There has been a re-prioritising of my big 4 and painting and sketching are now the top 2, followed by sewing and lastly some weaving. I found I was spending way too much time doing research in the new hobby of weaving for the past 4 months that I neglected working on trying to earn some income at the same time. So right now I have put my weaving aside to focus on sewing some ready-made goods for sale, and also to re-pick up sketching and painting on a daily basis.

I have updated my Etsy shop with some new baby bibs and collars made from some of the softest and sweetest fabric I could get my hands on. Many of these are in limited quantities as once I finish up my fabric stash, I won't make them anymore. Do visit via the link to SHOP above! :)

Having begun my journey on the path of weaving in December, I have been looking around for storage solutions as I went along. In recent weeks, I thought of getting a sewing box, but the ones I found did not seem feasible, although I was very tempted to purchase. Namely vintage cantilever sewing boxes. These look super gorgeous, but I didn't find it a good use of every inch of space as some parts will be blocked by upper trays.

So in a recent trip to Bangkok, I thought I'd keep a lookout for anything special made using artisanal trades and I found one gorgeous purse box by Boonyarat artisans. This bag was woven using the Yanlipao fern from the Nakhonsithammarat tropical forest.

I now store all my embroidery needles and tapestry bobbins in this beautiful purse/box.

I was also looking for a small dish to store tapestry needles on my desk while weaving and settled for this gorgeous celadon blue one from my favourite stall in Chatuchak Market. It fits the mini Purl & Loop comb I have as well!

I have had the opportunity to purchase various brands of yarns and accessories from my local craft store (Golden Dragon) and up-and-coming studio at MOX Singapore, Craft Atelier. For more specialty yarns (e.g. variegated hand-dyed natural goodies), I will go online. Here are some of my rampant purchases from the past two months. *gulps*

GOLDEN DRAGON
This has been one of my go-to store for sewing, needle felting and other craft needs for the past decade, and I was so stoked to finally be able to have reason to browse and purchase some super gorgeous yarns from their wall of yarns. I have yet to find another store stocking such a vast range of delectable yarns in Singapore.

Their audience for yarns is the crochet and knitting group, not much for weaving. However, I find some of their cotton yarns work for warp as well but could get pricey. They also stock macrame cords, basket weaving supplies, raffia and loop rug hooking kits.

As you can see from my purchase below, they stock popular Japanese brand, Hamanaka, and also others like Sirdar, Sublime and other Italian and international branded yarns. They however do not stock kid mohair x silk yarns. :( Lots of wool, cotton, acrylic, polyester, cupro and silk, though, which is more than enough for weaving.

CRAFT ATELIER
Not really an all-out yarn shop (though there is also a wall of yarn here that shouldn't disappoint), but more a studio setting with a variety of floor, table, rigid heddle, inkle and frame looms. They also have a Hello Hydrangea frame loom in residence. On top of teaching weaving, they also teach yarn spinning, yarn blending, knitting and crocheting. Their store has a wide selection of looms and also lets you experience weaving on their looms for a fee. They are the Singapore retailer for Louet, Schacht and Saori looms.

They do sell warp yarns for both tapestry frame looms and fine warp yarns for floor and rigid heddle looms. I got my cone of 20/2 cotton thread from them.

GIST YARN

This is the shop I visited after knowing Allyson Rousseau's works. I've gotten two cones of 8/8 Brassard unmercerised cotton thread and a few 8/4 cotton threads for warp. They also stock useful accessories like wave shuttles by Ashford and 3-in-1 magic sticks by Schacht. After I got myself a Schacht Rigid Heddle Flip loom from a local shop Craft Atelier, I've also ordered a variable dent reed and other cones of alpaca, tencel and Ito yarns to experiment with.

The shop owner, Sarah's service is perfection and she is very helpful and quick to respond to questions. I have never been disappointed with my orders.

MISS BABS
I wanted to get a Schacht Lilli loom and this store turned up in my Google search stocking some beautifully coloured yarns with intriguing colour mixes like Wild Iris as well.

