Table of contents for Spring 2026 in Handwoven

I’ll admit that the theme of this issue—bugs—concerned me right from the start, even though it was entirely my idea. After all, the scurrying legs, surprise appearances, and stinging parts of various insects can be off-putting, and we really don’t welcome the sight of bugs in our weaving spaces. Nevertheless, I find myself drawn to the astounding variety of looks these tiny creatures sport: brilliant (or subtle) colors; stripes, dots, swirls, and other patterns; bodies of all shapes and sizes; delicate transparency; and shimmering iridescence. Why not devote an issue to those shapes, colors, patterns, and textures? I ran the idea past some colleagues and other weavers, took a deep breath, and posted a call for submissions. But then I found myself fretting late at night, when even small problems…

Since 1876 Arizona FIBER CREEK Prescott AZ 86305 (928) 717-1774 www.fibercreekprescott.com info@fibercreekprescott.com California CUSTOM HANDWEAVERS Mountain View Tel: (650) 967-0831 Fax: (650) 967-1005 www.customhandweavers.com webemit@sbcglobal.net CUSTOM HANDWEAVING Redondo Beach Tel: (310) 316-0910 or: (866) 656-1060 www.nancyscustomhandweaving.com customhandweavin@aol.com JULIAN WEAVING WORKS Julian (760) 765-2432 info@weaverslink.com REVOLUTION FIBERS San Diego www.revolutionfibers.com sales@revolutionfibers.com SAN FRANCISCO FIBERS CO. Oakland (510) 893-2015 www.sanfranciscofiber.com lou@sffiber.com Colorado BOUNTIFUL Livermore (877) 586-9332 info@bountifulspinweave.com www.bountifulspinweave.com FIRESIDE COUNTRY STORE Grand Junction 970-858-9288 lynnjenks9@gmail.com Florida SERENDIPITY FARM & STUDIO Leesburg (757) 651-2632 serendipityfarmstudio@gmail.com Illinois FINE LINE CREATIVE ARTS CENTER St. Charles (630) 584-9443 www.fineline.org info@fineline.org Indiana THE WEAVERS LOFT Guilford (812) 576-3904 weaving@nalu.net www.weaversloft.com Kansas THE YARN BARN Lawrence (800)-468-0035 www.yarnbarn-KS.com info@yarnbarn-Ks.com Kentucky THE WOOLERY Frankfort tel: (502) 352-9800 fax (502) 352-9802 http://www.woolery.com info@woolery.com Louisiana WEAVIN' PLACE Folsom (985) 796-8048 www.weavinplace.com…

The world of natural dyes is rich with beautiful blues, sunny yellows, and verdant greens. Natural dyers commonly coax a rainbow of color from plants, fungi, flowers, and minerals; however, some of the most vibrant and colorfast reds come from insects. Among the best known are two scale insects: the cochineal, a cactus-dweller of the Americas, and the lac, a parasitic species native to Asia. Many natural dyers are rediscovering these insects not only as sources of brilliant red hues, but also as living symbols of the entangled histories of people, plants, and the insect world. COCHINEAL’S CARMINE RED Native to the arid landscapes of Mexico and Peru, the cochineal (Dactylopius coccus) is a small, soft-bodied scale insect that lives exclusively on prickly pear cacti (Opuntia spp.). The female insects…

STRUCTURE Advancing point twill. EQUIPMENT 8-shaft loom, 16" weaving width; 10- or 15-dent reed; 1 shuttle. YARNS Warp: 20/2 silk (2,744 yd/lb; Valley Yarns; WEBS), Hunter, 353 yd; Felt Green and Pacific, 450 yd each; Diva, 263 yd; Violet, 102 yd; Moss, 68 yd; Salmon, 45 yd. Weft: 20/2 silk, Black, 1,015 yd. OTHER SUPPLIES Eucalan Delicate Wash. WARP LENGTH 461 ends 3¾ yd long (includes floating selvedges; allows 10" for take-up; 47" for sampling and loom waste; loom waste includes fringe). SETTS Warp: 30 epi (2/dent in a 15-dent reed or 3/dent in a 10-dent reed). Weft: 27 ppi. DIMENSIONS Width in reed: 157/15" (15-dent reed) or 155/10" (10-dent reed). Woven length: (measured under tension on the loom) 78". Finished size: (after wet-finishing) 14" × 72". In addition to…

