although the basket is it relatively good shape, since I planned to store yarn inside I didn't want any possible snags on the basket sides.  Luckily I had extra smooth polyester fabric lying around from a thrift store skirt that I had deliberately shrunk in order to make felted wool for an art project.  The skirt lining became basket lining!

 

Lining material with knotted end

How did I turn this skirt lining into a basket lining?  All I had to do was tie a knot in the cut-end of the lining material, put that in the basket, fold down the finished edge over the side of the basket, and tie another small knot around the handle using the edges of the skirt back slit.

Conclusion

Here is the newly lined basket (and re-used skirt lining) ready to start serving as wool storage.

Lined basket with felted wool skirt remnant

Happy freestyling, it never hurts to be open to a variety of storage solutions. You never know what the curb-iverse will send your way!

Mood Mirrored Indigo

The Find

Textiles can be a tricky freestyle find, there is always a question of the lurking unseen microbial presence on whatever fabric has been sitting outside, unattended, for some amount of time.  And of course, things on the curb could always fall victim to a lifted dog leg. But if something is small enough to go STRAIGHT INTO THE WASHING MACHINE upon arrival at home, well, then, I feel pretty good. I've stayed in hotels, how different could it be?  Now that you've read my thoughts on freestyle textile find hygiene, let me tell you about ... a freestyle textile find!

I came across this cool pillow cover (with separate insert) embellished with numerous tiny mirrors, one of a few options in a giveaway box at the end of someone's driveway. So much sewing detail, possibly done by hand - I appreciate such work.  There is no tag on the pillowcase, but the fabric felt like cotton, so I immediately had an idea for a makeover.

Freestyle pillow find on curb

The Makeover

I had an existing dye bath setup from some exploratory home-shibori fun in the color Indigo, and the dye type was one for natural fibers. So after a hot wash in the washing machine, the pillowcase went into the dye bath to sit for a while and (hopefully) absorb as much dye as possible.  Without any fiber information I wasn't sure how the results would look, but as a hedge I let the pillowcase sit in the dye bath for a long time. As in, it sat in the dye bath for multiple weeks. I also decided to order some dye fixative, since my previous shibori experiments had faded quickly without this critical ingredient.  Lesson learned.

Ingredients used to dye pillowcase

This is what the mirrored pillowcover looked like when it finally came out, lots of deep indigo color.  But would it hold?

After the dye bath

There were hopeful signs that the dye fixative had done as promised since the color was dark even after rinsing the textile in cold water until the water ran clear.  But the true test is always the washing machine.

Conclusion

The indigo color held up well after a washing machine cycle, so I'm calling it a success.  Here it is, minimally 'styled' on a couch with two other throw pillows (yes, they were free too, the complimentary colors are a coincidence).

Mirror mirror on the indigo blue pillowcase

Here are two detail shots that highlight the interesting diamond pattern embroidery.

Embroidery detail: angled view

Embroidery detail: front view

Happy freestyling, don't be afraid of a little elbow grease that might be needed to clean something and make it your own!

From Curtains to Cushion Covers

The Find

Some lovely people left a set of paisley curtains and linen sheer curtains out on the curb, with an even lovelier note that the curtains had been dry cleaned and were free for the taking.  Thank YOU considerate givers!

Ready to go!

Paisley close-up

The Re-Use

I wasn't quite sure what project would use up ALL the fabric, but it was clear that making new seat covers for some thrift store chairs would be a good use for some of the fabric.  We had purchased a set of 4 wooden chairs from the thrift store with lovely lines but less-than-comfortable seats.

Thrift store chair

The first step was the remove the seats from the frame, and then remove as many staples from the chair bottom as possible.  I discarded the old foam and batting.

Wooden seat disassembly

All the seats got new foam for cushioning, definitely NOT free, but worth it for a comfortable place to sit.

Foam in package

Due to the size of the chair seats, we needed 4 separate pieces of foam.  I laid the wooden seat onto each piece of foam in order to draw the outline.

Ready to trace the outline

After cutting and shaping the top of the foam with a slight curve I cut out the required amount of fabric for each seat cover. No photos from these steps, but there are lots of tutorials online. I used a medium-duty staple gun to staple the fabric to the bottom of the wooden seat, carefully checking for fabric wrinkles and pulling the fabric taut as I stapled along each side.

Conclusion

The chairs turned out great, much more comfortable with the new foam!  There was plenty of leftover fabric, so I had some special help in making a table runner out of the same fabric.  Now that's coordination!

Newly recovered chair seat

Happy freestyling! May the freestyling force be with you wherever the galaxy takes you.