What is tapestry weaving?

Above image: A tapestry woven by Janna Maria on an Everlea Mini Loom

While Everlea looms are great for many kinds of weaving, I designed them specifically for tapestry weaving. I am a tapestry weaver by trade, so traditional french tapestry, as well as contemporary tapestry techniques are what you will find information about here at Everlea.

Above image: Janna's tapestry woven with naturally dyed Everlea yarn, titled 'Transitions'

Tapestry weaving has two primary characteristics: (1) it is weft faced, and (2) it operates with a discontinuous weft.

(1) WEFT-FACED:

Weft-faced fabric is characterized by the weft yarn being the only yarn that is visible in the finished woven object. This is achieved in tapestry weaving when the weaver passes the weft (your working yarn) through the warp yarn (the yarn your loom is dressed in), and packs down the weft to cover the woven warp yarn completely.

(2) DISCONTINUOUS WEFT:

In tapestry, weft bundles operate independently and never travel all the way from one side of the weaving to the other. Instead, the weft is discontinuous, turning around and doubling back on itself and on-top of other colours' woven areas, inside the woven plane wherever the weaver’s design dictates. Your design can be abstract, or representational, landscape or figurative. In tapestry you’re only limited by your imagination.

 Above image: Janna's illustration showing how two colourways of yarn might interact on the tapestry loom.

Weaving with multiple weft bundles operating in a discontinuous fashion allows for colour blending and shape building within the woven design. Therefore the weaver can create designs which are independent of each other, falling outside the confines of both the grid and the repetition found in other kinds of weaving. 

  Above image: Janna's natural dye tapestry sampler in progress.

Yes, there are many tricks to tapestry weaving, but they are simple once you know them. Tapestry techniques allow the weaver to project whatever image they design onto the loom. There are important rules for setting up multiple colours which are in place to allow the weaver to create pictures with the fewest technical hurdles.

In my upcoming LIVE Intro to Tapestry workshop on December 10th I will walk you through all the fundamental rules of tapestry while we 'Weave a Sunset' together. I have a lot of hot tips for you.

As a BONUS, when you sign up you get immediate access to the playback of the last Zoom workshop I held, so you can start weaving tapestry right away, if you so desire.

Did you know that all loom purchases come with free access to these workshops? Just look for the coupon code in your loom box.