How to Get Out of a Rut

by | Mar 27, 2026 | Hangout

Zoom Session from March 22, 2026

Moderated by Ann Rader

How can you get out of a fiber arts rut?  Where do you get inspiration? How can you choose between so many project possibilities? How can you move into a new fiber arts space?

  • Handweaving.net is a great online resource for getting ideas for weaving. Be sure to check out the video tutorials, under Help. Even if you’ve used handweaving.net before you’re sure to find new functionality. With this online resource you can:
    • Search for drafts
    • Search by threading (so you don’t need to rethread what’s already on the loom)
    • Search by tie-up
    • Turn profile drafts into full drafts
    • Explore colors
    • Create a draft from scratch
    • And more
  • Go to museums, there’s the Textile Museum in DC and the Baltimore Museum of Art, to just name two in our area:
  • Think about what you’d like to make with your handwoven fabric. Here are two resources with easy-to-use patterns (available on Etsy):
    • Saori Beginners Clothing Design
    • Saori Intermediate Clothing Design
  • Be inspired by nature
    • Go outside and see what colors work together, look at textures
  • Talking to others can help you get unstuck
    • Ask a friend
    • Ask folks in your study group how you can use a particular yarn in a project, or get suggestions for your next project
    • Send an email to the WGGB Google Group (wggb@googlegroups.com) if you have questions about anything – someone will be happy to answer
  • Ravelry (though primarily for knitting) has a weaving section.
    • Under Advanced Search, click on Groups,
    • In the “Search For:” box, type in Weaving
  • Facebook also has lots of weaving resources. Groups include:
    • 4-shaft
    • 8-shaft
    • Schacht
    • Projects from handweaving.net
    • Krokbragd
    • Inkle
    • Card weaving
    • Pin loom
    • And more
  • Reddit has a weaving subgroup
  • Color challenges?
    • Do a search on “colorful birds” and choose a bird to inspire the colors for your next design
    • Go through photos on your phone and see what strikes you. You will gravitate towards certain colors.  What colors grab your retina?
    • Camilla Valley Farms provides an iPhone/iPad app that allows you to combine colors you like based on the colors of yarn in their online store: https://www.camillavalleyfarm.com/other/yarnshop.htm
    • Go to a yarn store and pull colors that appeal to you to see how they work together
    • To check the value of the colors you choose, take a photo with your phone, then use filters to convert the photos to black & white. To show off a structure, the colors should have very different values (large difference on the gray scale)
    • Take a color wheel and choose two colors that are opposite on the wheel. These are complementary colors.
      • Use one in warp and one in weft with plain weave you will get small dots of color and it will look like mud
      • If you have floats (2/2 twill, 3/1 twill, or even longer floats), you’ll see the colors better.
  • If you are overwhelmed by the choices of what to weave next, it may help to set some limits for yourself.
    • You can look to the Guild’s certification program to see the projects that are outlined there. The entire program is downloadable from: https://wggb.org/certifications/
      • Even if you don’t do the certification, it can provide you with a structure for selecting structures. Sometimes constraints and limitations make choosing easier.
    • Create a mood board: images, colors, words: This constrains you and helps you make decisions more quickly.
    • Sometimes a deadline can motivate you to just choose.
    • Weave for joy
      • Pay attention to what you like: what colors, what structures?
      • Saori is based on this principal
    • Don’t do anything after 11pm (that is, don’t work tired). Sometimes you just need to walk away.
    • Don’t get hung up on your yarn being too precious or your projects being too important
      • Take some discount yarn and dye it
      • Throw something on a smaller loom (like an inkle loom) and weave something small where the stakes are not so high
    • Make your own “stash sale” – put together random fibers/yarns in a bag and use them for your next project
      • Wool warp and a cotton weft are ok
      • Alternating wool and cotton threads in the warp (1 by 1) will work
      • Wide stripes of wool and cotton in the warp will let you play with 3D effects because of differential shrinkage
    • Use inexpensive yarns for warping practice – you don’t even need to weave with them if you don’t want to
    • Reuse fabric and turn it into weft: Use a rotary cutter and a mat to make strips of cloth from jeans, t-shirts (do this outside because of the fuzz), silk neckties, panty hose
    • Boro and sashiko are Japanese styles of visible mending that may be something different to inspire your weaving: https://www.zenstitching.ca/blog/what-is-the-difference-between-sashiko-and-boro-stitches

If you have more ideas to share, send it to the Google Group email: wggb@googlegroups.com

Featured image courtesy of Isabella Strambio