Simple Tapestry Purse

Mirrix Playground (with tips and ideas from other Mirrix owners)

Instructions for Weaving and Embellishing a Simple Tapestry Purse

This is much like a knitting pattern in that we assume you are familiar with how to begin, weave, and finish a tapestry. If you have never woven a tapestry before, we suggest you purchase Kirsten Glasbrook's book Tapestry Weaving. This is a very simple piece that requires you know only slit tapestry. In these instructions you will find a "cartoon" that should be placed behind the warp while weaving this piece. Enlarge the cartoon so that it is six inches wide and ten inches long. If you cannot print this cartoon, draw your own version of it. The cartoon will help guide you as you weave. Many tapestry weavers use such a device to assist them while weaving their designs. If you do not want to turn this tapestry into a purse, feel free to make it into a wall hanging.

You will be using the 8 dent coil for this tapestry. The tapestry requires 48 warps.

The ten numbers on the cartoon each represent a different color. Choose whatever colors in your package you want to match these numbers. Taping small pieces of yarn to the cartoon will help you decide color placement. The embellishment yarns can be added to the wool yarns or used on their own to add color and texture to your piece. They also can be used for making a strap for your purse. The basic technique used in this piece is slit tapestry. After you've woven your tapestry and taken it off the loom the vertical slits will have to be sewn up. This can be done in one of two fashions. Traditionally these slits are sewn together on the back of the tapestry. You can employ that method or you can embellish beads on the front of the tapestry to join the slits. Our example is of a tapestry purse finished with beads. Any kind and size of beads will do. We've also taken the liberty to embellish beads in other places on the tapestry. This is where you can really express yourself!

Once you've cut your piece off the loom, leaving at least five inches of warp waste on either end, you will need to tie pairs of warps in overhand knots. Trim the warp ends to about one half inch in length after tying knots. Turn over the header and footer and sew them down on the wrong side of the tapestry.

To line the purse, place it wrong side up and pin to it material for the lining with the edges of the fabric folded underneath. I love to use velvet (which has a wrong and right side and hence the wrong side must be facing the wrong side of the tapestry). Sew by hand all around the edge of the tapestry and the fabric, joining the two together.

You will need to select or make a cord for your purse. You can use the yarn in the kit to make your own cord by either making a rope or a braid. In the pictured example we made a rope of four strands of yarn.

Fold your purse according to the pattern. Sew up the sides of the purse, leaving holes about one inch long at the two bottom corners of the purse. Once you've sewn up the sides of the purse, stick the two ends of the cord into the two holes. Stitch the holes together, securing the cord ends. You can now either sew the cord to the sides of the purse using as invisible a stitch as possible or use your beads to sew down the cord. There are two ways to use beads to sew down the cord. The first method requires you thread enough beads that they will completely cover the cord, threading more beads and wrapping around the cord and sewing underneath it until you've reached the top of the purse. For the second method you only need to thread three beads and then sew through just one edge of the cord, continuing up only one side of the cord. Do the same for the other side. The beads give the cord a beautifully finished look. We have also used beads around the flap of the purse to conceal where the lining and purse meet. Beads are great for covering up any stitches or mistakes.

You are welcome to modify the pattern to include diagonal lines and curves. Feel free to break up solid color areas with diagonal lines or triangles or employ the pick and pick technique. Maybe after weaving one piece according to the cartoon you will feel more comfortable modifying the next purse or wall hanging.

If you would like to buy our yarn kit made from gorgeous Swedish yarns and including wool warp and several lovely embellishment yarns, please visit our store

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Instructions for Making a Bead Soup Bracelet Using the Mirrix Loom and the Shedding Device

Materials needed to make a bead soup bracelet: Twenty grams of bead soup (a mixture of 4 mm cubes; 11/0, 8/0 and 6/0 seed beads; triangles; bugles; hexes); a bobbin of Nymo or similar warp material; a button or large bead to be used as a closure for the bracelet; a beading needle.

Tools needed: A Mirrix Loom with shedding device; scissors; a dish to put your beads in or a piece of ultra suede; a tape measure.

Bracelet size: six double warps wide and the desired length for the size of your wrist. Allow one half inch for shrinkage after removal from the loom. Not only is shrinkage responsible for making the piece smaller, but tugging on the warps and playing with the beads to make them fit snugly against one another also contributes to size reduction . You do not want the ends of your bracelet to overlap around your wrist; rather you want a space of about one-half to three-quarters of a inch between the two ends to allow for the closure.

