Initial Tapestry with Yarn – #CraftChallenge

It’s finally here! The first installment of the Craft Challenge series and this month the theme was “Crafting with Yarn.” To see the other bloggers’ takes on the theme, please scroll to the bottom of the post for links to their creations!

Now the first things to come to mind when I think of yarn and crafts are knitting and crochet. Now if I told my grannie that I was going to knit or crochet, she would laugh. I cannot knit. I cannot crochet. I have tried to learn and gran tried to teach me. After about one row of stitches I get lost. So for this challenge I had to think outside of the box.

No knitting

No crochet

After some experiments weaving with yarn I decided it was too time consuming and I would need some more materials to make it turn out how I wanted. So I turned to Pinterest. I saw some wall hangings made from woven or draped yarn and thought, I can work with that.

So I started out with a simple draped yarn tapestry with the idea that it could be an art piece for the mantle. But it needed more colour, more texture and what came to mind was making friendship bracelets with my sister when we were young. We often used a simple “knot” to make them and I called it the 4 knot because you make the shape of a 4 (the triangular top at least) to make the bracelets. Using this technique you would get a spiral effect on the bracelet.

I decided to use that good memory with my sister to make initials on the tapestries for my husband and me so they can be displayed over the mantle. And voila! My first craft challenge was complete!

Here are the steps to making your own initial tapestry:

Materials:
Spool of thick yarn
Spool of thin yarn
Wooden dowel
White Glue
Scissors

Steps: (Images available below)

1. Cut 50-60 pieces of thick yarn to 80cm in length. Fold in half and loop around the dowel to create the backing of the tapestry.
2. For each long length of lettering, cut a piece of thin yarn to 80cm in length. For my letter M, I used 20 pieces this length to create the sides of the letter. For each short length of lettering, cut a piece of thin yarn to 30cm in length. For my letter M, I used over 60 pieces this length to create the arches of the letter.
3. Visualize your letter, there is no good way to trace this on the yarn but you can move the pieces along the tapestry after they are placed so only a general idea is needed.
4. Take one of the thick yarn pieces that are on your dowel and separate from the others. Tie a length of thin yarn using a simple knot.
5. Make a triangle or 4 shape with the thin yarn. The thin yarn can be over or under the thick, but keep it consistent otherwise the texture will not turn out! In my pictures, I chose to set up my 4 UNDER the thick yarn (base of the triangle cuts under).
6. Take the end of the thin yarn and bring it over the thick yarn (under if you did the opposite starting position as me). Then under it again to create a full loop. The pictures below should help clarify this step.
7. Pull the end so the knot is tight, and slide it until it hits the knot above it.
8. Repeat the steps until you reach the desired length of this section of the letter. Do this for all parts of the letter until you have the letter shape you desire.
9. Tighten all start and end threads. Rub a small amount of white glue on the start and end of each thin yarn section then cut the excess threads off. When you glue hardens it will seal the section ensuring it will not fray or come apart.

And that is it. Using those instructions and the picture tutorial below, you should be able to create your own initial tapestry. I am working on my second letter now (an E for me!) and will post pictures of the final product on my Instagram page.

Interested in some more yarn crafts? Here are the other bloggers’ takes on this month’s theme!

Megan made this beautiful yarn basket! It turned out much better than my attempt at a woven basket. Seems like a great way to learn how to basket weave, something Megan learned in college.

Stop by and check out her post here:

DIY Yarn Basket

As for Erika, she went all out and worked on some harlequin style grannie squares with the end goal of making a blanket. Kudos to her for knitting (or crochet, I don’t know the difference), that is a big undertaking for a month long project! I may just have to attempt knitting again to try out these cute squares.

See her post here:

Harlequin Granny Squares

Next month’s (April 27^th) edition of the Craft Challenge will be themed: “Springtime Craft”, so be sure to come back for some crafts to break you out of the winter blues! If you have theme ideas, comment below or use #craftchallenge on social media. And if you create one of the craft challenge crafts, be sure to share it with us!