Gradations in tapestry weaving

Gradations in tapestry weaving

I love weaving gradations in tapestry. There is nothing more thrilling than making colors move from one color to another. Sometimes it is the value of a color that changes (light to dark for example) and sometimes it is a change in hue (green to blue for example). And sometimes it is both a value and a hue change.

Tapestry is well-suited to this sort of color change. I’ve used it a lot in my own work and I teach it in a couple classes online (see the notes at the end of this post if you want to learn).

I’ll show you a few of my older tapestries and then one of the newer ones. In reviewing my work, it is a rare tapestry that doesn’t include some form of gradation.

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Sheep, wool, yarn, and friends! Mountain and Valley Fiber Arts Festival 2026

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Sheep, wool, yarn, and friends! Mountain and Valley Fiber Arts Festival 2026

Saturday I made a pilgrimage to the Mountain and Valley Fiber Arts Festival because this year it was held in Durango, Colorado which is very close to where I live.

Fleece judging

The main thing I love about a fiber festival is the fleece judging. This being a small festival, the judging was slated for just two hours. If you’ve seen my visits to Estes Park Wool Festival, you know that those go on for two days and I’m liable to sit there for many hours to learn all I can from the judge.

The judge at MAVWA this year was Andrew Schafer. His knowledge of sheep is deep and he was judging the fleeces based on what a spinner would be looking for. I spent about an hour and a half listening to Andrew judge all the sheep fleeces, about half of which where churro.

Using tapestry techniques to weave rugs

Using tapestry techniques to weave rugs

We often assume that tapestries are a pictorial fabric we hang on the wall. We also assume that rugs are fabric we put on the floor. But a rug can be a tapestry you use on the floor. It is likely a rug will use thicker weft and a wider sett than a tapestry you’ll hang on the wall.*

Last year I created a class called Introduction to Rug Weaving where I use a rug-weight yarn to create textiles intended for the table. The weight of the finished pieces would make very nice smaller floor rugs or even a larger rug in an area that doesn’t get constant traffic.

There is a functional question here. I used to be an occupational therapist so I’m very sensitive to having things on the floor that are going to cause people to trip. A lightweight piece of fabric on the floor is just a tripping hazard and will at the very least need some sort of grippy mat to stay put. A thicker and therefore heavier textile is much more suited to being walked on.

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Finishing your tapestry: a plait or braid makes a neat finish

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Finishing your tapestry: a plait or braid makes a neat finish

As a teacher of tapestry, one of the most frequent requests I get is for information about finishing. And I don’t just mean how to take the tapestry off the loom and clean it up whether you’re tying or needling in the tails. I mean what do you do with the warps that are left sticking out of two sides of your tapestry?*

Think about the finished project before you start

The clip below is from a Change the Shed episode where I’m talking about thinking about how you’re doing your warping and headers before you start a piece because if you don’t, you may not be able to finish the piece as you want. I also put in a plug for experimentation.

Tapestry inspiration from the geology and archaeology in the southwestern USA

Tapestry inspiration from the geology and archaeology in the southwestern USA

I have lived a lot of my life near the four corners in the USA.* I grew up in Gallup, New Mexico and three years ago I felt like I moved home again when I landed in southwestern Colorado, just a couple hours north of Gallup. The landscapes in this part of the world are horizon and mountains and sand and rock. And these things influence the way I make art. How could they not since they have so heavily influenced who I am?

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The Tapestry Discovery Box courses return

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The Tapestry Discovery Box courses return

The Tapestry Discovery Box courses are back! I am re-releasing the Tapestry Discovery courses starting this week and I thought it might be interesting to tell you how they came about. There were thirteen Tapestry Discovery Box courses and the last one dropped in January of 2026. The advent of this course series is closely tied to Gist Yarn's development of Array tapestry wool. But first…

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Choosing weft colors for the Tapestry Discovery courses

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Choosing weft colors for the Tapestry Discovery courses

Choosing weft colors for tapestry weaving can feel a little overwhelming when you’re a newer tapestry weaver. There are many choices and they can seem overwhelming. Some tapestry yarns come in over 400 colors! How is a person supposed to choose among them when they’re all so pretty?!!

I am re-releasing the Tapestry Discovery courses so that everyone can have a chance to enjoy them. These courses were originally part of a subscription product done in collaboration with Gist Yarn and they came with a box of yarn. I made the choices, you wove with them! In the re-release, there is no yarn kit. Part of learning tapestry is figuring out how to choose colors and that is something we’re going to be doing in these courses this time around.