Straps! Yarn?

July 7, 2021 8:29 AM

My partner built me a strap loom! I am going through yarn too fast and running out of excuses to weave.

1. My normal approach for yarn is thrift shops. I get the impression I'm going to wipe out my local thrift shops faster than I can go through the yarn. Where online do I find bulk secondhand cotton and/or linen yarn and/or cheap organic cotton and/or linen yarns? Willing to detangle minor knots. No Facebook or Amazon.

2. Yesterday I wove two ribbons to tie my partner's hair. Two! In one day! I thought that would take a lot longer. So I need lots more excuses to make things, with an emphasis on long and useful. Things people might want. I can do up to ~3" wide and ~10' long. So far I've thought of leashes and straps for instruments.

Bonus question: If I buy elastic, can I weave waistbands for underwear? I like to weave densely.

posted by aniola to Grab Bag (21 answers total)

Big disclaimer that I am not crafty and I don't know anything about fiber art.

But I've seen tons of those webbing/woven strap chairs in my life, and maybe that could be a good project? If you have wood skills I suppose you could build a whole chair from scratch, or barring that maybe weave straps into a seat & back for some disused chair bones you find at a thrift store.

example example example example
posted by phunniemee at 8:39 AM on July 7, 2021 [5 favorites]

Depending on who your "people" who might want things are, potentially: various kinds of harnesses (decorative body harness or functional dildo harness) that are usually made of leather
posted by needs more cowbell at 8:45 AM on July 7, 2021 [2 favorites]

If you (or potential recipients) can sew, then you or they can use what you make for patchwork sewing, whether for things normally made from a bunch of small pieces, like quilts, or for things you'd normally make out of one big piece of fabric. See for example this dress from the recent season of the Great British Sewing Bee
posted by trig at 8:57 AM on July 7, 2021

Headbands.

Bag straps for everything from messenger bags to hand bags. I have several handbags with interchangeable straps a cross body bag requires a pretty long strap, specially if you make it adjustable.

Glasses "chains" to hang sunglasses or reading glasses from around your neck.

Lanyards

Decorative ribbon for sewing projects or other craft projects. A present wrapped in a ribbon with the persons name hand woven in say would be pretty cool.

You can buy the fixtures and fittings for the above at most craft stores or on Amazon very reasonably priced and it would only take some basic sewing skills to make them.
posted by wwax at 9:00 AM on July 7, 2021 [2 favorites]

You can frog old sweaters from the thrift store; this is a really great way to get super high quality yarn and lots of it for cheap (but lots of fairly satisfying labour involved)

Camera straps made with handweaving are really beautiful and functional.
posted by Sweetchrysanthemum at 9:01 AM on July 7, 2021 [7 favorites]

Make and Mend sells secondhand yarn and is worth checking out (although their inventory is not super-organized).

I also very much like needs more cowbell's idea of sewing the strips together. A lot of traditional clothing is sewn from big rectangle of fabric that may be pieced together from smaller pieces of fabric, for instance this Tibetan style coat that can be assembled from strips of handwoven fabric.
posted by mskyle at 9:10 AM on July 7, 2021 [1 favorite]

Can I be the ignorant fiber artist here and ask what a "strap loom" is? I just want to make sure you're not talking about weaving WITH straps for some reason, as opposed to a loom that makes ONLY straps.

If it is the latter, you may find some luck on Ravelry - they have patterns for loom knit items, and there may be some for strap looms in there. Also, Ravelry members often list some of their own stash as being available for sale or trade.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:13 AM on July 7, 2021

Response by poster: I am talking about a loom whose maximum output is about three inches by ten feet. So yes, a loom that makes only straps.

It looks like Ravelry requires a login.
posted by aniola at 9:26 AM on July 7, 2021

Response by poster: When I say "useful", I'm specifically hoping to find something world somehow doesn't already have enough of.
posted by aniola at 9:28 AM on July 7, 2021

Curtain tie-backs, belts, holiday garlands.
You can buy yarn lots on eBay and ShopGoodwill.com (mind shipping fees; most non-flat-rate Goodwill listings will have a calculator in the shipping section to avoid unpleasant surprises).
How to set up a free account with Ravelry.
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:08 AM on July 7, 2021 [1 favorite]

If you switch to finer yarn and more complicated patterns, it will take more of your time to make each length of strap. Tablet weaving?

