Weaving Project

 

The Kente Cloth paper weaving assignment from the previous week was good preparation for weaving an actual textile. Students still had to understand warp and weft, and still had to recognize that color choices had symbolic as well as aesthetic consequences. The only differences is that instead of up, down, up, down, students were going under, over, under, over using long plastic needles to snake their yarn across the warp threads on the loom.

Some students were able to fee their way, while other, low vision students preferred to see the process with a magnifier. And others figured out how to weave hot pads with stretchy loops, like they were born doing it. It is a great fine motor assignment and almost therapeutic for students who catch on. I read a book out-loud for those who could work independently and it became an hour of sanity during midterms for other classes.

Kid Weaving Project 101

You know you're on the right track when the school's occupational therapist walks into your classroom and says, "I love this project!" The little fingers of my elementary students are not used to performing the small motor skills needed to weave, so it was a struggle to get them started. But after about 45 minutes of struggling, some were able to figure it out and work independently. It takes practice and practice takes time, but that's about all it took since we already had the materials handy.


 A paper or styrofoam plate with an odd number of half inch slits around the edge is how we got started. I made 13 slits. I had to do the prep work for most of my students by wrapping yarn across the plate and up the next slit to go across the front again. Because we needed an odd number of slits, I poked a hole in the center of the plate and pushed the yarn through the hole after the final slit, before tying the ends together.  Then we threaded yarn in a big plastic needle, although the fat yarn didn't need a needle, and started in the center and tying the two ends together on the back. "Under, over, under over" little voices said quietly as they tried to push the yarn under a cross thread and pull it out the other side.

Students with multiple complex needs obviously weren't ready for weaving, but they could manage to wrap the yarn around the plates and with some help, pull them into the slits. It's important to differentiate by ability levels so that children don't become overwhelmed, while maintaining high standards and expecting them to keep trying.

Weaving Yarn

As part of a month-long craft unit that included basketry, hypertufa, and quilting projects, I taught my students how to weave yarn. Some loved it, some hated it, but it is a project that doesn't require sight, and provides the crucial fine motor skill practice often neglected in my blind students. The materials are simple:  yarn, a large plastic needle, and a piece of cardboard with slits or notches at the top and bottom.  Thread the loom by going up one to one notch and down through the next one, both on the front of the loom, rather than wasting yarn by wrapping it the whole length on the back. Then just stitch the vertical strings with an under-over-under-over pattern, going from left to right and then back across from right to left. I combined some of the smaller pieces together to make a collaborate textile piece that I am in the process of framing. Textiles are a part of our every day life. It's worth pausing to learn how they are made.