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Woven in Wool 1

Tapestry Weaving

THE PROCESS OF USING A HANDMADE LOOM

(All set up and this jerk took my seat.)

dog on the lawn

I started weaving back in college, which was always the most meditative and relaxing time during those years. At that point I was working at a loom that is more like the size of a baby grand piano. You sit at it, and the weaving is parallel with the ground. Instead of getting one of these looms for my home during our pandemic days, I decided my family would prefer to have a couch in our living room. So I went with making my own tapestry loom a a good first start. It is more painstaking and takes longer, but the meditative qualities are all still there. 

start of a weaving on a homemade loom

While the weaving itself has a meditative quality, the back does not! At least not for me. But just like my grandma and great-grandma were always yelling about, both seamstresses, the back should always look as good as the front. And that is what I do with all of my tapestries. I take all those dangling strings you see hanging out the back, and I meticulously weave them back in. In most cases, you can't tell the back from the front of my weavings. 

weaving in all the loose strings in the back of a tapestry

And now the front looks as good as the back. I mean the back looks as good as the front. 

Colorful wool textured tapestry weaving