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Blog
Jun 17

Sunshine Hat Bands

Designed and woven by Sienna Bosch and Mackenzie Keller

Woven on the Inkle Loom

We’ve been planting our garden the past few weeks. Our peas are beginning to bloom, and we have cages on the tomatoes. We needed protection from the Colorado sun during all that time outside. We bought matching sun hats, then decided to accessorize them! Handwoven bands would be the perfect way to personalize them.

One of the best parts about weaving is that even with the same idea in mind, we came up with completely different designs. Mackenzie decided on 4 colors with a pick-up pattern. Sienna dyed a tonal yarn for one warp color—the color variation adds interest to the simple pattern. (If you don’t want to dye yarn but want the color variations, there are many commercial yarns with interesting color effects.)

Weaving Equipment

  • inkle loom
  • belt shuttle
  • 30 Texsolv or string heddles
  • rotary cutter and cutting mat or scissors
  • sewing needle and thread

Pick-up Band

Materials

Warp:

  • Maysville Cotton Carpet Warp in Loden Green (15 yds), Navy Blue (8 yds), and Kentucky Cardinal Red (15 yds)
  • Unmercerized 8/2 cotton in 100 Natural (100 yds)

Weft: Maysville Cotton Carpet Warp in Navy Blue (20 yds)

Pink Band

Materials

  • Warp: 6/2 unmercerized cotton in natural (80 yds dyed and 60 yds undyed)
  • Weft: 6/2 unmercerized cotton (10 yds dyed for main band, 8 yds undyed for straps)

Dyeing Materials & Equipment

  • yarn (100 yds of unmercerized cotton)
  • dish soap
  • 1 tablespoon Dharma Fiber Reactive Procion Dye in 141 Terracotta
  • 1/3 cup soda ash
  • plastic gloves
  • dust mask or respirator
  • small containers, measuring spoons, and plastic spoons or stirrers to mix solutions—these items cannot be reused for food
  • 2 buckets large enough for the skein to move freely

Download the PDF for complete project instructions