How to weave a pouch out of rags using a cardboard loom

I made a few pouches using a technique I adapted from instructions on the Montessori World website.

Here's what I did and you can too. (Materials list at end.)

1st: I cut a piece of cardboard as wide as and a few inches longer than the finished dimensions of the inside of the pouch. I made sure that the corrugation was parallel to where I wanted to put the opening of the pouch.

I wanted the pouch to fit comfortably around an iPod Touch, so I added a little width to account for the final thickness of the woven material.

2nd: I wound the warp around the cardboard. The warp also needs to be parallel to the pouch opening. The pouch opening is to be on the right side in the photo below.

I secured the warp at each end by running the end through one of the tunnels formed by the corrugation.

I used a 6" tapestry needle to run the warp through the tunnel, but a 2" needle works as well, you just need to help it through using a thin knitting needle or straightened paperclip or something similar.

Wind the warp on with a separation between threads of about 1/4". It doesn't have to be exact. What is important is that the top warp end needs to go through a tunnel in the opposite direction from the bottom warp end. This step will guarantee that you have an odd number of warp threads, which is required to allow you to weave this structure.

When you reach the length you want, cut the warp thread about 12" from the point where it will go through the tunnel. Run it through.

The warp is wound!

3rd: I prepared the weft. I used strips torn or cut from discarded clothing or linens for the pouches above.

To tear strips from woven fabric, cut about an inch into the fabric, in the same direction as the threads. Then tear, once again, in the same direction as the threads. Don't try to tear on the bias. Knit fabric, like t-shirts, is easier to cut than to tear.

A good length for a weft strip is the distance from palm to palm when you hold your arms out as far apart as they'll go. If the strip you tore is much longer than that, cut it in half. Taper the ends.

4th: I started to weave. I threaded a torn strip onto a tapestry needle, started at the top on the side opposite the hanging warp end and wove all the way down to the bottom, leaving about 2" of tail to anchor the weft.

I brought the weft all the way down to the bottom and then stopped to anchor the end. To do this, thread the needle onto the hanging end, and weave it over the top warp thread and then exactly in the same path as the weft already there.

Pull through, being careful not to pull too tight. Use finger tips, or a fork, to push the weft down toward the edge.

Thread the needle and then continue onto the other side, being careful to continue alternating over and under warp threads. If the weft went under the last warp thread on one side, it must go over the first warp thread on the other side. Push the woven strips over to the edge and take a look. They should alternate like this:

If they are mirror images, check the troubleshooting tips at the end of this post.

5th: I just kept weaving, being careful not to pull too tightly on the weft strips, because if they are too tight, the opening will bow down. When my first strip ran out, I started another one, overlapping a few inches with the old one along the same path.

Meanwhile, I did try to continue to push the weft strips towards the edge to leave room for more weft strips. When I just couldn't cram any more strips into the other edge, I wove one final strip down toward the bottom and anchored it as I did in "4th" above.

6th: I removed the warp ends from their cardboard tunnels so that I could remove the cardboard.

(You can see the slight bow in the top, due to too much tension on the weft thread.)

Then I removed the cardboard by folding it first

and then pulling it gently out of the pouch.

Last: I anchored the hanging warp ends by running them through the tunnels made by the weft strips, following the paths already made by warp threads near the top and bottom.

Materials:

• one piece of corrugated cardboard (cardboard shipping boxes are good source)
• warp should be twine or string
• weft can be thick yarn or strips cut or torn from fabric you no longer use
• tapestry needle or any blunt needle with a large eye
• scissors

Troubleshooting:
If your edges do not alternate as they should it may be because

• you have an even number of warp threads because both warp thread ends are facing in the same direction
• you forgot to alternate over and under when switching sides.