Weave That Fabric – A Review
October 2, 2024
Hi!
Whoops – I did it again… I got so caught up in playing with a new technique and project and now this week’s post is late…. It’s worth it though, as I’ve just finished a new online course from Creative Spark, and this one’s Jennifer Rapacki’s “Weave That! Fabric” class, and it was fun!
This class is all about weaving fabric strips to create interesting backgrounds for quilts, or to make a new ‘fabric’ for making smaller projects with.
Jennifer explains things clearly in this series of videos, and she teaches how to do square or diagonal weaving, with plenty of tips and tricks to make things easier along the way.
An example of square weaving,
And a striking example of angled weaving with two colours.
Look at how the difference of the angle quite dramatically changes the look of the woven background.
This style of fabric background is really suited to things like smaller quilted wallhangings, and Jennifer usually adds an applique on top.
Jennifer says, “Weaving fabric is a bit like a Mystery Quilt”, and she recommends you let it develop organically as you’ll get a surprise result.
She shows how to use a square weave to make a zippered pouch, and indeed the full pattern for her pouches , and FQ Christmas Stockings are included as a free download with this course.
There is some discussion on how best to sew your woven fabric panel, and Jennifer offers a couple of options for this.
She also demonstrates how to add borders to a woven panel, and has some great suggestions on varying strip width and possibilities with bias strips, and ombre fabrics, which is definitely food for thought.
This is a great beginner level course on how to weave fabric, and I would recommend it as a good starting point if you’re keen to stretch yourself a little and add another dimension to your quilt making.
I was keen to give this a go (hence the late post 🙂 ), and I decided to make a square woven and quilted pillow cover using up some of my leftover Halloween fabric from my new quilt in our soon-to-be-released October Online Quilt Magazine.
And Ta Dah!!
Using Jennifer’s suggestions to weave fabric, I put together an 18 inch square, using two fabrics ( a plain black and a black and white print), as a background for my Halloween applique.
It stitched together really well, and I quilted it as I went.
View from the back – I actually really liked the puffed up squares texture doing it this way too. It would be a great background to try for a quilt project, however using fusible interfacing and then batting does make for a reasonably stiff finish. For a quilt, I would maybe try a light-weight fusible pellon / fleece instead of the interfacing, and eliminate the batting altogether.
I added my applique with fusible webbing,
And then just topstitched through all layers to secure it.
I added a couple of hemmed rectangles to the back to turn this into an easy pillow cover, and bound the edges to finish.
I have a niece who’s going to love this!
I definitely see a need to weave fabric for more projects, and I’m looking forward to experimenting more with this fun technique.
Jennifer Rapacki’s “Weave That! Fabric” is available as a self paced video class through Creative Spark, and you’ll find it at https://creativespark.ctpub.com/courses/weave-that-fabric . One lucky reader will be able to try this for themselves for FREE too!! For your chance to win, please comment below with why you’d like to learn this technique, and we’ll randomly draw one name to win this month’s review class free from Creative Spark next Tuesday 8th October.
There’s a bunch more goodies still to come on our blog this month, so make sure to pop your first name and email in the boxes at the top right of this page, and you’ll be first know when they’re posted.
Good luck, and enjoy your week!
16 responses to “Weave That Fabric – A Review”
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Looks like a very interesting class. Always interested in learning new things!
I’d like to try this background behind an applique of my yorkie!
This looks like a clever way to use up and perhaps ‘camouflage’ some “not so favorite” fabrics.
That is very true – good point.
That looks like fun! I’m inspired to make a pillow!
Send me a photo if you do!!
Looks a very interesting class. I might have to give this a try.
Great project…wondering re the strips. Are they seamed or just used as they are.
The strips are just cut and used as they are. The zig zag sewing takes care of the edges.
Love it!!
Love what you did with the weaving! Sweet halloween pillow
Thanks Margaret! Wait till you see the quilt that matches – it’s just out now in our new October Online Quilt Magazine…
Looks like a great idea for a mystery block for my quilt group next project. Create a square, then suggest two possible for borders and when finished, it goes to a favorite local charity.
That is a great idea! Would be fun to see it come together.
You have inspired me to get out my UFO from “long ago and far away” for a Christmas wall hanging that is waiting. It was a class from Helen Weber in the US. Thanks for the nudge. I’m going to add this to the never-ending project list. You always come up with the most interesting ideas.
Thanks Marie! Please do send me a photo when you’ve finished!!