Google+ House Revivals: Making Flowers With a Vintage Flower Loom

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Making Flowers With a Vintage Flower Loom

My husband bought me several vintage flower looms from our local beach town thrift shop.  I couldn't be more pleased. He knows me well. What might seem like a "cheap" gesture to some, feels pretty romantic to me.


I will take vintage flower looms over diamonds any day of the week!  For years, I ogled vintage yarn flowers, so when we ran across these looms, I batted my eyelashes and said "pretty please". Could I have bought my own looms? Yes, but we were on a "date" (yes, we date at the thrift store sometimes), and I knew allowing him to buy me something he knew would make me happy would make him happy.


There were five looms. One was a "Bloom Loom", three were Studio Twelve Flower Looms, and one had no brand name printed on it.


One was even packaged with a faded old spool of green jute.


One was only fifty cents!


I'm having fun experimenting with different materials. Here, I used poly-twine on the Bloom Loom. What a fun way to make bows for gift giving!


You can use regular yarn to weave your flowers, too!


It is super easy to weave the flowers.


Simply wrap the yarn around opposite pegs, working your way around the loom. Here, I gave each set of pegs three wraps for a fuller flower. To finish them off, use a large craft needle to back stitch the petals together near the center, using the tail of the yarn.


Here is how the back of the flower looks, after the center has been back stitched (hint: back stitch the center while it's still on the loom, or you will have a big mess).


I love the idea of using the flowers for gift giving.  Years ago, I made a bunch of gift bags from the legs of old jeans. It made the Christmas gift wrapping marathons go a little easier, and we were able to use the same bags year after year. I think I will dig those out this year, and tie them up with bits of yarn and yarn flowers!


This is a terrific stash busting project!  All you knitters and crocheters out there have loads and loads of partial skeins leftover from projects. How about making a big pile of flowers and attaching them together to create a scarf?


A word of warning: Making these flowers is addicting. You may find yourself saying "just one more" over and over again!


Have you made flowers on a loom?  Do you have a vintage loom? A new one? What kinds of materials have you used?