Woven Coasters Using Cardboard As a Loom

Weaving is an extremely interesting hobby. Simple, stress free and mesmerizing! There are many things to make with weaving. The simplest of them is a coaster which we can use in our day to day lives. Even if you do not have a weaving loom, you can always make one from a simple cardboard and the size would depend on the length of the project. Let’s go ahead and make these simple and gorgeous woven coasters. All you need is cardboard, yarn and a weaving plastic needle to get started. This is a very simple project for beginner weavers who can try their hand on weaving.

Cardboard of size 5 inches by 9 inches ( for making the loom)
Yarn ( colors off white and purple)
Scissors
Pencil/pen
A weaving needle ( basically a needle with a large eye)
Fork

The first step is to create a loom from a simple cardboard. Take a thick cardboard of size 5 inches by 9 inches. Trace a square of size 4x4 inches on a piece of paper and mark at the center of the cardboard. This marking is done to guide us for the size while doing the project. I have made two coasters so I marked on both sides of the cardboard. Mark lines on the top and bottom of the cardboard 0.5 cm apart. Now cut them with a scissors to form the slits.

The vertical strands of yarn on the loom is called warp. To create the warp, you will wrap yarn around the cardboard so that you have vertical strands on the front and back of the cardboard. Begin by pull out the yarn through the top of the left side of the cardboard. Leave a 2 inches tail behind. Pull yarn through the bottom slit. Continue to the top. Repeat till the end of the loom. Cut the yarn leaving a tail of 2 inches behind. The front and back shoul look like this.

Place a small rectangular cardboard at the line of starting the weaving. Thread your needle with approximately 20-25 inches of yarn. Begin your first row of weaving by passing your thread from one end to the other end of your warp, going over and under each alternate strand. Pull the yarn through leaving a 3 inches tail at the end. Using a fork, bring the yarn down to form a straight line. Continue the second row by repeating the same. Be careful to start the row opposite to that of the first. For example if you have ended the first row with the yarn above the warp line, then start the second row with the yarn coming from top of the first yarn line. The weaving will then stay in place.

Now is see the time to be creative. After some rows of the off white yarn, cut the thread leaving a 3 inches tail to weave in at the end. Start with the purple yarn. I created a stripes pattern. You can do whichever pattern you wish to. Continue till the end alternating the two colors.

Once you have finished one coaster, flip the cardboard and start weaving another coaster at its back. I created a one with a block design. First start with the off white yarn, and weave in the warp strands alternating through the top and bottom. Continue till the desired set of rows. Now thread the needle with the purple color and start weaving from the left end. Weave through the last strand off the offwhite thread and continue backwards alternating as you go.

Snip off the yarn strands along the top and bottom edges of your loom. Take two warp strands at a time and tie a knot. These knots will prevent the weaving from unraveling. After knitting on both the sides, turn the coaster to the back. Weave in the loose tail ends.

Easy and beautiful woven coasters are ready. Adorn your tea table with these pretty hand made coasters.