To begin with: pour your beads into a dish or on a piece of cloth such as ultra suede. Place the 14 dent spring on the loom.

Since your bracelet will not be very long you can shrink your loom down as much as possible (while still being able to adjust the tension) or, if you have one, use the second warping bar kit. You can even weave the two bracelets side by side leaving a few inches or more of space in between.

Warp your loom six warps wide using every other dent in the spring. This makes a bracelet three-quarters of an inch wide. You can adjust the number of warps to make your bracelet thinner or wider. Attach the heddles.

Cut a length of beading thread about a yard long. Tie the end of this thread to the bottom of the left threaded rod on your loom using a slip knot so that you can easily release it and weave it back into your piece later. Thread your needle onto the other end and pick up ten 11/0 seed beads. You will not be using the shedding device to weave in this first row. Instead, treating the two warps in each dent as one warp, place your beads behind the warp, two beads in between each warp thread. Sew back through the beads on the top of the warp so that you've sandwiched the beads onto the warp using your thread. This is how most bead weaving is done, but we will only use this method for the first and last rows. Sew back through the beads one more time to tighten up that first row. This needle woven row will keep your piece together when you take it off the loom and the smaller beads at the beginning and end will give your bracelet added stability.

The next two rows will also be11/0 seed beads, however, they will be woven using the shedding device (until you reach the last row). Hook the handle behind the copper side bar of your loom. String ten seed beads onto your thread and insert your needle between the section of lowered and raised warp a couple of inches above where the two sections of warp meet where your first row has been woven. You want two seed beads between and behind each of the raised warps. Once you've gotten them in place, lower your thread down to where the first row was woven. Pull the thread all the way through making sure it is pulled snug . Change the position of the handle on your shedding device and repeat once. You will now have a total of three rows of 11/0 seed beads. You are now ready to weave a variety of bead sizes.

Careful thought has to be put into the organization of your beads in this bracelet. You will get used to the rules of using different size beads very quickly. This is where your logic and creativity controls the outcome. Do a little experimenting to find out which combination of beads fits best between the fairly wide-set warps. A4 mm square bead, for example, exactly fits in the space as does a 6/0 seed bead. Consider how thin a bugle bead is. You want to make sure that the space above a bugle bead is filled in with a thick bead, such as a 4 mm square. Two seed beads (11/0) fit exactly between the warps. A seed and a small triangle are a bit big for the space, but would work fine together if in the next space there is a bead (such as a hex) that does not quite fill the space between warps. Your warps are going to be pulled out of parallel alignment and then shoved back in. This is the beauty of the piece. Just make sure that if you distort the position of the warps in row one that in row two you compensate. It is so much fun to pick the right beads to give the piece its correct flow, which is what makes this project so wonderful. It gives you the chance to really create your own piece and yet provides enough guidance that you are guaranteed a beautiful finished product.

As I mentioned before, when you reach the desired length for your bracelet, weave in four rows of seed beads using the shedding device followed by one row of needle woven seed beads.

Next you need to weave in a header and a footer with beading string. The footer is easy to weave because you can use the shedding device to raise and lower the warps. Cut a piece of Nymo about a yard long and using a tapestry needle weave in about a half an inch by rotating the shedding device each time you weave. Your warps will start to spread out, lying next to each other rather than being grouped in pairs. Then scroll up your weaving a bit, so that there is room to needle weave in the header. You will be weaving over and under each warp, using your tapestry needle to pick each one. This is a bit tedious, so please be patient. Again, weave about half an inch.

When you've finished weaving your header and footer, loosen the tension on your loom and slip out the warping bar. Lay your piece flat and trim the ends so that you have at least four inches left to work with. Tie overhand knots with warp pairs. When you've tied all the knots, trim the warp as close as you can without allowing the knots to be undone. Fold the header (or footer) at the seam where the header and beads meet. Turn the knots under so that they are buried. Carefully sew this header down so that you knots remain and it looks neat. Do the same with the footer. This will be the back of your bracelet. You want to make this hem as sturdy and neat as possible.

Attach button or bead to your bracelet: thread some warp material, sew through some beads near one end of your bracelet, making sure it is secure by placing a couple of knots in between beads. You want your button to be centered, so get this thread so that it is where you want your button to be. Sew through the button and the bracelet a couple of times and then worm your thread back through beads in your bracelet to firmly anchor the button in place.

On the other end of the bracelet make a loop out of seed beads that will fit snugly over the button. The two ends should just meet, but not cross, on your wrist.

Wear and enjoy!

For video instructions for this project please check out our Mirrix beading video in our store

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