I found a very mysterious vintage cardboard box labeled Junior Undies in my grandma’s attic. Inside was a treasure, an intact Hiawatha plastic flower loom, an instruction book and a couple of old yarn flowers. It had a bunch of pegs that fit into it to create four different size flowers and centers and a large yarn needle. I remember my Great Aunt and Grandma making straw flowers, maybe this is how they did it. This looked too fun and easy not to try for myself. I have plenty of small bits and partial skeins of yarn in my stash, it was time to get looming!
what you will need:
- Flower loom (there are many different kinds, just pick one you like)
- Yarn
- Yarn needle
- Scissors
what you will need to do:
Holding one end of the yarn with your fingers, start to wrap the yarn around the pegs of your loom.
Use a figure eight motion to loop around the pegs. Keep moving counterclockwise around the loom.
Once you get around it once, I do it two more times so that there are three loops on each peg.
Once I have the loops finished, I get a length of yarn for the center about two feet long. This is going to be a simple back stitch center.
Pull the yarn up from the bottom between the yarn and pegs.
Go around the yarn loops and pull the yarn to the back. Come up again in the space two loops over and then take a backstitch back down so you are catching each set of loops.
Be sure to pull the yarn snug, this is what is going to hold the flower together. When finished, pull the yarn to the back side.
Then, gently pull the yarn off of the pegs.
A fun yarn flower completed in a jiffy!
Here is a flower I made with the pegs in a smaller size. Here the center is just pulled between each set of loops to the backside and then brought up again through the same center each time.
I found a wonderful resource for anyone who has a flower loom, vintage or not! Knitting-and.com has all kinds of instructions, patterns and ideas on how to use a variety of new and vintage flower looms to make yarn flowers. You can find them HERE.
What will you do with your flowers? Here are some modern ideas to use your new or vintage flower floom:
Scarf from Better Homes and Gardens Australia
Better Homes and Gardens Australia had an article on flower looms. They have great pictures and instructions for this scarf, a cute pillow and afghan.
Flower loom jewelry from Knitting-and.com
Knitting-and.com also has this tutorial with information on how to make flower loom jewelry.
Twine flowers from Garden of Grace
Finally, look at these cute twine flowers made on a flower loom. Tracy Sabella from Garden of Grace offers a tutorial to make them here. These would be fun with the colored bakers twine too.
What are you making with your vintage flower loom?
(The post bust your yarn stash: Vintage Flower Loom first appeared on The Good Weekly.)