STRUCTURE Twill. EQUIPMENT 4-shaft loom, 25" weaving width; 9- or 12-dent reed; 2 or more shuttles; 7 bobbins. YARNS Warp: 8/2 Tencel (100% lyocell; 3,360 yd/lb; Valley Yarns; WEBS), Royal, 1,158 yd; Azure, 180 yd; Grey Blue, 168 yd; Silver Gray, 210 yd; Ecru, 195 yd; Lemon Drop, 39 yd; Burgundy, 21 yd. Weft: 8/2 Tencel, Royal, 67 yd; Azure, 926 yd; Grey Blue, 355 yd; Silver Gray, 50 yd; Ecru, 44 yd; Lemon Drop, 13 yd; Burgundy, 8 yd. OTHER SUPPLIES Optional, for transforming the shawl into wings: 3/16" ribbon, 1 yd; ⅝" ribbon, 1 ⅓ yd; Fray Check; 3 hair bands. (Malynda used nylon bands made for fine hair because they are soft and stretchy, and won’t hurt little wrists.) WARP LENGTH 657 ends 3 yd long (includes…

STRUCTURE Twill on a parallel threading. EQUIPMENT 8-shaft loom, 14" weaving width; 12-dent reed; 1 shuttle. YARNS Warp: 8/2 bamboo (3,360 yd/lb; Maurice Brassard), #BB5977 Bleu moyen and #BB5214 Magenta, 333 yd each; #BB4269 Limette pâle, 300 yd. Weft: 8/2 Tencel (100% lyocell; 3,360 yd/lb; Maurice Brassard), #T4616 Peacock, 770 yd. OTHER SUPPLIES Fringe twister, optional. WARP LENGTH 332 ends 3 yd long (includes floating selvedges; allows 7" for take-up, 26" for loom waste; loom waste includes fringe). SETTS Warp: 24 epi (2/dent in a 12-dent reed).  Weft: 24 ppi. DIMENSIONS Width in the reed: 1311/12". Woven length: (measured under tension on the loom) 75". Finished size: (after wet-finishing) 12¼" × 59" plus 4½" fringe. Since I began weaving in November 2020, I’ve been fascinated with the interplay of color in…

STRUCTURE Summer and winter. EQUIPMENT 5-shaft loom, 14" weaving width; 12-dent reed; 2 shuttles; 6 bobbins. YARNS Warp: 10/2 mercerized cotton (4,200 yd/lb; Shuttles & Needles), Teal Topaz, 222 yd; Pine Bark, Aquamarine, and Gerbera Green, 216 yd each; Green Quartz, 108 yd. Weft: Cotton knitting yarn—4-ply/sportweight (100% cotton; 350 yd/100 g; Shuttles & Needles), Black Diamond, 632 yd (see “Weaving Tips”). 10/2 mercerized cotton, Teal Topaz, 151 yd; Aquamarine, Pine Bark, and Gerbera Green, 141 yd each; Green Quartz, 71 yd.  Note: Shuttles & Needles is located in India. If shipping to the United States is challenging, consider these substitute yarns (10/2 yardages listed are for both warp and weft): • 10/2 mercerized cotton (4,200 yd/lb; UKI Supreme), #42 Deep Turquoise, 373 yd; #105 Paradise or #109 Bermuda, #144…

Whether I’m dyeing or weaving, Tencel is one of my favorite fibers to work with. It’s durable, easy to care for, wonderfully lustrous, and weaves into luxurious fabrics—all at a price that won’t make your wallet wince. For this Yarn Lab, I worked with Yarn Barn of Kansas’s new Big Dipper (5/2) and Little Dipper (8/2) Tencels. I limited my palette to shades of blue and green, all of which were gorgeous and beautifully saturated colors. Tencel yarns tend to be a bit squeaky and stiff on the loom, and the Dippers were no different—but wet-finishing transformed the samples into supple, silky fabric that feels delightful against the skin. In my personal weaving and for these samples, I tend to sett Tencel a bit more tightly than the charts recommend.…

