Uploaded December 2018 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Get free access to this course here: lowimpact.org/categories/weaving
(under 'what can I do?').
A bit about the tutor: Janet works from home in South West Scotland, earning a living by writing and teaching spinning and weaving. Spinning or weaving for at least ten minutes a day helps keep her calm and focused and she uses it as a form of meditation.
Having learned to knit at the age of six, Janet had become bored with it, until one day she saw someone spinning. Rushing home, she tried it with a hand spindle made from a pencil and a potato, and was amazed when it worked. The rest, as they say, is history and in 1995 she did the Certificate of Achievement in Handspinning and became a spinning teacher. The weaving soon followed and Janet has taught many people to weave on her favourite kinds of looms – frame looms and ‘rigid heddle’ looms over the years.
She is a registered teacher with the Association of Weavers Spinners and dyers, and has taught at their renowned Summer School. Janet has also taught courses for many spinning and weaving Guilds, community groups, shops and voluntary organisations.
Her booklets on spinning, dyeing and knitting have proved popular with students who take her courses and this course is a natural progression.
Campaigning and environmental issues has played a significant part in Janet’s life and she loves low-tech and sustainable craft equipment such as hand made looms and spindles, as well as the amazing contemporary spinning wheels and looms that are now available. She and her husband Lee run their home based business jointly and sell Lee’s hand made looms as well as Ashford Handicrafts spinning and weaving equipment, along with Janet’s books.
Lee and Janet moved from the country into a nearby village with amenities years ago, in order to develop a more sustainable and simpler lifestyle. They both work part time and have a lifestyle with very low overheads, meaning there is time to have a lot more fun!
They grow a surprising amount of food in an average sized if vertically challenged garden and are WWOOF hosts. Their house has solar panels and a wood burning stove.
COURSE STRUCTURE
1. Meet your tutor
2 Introduction to weaving
3 The Dinky Loom
4 How to change colour
5 Changing to a smaller needle
6 Finishing on a Dinky Loom
7 The Midi Loom
8 Starting to weave on the Midi Loom
9 Adding texture to the weaving
10 Finishing with a straight edge
11 Scarf Looms
12 Warping a scarf loom
13 Weaving on a scarf loom
14 How to fix the warp if it comes off the pins
15 Finishing on a scarf loom
16 The fringe
17 Taking the scarf off the loom
18 Trimming the fringe
19 Rigid heddle looms
20 Warping up a rigid heddle loom and removing the peg
21 Winding the warp onto the loom
22 The weaving position
23 Threading the holes
24 Tie the groups of the threads onto the loom
25 Tension and secure the threads
26 Weaving the header
27 Starting to weave
28 How to change colour
29 How to add texture
30 Wonky weaving and more colours
31 Repairing and finishing the weaving
32 Finish weaving with hem stitching
33 Cutting the weaving off the loom
34 How to twist the fringe
35 Dealing with the ends
36 Some woven items, books and resources
Get free access to this course here: lowimpact.org/categories/weaving
(under 'what can I do?').
A bit about the tutor: Janet works from home in South West Scotland, earning a living by writing and teaching spinning and weaving. Spinning or weaving for at least ten minutes a day helps keep her calm and focused and she uses it as a form of meditation.
Having learned to knit at the age of six, Janet had become bored with it, until one day she saw someone spinning. Rushing home, she tried it with a hand spindle made from a pencil and a potato, and was amazed when it worked. The rest, as they say, is history and in 1995 she did the Certificate of Achievement in Handspinning and became a spinning teacher. The weaving soon followed and Janet has taught many people to weave on her favourite kinds of looms – frame looms and ‘rigid heddle’ looms over the years.
She is a registered teacher with the Association of Weavers Spinners and dyers, and has taught at their renowned Summer School. Janet has also taught courses for many spinning and weaving Guilds, community groups, shops and voluntary organisations.
Her booklets on spinning, dyeing and knitting have proved popular with students who take her courses and this course is a natural progression.
Campaigning and environmental issues has played a significant part in Janet’s life and she loves low-tech and sustainable craft equipment such as hand made looms and spindles, as well as the amazing contemporary spinning wheels and looms that are now available. She and her husband Lee run their home based business jointly and sell Lee’s hand made looms as well as Ashford Handicrafts spinning and weaving equipment, along with Janet’s books.
Lee and Janet moved from the country into a nearby village with amenities years ago, in order to develop a more sustainable and simpler lifestyle. They both work part time and have a lifestyle with very low overheads, meaning there is time to have a lot more fun!
They grow a surprising amount of food in an average sized if vertically challenged garden and are WWOOF hosts. Their house has solar panels and a wood burning stove.
COURSE STRUCTURE
1. Meet your tutor
2 Introduction to weaving
3 The Dinky Loom
4 How to change colour
5 Changing to a smaller needle
6 Finishing on a Dinky Loom
7 The Midi Loom
8 Starting to weave on the Midi Loom
9 Adding texture to the weaving
10 Finishing with a straight edge
11 Scarf Looms
12 Warping a scarf loom
13 Weaving on a scarf loom
14 How to fix the warp if it comes off the pins
15 Finishing on a scarf loom
16 The fringe
17 Taking the scarf off the loom
18 Trimming the fringe
19 Rigid heddle looms
20 Warping up a rigid heddle loom and removing the peg
21 Winding the warp onto the loom
22 The weaving position
23 Threading the holes
24 Tie the groups of the threads onto the loom
25 Tension and secure the threads
26 Weaving the header
27 Starting to weave
28 How to change colour
29 How to add texture
30 Wonky weaving and more colours
31 Repairing and finishing the weaving
32 Finish weaving with hem stitching
33 Cutting the weaving off the loom
34 How to twist the fringe
35 Dealing with the ends
36 Some woven items, books and resources
