January Weaving Challenge: Brook's Bouquet & Weaving with Beads

This month we are excited to team up with Deborah Jarchow to learn all about the hand manipulated technique, Brook's Bouquet!  

Brook's Bouquet is a beautiful weave structure that adds dimension and interest to your weaving. This technique is also called lace-weave and is created by wrapping your weft yarn around the warp yarns. It is an open-shed technique, which means it's created when the shed is open.  All you need is yarn and a shuttle to achieve this lacy effect.

By combining plain weave and Brook's Bouquet, elliptical shapes are created. You can create this hand manipulated technique on any loom.

There are many ways to weave Brook's Bouquet in your weaving project.  You can weave a single bouquet in the middle of your cloth or an entire row across the width of the fabric.  You could also stagger the placement of your bouquets to create interesting effects.

We thought it would also be a lot of fun to add beads to the mix.  So, with this month's weaving project you have the choice of weaving with or without beads.

Brook's Bouquet Scarf

Here's all you'll need to know to join this month's weaving challenge...

We've put together a kit for this month's project that includes everything needed to weave one scarf.  You can choose to weave your scarf with or without beads.  Your kit will also include a floss threader if you choose the option with beads. 

Click here to order your Brook's Bouquet Scarf Kit.  Choose from Beachy Keen variegated, Winter Squash solid or Ocean solid color options.  You can also weave this scarf in any color from our Bamboo Pop Yarn line.  You will need 2 balls per scarf.  Use code CHALLENGE for free shipping.

We are offering Copper Mix or Aqua Mix beads.  If you want other colors for your beads, you can order two tubes of 6/0 seed beads from Amazon.

You will need to order the book, Rigid Heddle Weaving Basics & Beyond for the instructions if you don't already own a copy.  There are over 30 fun weaving projects included in this book.

Rigid Heddle Weaving Basics & Beyond Book

Equipment You'll Need
* Rigid Heddle Loom
* 10” weaving width
* 10 dent reed; 1 shuttle

Yarns & Instructions Needed:
* Brook's Bouquet Scarf Kits include all the yarns needed.  Order yours with or without beads.  Use code CHALLENGE for free shipping.
* Rigid Heddle Weaving Basics & Beyond Book for instructions.  You will need to purchase this book if you don't already own a copy.  

1. Brook's Bouquet Scarf Kit or two balls Bamboo Pop
2. Brook's Bouquet Scarf Kit with beads if you choose to weave with beads or two tubes size 6/0 seed beads.
3. Rigid Heddle Weaving Basics & Beyond Book for instructions
4. Weaving Class with Deborah Jarchow or you can weave this project on your own following the instructions in the book noted above.

Weave with Deborah Jarchow!
Join Deborah Jarchow on Zoom in her upcoming class to follow along in creating a Brook's Bouquet Scarf with beads on your Rigid Heddle Loom!  

Class Level: Beginner and beyond.  You will need to know how to warp your loom on your own.

Class Schedule
Deborah will be offering two virtual Zoom classes that will walk you through every step of weaving this scarf project.  In this class you will learn how to weave Brook's Bouquet while adding beads as you are weaving.   

Classes will be offered Wednesday Jan 11th at 10 am Mountain Time and Tuesday Jan 17th at 5 pm Mountain Time.  A weekend class may also be offered if there is enough interest.  The cost of each class is $25 per person and the session will be between 1 - 2 hours depending on the questions and interaction.  A link to order this class will be available by Jan 5th.

You can weave this project on your own from the book Rigid Heddle Weaving Basics & Beyond on pages 111-115, but we highly recommend joining in the fun for Deborah's virtual Zoom Class.

About Deborah Jarchow
When Deborah discovered weaving in 1996, her life-long love of fiber, texture, and color came together. Since then, she has worked full time as a weaver and artist, including teaching fiber arts, creating and selling wearable art, giving lectures, and showing in local, regional, and national exhibits. Her work has been exhibited at many galleries and museums across the country, including the Gerald R. Ford Museum. She has won numerous awards and written articles for national publications.  Deborah is the author of Rigid Heddle Weaving Basics & Beyond and The Weaving Explorer.

I want to express my special thanks to Deborah Jarchow for contributing her weaving knowledge with us for our January Weaving Challenge, Brook's Bouquet and Weaving with Beads!