Now that we have established weaving’s relationship to digital communication, how can one actually do the weaving themselves? Well, we are in luck! Weaving our initials can be a tedious process, but the end result is definitely worth the process. First, we want to start with a draft of our pattern to have a template for our design. It is beneficial to use a “floating warp” which is extra string at the ends of our design to have structure and extra string to avoid any slip-ups. On the template, each column of boxes represents one warp string. Each row represents one weft string. The colored in boxes indicate to go overtop of the warp strings, while the blank boxes indicate to go under the warp strings. For initials, we may want to go overtop for the portions where the letters are, while going under to not disrupt the pattern. This will vary from row to row due to the shapes of the letters. To start weaving, we will go by each row, starting with our needle. We will go over and under until the entire row is finished with the needle, and pull the string throw the warp. You will continue this process back and forth through the warp with the needle, and be sure not to pull too tightly to avoid warping the pattern too early. Follow your template closely and you should have a beautifully weaved set of initials!
