Subscriber Exclusive
Catenpile Tutorial and Project
Learn the catenpile technique for embellishing handwoven cloth on the loom with this subscriber-exclusive tutorial and project.
Jessica Lambert’s Arabesque Runner from the Fall 2022 issue of Easy Weaving with Little Looms. Photo by Matt Graves
As the editor of Easy Weaving with Little Looms, I’m always looking for new or different ways to embellish weaving and add a little something extra to plain weave. One of my favorite new-to-me techniques of the moment is the catenpile technique. Coined by Jessica Lambert, catenpile is a method for creating surface designs, simple or elaborate, using the weft.
The potential design possibilities with this technique are innumerable—so long as you can plot it on a grid of the warp and weft, you can make it happen—and perhaps even more excitingly, catenpile isn’t a complicated or complex technique. It can be done on-loom as you weave, and while it’s a couple of extra steps on top of weaving, it’s not more complicated than other hand-manipulation techniques.
Jessica demonstrating a step in the catenpile weaving process. Photo by Jessica Lambert
Of course, what really matters is the final product. I think if you’ll take a look at Jessica’s Arabesque Runner in the photo at top, you’ll agree that catenpile is a technique worth exploring further.
As the editor of Easy Weaving with Little Looms, I’m always looking for new or different ways to embellish weaving and add a little something extra to plain weave. One of my favorite new-to-me techniques of the moment is the catenpile technique. Coined by Jessica Lambert, catenpile is a method for creating surface designs, simple or elaborate, using the weft.
The potential design possibilities with this technique are innumerable—so long as you can plot it on a grid of the warp and weft, you can make it happen—and perhaps even more excitingly, catenpile isn’t a complicated or complex technique. It can be done on-loom as you weave, and while it’s a couple of extra steps on top of weaving, it’s not more complicated than other hand-manipulation techniques.
Jessica demonstrating a step in the catenpile weaving process. Photo by Jessica Lambert
Of course, what really matters is the final product. I think if you’ll take a look at Jessica’s Arabesque Runner in the photo at top, you’ll agree that catenpile is a technique worth exploring further.
[PAYWALL] If you’re curious, current subscribers to Easy Weaving with Little Looms can log in and click here to get a free PDF of Jessica’s tutorial for the catenpile technique and click here for a PDF pattern of her Arabesque runner from the Fall 2022 issue of Easy Weaving with Little Looms.
Whether you weave Jessica’s runner as-is or use the tutorial to create your own catenpile designs, I hope you have fun weaving and creating with this technique.
Happy Weaving!
Christina
