Tapestry weaving can seem like a pursuit that requires A LOT. A lot of equipment, materials, and knowledge.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Weaving tapestry can be quite simple and your materials and equipment do not have to be complicated. If you want to learn tapestry weaving, below are some suggestions for how to get started. There are also many resources for people already deep into the tapestry experience, but this post is for people who are pretty new to tapestry weaving.
At the end of the post is an actual list you might use to shop with.
Find a teacher: knowledge
It is very helpful to have some guidance whether that comes through a book, an online course, a workshop, or free tutorials online. Check out these avenues for learning. (Forgive me for listing myself in the first two spots. I believe in my book and courses and so I am recommending them to you. If you want to hear from other people about them, look for reviews online or on my website HERE and HERE.)
If you learn well from books, my new book The Art of Tapestry Weaving is the one you want. It is the first comprehensive tapestry techniques book in two decades and it will get you on the right track for less money than any other option. (Other classics you might find at your local guild or library are Carol Russell’s Tapestry Handbook, Kirsten Glasbrook’s Tapestry Weaving, or Nancy Harvey’s Tapestry Weaving.)
Online courses: Of course I love mine! A short leap into the basics is provided in Introduction to Tapestry Weaving. Or Warp and Weft: Learning the Structure of Tapestry is a comprehensive beginning course. Weaving Tapestry on Little Looms is another great place to start.
Workshops: During COVID, if any are available, they are online. No real-time beginning tapestry techniques courses are being held in person right now, so see the point above for online courses.*
Workshops when COVID ends: There will again be wonderful workshops and conferences. There are some fantastic tapestry weavers teaching at these events and you can find a great list of them on the American Tapestry Alliance website HERE. The list includes instructors from all over the world. The workshops I was scheduled to teach in the first half of 2021 have been rescheduled (mostly for 2022, but there remains some hope for the second half of 2021 if we all do our part, wear our masks, social distance, get vaccinated when it is our turn, and kick this virus to the curb). I’ll list my workshops and retreats HERE when they start again.
YouTube tutorials: There are many of these. If you take this route, you’ll be picking up bits and pieces here and there instead of building a cohesive set of techniques. I’d recommend supplementing this method with a book just so you make sure to get some foundational principles down as you explore the wide world of the internet. My YouTube channel has many free videos including the Change the Shed series which will teach you a lot about tapestry: https://www.youtube.com/rebeccamezofftapestry. And THIS YouTube playlist has videos I’ve collected from other tapestry artists and teachers. I am undoubtedly missing hundreds of them, so start your own watchlist (you’ll need to make a YouTube channel, but it is worth it to be able to keep track of what you’re studying).
Equipment
Choosing a loom can seem a bit overwhelming, but you shouldn’t let it be. If you want to start small and just play with this medium, a frame loom of some sort is a good choice. Here are three choices depending on what you want to spend:
A simple non-tensioned frame loom (also includes looms in other shapes!). Schacht’s Easel Weaver is a simple, easy tool. Handywoman Shop makes my favorite beautiful wooden frame looms. Lost Pond looms are well made and easy to use. And Made Kits makes an adorable loom with acrylic teeth and you can choose the color. Schacht’s looms are available from sellers all over the world. The other three options are very small companies and the looms are often made to order.
A tensioned frame loom. If you want a small-ish tensioned loom, Mirrix is the place to go. For very small pieces, try the Lani loom, for larger work try the Little Guy or Big Sister looms.
Make yourself a pipe loom. For about $20-35 depending on whether you need to buy tools and how expensive copper or threaded pipe is where you live, you can make an excellent loom with tensioning. I teach you how to make this kind of loom (and others) in the Fringeless course as well as Weaving Tapestry on Little Looms. There is also enough information to put one together in THIS blog post.
You can find more information about looms on my blog. Try this category link for all my loom posts: https://rebeccamezoff.com/blog?category=Looms
There is also a kit available from Gist Yarn that includes a Mirrix Saffron loom, warp, tapestry weft, and my Introduction to Tapestry Weaving course.
Materials
Yarn choices can also seem overwhelming. I have had moments of complete yarn snobbery in my life, but I’m going to say here that it is better to start than to fuss about having the perfect yarn. Yes, there are definitely yarns that work better for tapestry weaving. THIS blog post talks about that. But if you have a stash of Red Heart yarn from your days crocheting afghans, you can weave with that. You just want something that isn’t too bouncy. Really soft yarns are poor choices for tapestry weaving. Pull out the yarns you have and think about the character of each of them.
And if you need to buy some yarn to start with, I recommend considering Harrisville Highland (if you live in the USA. If elsewhere, consider a similar yarn, about 900 ypp for work at 8-10 epi). Harrisville Designs is a small business and wool mill in New Hampshire and this yarn was probably created for weaving textiles like blankets. It works well for tapestry weaving also. The color choice isn’t fantastic, but it is a good place to start. Look on the knitting yarn page of their website and purchase in skeins if you don’t want to scour it yourself (scour is just a fancy word for wash. The Highland that comes on cones has oil in it from the carding process and it needs to be washed out. This process is quite simple and you can definitely do it if you want to buy cones.)
