Weaving to Renew Your Space—and Your Creativity

Welcome to the Fall 2025 issue of* Handwoven! You’ll find 11 irresistible projects in it for cheery rooms and cozy corners. But the weaving doesn’t stop there. With the new Make it Your Own feature, you’ll build the tools and knowledge to customize projects now and for years to come. Here’s more about this new feature and what you’ll find in the pages of this home-inspired issue.*

A wonderful thing about weavers (and let me assure you that I include myself in what you’re about to read) is that we can fall instantly and utterly in love with a project—while at the same time wishing that it was a scarf rather than a dish towel (or a pillow rather than a scarf). Or that it used blues instead of greens; or that it was wide enough (or perhaps narrow enough) to fit on a particular chair; or that it could be woven using only four (or two, or eight) shafts . . .

Véronique Perrot’s Ribbons and Blocks Runner project has ideas for ways to change the background color and the weft stripes. Do you see how the ribbons on one side of this piece seem to weave over and under each other? She explains this effect in her accompanying article.

Left: Dorothy Tuthill’s Shadow Play Dish Towels include treadling options for X’s, O’s, a mix of both, or zigzagging columns.
Right: Véronique Perrot’s Ribbons and Blocks Runner includes ways to change the background color and the weft stripes.

This combination of passion and dissatisfaction is a wonderful thing because it delivers us right to the weaver’s sweet spot: “What if . . . ?”

What if I found some blue yarns in my stash to use instead?
What if I lengthened the warp and removed a few threading repeats so I could weave my version as a scarf?
What if I tracked down a similar draft that I can weave on my loom?

Annette Swan Schipf suggests that you dive into your wool stash when you weave your version of her Zigzag Basket krokbragd design.

Susan E. Horton’s Family Dinner Napkins project explains how to weave custom stripes, so people gathering around your table have their personal napkin. As a bonus, she describes how to weave a couple of coordinating towels on that same warp.

Left: Annette Swan Schipf suggests that you dive into your wool stash to weave this Zigzag Basket.
Right: Susan E. Horton’s Family Dinner Napkins project explains how to weave custom stripes.

In the past few issues, we’ve been exploring the idea of customizing your weaving. We’ve shown yarn wraps with alternate colorways, given tips for how to make a draft narrower or wider, and outlined how to calculate the amount of fiber your new version will require.

With this issue, we’re launching full-steam ahead with our new Make it Your Own feature.

Kathy Broughton has lots of ideas about how to weave your version of her Plaid About You Throw.

For example, Kathy Broughton’s Plaid About You Throw is a lovely four-shaft twill exactly as written. But if it’s not quite right for you, Kathy has some ideas to consider. Her Make It Your Own suggestions include:

How to weave the throw wider or narrower by adding or removing threading repeats.
How to change the scale of the plaid.
How to weave the throw doublewidth on an eight-shaft loom.
How to weave the throw doublewidth on a four-shaft loom.
How to weave the throw in panels.

You’ll need to do some planning work before you dress your loom with any of those alternatives, but Kathy’s notes will get you heading in the right direction.

Subscribe today to explore how to make your weaving your own and get access to all 11 projects, new features, and the three bonus projects.

Have you changed a Handwoven project to make it your own? Please share your photos with us on Instagram or Facebook using #handwovenmagazine. As always, please send your weaving questions and comments to handwoven@longthreadmedia.com. I look forward to hearing from you! -Lynn

Weaving to Renew Your Space—and Your Creativity

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