1. Colorful Carapace Wrap RACHEL SIMMONS While sampling Bronson lace, Rachel noticed that one of her combinations formed a striped oval motif that echoed the look of a beetle’s shell. This drapey wrap, her ode to the ground beetle, uses a mix of blues and greens to mirror its colors along with bamboo fiber for a soft, lustrous sheen. 2. Damselfly Scarf SUE ANNE SULLIVAN Sue Anne considered several approaches for translating the damselfly’s vivid colors and translucent wings into handwoven cloth. She ended up using a turned-honeycomb structure and adjusting the threading and treadling to capture the irregular veining of insect wings. Metallic Lurex paired with shiny pearl cotton capture the damselfly’s shimmer and vibrancy in this airy scarf. 3. Dragonflies Alight Scarf CHERYL WHITE A lifelong love of…

When you’re deciding what to weave next, you could page though Handwoven or the weaving books on your shelf, settle on a project that calls out to you, order the specified yarn, and follow the draft exactly. But what if none of the patterns you find are quite right—or what if you want to stretch your weaving wings? What if you could sketch the overall look of something you’d like to weave, decide on the structure you’d like to work in, and then put the two together to create your own unique design? Deb Essen is here to show you how to do just that with her book Profile Drafting for Handweavers. WHAT ARE PROFILE DRAFTS? At first glance, the profile drafts you might see on Handweaving.net and in other…

Weavers have long sought to capture the essence of nature. Weaving patterns inspired by animal stripes or the leaves of a tree is relatively easy—but what if your goal is to weave something more complex or even ephemeral? What if you want your weaving to shimmer like the wings of an insect in flight? My dictionaries (both Merriam-Webster’s of course—what else would a weaver/webster use?) define shimmer as “shining with an unsteady light to form a wavering image,” while the synonym glimmer is “a faint, flickering image, or a soft shimmer.” These definitions include the idea of motion or the illusion of motion, and they imply a subdued effect. So, how can we achieve a soft, shimmering glow in handwoven fabric? We have three variables to work with: yarn, color, and…

STRUCTURE Twill. EQUIPMENT 7-shaft loom, 23" weaving width; 10-dent reed; 3 shuttles. YARNS Warp: 8/2 cottolin (60% organic cotton/40% linen; 3,360 yd/lb; Maurice Brassard; Yarn Barn of Kansas), #1757 Emerald Green, 108 yd; #1831 Pale Green, 54 yd; #83 Black, 273 yd. 8/2 cotton (3,360 yd/lb; Maurice Brassard; Yarn Barn of Kansas), #5116 Scarlet, 378 yd; #3161 Yellow Orange, 216 yd; #1316 Rust, 324 yd.  Weft: 8/2 cottolin, #1757 Emerald Green, 12 yd; #1831 Pale Green, 23 yd; #83 Black, 965 yd. WARP LENGTH 451 ends 3 yd long (includes floating selvedges; allows 7" for take-up, 29" for loom waste). SETTS Warp: 20 epi (2/dent in a 10-dent reed). Weft: 20 ppi. DIMENSIONS Width in the reed: 227/10". Woven length: (measured under tension on the loom) 72". Finished size: (after…

STRUCTURE Twill blocks. EQUIPMENT 8-shaft loom, 17" weaving width; 12-dent reed; 1 shuttle. YARNS Warp: 8/2 Tencel (100% lyocell; 3,360 yd/lb; Syd’s Threads), Light Turquoise, 266 yd; Kingfisher, 196 yd; Blue Morpho, 252 yd; Deep Kingfisher, 182 yd; Blue Wings, 245 yd; Blue Morpho Speckled, 210 yd. Beam 8/2 Organic Cotton (3,360 yd/lb; Gist Yarn), Acorn and Toffee, 28 yd each. Weft: Beam 8/2 Organic Cotton, Acorn, 943 yd. Note: Warp yarns are available as a hand-dyed kit at sydneysogol.com. Alternatively, you can create a blue and teal gradient with yarns such as Little Dipper 8/2 Tencel (3,360 yd/lb; Yarn Barn of Kansas), #452 Jubilant Jade, #505 Silver Blueberry, #520 Caribbean Sea, #555 Robin Egg Blue, and #610 Nymph. For the speckled yarn, try a variegated 8/2 Tencel such as…