Check out Women’s Work: the First 20000 Years.
posted by clew at 10:28 AM on July 7, 2021 [2 favorites]

I would actually love a holiday garland of the classic " loops of paper taped together" style but instead made of short woven loops sewn together.
posted by theweasel at 10:33 AM on July 7, 2021 [7 favorites]

pouches are nice strap loom projects - fold a longer piece and seam the sides, then add snaps or toggles for a flap on top - I use something similar to this to carry around a set of cutlery/straws in my purse, and I think a woven one would be really pretty (and make great gifts!)

smaller pouches are great for travelling with jewellery or putting your shampoo bars/soap in. Drawstring pouches are also great if you want to do the top seam that way instead of a foldover!

funky shoelaces? They'll take you longer if you are using really fine cottons (look for crochet thread in a 10 or smaller at the thrift store!)

If you can crochet (or want to learn, it's fub!) - a woven strap band bralette/bikini is cute, and bikini cups are very easy and quick to crochet! Actually, strap weaving is often a really nice combination with crochet - crochet can give you more shapes, and interesting ways to join your straps together.

Hanging plant pot harnesses are nice!
posted by euphoria066 at 11:20 AM on July 7, 2021 [1 favorite]

You could weave a bunch of straps and stitch them together at the edges to make a rug. You could also make a "toothbrush rug" using strap pieces instead of rags, too.

FABSCRAP often has cones of yarn in their store, but it's not always natural fiber.
posted by blnkfrnk at 11:28 AM on July 7, 2021 [2 favorites]

Can you make 3 by 10 pieces and sew them together to make quilts and rugs?
posted by gt2 at 11:28 AM on July 7, 2021 [1 favorite]

Strappy things by themselves or assembled without a sewing machine
Matching pet leashes & harnesses
People harnesses
Instrument straps
Bookmarks
Belts
Holiday garland
Potholders, trivets, placemats or table runners made with crafted ribbon and re-woven by hand, reed/rush style

Strappy things that can be bound together:
Windsocks
Flags (this opens a whole subcategory of customizable or non-generic pride flags)
Quilts
Totes/pouches

Next year's Maypole =)

There are lots of patterns out there for making things out of old seatbelts, there might be some ideas to be found there.
posted by ApathyGirl at 11:29 AM on July 7, 2021 [2 favorites]

Tip: in your internet searching, consider looking for woven "band" instead of "strap". In my experience more weavers use the term band instead of strap, although they are certainly interchangeable. A Spinner Weaver has an impressively long list of things that could be made from woven straps/bands.

Regarding the bonus question, weaving with stretchy things can be weird (although not something I personally have experience with). If you are weaving straps in the ways I am familiar, the long direction of your strap is the warp (i.e. the bit that is on the loom), which is the direction you will want it to stretch in for underpants. Since the warp needs to be under tension while weaving, if you make it out of something stretchy, it will get really stretched out (longer) while you are weaving, and then it will relax significantly (shorter) when you take the work off the loom, resulting in a fabric that is very different than if the warp did not change length dramatically between tensioned and un-tensioned. The effect will be much more dramatic with very stretchy elastic than with slightly stretchy wool (cotton and linen are notably un-stretchy). This can be a cool thing to do on purpose to get interesting textured fabric and if some elastic is in your budget, why not give it a try and see what happens?
posted by Advanced_Waffler at 12:25 PM on July 7, 2021 [1 favorite]

Decorative trim for the hem of a skirt. If you look in a sewing or upholstery store, you will see dozens of kinds of trim that are flat, up to 3" wide, and woven. Also can be used on the sleeves and placket of a shirt or blouse.
posted by KayQuestions at 3:38 PM on July 7, 2021 [1 favorite]

You might have more luck searching if you use the name “inkle loom.”

I know you were concerned about needing to create an account for Ravelry, but I really can’t recommend the site enough. It’s nominally for knitting and crochet, but there are communities for weavers and you can search user projects.

Inkle weaving group: https://www.ravelry.com/groups/inkle-loom-weavers

Lots of inspiration to be found in project search: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/search#craft=weaving&query=Inkle&sort=completed&view=thumbs
posted by liet at 4:06 PM on July 7, 2021

Sources for yarn can include Freecycle, Facebook Marketplace, (your town's name) buy and sell sites, yard sales, etc.
Don't be shy to ask for free yarn. Lots of people have leftovers, you may get more than you want!
posted by Enid Lareg at 11:17 AM on July 8, 2021

Crochet cotton is easy to find secondhand in thrift stores, at garage/estate sales, on ebay, etc. If you get bored with that, you can always try waving with sewing thread and making more delicate ribbons. I think you should check out tablet weaving, though. You can make the cards from a deck of playing cards and a hole punch and you have so many design possibilities including weaving a message onto your bands.

I definitely recommend ravelry, there are many inkle loom/tablet weaving groups and I'm sure each of them has a "what do I do with all these bands?" thread.
posted by Pickles the Fire Cat at 12:22 PM on July 8, 2021 [1 favorite]