Basket Weaving Bliss!

We have a new obsession here at My Crafternoons... basket weaving!

After a truly wonderful weekend afternoon spent learning this ancient craft, I may be becoming addicted, and I know some of the crafters who attended are hooked now too!

A HUGE thanks to the multi-talented Helen Henry for teaching us coil basket weaving techniques, including how to start off, how to weave a structure, how to add in extra materials and how to finish off our little creations.

I also showed our lovely bunch how to make a continuous strand of t-shirt yarn which you can use to weave, crochet, knit or braid- you can make SO MANY THINGS out of old t-shirts! Here's a good tutorial if you're curious!

The best thing about this workshop for me was the abundance of materials we could use to make little baskets- from grasses and natural fibres to sisal, raffia, wool, up-cycled material, rope and cord, held together by cotton, yarn, embroidery floss or twine and adorned with metallic thread, dried lavender, silk or dried seed pods and botanical elements. Basically, you can use anything that's flexible enough to weave as long as you have the right tension on the fibre used to weave it together.

Our location for this workshop was perfect- nestled under the new shelter in Hamilton's Community pop-up garden, surrounded by the fruits, veggies and herbs lovingly nurtured by a committee of volunteers. We donated half of the workshop cost back to this garden to go towards more lovely plants and trees for the community to enjoy. We will certainly be back here for more crafting as it's such a great spot!

Below are some photos of the different baskets finished or started off in the workshop. If you're interested in knowing how to masker coil basket weaving yourself, check out this sweet tutorial by We Are Scout.

Our next workshop is coming to Hamilton on Sunday 30th April and it's going to be a ripper... our first ever COCKTAIL MAKING CRAFTERNOON at Hamilton's best bar; MUMBLER!

Oh yes, we'll be learning how to shake, mix, squeeze, muddle, strain and garnish in this extra special collaboration on an early Sunday evening- more details to be announced in the next week! YAY!!!!