The Fabric Scrap Secret: I Weave Fiber Art from my Alterations TRASH!

What in the world do you do with all your scraps? We always have tons and tons of weirdly shaped pieces of fabric all around us. Well, this is what I do with some of mine...

This is our weaving loom that we have here in our shop. These are various fabrics that I have cut off the bottom of dresses.This came from a prom dress. This definitely came from a wedding dress. This came from some kind of a bridesmaid dress. So I end up with these really long strips. So what do I do? I take these strips, I compile them. I weave with them.   You can use anything you want. You can use fabrics, you can use yarns, you can use anything. So, this is just one of the many ways that I like to use up my fabric scraps, especially these super long pieces that have been cut off of dresses. I hope this was fun for you. 

If you want to build a loom like this, it's really easy. You just have to build a frame and then put a row of nails at the top and a row of nails at the bottom. Remember, your loom doesn't have to be this big. You could even make one from a painters canvas. Take the canvas off, nail a row of nails to the top and a row to the bottom, and then you'll have a little loom.



The next step is to warp your loom. The strands that go up and down on the loom are called the warp. You can see mine are a pink cotton thread. I just took the thread up, down, up, down, up, and down along the nails. Very simple.



This has actually been a community weaving project. We bring this outside during our fiber arts festival [see more about that here].  We give people scraps and just let them have at it. Because it's so easy and has almost no learning curve, it's a good way to fiber art into beginners' hands.



I'll show you how to weave in this video. It's really easy. Maybe you'll want to use up your scraps and create some art, too. My piece is already started so I'll start working in a space that hasn't been filled yet.  I'm just going to take this green satiny piece that came off some kind of a bridesmaid dress, and I'm just going to loop it around one of the warp threads. You don't really have to tie a knot. I'm actually just going to take tail and use it along with the bigger strand.

Now what we do is just a simple over-under weaving technique. So, we have all the warp threads that go vertically. Next, we're going to find the one nearby and either go over it or under it. And like I said, I'm going to use tail and working yarn as one just to get rid of the tail in the same step. So, I'm going to take them and put them over the first one and under the next one. So, over and under. And then pull through all that slack after each one.

You just repeat that over and over. The goal is to fill the whole thing, unless, of course, you want some empty space in yours. That also can look pretty cool.

It's really fun. It's really stress-busting and it uses up your scraps. Then you can have a fun fiber art piece at the end. You can see I can literally do it without even looking at it. It's that easy. It's something kids can do with you. You can do this to get them interested in sewing or the textile arts. It's a really good introductory type of craft because it's just simply so easy. There are no rules. 

If so, please give me a like and please do subscribe to our Pindrop Shop channel. We put out a new video every week and it's all about sewing deep dives.Until next time, happy making.