STRUCTURE Twill. EQUIPMENT 8-shaft loom, 21" weaving width; 12-dent reed; 3 shuttles; 6 or more bobbins. YARNS Warp: 8/2 organic cotton (3,230 yd/lb; Venne), #7000 Natural, 2,087 yd. Weft: 8/2 cotton (3,360 yd/lb; Maurice Brassard), #1732 Plum, 238 yd; #8265 Orange brulé and #1316 Rouille, 191 yd each; #985 Brique, 134 yd; #1244 Olive, 200 yd; #5213 Cayenne, 115 yd; #4270 Brick, 58 yd; #963 Royal, 115 yd; #4272 Bleu, 154 yd; #5120 Mauve pâle, 39 yd. 8/2 organic cotton, #5001 Khaki, 200 yd. WARP LENGTH 491 ends 4¼ yd long (includes floating selvedges; allows 11" for take-up, 28" for loom waste). SETTS Warp: 24 epi (2/dent in a 12-dent reed). Weft: 23 ppi. DIMENSIONS Width in the reed: 206/12". Woven length: (measured under tension on the loom) 114". Finished…

STRUCTURE Plain weave with twill pick-up. EQUIPMENT 4-shaft loom, 17" weaving width; 12-dent reed; 2 shuttles; pick-up stick. YARNS Warp: 3/2 cotton (1,260 yd/lb; UKI Supreme; Camilla Valley Farm), #19 Medium Grey, 582 yd. Weft: Pattern: 3/2 cotton, #117 Stone, 374 yd. Ground: Tiara Silk #50 (100% silk, 273 yd/spool; Superior Threads), #706 (blues), 374 yd. (Note: Tiara Silk #706 Blue Variegated is a discontinued color. Try #508 Gray Variegated or #605 Blue Variegated as a substitute.)  Twisted cord edging: 3/2 pearl cotton, #109 Medium Grey and #117 Stone, 36 yd each. 20/2 bombyx silk (5,000 yd/lb; Jane Stafford Textiles), Salt Spring Sky, 36 yd. (Note: You may use a different gray cotton yarn for the third color in the edging cord in place of the silk.) OTHER SUPPLIES Fringe twister…

YARN SUPPLIERS Camilla Valley Farm, camillavalleyfarm.com (Hajdu 68). DMC, dmc.com (White 77). Georgia Yarn Company, gayarn.com (White 77). Gist Yarn, gistyarn.com (Sogol 48). Halcyon Yarn, halcyonyarn.com (Sullivan 77). Jane Stafford Textiles, janestaffordtextiles.com (Hajdu 68). Lofty Fiber, loftyfiber.com (Glassenbury 56, Simmons 77). Lone Star Loom Room, lonestarloomroom.com (Glassenbury 56). Red Stone Glen, redstoneglen.com (Barth 36). Shuttles & Needles, shuttlesandneedles.com (Kiran K 64). Sulky of America, sulky.com (Schipf 60). Superior Threads, superiorthreads.com (Hajdu 68). WEBS, yarn.com (Moravec 28, Allen 42, Schipf 60). The Woolery, woolery.com (Riley 52). Yarn Barn of Kansas, yarnbarn-ks.com (Sullivan 32, Barth 36). READING DRAFTS Some drafts for weaving are extremely long if they are written out thread by thread. To save space, wherever a section of the threading or treadling is repeated, a bracket is placed above it…

