Clothes of the Middle Ages - Weaving

Middle Ages Unit Study
Week 21: We wove coasters.

During the middle ages, most of the common people of Europe wore clothes made from wool or linen. Only the rich wore silk. Wool sheared from a sheep needed to be cleaned, and carded before it could be made into cloth. Spinning the fiber and weaving the yarn or felting the fiber together both resulted in cloth.

Our coasters were constructed from 6 inch diameter cardboard circle looms. An odd number of slots were cut around the perimeter of the circles.

Then the yarn was woven in a circle until the loom was full.

Once full, the strands were clipped and tied together in knots.

The following two videos provide great visual explanations for removing a weaving project from a cardboard loom.
Basic Weaving
Simple Patterns and Designs

For a much bigger project, a hula-hoop can be used for the loom.

Here are other posts which contain cloth making and weaving activities for kids.

Cleaning Wool
Carding and Spinning
Wet Felting
More Simple Cardboard Looms
Card Weaving
Potholder Weaving
Abstract Weaving