Tapestry weaving can seem like a pursuit that requires A LOT. A lot of equipment, materials, and knowledge.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Weaving tapestry can be quite simple and your materials and equipment do not have to be complicated. If you want to learn tapestry weaving, below are some suggestions for how to get started. There are also many resources for people already deep into the tapestry experience, but this post is mostly for people who are pretty new to tapestry weaving.
At the end of the post is an actual list you might use to shop with.
Find a teacher: knowledge
Rebecca teaching at a retreat in Taos, New Mexico in 2024
It is very helpful to have some guidance whether that comes through a book, an online course, a workshop, or free tutorials online. Check out these avenues for learning.
A book. If you learn well from books, my book, The Art of Tapestry Weaving, is the one you want mostly because it teaches the basics in a modern, approachable way. It is the first comprehensive tapestry techniques book in two decades and it will get you on the right track for less money than any other option. Of course the basics of tapestry weaving hasn’t changed that much since these other books were written, so look for these classics at your local guild or library: Carol Russell’s Tapestry Handbook, Kirsten Glasbrook’s Tapestry Weaving, or Nancy Harvey’s Tapestry Weaving.
Online courses. Of course I love mine! A short leap into the basics is provided in Introduction to Tapestry Weaving. Or Warp and Weft: Learning the Structure of Tapestry is a comprehensive beginning course. Weaving Tapestry on Little Looms is another great place to start. Find information about all classes HERE.
There are other people teaching tapestry online as well though you should ask questions about what kind of tapestry they’re teaching as people use the word “tapestry” to mean all kinds of fiber interlacements. Some of my picks would be Nearly Wild Weaving in the UK for some interesting and engaging programming some of which is online. Or if you’re a more advanced weaver, look at Elizabeth Buckley’s online classes.Got the basics but want more practice? Once you’ve worked your way through one of my beginning classes, I recommend jumping into the Tapestry Discovery Box. This collaboration with Gist Yarn comes with 7 colors of Gist Array tapestry yarn and a new technique-based course every quarter. More information is HERE.
Workshops. There are many other people who teach in person and I recommend keeping your eye out for tapestry weavers near you that are teaching beginning classes. Often you can find one through a local guild or even at your local library. Ask the fiber people in your town and you may find someone to help you out right next door. If that fails, keep an eye on the regional and national conferences if you’re in the USA. They almost always have at least one tapestry course.
I teach workshops and retreats around the country a few times a year. You can find my upcoming events on the Tapestry Retreat page of my website and workshops I teach for other people are under Workshops.Free videos. There are many of these. If you take this route without a structured class or book, you’ll be picking up bits and pieces here and there instead of building a cohesive set of techniques. I’d recommend supplementing this method with a book just so you make sure to get some foundational principles down as you explore the wide world of the internet.
Change the Shed. I’ve been doing this free YouTube program since March of 2020 and there are more than 140 episodes for you to watch on my YouTube channel. In this program I weave something while answering questions. There is a wide variety of projects I’m working on on many different looms. You can get an overview and find something you want to learn about by going to the Change the Shed pages on my website HERE.
Rebecca Mezoff’s book, The Art of Tapestry Weaving on a student desk at a workshop at Harrisville Designs. The loom is a Mirrix Little Guy.
Equipment
Choosing a loom can seem a bit overwhelming, but you shouldn’t let it be. If you want to start small and just play with this medium, a frame loom of some sort is a good choice. Here are some possible options depending on what you want to spend:
Copper pipe loom. This one is soldered but you can use super glue and it’ll work just the same.
A simple non-tensioned frame loom (also includes looms in other shapes!). Handywoman Shop makes my favorite beautiful wooden frame looms. Lost Pond looms are well made and easy to use. Schacht’s Lilli Loom is available from sellers all over the world.
A tensioned frame loom. Mirrix now makes two peg looms with tensioning, the Saffron and the Chloe. My favorite is the 8 inch Chloe with the extended rod.
