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Try Garden-based Weaving! Daylily Mats by Melissa Schubert
Have you ever looked at long leaves and wondered if you could weave with them? Melissa Schubert did, resulting in these beautiful mats with a cotton warp and daylily leaf weft. Download the pdf for project and leaf preparation instructions.
Melissa Schubert's Daylily Mat has a subtle but beautiful color variation. Photos by Matt Graves
Editor's note: I've woven with a few different types of weft, plastic bags, old jeans, and packing material to name a few, but I haven't yet tried leaves. These Daylily Mats by Melissa Schubert might just change that. I've been eyeing several plants in our garden lately! A downloadable pdf that includes Melissa's tips for preparing and using leaves for weft is available for subscribers, see below.~ Susan
Notes from designer Melissa Schubert
The daylily is an amazingly low-maintenance perennial. It’s virtually disease-free, pest-free, and drought resistant; it’s also not picky about soil quality. The daylily
was brought to North America by early settlers and can be invasive if left unchecked. However, every part of the plant is edible, and the leaves can be used for weaving.
So, let’s do our part and bring those leaves to our looms!
Close up of Daylily Mat
Project at a Glance & Download
PROJECT TYPE: 2- or 4- shaft
STRUCTURE: Plain weave.
EQUIPMENT: 2 or 4-shaft loom, 17" weaving width; 10-dent reed; 1 shuttle.
Editor's note: I've woven with a few different types of weft, plastic bags, old jeans, and packing material to name a few, but I haven't yet tried leaves. These Daylily Mats by Melissa Schubert might just change that. I've been eyeing several plants in our garden lately! A downloadable pdf that includes Melissa's tips for preparing and using leaves for weft is available for subscribers, see below.~ Susan
Notes from designer Melissa Schubert
The daylily is an amazingly low-maintenance perennial. It’s virtually disease-free, pest-free, and drought resistant; it’s also not picky about soil quality. The daylily
was brought to North America by early settlers and can be invasive if left unchecked. However, every part of the plant is edible, and the leaves can be used for weaving.
So, let’s do our part and bring those leaves to our looms!
Close up of Daylily Mat
Project at a Glance & Download
PROJECT TYPE: 2- or 4- shaft
STRUCTURE: Plain weave.
EQUIPMENT: 2 or 4-shaft loom, 17" weaving width; 10-dent reed; 1 shuttle.
[PAYWALL]
YARNS:
Warp: 8/2 cottolin (60% organic cotton, 40% linen; 3,360 yd/lb; Maurice Brassard), C100 Naturel lavé, 264 yd. Weft:* Daylily leaves from one large plant or as needed. 8/2 cottolin, C100 Naturel lavé, 8 yd.
PATTERN: A PDF containing the full instructions for preparing the leaf weft, weaving, and finishing these mats is available to download here!