I was looking for DK/worsted sized yarns that were affordable but they had more fine yarns instead. I was also very excited to own some vibrant coloured pinks (as shown on their website) and ordered a Mini Trio of pinks together with a lovely sky blue, candy pink and vibrant violet.

However, I was most disappointed by the mini trio pinks. On the site, the pinks looked vibrant and healthy, but what I received was dull and lifeless. Thankfully, the Pink Positive Yowza skein on the left did not disappoint (which was strange). Why is it some colours are accurate while others aren't? The violet appeared darker in my photo above, but in reality, was quite close to the original vibrant violet. So was the blue, named Chirp.

They included a free sample of another yarn which had colours that I find unappealing, and also some knitting rings. Overall, I wouldn't buy from them again unless I need superwash Merino textured yarns. I find these tend to keep their shape very well even after I rya knot them to trim off as tufts, which is not the effect I'm after.

WOOL AND CO.

I was searching for shops that stocked Rowan's Finest yarn in 065 Love as I was knotting up a beautiful deep red heart with the single skein I found from Golden Dragon. The store told me they only had that one skein left and wasn't sure if they will restock (but after a few weeks I returned to the shop to find 2 more! Which I quickly picked up since it's a discontinued range)...

It is in this store I found the colourful Malabrigo yarns and also how they offer free US shipping with any amount ordered and free yarn winding service. Super sweet folks!

From them, I ordered mostly Rios sized yarns and one Rasta. The Rasta and one of the Rios will be the main yarns for a new project where I hope to weave colours of the underwater. The mint green and aqua blue will be accents for the surface of the water. Can't wait to see what happens on the loom, but I can only work on it after the current waterfall piece I'm weaving on the Funem Studio XXL loom is finished. (Or I buy another large loom...)

It has been almost five months since we moved into our new bigger place and sorting our home out has more or less slowed down, however, I am still cracking my brains on new/better ways to store/display my things in my work room.

With my new work room, I had the chance to upgrade my desk size to a 160cm long Bekant from Ikea. It allows me to have a side for graphic design on my iMac and another side to accommodate desktop easel usage/weaving/entertaining friends during craft parties. It is quite an ample sized personal desk, so to say I have small desk space is an understatement. However, I only wanted to use a small part of my desk to store stationery, so I have been looking around.

I previously had acrylic pen/stationery holders from Muji and one of them is still on my desk but it looks haphazard. I also know I didn't want bulky drawers to store my incoming set of 60 coloured pencils. So with an open mind, I made a trip to Muji again to see what ideas I can find and indeed it didn't disappoint.

I chanced upon the Muji PP File Box series with coordinating Pen Pocket holders (those little compartments on the inside of my file box, and the larger one hanging outside). I found this system incredibly versatile because I can choose to hang stationery inside or outside the box.

Also because I bought a book on washi tape x coloured pencil art, I was also looking out for steel edged plastic rulers and was so stoked to find one at Muji! The author suggested getting a clear ruler with a steel edge so you can see where you are cutting.

I've also had the habit of keeping my journal, planner and sketchbook on the desk standing against the wall next to my desk so having a large holder to store those seems to click immediately.

So here is the 'storage caddy' in use at the very edge of my desk. I love how clean it looks and can't wait to have my new pencils sorted in as well, together with a pop up colour chart for easy reference. I didn't plan to have my multi liners there but found it's so much better having them displayed instead of kept hidden in a pencil case all but forgotten. Yes, this stage in my life I have been forgetting to use my drawing materials. :(

Before this trip to Muji I also visited Tokyu Hands to get ideas, but was so disappointed by their lack of stationery holders. :/ Stationery galore, but storage there was only some overpriced round tin can and a set of colourful wooden holders. However, I did come across the King Jim Masking Tape Case and got it to store incoming washi tapes for future projects. It looks like the below.

It is made of sturdy hard paper and opens and closes like a box with 4 'shelves' to store 60 washi tapes. I currently only have the first row filled but with the free agent fee promotion at Ezbuy I've ordered 35 more rolls because the prices were so low! Will share better photos of my storage and display soon!