A tensioned frame loom. There are many good tensioned frame looms out there. Mirrix makes a very sturdy metal loom in many sizes. Schacht makes a beautiful wooden loom called the Arras. Both the Mirrix and Schacht Arras frame looms have shedding devices and optional treadle assemblies.
Make yourself a pipe loom. For about $20-35 depending on whether you need to buy tools and how expensive copper or threaded pipe is where you live, you can make an excellent loom with tensioning. I teach you how to make this kind of loom (and others) in the Fringeless course as well as Weaving Tapestry on Little Looms. There is also enough information to put one together in THIS blog post. Pipe looms can also be made from black/galvanized pipe (nipple) or even PVC pipe.
You can find more information about looms on my blog. Try this category link for all my loom posts: https://rebeccamezoff.com/blog?category=Looms
There is also a kit available from Gist Yarn that includes a Mirrix Saffron loom, warp, tapestry weft, and my Introduction to Tapestry Weaving course.
Materials
Yarn choices can also seem overwhelming. I have had moments of complete yarn snobbery in my life, but I’m going to say here that it is better to start than to fuss about having the perfect yarn. Yes, there are definitely yarns that work better for tapestry weaving. THIS blog post talks about that. But if you have a stash of Red Heart yarn from your days crocheting afghans, you can weave with that. You just want something that isn’t too bouncy. Really soft yarns are poor choices for tapestry weaving. Pull out the yarns you have and think about the character of each of them.
And if you need to buy some yarn to start with, I recommend considering Harrisville Highland (if you live in the USA. If elsewhere, consider a similar yarn, about 900 ypp for work at 8-10 epi, Quebecoise or Crown Colony are options). Harrisville Designs is a small business and wool mill in New Hampshire and Highland was probably created for weaving textiles like blankets. It works well for tapestry weaving also. The color choice isn’t fantastic, but it is a good place to start. Look on the knitting yarn page of their website and purchase in skeins if you don’t want to scour it yourself (scour is just a fancy word for wash. The Highland that comes on cones has oil in it from the carding process and it needs to be washed out. This process is quite simple and you can definitely do it if you want to buy cones.)
More information about yarn can be found on my blog here: https://rebeccamezoff.com/blog?category=Yarn
Look at tapestries
This point is often missed by new weavers. Especially if you’re new to the world of art, you may not have a habit of looking at what other people are doing. I highly recommend spending some time just looking at tapestry. It will help you understand what is possible in the medium and what might be better left to the painters. I recommend starting with the Artist Pages on the American Tapestry Alliance website. The range of tapestry work there is very broad. So if you’re looking at a life-long professional’s work, admire that, look carefully, go to their website and marvel some more. But don’t expect yourself to meet that level of art-making for awhile. If you’re looking at a newer weaver’s work, also marvel at what they’ve done and think about what aspects you could incorporate into your own weaving.
There are books and show catalogs with lots of tapestries in them. The American Tapestry Alliance has been downsizing their back-catalog stash recently, but purchase upcoming ones starting with the Biennial happening later this year. A book with a wide variety of tapestries in it is Micala Sidore’s The Art is the Cloth which I reviewed HERE. I am encouraging you to spend time looking at what people are doing right now in tapestry all over the world in any way you can find images. Of course going to see actual tapestries anywhere you can is the best inspiration.
American Tapestry Biennial 11 in San Jose, gallery view. More about this show on my blog HERE.
Join a community
Many weaving guilds have study groups of tapestry weavers. This might be for you if you are a guild-loving individual. I think a fiber friend can be a huge support, even if they don’t weave tapestry themselves. Set a date to get together to do your fiber crafts. And if you have a friend who is a tapestry weaver, so much the better! Plan to go take a workshop together and make sure to share your progress with each other often even if you don’t live in the same place.
Online communities around tapestry are also a great way to share your questions and what you’re working on. Facebook has many groups for tapestry weavers, some being focused on particular aspects of the medium such as small format or shaped tapestry. Organizations like the American Tapestry Alliance and Mirrix Looms have very nice Facebook groups and pages. Ravelry has a tapestry weaving group. I have just started a Patreon page which is connected to Change the Shed HERE.
