Tapestry-Plait

I chose to make these projects as hobbies for when I have nothing to do. When it's raining outside or when there’s no wifi, it's a great way to do something productive. In this tutorial, I will explain the basics of creating a “Woven-Square” which can be used to make a variety of different projects. The picture at the end is of a chest-plate or apron-like piece of apparel. But the technique can be used to make an infinite range of 2D portraits/tapestries.

Materials:
- Yarn

- Scissors

- Needle

- “Dijes” brand hooks

- Weaving paper

Carefully cut the weaving paper sheet(s) into small squares. How big you want them is up to you, but for this project, I cut them 20-square by 20-squares, roughly about 6.35 cm. It doesn't matter if they’re not perfect, small imperfections give it a unique charm!
“If every porkchop were perfect, we wouldn’t have hot dogs.” Rebecca Sugar

To begin weaving, simply put the tip of the yarn through the needle-hole. This can be a bit tricky for newbies, but it becomes easier with practice.

To begin your square, put your needle through the underside of the square. Do this from a corner.

Pull the string of yarn through the hole so only a little bit is dangling from the bottom side of the square, this will allow you to knot the string at the end.

Now put the needle through the hole at the opposite end of the square, the direction does not matter, just make sure it's not diagonal.

Pull the needle all the way through, and now you should be able to see a straight line across. (Tip: Don't pull the string too hard, keep it soft, be gentle.)

From the underside of the square, bring the needle through the hole directly next to the line you just completed.

Pull the string all the way through. This should leave your needle ready to make the next line.

Place the needle on the hole that is directly across. Remember, the goal is to make a square.

Pull the yarn all the way through, and now you should see something like this: (refer to picture). Repeat steps 3-9 twice more.

Right now your square should look like this. From now on just follow the same steps going inwards to complete the square.

This is how your square should look like after 16 pivots.

This is an almost completed square. But OH NO! There is not enough string! The solution to this is simple, follow the next steps! (You won’t necessarily run out of string, make sure to use a decent size of yarn to complete the full square [recommendations for size listed above]) But this could also be a creative opportunity to add in different colors or designs!
“We don't make mistakes, we have happy little accidents.” Bob Ross

This is what your square should look like from the back.

With the dangling pieces of yarn that are left, you’ll need to make knots. To do so make a regular knot, BUT DON'T TIE IT JUST YET!

Press the loop towards the plastic square, guide it. This will result in the knot to be tight on the plastic and not leave the string loose.

Regarding the leftover bit of dangling yarn (ABOVE the knot), just chop it off to make it look nice.

This is what your project should look like now. So all there is left to do is to finish the square with more yarn. Which color you use is up to you.

So to begin, start the same way you did at the beginning. From the bottom side, stab your needle upwards through a corner of the empty shape.

From the bottom side this is what the square should look like. Leave a good bit of the string poking out in order to tie the knot (as portrayed above).

Now use the same technique to get to the center. Remember: The final stab should always be from the top side of the square towards the bottom.

Make sure you tie the knots for the new color and cut off the excess string.

This is what the final product should look like.

Assuming you’ve made more than one square, you can now use the “Dijes” hooks to put them together.

These come with little rings around the hooks that can be rather irritating to work with and don’t really look nice on your project. Lucky they are very easy to take out, just slide them through the tips.

Insert the hook wherever you’d like. For this project, it is recommendable to put them on the corners. And them just hook them together!

Done!