Soda Straw Weaving Tutorial

  Back in March of this year, I posted a link to a site that had instructions for using soda straws to weave.  Well, I don’t know what’s up lately, but I seem to be in one of those “I wonder how our ancestors did things!” moods, so I’m trying everything I can think of…grin   This is very simple to do and I can see it done very long ago using reeds.  

  In the instructions given on the site listed in March, there is no provision given for making a length as long as this one.  So here is how it’s done. 

I cut 5 lengths of yarn about a yard long and using a needle, attached to buttons by running the yarn through until the button reached the center point of the yarn.  Then changing needles to a much larger darning needle, I threaded the double end of the yarn into the needle and dropped the needle through the straw… pulling through until the button sat on top of the straw.  This is repeated for all 5 pieces of yarn and straws.   This gives you a double thread warp. Gather all ends of your warp threads together in your hand and tie them together in a knot as shown at the top of the photo above.  The “loom” is now threaded and ready to weave.  (I found that if I hooked the knotted end over my bare toe… I know, don’t laugh… it would hold a tension over the threads and made the weaving easier!)

For the weft… or the weaving thread… I attached the loose end of my yarn to one of the straws by wrapping it around and tying a knot at the end near the button… about an inch down the straw.  This straw is now one of the outside straws. Holding this one on the outside, gather all straws into one hand and hold the weaving yarn (weft thread) in the other hand.  Now weave the thread around and between each straw back and forth across all 5 straws.  At first you will have to hold the straws in position until you have a few rows complete, but then the weaving itself will hold the straws in place.  As you fill up the straws, gently twist each straw and pull it up, making sure that all are pulled up to the same level.  Gently move the weaving down the warp threads keeping them smooth and close to the end of the straws until the next time you need to move the weaving down.  There is one small place in this piece where I actually used a bit of a pattern and saw that one can make a different pattern by wrapping 2 straws at a time in pattern.  That will come later. 

This tutorial will have to be continued in a bit due to the fact that I have not finished this project and have not yet bound it off… grin  That will come in a bit…