How to Weave with Fabric

I haven’t gotten to talk about it much on the blog, but I absolutely love basketweaving. It’s something that my mom and aunt got me into and now I just can’t stop! Thank goodness it’s a slightly expensive hobby, or I’d be a very literal basket case. I’ve limited myself to kits (rater than spools of reed) and only making baskets that I’d otherwise need or buy…but I promise every one of those last reed scraps becomes a wonderful original creation.

…anyway, that’s not what we are here to chat about today. TODAY is about weaving with fabric. Yes, the beautiful love child of my two favorite hobbies.

I’ve seen woven fabric projects before, but never actually thought about logistics or what I would make with it. I’ll tell you more of the story in next week’s post, but to make a long story short, I needed a little something to give my dad for a special occasion and decided that a woven pillow would do the trick!

How to Make a Woven Pillow

I think it’s helpful when weaving for a project to keep in mind that you’re essentially making fabric. All those jagged edges and fraying spots will be trimmed off and won’t be seen in the end. The other important piece is that it’s not final until I ironed it down…everything can be fixed, so just enjoy the process! Once I kept that in mind, things went very smoothly.

What You’ll Need

Making a woven pillow doesn’t require much. I used fabric scraps from another project that I was working on, and some leftover interfacing, here’s the complete list:

• Fabric (I used a little less than 1 yard) for an 18″ square pillow
• Fusible Interfacing (18″ x 18″)
• Pins
• Large piece of foam or Ironing Board (something you can both stick pins into and iron on)
• Iron
• Sewing machine

I didn’t realize it at the time, but using a Wefty Needle would have made this whole process easier. I plan on getting my paws on one eventually and showing you how they work!

The Prep Work

You don’t need to do much to get ready for making a woven project. I set up a small table-top ironing station that I was comfortable sticking pins into and ironing on. Foam core is a great option if you don’t have a large space for ironing.

Cutting Strips for Weaving

Cutting the fabric is a breeze. Start by cutting 19 strips that measure 1-1/2″ x WOF. Then cut all of those strips in half so that they measure about 1-1/2″ x 21.”

Next, you’ll lay your strips on a flat surface, wrong side up. Fold both edges into the center so that they just barely kiss. Iron into place. Repeat on the rest of your strips.

Weaving Your Pillow Front

So, I placed my fusible interfacing (fusible side up) on my board and wove and wove and wove.

I didn’t use the standard over-one-under-one method. Instead, I used 1-over-2-under like this:

I found it was helpful to pin every so often so that things didn’t slide around too much.

After I had the weave slightly larger than 18″ square and how I wanted it, I started shifting things around to make sure the weave was as tight as I could get it. I used lots of pins for this!

Once I was happy with everything, I ironed the weave onto the interfacing to keep it in place.

I noticed that it was still pretty fragile and carefully transferred it onto my sewing machine and basted all the edges in place.

Then it was time for trimming! I used my basting as a straight edge, but keep in mind that woven stuff won’t turn out perfectly straight. Do your best and trim your weave down to 19″ square.

Then use a 1/2″ seam to secure the front of your pillow to the back of your choice.

And turn it right side out to find an incredible piece of woven art!