Allow yourself to play
Weaving handspun on a tiny loom while backpacking. In Summer of Tapestry I advocate a lot of experimenting and wandering!
This medium is a wonderful one for beginners. If you want to become a professional, you absolutely can do that. It just takes practice. But it is also a wonderful thing to spend time doing as a hobby. At the beginning I believe it requires a willingness to play, experience mistakes, and try again. It will take a lot of weaving before you can match the image in your head with what ends up being woven. Just be okay with that and you’ll be well on your way. And always have fun with it. The class I teach that most embodies this philosophy is Summer of Tapestry.
A shopping list!
Ready to jump in? These are simply suggestions and you should feel free to substitute depending on where you are in the world and what your goals for tapestry weaving are currently. You can always sell a good loom to someone else and try a different one and there are always people who can use the yarn that doesn’t work quite right for you. So start small and don’t be afraid to make a few mistakes along the way.
Loom
If you want a small loom for small weavings, try the Mirrix Chloe Pocket Loom or one of the other looms listed above. I am a big fan of making your own loom. A tensionable pipe loom made of black/galvanized pipe, copper pipe, or PVC pipe is simple to make and works very well.
If you want a larger loom that sits on a table, try any other Mirrix or the Schacht Arras Tapestry Loom. (Psst. Have a floor loom? Some of them work really well for tapestry weaving. More information on my blog about that HERE.)
Knowledge
Are you a book person? Get this book.
Prefer an online course? Introduction to Tapestry Weaving or Weaving Tapestry on Little Looms will go well with that new loom.
Ask Santa for a trip to the next fiber conference…
Yarn
I most often recommend beginners start with Harrisville Highland yarn at 8 ends per inch. You’ll find more information about recommended anchor yarns in my book and courses or THIS blog post. But you can start with a thin tapestry yarn that is bundled. I teach you how to do weft bundling in my beginner classes as well, so if you want to jump right in with Gist Array or weaversbazaar fine or medium, do it!
If you have some yarn that isn’t too soft and bouncy at home, try that.
Warp: I highly recommend that beginners start with cotton seine twine. For setts around 8 ends per inch, 12/9 or 12/6 work well. This is a cabled, very strong cotton. It works really well for tapestry and you’ll find it HERE. A lot of beginners problems can be avoided by using the appropriate warp.
Warp alternative: Want to start with what you have or what you can find at your local craft store? You can try using crochet cotton. It is strong enough for small looms though it doesn’t have the slight stretch of cotton seine twine.
Other tools: tapestry fork (Schacht just came out with a great option, the Duet), shed stick (I love Stephen Willette’s), and tapestry needle. Other standard fiber tools may be needed depending on your equipment like tapestry bobbins, a color wheel, tape measure, slit-sewing thread, more sizes of tapestry needles, etc.
Some good choices for weft yarn for beginners include: Gist Array, Harrisville Highland or one of the weights of weaversbazaar. Gist and Harrisville Designs are in the USA and weaversbazaar is in the UK.
Bottom line needs summary
You need these things:
loom
warp
weft
tapestry needle(s)
tapestry fork or beater
shed stick especially if your loom doesn’t have a shedding device
I have resource links for all these things on my website under FAQ: https://rebeccamezoff.com/resources
If you just want to buy a kit with many of these things in it plus my Introduction to Tapestry Weaving course, take a look at this kit from Gist Yarn that includes a Mirrix Saffron loom, warp, weft, and the course.
Curiosity: The most important ingredient
Rebecca with her 8 inch Mirrix Chloe loom and a tiny tapestry diary piece woven with handspun while camping in the Rocky Mountains.
Tapestry weaving is about making images in cloth. It is a fantastic exploration in terms of color and form. It is also an art medium. As such, it is a great way for you to express yourself. Successful artists are curious. Don’t be afraid to experiment and play. You’ll make the most discoveries through allowing yourself to make mistakes and even to make ugly things. It is okay. The next weaving will be more to your liking.
Just keep practicing!