For the November meeting of the Durham Guild I have arranged to take in some of my Christmas card ideas from a workshop I ran for the Braid Society. I have warped up a table loom with a long warp so that everyone can have a go and take homw a Christmas card.
With a narrow band on an inkle loom or using a backstrap. you can weave in different materials to make 'christmas trees'. If the tree is small it can be put onto a card. If it is large it can be used as a Christmas tree decoration.
Here are some cards I am making at the moment. You can use a backstrap loom, band loom or table loom. As for the wefts, you can be adventurous. Pine needles, lucetted cords, pipe cleaners, anything that looks good. the trees are small and hang from a lucetted cord around the card. I am using linen as the warp but any material will do.
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| I like lucetted cords which can be colourful. |
Tiny versions can be made out of a variety of things. I used pipe cleaners, lucetted sparkle yarn. These tiny versions can be mounted onto the front of a card to send to friends at Christmas.
Here is a larger tree for a hanging decoration on a Christmas tree. I am using my Swedish band loom.
Now comes the fun part. Here I am using pine needles. Don't worry about the width at this stage.
Weave an inch
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| Weaving with pine needles |
When you have added enough, weave some more warpfaced plain weave for the top.
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| Trim the pine needles in the shape of a tree |
This became a tree decoration.
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| Make a loop at the top for hanging |
Tiny versions can be made out of a variety of things. I used pipe cleaners, lucetted sparkle yarn. These tiny versions can be mounted onto the front of a card to send to friends at Christmas.
I have also used a woven band and threaded beads in between each fold
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| A tree of beads and a woven inkle band. |
Susan J Foulkes November 2026