Hi everyone, I've been wanting to share more information on the various types of frame looms out in the market so people who are new to weaving can understand their differences and how to get the weaving outcomes they want.

I may not explain all the basic terms enough assuming everyone knows the basic terms like warp and weft, so do feel free to Google them up or ask me in the comments section.

First up are these two styles of frame looms most popular around here:
The notched frame loom with heddle bar on the left commonly sold by Kaliko Co. and Funem Studio and the simpler loom with raddle segments/plastic teeth with pick up stick sold by Schacht Spindle and Louet.

THE NOTCHED LOOM
The notched loom was my first loom and I got a lap-sized one to try and here are some of its parts explained.

• Adjustable Tension
  This loom has screws on the top and bottom notched bars to allow for adjustment of the warp tension which I find very useful over time, as the longer you leave your piece on the loom, the warp threads will slacken from the constant stretching. You can easily tighten or loosen your warp threads before, during and after your weaving!
• Adjustable Length
  Another useful thing to note about these screws is, with the help of some table clamps, one is able to take one side of the notched bar as long as you want on a table and do an extended length of work longer than the loom itself. You can also work on this like a rigid heddle loom. See how Kalico Co did it!
• Heddle Bar
  Another useful point is the heddle bar (that angled piece of wood with notches in the middle). It helps you separate the 'over' and 'under' warp threads for super easy tabby weaving. This item would relate much to the Rigid Heddle Loom's reeds, which are also much like the heddle bar, allowing easy separation of the alternate rows of warp threads for efficient weaving.

These looms are usually limited to a wide 7 epi/threads per inch, which is suitable for thicker weft yarns like worsted, rovings, bulky etc. If you want to weave with finer yarn, you may need to bundle up a few strands to form a thicker weft.

This is the tutorial I referred to on how to warp this type of loom. And it's a high density warp which I find keeps my weavings intact. I usually weave non shaggy pieces and tapestries on this loom as the gaps between the warp threads are larger.

THE SIMPLE LOOM
The simple loom was something I got after watching Allyson Rousseau's tutorials on the way she weaves and how she achieves tufted shapes. She showed how she made her looms using nails and canvas stretcher bars, which I also tried, but was not satisfied by my own imperfections (inaccurate spacing of nails, nails falling out etc.).

These looms allow for warping up to 11/12 epi, making the warp threads closer to each other and allowing for weaving with finer yarns and you can also preserve the warp ends to use as ready-made fringe. I initially didn't want to use this loom because it felt like a lot of work to weave tabby stitches without the help of a heddle bar. Below are some of its parts explained.

• Pick up Stick
  You can choose to weave without this tool, as it acts like half of a heddle bar. It lets you pick up one alternate row of warp threads when standing only. When you weave the opposite direction, the shed stick needs to be flattened.
• Raddle Segments/Plastic Teeth
  These allow for two different setts. You can use either a 6 or a 12 epi on the Schacht Lilli loom.  I have not experienced slackening of my warp threads on my Louet Extra Large Lisa loom so perhaps that's why there was no need for any adjustment mechanisms?

TYPES OF WARPING
Even within these two types of looms, there are various ways to warp your loom for either a low or high density warp, see how A Pretty Fix explains it.

As I weave more projects, I have found that each loom has its advantages over another based on the final piece you want to achieve. I'm still not that clear on how different they can be but will hope to find out as I weave some more. :)

20 Feb 2019

We welcomed the birth of our firstborn in May 2017 and I have since forgotten about this blog and what I had set out to do in terms of my art and crafts. Recently, I found a new craft that I love, which is weaving! Compared to painting, which had been a cause of stress in the past few months, I could still create colourful 'art' through weaving on a frame loom and touch them, too!

I would like to continue sharing this journey in fulfilling my destiny. May He reign in all I do, Amen!

Here's a picture of Ralph from November 2017, our little cherub. With his arrival, I have also delved into sewing baby drool bibs and pillows! That will come under a sub brand: Mihon & Co.