More information about yarn can be found on my blog here: https://rebeccamezoff.com/blog?category=Yarn
Look at tapestries
This point is often missed by new weavers. Especially if you’re new to the world of art, you may not have a habit of looking at what other people are doing. I highly recommend spending some time just looking at tapestry. It will help you understand what is possible in the medium and what might be better left to the painters. I recommend starting with the Artist Pages on the American Tapestry Alliance website. The range of tapestry work there is very broad. So if you’re looking at a life-long professional’s work, admire that, look carefully, go to their website and marvel some more. But don’t expect yourself to meet that level of art-making for awhile. If you’re looking at a newer weaver’s work, also marvel at what they’ve done and think about what aspects you could incorporate into your own weaving.
And though I don’t want to suggest that a casual glance at tapestry weaving is enough, Instagram has some wonderful tapestry weavers posting images of their work and process. Start following some of them and you’ll learn a lot about how tapestry is made and what sorts of themes and imagery are possible. Here are a few accounts to get you started (you can view Instagram without an account but if you want to comment or save pages, you need to make your own account. This can be private and you don’t have to post anything.) Artists who only have private accounts aren’t linked here, though there are many who will accept a follow request. There are so many tapestry weavers on Instagram and this list is just a tiny start. But in the way of social media, if you start following a few people, you’ll find others that resonate with you. Make sure you search out and follow people who are not professional tapestry weavers also. Looking at what other people are making who are earlier in their practice of tapestry can be heartening and inspiring.
My account: RebeccaMezoffTapestry
American Tapestry Alliance
British Tapestry Group is btgweavers
Dovecot Studios
Australian Tapestry Workshop
Ellen Ramsey
Mary Lane
Michael F. Rohde
Jilly Edwards
Erin Riley
DY Begay
Sarah C. Swett
Marie-Thumette Brichard
Michelle Driver
John Brennan
Join a community
Many weaving guilds have study groups of tapestry weavers. This might be for you if you are a guild-loving individual.
Online communities around tapestry are also a great way to share your questions and what you’re working on. Facebook has many groups for tapestry weavers, some being focused on particular aspects of the medium such as small format or shaped tapestry. Organizations like the American Tapestry Alliance and Mirrix Looms have very nice Facebook groups and pages. Ravelry has a tapestry weaving group.
Allow yourself to play
This medium is a wonderful one for beginners. If you want to become a professional, you absolutely can do that. It just takes practice. But it is also a wonderful thing to spend time doing as a hobby. At the beginning I believe it requires a willingness to play, experience mistakes, and try again. It will take a lot of weaving before you can match the image in your head with what ends up being woven. Just be okay with that and you’ll be well on your way. And always have fun with it.
A shopping list!
Ready to jump in? These are simply suggestions and you should feel free to substitute depending on where you are in the world and what your goals for tapestry weaving are currently. You can always sell a good loom to someone else and try a different one and there are always people who can use the yarn that doesn’t work quite right for you. So start small and don’t be afraid to make a few mistakes along the way.
Loom
If you want a small loom for small weavings, try the Mirrix Saffron Pocket loom or one of the other looms listed above.
If you want a larger loom that sits on a table, try any other Mirrix or the Schacht Arras Tapestry Loom. (Psst. Have a floor loom? Some of them work really well for tapestry weaving. More information on my blog about that HERE.)
Knowledge
Are you a book person? Get this book.
Prefer an online course? Introduction to Tapestry Weaving or Weaving Tapestry on Little Looms will go well with that Saffron loom.
Ask Santa for a trip to the next fiber conference…
Yarn
I most often recommend beginners start with Harrisville Highland yarn at 8 ends per inch. You’ll find more information about recommended anchor yarns in my book and courses or THIS blog post.
If you have some yarn that isn’t too soft and bouncy at home, try that.
Warp: I highly (and I mean highly) recommend that beginners start with cotton seine twine. For setts around 8 ends per inch, 12/9 or 12/6 work well. This is a cabled, very strong cotton. It works really well for tapestry and you’ll find it HERE.
Warp alternative: Want to start with what you have or what you can find at your local craft store? You can try using crochet cotton. It is strong enough for small looms though it doesn’t have the slight stretch of cotton seine twine.
Curiosity: The most important ingredient
Tapestry weaving is about making images in cloth. It is a fantastic exploration in terms of color and form. It is also an art medium. As such, it is a great way for you to express yourself. Successful artists are curious. Don’t be afraid to experiment and play. You’ll make the most discoveries through allowing yourself to make mistakes and even to make ugly things. It is okay. The next weaving will be more to your liking. Just keep practicing!
Do you have tips for people new to tapestry weaving from your own experience? What about places to view tapestries including Instagram profiles, websites, or blog posts? Please put them in the comments!