How to Weave a Cover for Your Splendid Notepad

So, yesterday, we learned to make a notepad from a cardboard box. Today, let’s fancy up the cover a little by adding some weaving.

You can start weaving your cover right after this step in the notepad-making process…

Now, most weaving project begin with a little measuring and figuring. I’ll try to keep this part as loose as possible. The nice thing about this little weaving is, it’s not an exact science at all. There’s lots of room for flubs and cheats of all kinds, as you’ll see.

Anyway. On the inside of your cover, measure and mark a rectangle in the center. Make it about 1/2″ inside the edges of the cover on all sides.

Next. divide this rectangle into an odd number of strips, and mark a series of parallel lines, as you see here.

These strips don’t have to be equal, as you can see from my sample. In fact, I think the weaving is more interesting if they’re a little unequal.

Use a metal ruler and a craft knife to cut along these lines. Be careful not to cut outside the borders of that rectangle!

…So when you’re done, you’ll have these nice, parallel slits in your cover. These will be the warps of your weaving.

Now it’s time to make some weft for your weaving. Take another piece of cardboard and cut a new rectangle. It should have these two qualities:

1. It should be the same width as your cover.
2. It should be about 1/2″ shorter than the length of those slits you just cut.

Why make it shorter? Well, the thickness of the cardboard will take up a lot of space in your weaving, as we’ll see in a moment.

Also, I should point out that in my photo here, I’ve actually made the Awake Tea cardboard a little too long – see how it’s only about 1/4″ shorter than my rectangle? That won’t work. Don’t be like me.

Make yours at least 1/2″ shorter. This will all make more sense in a minute, I promise.

Next, cut your weft piece into an odd number of strips. They don’t have to be the same width – in fact, I like ‘em a little uneven.

Enough talk! Let’s weave! Begin by sliding the first strip of weft under and over the warps, as shown here.

Slide that weft down to the bottom of the cover, like this. See how the ends of this weft are hidden under the cover?

Weave in a second weft, this time weaving opposite to your first weft. The ends of this weft are sitting on top of the cover.

Slide this weft down as close to the first one as you can get it. Use a gentle pressure to pack them together.

Remember all that babbling I was doing a minute ago about the thickness of the cardboard taking up space? Here’s where that comes into play. It’s possible that, as you’re weaving, you may need to shave a tiny bit off your wefts so they’ll all fit into the weaving. This is totally okay – nobody will ever know.

Keep sliding all the wefts downward as you weave, pressing them as close together as you can.

When you’ve woven in all those strips, glue the ends down with a little tacky glue. Do the same thing on the back side of the cover. And then place it under something heavy for about 10 minutes while the glue cures.

There are lots of design possibilities with this technique. Here’s a version I made where I cut both the warps and wefts into wide and narrow widths. And I used the chipboard side of the cardboard, and added a coat of Shimmer Mod Podge to give it a distressed-yet-gleamy look.

…Incidentally, you could also incorporate my Handwoven Greeting Card technique here, to make a fiber-covered notepad.