How-to’s, in order of date published (a rather random order!)
For a more organized list of all my tutorials, click on the Tutorials tab in the upper menu.
Video-based tutorial on my workaround method for braiding the 17th Century Nun’s Book letterbraid of 10 loops as a solo braider. I learned the traditional method from Noémi Speiser and Joy Boutrup’s Instructions for Letter Braids in 17th Century Manuscripts. Includes printable charts for my versions of the letters J, V, and Q…
Here’s another “too-many-loops” video. This one is a demo showing how I braid the flat version of a 13-loop square braid, but with extra color-linking moves in each loop transfer.
Here’s a video that shows how I make twelve-loop double braids. If you are new to my site, please don’t be put off from loop braiding because this video makes it look too complicated! – I have many tutorials for easy and beautiful loop braids, see my Tutorials index.
In the first part of the video I show some braids in my twelve-loop double braid sample book…
This video-based tutorial teaches several color-pattern variations of a 7-loop flat braid with an extra move in some of the loop transfers. It’s a way to link loops of different colors, to force them to stay within one section of the braid, instead of migrating across the whole braid. I taught this earlier for flat double braids–this is the same technique, but here I’m teaching it with the flat variation of a 7-loop square braid.
Hollow/ tubular ‘double braid’ – my solo method, plus openwork, color tricks, and jewelry ideas. Several color patterns taught for 6- to 10-loop hollow braids.
My second tutorial on “double braids”! Here I show you how to braid a flat, ribbonlike double braid, twice as wide as the rectangular braid of my earlier tutorial, but made almost the same way. The tall braid photo located somewhere in my right sidebar is of a 10-loop flat double braid, made with color-linking – a color-manipulation trick that I demo in this tutorial.
This is a photo-tutorial in PDF form on 3-loop braids that I made last year for another site. It includes instructions for 3 very different-looking variations of 3-loop braids. You can scroll through the tutorial, or download it as a free pdf file. Extra info, including videos and suggestions for materials are below the photo-tutorial. Enjoy!
Here’s a video to go with my tutorial—a few posts ago—for Douglas Grant’s Round Spanish Braid of 7 loops. I love this braid! The video also demos a new color pattern for the braid…
Here’s a friendship bracelet video tutorial that also shows how to make my favorite type of color pattern for a square braid: chevrons across bicolor stripes. The bracelet tutorial teaches an easy way to make a lo-tech adjustable closure if your bracelet has a loop at one end. This can be used for any bracelet…
This video shows how to follow one of the charts you might come up with in using Gary Mitchell’s interactive pattern-generator for the 7-loop “Spanish” finger loop braid. It also demos a slightly different way to turn the loops, which gives the braid a more evenly rectangular cross-section…
A reader of this blog has come up with what may be the first interactive fingerloop braid pattern-planner! A few months ago Gary Mitchell contacted me to tell me that he was working on a pattern planner for the 7-loop Spanish braid. This was a huge surprise! (Especially since at that point the tutorial hadn’t even garnered many views.)
This braid is an unusual variation of a 7-loop spanish braid, with intricate color-patterns and a shape that is firmly rounded rather than rectangular in cross-section. Invented or discovered by Douglas Grant, a reader of this blog, who allowed me to share it here. (Thanks, Doug!) [A more recent post has the video for this braid, but this post has photos + instructions for several different color patterns.]
Thanks, Gudrun, Julie, and Annie!
I’ll be teaching a 2-day loop braiding workshop the last weekend of January, and there is room for a few more participants. It’ll be in the San Francisco bay area (Redwood City), email me if you are interested, and I’ll send you more info about it. UPDATE: The workshop is full now. There’s been enough…
The Japanese hand-held loop braiding technique that preceded kumihimo and produced incredibly complex and gorgeous braids–some more complex than are even possible to make easily on braiding stands! Two videos teaching the two most basic moves for making square and flat braids, and text instructions for a more complex braid that requires using both moves.
Unbraiding is a real time-saver. If you make a mistake that you just can’t “live with,” it’s almost always quicker to unbraid it than to start all over again cutting yarn and setting up for a new braid. Even if you’ve braided an inch or more past the mistake by the time you notice it…
An alternative method for braiding the 15th C. eight-loop braids known as Lace Dawns (or Daunce) and Lace Piole. It is a faster method, with no doubled loops on any fingers. (Requires using the thumb of only one hand, so might be a good intro to 9-loop square braids.)
Sep 30, 2011 I now (finally) have videos for all three of my square braid tutorials. The introductory level (5- loop braids) tutorial has 4 videos—2 on the square braid and 2 on making a flat, wide variation with a loop/ buttonhole at each end. I made the first two at a super-slow-mo speed that…
How to set up the loops on your fingers to get the color order you want in your square, flat, Spanish, or double braid. Also, many square and flat braid color-patterns with setup instructions (and some flat double braid patterns contributed by Dan Gaiser). Part 2: hints and ideas on how to choose effective color combinations for your braids.
5- loop square and flat braids are easy to learn, and make great-looking cords and bands. For an even easier intro, try my new tutorial for 3-loop braids. After 5-loop braids, move on to 7 loop braids for bigger braids and even more color-patterns!
Loop Braiding 