What's Warped Now: Hawaiian Inspired Scarf

Hey all! My goodness, I am so sorry for not updating since February. Two weeks ago I was fending off a nasty cold and last week I was traveling for my dad's birthday so it was tough to make time for new projects or blog posts. But I'm back now, with some special stuff to share. (Hopefully it was worth the two week wait!)

It's now almost officially springtime, which means cold-weather scarves has gone the way of hot chocolate and snowpeople. But cooler spring weather is still a perfect time for looser-woven scarves. Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend the Philadelphia Flower Show, the theme for which this year was Hawaii. The floral arrangements and displays were absolutely gorgeous, as they are every year. Take a look below:


The above image was made using entirely natural plant material-- no dyes or anything! Pretty amazing, huh?


Beautiful bright floral display.


Single cut flowers were kept alive and blooming by sitting in little bulbs of water. I thought this display was really neat!


Some of the exhibitions were tiny. In fact, this one's theme was "Tiny Bubbles."

And thanks to my visit, I got some tropical inspiration for a new loosely-woven scarf that I'm starting on right now. It's not on the loom yet, but I'm in the process of designing the warp using yarn I have left over from previous projects. This is the really fun part for me, because it's a challenge to find the right balance of colors-- what seems like a random selection of colors, weights, textures and order of yarn for the warp actually wasn't random at all, but mulled over considerably (here's where being obsessive sometimes can really come in handy, hehehe.) Hopefully in an update soon I can post about how well this one's coming along!



And, as a bonus sorry-I-haven't-updated-recently treat, here's a detail of a scarf I finished in between napping, drinking my weight in iced tea, and hacking up a lung two weeks ago. I revisited the vanilla-chocolate-strawberry theme again, but this time added a little sparkle!



Thanks for visiting, and I promise to be back next week (if not sooner)!

What's Warped Now: Recycled Curtains

Hey all! Sorry for not posting last week, but hopefully I can make up for it this week with the news that I made my first sale on Etsy last week! A lovely customer bought my Brown Shimmer scarf. Also, my Jewel Tone scarf was featured in the Just Jeweltones treasury. So I've still been busy, even though I wasn't weaving.

But I'm back to it this week. For a while now, I've been wanting to try some weaving projects with stuff other than yarn. When my roommate and I moved into our apartment, we picked out these cool blue patterned curtains:



We had some remnants left over, which I've kept in my closet for just such a project. This project was just an experiment to see how the remnant, cut into strips, would react while being woven. It's always good to do tests-- something that, in my impatience to get a project started, I often overlook. But now I have a much better idea how to use this the next time around.

What's Warped Now: Black and White Belt

In an effort to expand my rigid heddle weaving horizons, lately I've been tying some new things besides scarves. (This is especially good because scarf weather will be over before we know it.) In my latest post I showed how I made a bag out of a piece I wove. For this week's What's Warped Now, I'm trying something else: a belt!



Weaving a belt like this one is pretty simple-- it's the same process as weaving a scarf in plain weave, only much thinner and a bit shorter. For this one, I'm using a black Lion Cotton for the warp and a variegated black, white and grey Lion Cotton for the weft. The Lion Cotton is nice because, while it's not as soft, it works up tightly and is thicker, which makes for more structure, and that's good for a belt. The variation in the weft makes for some neat visual interest in what would otherwise be a very plain accessory.

As for fastening it, I chose a very simple D-ring. I am lucky enough to work in the middle of the fashion district in Midtown Manhattan, where you can't walk five feet without seeing a fabric or accessory store. I went to one of the many "notions" stores and chose from their seriously cool and overwhelming selection of D-rings. This time, I chose a simple one, but I think in the future I will choose funkier ones. When the weaving is done, I will attach one end of the belt fabric to the D-rings, and the belt will be ready to wear!

My First Woven Bag!

Remember this project? Well, a couple weeks ago I turned the tapestry into a bag.

I started with a piece that, once off the loom, looked like this:


Then I bought some fabric from a very helpful lady at one of many fabric stores in the fashion district in Midtown, and sewed the fabric onto the tapestry as an inside lining for the bag.


Then I folded the tapestry up onto itself to create a front, back, and front flap. I then attached a button to the front, which would get a corresponding loop on the front flap for closure.


For the strap, I took leftover yarn from the same skein I used for the bag and braided it together.


I then attached the completed strap to the body of the bag using leftover yarn from the same skein.


Here is the bag with the open flap. You can see the loop that is used as a closure for the button attached to the body of the bag.


Here is the front of the finished bag. I love how these colors work together!


Here's the back of the finished bag. It worked out nicely that the front of the bag and the flap of the bag had similar color tones, and the back of the bag has some different but very pretty lighter variations.


And this is the end result!


It was a lot of work, and there was a bunch of trial and effort, but it was worth it. I'm really proud of this piece-- my first project on my tapestry loom and the first bag I've made out of woven materials since I was in college. I plan on making more, so you may see some similar ones on the blog soon.

What's Warped Now: Wine-Colored Tapestry

This week, I'm back on the tapestry loom doing something similar to what I did the first time around, only with a more natural color palette that kind of reminds me of the colors of wine.



The last one of these I finished, I made into a bag. My plan is to do the same with this one. I have some photos of my bag-making process for the other one, so I'll be sure to post those soon. Until then, I hope you're enjoying these weekly updates!

What's Warped Now: Pink and White Scarf

This time, I'm back on my Cricket loom with a pink and white scarf. After working on a few other projects, I had some pink and pink-and-white variegated yarn left over. Though I love to buy new yarn pretty much all the time-- even when I don't need to-- sometimes I use my leftovers to create new projects. This is one of them: a simple plain weave scarf with varied warp threads and a loosely-beaten weft.