Eugene “Uncle Onio” Punzal has lived on Kauai his whole life. He began weaving coconut fronds when he was a young child after seeing traditional weavers selling their pāpales (a traditional style of crownless hat) and baskets to tourists on the beach. Coming from a family of six children, he was always looking for a way to earn a little pocket money. He and his friends would sell their handwoven goods, and then they would “eat good in town that day!” Most of us know that the word aloha means both hello and farewell, but it has a larger and deeper meaning for Hawaiians: it is the spirit or force that holds life and people together. Uncle Onio exemplifies aloha by sharing his broad knowledge of Hawaiian culture and weaving…

The original boomloom made a name for itself with its clever design—the simple turn of a heddle bar changes sheds and makes plain weave a breeze, even for beginners, no matter their age. With the new boomloom Boss, weavers (aspiring or otherwise) can replace the plain-weave heddle bar with pattern bars for 2/2 twill, diamond twill, krokbragd, and monk’s belt (each sold separately). To weave a pattern, simply turn the bar to change sheds—no picking up of individual threads needed! Perhaps best of all, the pattern bars can be swapped out mid-weave to create fabrics with multiple structures. Both the original boomloom and the Boss are designed to be warped quickly and without tying knots, making them easy to set up. Measuring just 10 inches long with a 6.5-by-8-inch weaving…

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STRUCTURE Boundweave on opposites. EQUIPMENT 4-shaft loom, 12" weaving width; 6-dent reed; 5 stick shuttles. YARNS Warp: 8/4 cotton carpet warp (1,600 yd/lb; Maysville), Black, 134 yd. Weft: 3-ply rug wool (100% wool; 660 yd/lb; Maurice Brassard), #99 Black, 150 yd; #90 White, 60 yd; #61 Sand, 40 yd; #14 Orange, 30 yd; #84 Brick, 15 yd; #47 Turquoise, 13 yd; #72 Pale Grey, 9 yd. Note: Emily used Pumpkin, a discontinued color, for the base of the tiger moth bag. We’ve listed #84 Brick as a substitute, but anything in the gold-to-red range is appropriate, as tiger moth underwings vary in color. OTHER SUPPLIES 12" pick-up stick; fifteen 1" × 12" cardboard strips to use as spacers; thin tapestry needle; three 12" closed-end heavyduty metal zippers or zipper tape…

Linda Riley was fascinated by multicolored warps and parallel threadings. Although they seemed impossibly complicated, she wove draft #74183 from Handweaving.net and was delighted with the results. She studied the threading to figure out how the structure worked and then applied what she’d learned in her Shimmering Wings Scarf design on page 52. To see the Corris Effect Drafts collection by Margaret Coe and Amy Norris, click on Drafts, and then select the collection from the dropdown. As she designed her Blue Morpho Runner on page 48, Sydney Sogol was inspired by the beautiful movement she found in Kit Frost’s block twill patterns. You can see some of Kit’s work on Handweaving.net as drafts #80022, #80518, and #80020. HANDWEAVING.NET HAS OVER 76,000 DRAFTS JUST WAITING FOR YOU— plus online tools…

STRUCTURE Shadow weave. EQUIPMENT 4-shaft loom, 12" weaving width; 12-dent reed; 2 shuttles. YARNS Warp: 8/2 Tencel (100% lyocell; 3,360 yd/lb; Valley Yarns; WEBS), Azure, 81 yd; Royal, 180 yd; Navy, 153 yd; Natural, 405 yd. Sulky Sliver Metallic Thread (250 yd per spool; Sulky), #145-8040 Opalescent, 2 spools. Note: Annette originally used Opalescence fine thread in Iris (Henry’s Attic), which has been discontinued. Weft: 8/2 Tencel, Natural, 266 yd. Variegated 8/2 Tencel (100% lyocell; 3,360 yd/lb; Valley Yarns; WEBS), #4960-03 Sapphire Combo-a, 266 yd. WARP LENGTH 273 ends 3 yd long (includes floating selvedges; allows 8" for take-up, 22" for loom waste; loom waste includes fringe). Note: Add 86" for each additional scarf. SETTS Warp: 24 epi (2/dent in a 12-dent reed). Weft: 20 ppi. DIMENSIONS Width in the…