Yarn Wraps, Part 1: Why, How & Finding Inspiration

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Why Wrap?

• Important tool in a weaver’s toolbox
• Great way to do color studies
• Inexpensive way to experiment with colorways for warp planning
• Keep as part of your project record

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Mechanics of making a yarn wrap

​Needed:

• Cardboard: 2” x 6-8” strips – preferably white
• Double sided tape
• Masking tape
• Scissors
• Yarn

​Tip:  Use a firm cardboard like a mat board.

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• Place 3 strips of double-sided tape on the back of a 2 x 6-8” cardboard strip.

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• Cut short pieces of yarn (1 - 2 yards) of each color you plan to use in the wrap

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• Secure the first color yarn on the tape on the back side of the card and begin wrapping snugly around the card.

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• When finished with that stripe, clip the yarn and secure on the back of the card on the tape

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• Begin the next color by securing it on the tape on the back of the card

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• Continue adding stripes of color until you have achieved the design you want.

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• It’s easy to add small stripes in between, reduce the size of a stripe, or take out a stripe and replace with a different color if needed.

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• When satisfied, cover the back with masking tape to secure.

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Color inspirations for yarn wraps

• ​Favorite photographs
• Artwork
• Scenes in nature
• Favorite yarns or fabrics

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Designing the wrap:
the artistic part of the work

• Stripes can be random
• Stripes can be inspired by the proportions of color in your artwork or fabric
• Stripes can follow a mathematical pattern:
• Fibonacci series: 1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21-34-55...
• Rearranged Fibonacci: 5-1-8-2-13-1-3-8-5-13-21-8-3-5-1-13
• Pascal’s triangle: 1-1-1-1-2-1-1-3-3-1-1-4-6-4-1-1-5-10-10-5-1…
• Square numbers: 1-2-4-9-16-25-36….

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Inspiration from yarns

Evolution of a wrap for napkins

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Starting point

Replaced the purple and green with natural and aqua

Removed the white, added medium blue/navy blue combo stripes for dark blue & medium blue stripes, and in the center, added red and yellow accents

​Result:  1 warp, 3 wefts, 3 napkins

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​Planning a blanket
​A mixed wrap was made from assorted wool yarns.​

Result:
The sample at right was woven with a black wool weft to determine the sett for a blanket.

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Inspiration from fabric

From window treatment to wrap

Result: A set of cottolin dishtowels

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Inspiration from artwork

Designing a rug
​Peggy from the Triangle Weavers Guild  was inspired by this painting to do a series of wraps

Result: A rep weave rug!

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A class project

​Leslie's wrap from a painting, done in a class setting

​Result:  A sample. In this case, the loom was warped with 2 different colors, and the wrap was woven as the weft!

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Designing a napkin
​Ruth Ann from the Triangle Weavers Guild used this painting from a calendar and a grid copied onto vellum to decide how much of each color to include in her wraps

​Result:  2 wraps, the second of which was used to create a warp for the napkin.

​First wrap

​Second wrap

​The napkin samples

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Inspiration from a photo

Result: A cotton scarf

​Split complementary color scheme
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Fibonacci series used randomly for stripes

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​Split complementary color scheme
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​Fibonacci series used randomly for stripes

Result: a wool scarf

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A color study using warm colors and Fibonacci series for the wrap.

Similar colors were used to design 2 ply-split braids.

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Inspiration from nature

Fine threads can sometimes be used to “blend” together to get a desired color when the exact color you need is not on your shelf.

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Inspiration from fashion

Primary Triad color scheme


Fibonacci series used randomly for stripes
(1-3-2-1-5-1-3-1-2-5-1-3-2-1-5-1-3-1-1-5)

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​Single threads of contrasting or related color help to break up large blocks of color and make the stripes more interesting.

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Color study inspired by a photo

​A color study using cool colors and Pascal’s Triangle (1-1-1-1-2-1-1-3-1-1-1-4-6-4) for the stripe proportions.

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Using wraps for color studies

​Complementary Color Study

​Irregular stripes

​Value contrast

​Color gradation

​Free choice

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Aqua Blue Color Study

Light values

Medium values

​Dark values

Mixed values

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Using wraps for color studies

In this case I made a sample first of even sized blocks of colors to test how the colors interacted with different weft colors.

Then I planned a random warp strip for dishtowels using the wrap and the colors in the sample.

​-- Pattie Lamb

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