And I've even got leftovers from my leftovers from this project, so you may see another project like this again.

Bonus: My other scarf with a combination of pink and white (and brown) was chosen as part of the Dripping in Chocolate Treasury on Etsy. Check it out!

The Gift of Scarves

When I first started weaving, I made my good friend Allie a scarf:



Her dad saw the scarf and requested one of his own, which turned out to be this scarf.

When the holidays came around, Allie asked that I make one for her fiance Joey. She wanted something grey to match his coat, and something blue to match his eyes. I weaved a houndstooth pattern out of a wool/acrylic blend. He just got it today (I know it was a holiday gift, but I am a bum) and they sent me a picture of a very dashing young man in a very stately scarf:



Thanks to Allie and Joey for being so awesome and supportive of my scarf-ness! (And if any other of my readers would like to be equally supportive, I love custom projects!)

What's Warped Now: Sunset Tapestry

New year, new segment: What's Warped Now will be a weekly update about a current project. This will help keep my updating often and consistent, but more importantly it'll keep me weaving often.

For Christmas, I was lucky enough to receive a tapestry loom. I'm excited about it because it's a new format for me, so I can do a bunch of different kinds of projects: bags, wall hangings, placemats, etc. After experimenting with the pattern that was included in my little tapestry loom kit, I saw this really funky, beautiful wool that reminded me of a sunset. So I decided to give it a try and see how it turned out. So far I'm loving these colors. I don't know what I'll make out of it yet-- maybe just a simple wall hanging.



That's it for this week. What's Warped Now will be back next week with a new project, so see you then!

A Very Crafty 2012

Hey all! It's been a few weeks since my last post and a lot has happened, so I'm just going to list and link:

• For the holidays, I got a new camera, a book on rigid heddle weaving, and a tapestry loom, which means I can weave all kinds of cool new stuff and then take great photographs!

• I made a bunch of custom scarves as holiday gifts. Hopefully I can get some pictures in the coming weeks of the recipients with their scarves.

• I updated my Etsy shop with new listings!

• One of my new items has been added to a treasury on Etsy!

• Lion Brand Yarn Studio near Union Square is starting a new group for rigid heddle weavers. If you're a rigid heddle weaver (like me) check it out-- their first meeting is this Thursday evening from 6-8 p.m.

• Three words: Handmade Ryan Gosling.

• And of course, because I always like to include a photo, here's a photo of the item listed on the Grape and Tangerine treasury:

My first custom order!

A while back, I weaved a scarf for a friend's birthday present. A little while later, her parents visited her, and there was a cold snap. She wore the scarf I'd made for her. Her dad saw it and contacted me about making a scarf for him, too. I was so excited-- my first custom order!

He wanted a black and yellow plaid scarf with a touch of red. I chose to use Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice because it's soft, durable and washable. Plaid patterns are a lot of fun to weave-- I love designing the way the colors will overlap with one another, then seeing how it looks when that design translates to the actual woven fabric.

I sent my friend's dad the finished product, and he received it a few days ago. He sent me this picture along with very kind comments. Thank you Mr. Jennings!



I love creating custom pieces. It's a way for me to get to know someone and give them something fun and functional at the end of the process.

Welcome to the Warped Handwovens blog!

A little introduction to me and my work:
My name is Brianna. As a kid I was constantly drawing, painting, playing with clay, beading, collaging, needle-crafting-- I always knew I wanted to do something related to art when I grew up. For college, I attended Syracuse University, where I studied Communications Design and fell in love with design.

At SU, art and design elective courses outside our main focus of study were required in our curriculum. One semester, knowing nothing about weaving, I signed up for Intro to Floor Loom. It became my favorite studio elective-- I found the weaving process methodical and meditative (a great stress reliever), and at the end I had created something beautiful and functional. I learned about all sorts of techniques, patterns and materials, and created a few pieces I was very proud of.

Fast forward a few years, after I'd moved to New York for a design job. The job was good, but I was itching for something to do after work that's more than watching TV or checking Facebook. I kept thinking about weaving, but there was no way I could afford the kind of loom I learned on-- plus, there was no way I could fit one into an apartment in Brooklyn. But after doing some research, I stumbled on the Cricket Loom, a table-loom-sized lightbulb went off. Soon after, I got my Cricket Loom in the mail and started weaving away.

At first, I weaved just to relax, and I didn't really think about doing anything with the pieces I finished. But after several months and a growing pile of scarves (not to mention half-unraveled yarn balls that seemed to follow me around the apartment), I started wondering what I could do with them. Right around that time, I saw a flyer for the Built in Brooklyn craft fair. I sent in an application and got a table, and proceeded to go into production hyperdrive. Thanks to my design background, I know how important branding is. So is the origin of Warped Handwovens-- "Warped" being a little nod to both the length-wise threads on the loom and the fact that I'm a little strange.

Warped Handwovens made its first appearance at that craft fair, where I sold a few things and began to realize this could be more than just a hobby, and my scarves could have homes other than on a shelf in my closet. I started an Etsy shop around that time. Since then, I've been working on building up my inventory, doing some personal weaving projects and some custom orders. In the coming months, I plan on participating in a few more craft fairs around Brooklyn and adding more to my shop.

This blog is where I will discuss my weaving projects, techniques, inspiration, events, other crafty people I like, and basically all things warped. For more warped goodness, visit my Etsy shop. Thanks for visiting, and please check back often for updates!

And, because this is supposed to be about my projects, here's a glimpse of one of my most recent:

A scarf inspired by the vanilla-chococolate-strawberry ice cream combo. Delicious!