3rd December-Sewing handwoven cloth

I love my rigid heddle loom. I love that putting on a warp takes me a couple of hours, and that I can be weaving so quickly. 
I have a wide 24 inch model (as wide as I was comfortable reaching across), but even small looms can still be used to make more than scarves and table runners. 
I often take the scissors to my cloth, and sew it together. I have an A-line skirt that is very warm, and looks smart. No one would know it was woven on a rigid heddle. I also regularly use my weaving for cushions. Sometimes I just use the woven cloth, other times I sew it together with cotton fabrics. I've also woven blankets on my loom, you just need to stitch together the edges before washing, then use a sewing machine to finish the edges. We had a great workshop with Bee Weir from Crafts from the Dungeon at guild this year where she showed us some lovely waistcoats and jackets, made from 10 inch wide hand woven fabric. 

Saori weaving books are a great source of inspiration if you want to get sewing with handwoven fabric. They often don't rely on any complicated shaping, just piecing together different sizes of rectangles. 

These tips on sewing with hand woven fabric are helpful... pre-stitching before cutting is really useful with these frayble fabrics. 

Not feeling brave enough to make a garment? This little bag doesn't need much fabric, though if you're in the UK the felting part is trickier because we don't have top loaders... my machine either doesn't full the fabric at all, or reduces it to a dense mass. Oh to have a local fulling mill like they did a couple of hundred years ago!