Pin Loom Angel (idea by Kim Jurek)
2″ and 4″ angels
Materials
- White yarn (or color of your choice)—16 yards for 4″ angel; 4 yards, 6 inches (at most) for 2″ angel. And another approximately 8-10″ for the arms if you want to crochet them.
- Optional: you may choose to weave the wings for either angel, in which case you can use less yarn. (I haven’t tried a triangle loom for the 4″ angel’s wings; I suspect they’d be too floppy; but a single layer triangle works very well on the 2″ angel.)
- Crochet hooks—to make arms (size E or D—3.5 or 3.25 mm); size B (2.25 mm) to attach head
- Optional: you can use a trimmed pipe cleaner for the arms (see first angel, left, in top photo)
- Wood bead for the head—should have a 1/8″ hole (I used 5/8″ for the 4″ angel, 1/2″ for the 2″ angel. See end of tutorial for link to purchase.)
- Optional: acrylic paint for the bead
- Glitter chenille stem for halo (See end of tutorial for link to purchase.)
- Glue and wire tools to shape, cut, and attach halo
- Optional: you can use anything you want as a halo
- Novelty button, jingle bell, beads, etc. for the angel to hold in her hands (I even considered trimming a gold birthday candle but was too cheap to buy a package)
- Optional: a triangular piece of cardstock (you could use any piece of scrap cardboard, like from a cereal box) a little larger than 30° (see Instructions for its use)
- Weaving kit: loom, weaving needle, scissors, blunt sewing needle, optional packing fork
Instructions
(Please note: you can use these instructions for a 3″ angel as well.)
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- Weave two squares in white (or color of your choice). Optional: for 2″ angel—weave one square and one triangle. Make sure you leave enough yarn so you’ll have a long sewing tail (five pin wraps plus an inch or two for 4”, three wraps plus for 2”).
- Take one square and turn it on its point with Corner 2 (Cr2) at the apex, Cr3 at its base. Fold Cr 1 and Cr4 inward so the 1-2 and 2-4 edges of the square slightly overlap. Sew that seam with the longest yarn tail, going through the loops and taking the long tail out the top at the Cr2 apex; secure the sewing so that pulling on the yarn won’t cinch up the seam. Work the extra tail in now or leave it for later. (Cr2 is the smallest corner and will fit inside the bead’s 1/8” hole.)
Place Cr2 at top, fold Crs1&4 in toward each other.
Insert cardstock triangle into body and sew seam.
- (You can add the arms now or later.) Using a crochet hook that will give a really tight chain, chain 13 for 4″ angel; chain 7 for 2″ angel.
- Affix arms 3/4″ down from apex (neck) of 4″ angel. I didn’t measure for the 2″ angel, but it’s maybe 1/4″ – 1/2″ inch from the apex. Work ends into the back or inside of the dress.
Attach arms about 3/4″ down from apex. In this sample I used a short piece of a pipe cleaner inserted across into the angel’s shoulders. (It was rather difficult to do this, so I recommend crocheting and sewing the arms.)
Chain 13 for 4″ angel; chain 7 for 2″ angel. Sew in place and work in ends.
- Fold second woven square nearly in half—Cr4 nearly meets Cr1 so both yarn tails are in the same spot. You’ll use only the long tail for sewing, but keep the shorter tail available in case it’s needed. Eventually you’ll work both yarn tails into the area behind the wings.
You can fold the wings all the way in half, but I like the double row of scallops to show on the front.
- (Please read this whole instruction before beginning to sew the wings on.) Position the folded triangle near the apex point of the angel body (leave about 1/8-1/4″ sticking up. Sew the wings on across the bottom through the back of the dress only, up along one edge of the dress, across through the back of the neck, then back down the outer edge of the dress and the rest of the way along the bottom back edge. You may want to use a piece of cardstock inside the dress as you sew so you don’t go through both thicknesses of the dress. Stitches should not show on the front. I like to leave the wings open along the diagonal scalloped edges, but you may want to sew them shut. Please note: the wings like to shift out of position while you sew; you may want to use pins or tack stitches to keep them in place.
Position of wings.
The wings like to shift when being sewn, so you may want to pin them in place. Be careful not to sew through both layers of the dress.
- Attach novelty button or other decoration to the angel’s hands—be careful to not sew through both thicknesses of the dress.
- Angel Head: At some earlier point you should paint the bead if so desired; let paint dry. Make the halo and attach it to the bead with glue; let glue dry. (I wrapped the chenille stem around an Xacto knife handle or blade guard, cut with wire cutters and rolled the cut ends inward so they wouldn’t be poky.) Glue the halo on the bead and hold it in place till it begins to dry; let it finish drying before attaching it to the angel. NOTE: A wooden bead with a 1/8” hole accommodates Cr2 inside itself and will support the angel’s body/neck without undue weight. Technically you could pull the head off the angel, but you could glue it in place.
- Attach head: thread long yarn tail up through the bead and gently tug the Cr2 point of the angel’s body into the bead hole. If necessary, use the size B (2.25 mm) crochet hook to assist. Thread the yarn tail back down through the head and secure the end inside the angel’s body. This forms the hanger for your angel.
Naturally I forgot to photograph the last steps of the process. Hopefully they’re self-explanatory.
2″ pin loom angel
Glitter chenille stem for halo: https://www.michaels.com/creatology-chenille-stems-glitter/10314418.html—but I found some in the store that had green, red, silver, gold, blue, and purple stems