Kumihimo Technique: making a machine with your own hands, basic weaving schemes and video lessons for beginners.

Kumihimo is the Japanese art of weaving laces. Initially, these shoelaces were used by women to tie a kimono, and samurai hung their swords on them. Many years later, the same technique began to use hippies to weave bracelets on the arm or rope for weaving in hair, it was considered a necessary attribute. We can follow in their footsteps and learn how to weave such decorations.

Required materials and knowledge for weaving in this technique

First of all, you should know that we need a machine to weave the laces in this technique. Professional machines look like this:

For weaving flat laces:

And this one for weaving round, volumetric products.

Of course, such machines bind the needlewoman to one place and you can not take the needlework with you, so you came up with a mini version for Kumihimo. They are round and square:

Well, last, you can weave from completely different threads, but most often use "Mulino" and "Iris", but in general it all depends on your personal preferences. This lesson will describe in detail how to weave Kumihimo for beginners.

Creating a machine for working independently

First of all, you need to make a machine for weaving, well, or buy. To produce the machine, you can take a hardboard, foam, plywood or any other material that is both lightweight and strong enough not to bend.

Cut from a suitable material a circle of 12-15 cm. Then in the middle you need to cut a hole 3-5 cm in diameter. The finished part of the lace will just go down into this hole. Then mark the machine for 32 equal parts. Make cuts along the planned lines down 1-2 cm. The machine is ready.

The basic schemes for weaving the lace

To start working, you need to choose the colors for the product and the scheme by which you will weave. In the art of Kumihimo, the patterns of weaving can be created independently, looking into the principle of the appearance of a pattern in the process of work, or with the help of special programs. But there are also several standard schemes.

1) Scheme of square kumichimo

With its help, flat shoelaces are created. It uses 8 threads, 4 same colors, and 4 others. When weaving on such a scheme, the threads are better taken to be thicker.

2) The diagram of the flat Kumichimo

Here everything is the same as with the previous scheme.

3) The "braid"

In this case, you get a round lace. For a lace, according to this scheme, you need 16 threads, 4 threads of the same color, that is, four colors are used in this cord.

4) Scheme "Flower"

It also takes 16 threads, but the color separation is slightly different.9 threads is the main color, 6 is the color from which the patterns will be formed, and one for the core of the patterns.

5) Scheme "Snake"

It requires 16 threads: 8 threads of one, 4 different and 4 third shades.

6) Diagram of "Hearts"

16 threads are also used here, divided into two colors.13 threads for the background and 3 for the pattern.

7) Diagram of "Diamond"

Again 16 threads.12 of them are of the same color, and 4 of the other.

Step-by-step MK for working with this technique

Now that the machine has been made and we have disassembled the main types of weaving, we can start work. In this lesson you will learn in detail how to weave Kumihimo for beginners, and, guided by this knowledge, you can weave already more complex models.

Weave the Kumichimo string in this lesson with the help of the following scheme:

You can take the colors of the threads the same or those that you like. First we'll make a markup on the machine. Take the machine and use a black marker or a felt-tip pen to write the letter "S" where you start the weaving.

Now we need to divide the circle into equal parts, sectors. For each of them there are 2 divisions, between them there should be the same number of divisions. In the end, we get 8 sectors.

We begin to weave the lace. Take 16 threads of suitable colors. Each color should be present in the number of two threads, that is, 8 colors. To measure correctly, fold the length of the wrist circumference with the length of the strings you need, and add 15-20 cm of stock to it. In this case, we take 8 threads of 100 cm long and fold in half, make a loop, fixing it with any thread, as shown in the photo.

Now lower the threads into the machine cut, loop down and secure the threads, as shown in the diagram. There should be two divisions between them.

Pay attention to whether the threads are well stretched, otherwise the cord will not turn out to be very strong, and the pattern will suffer.

We begin the weave with the sector where the letter S is drawn. Take the right thread( dark blue) and move it downward, into the sector opposite, securing it from the side of the white thread.

Next, from the same lower sector, take the thread that is on the left( blue), move it to the upper sector and secure it to the left of the only thread( blue).

Turn the machine counterclockwise so that the letter S is on the left. Continue doing the same thing as with the previous sector.

That's it. The cord is weaved according to this scheme to the end. When the length of the cord becomes the same as you need, the threads from the machine are removed and immediately attached to the knot.

For those who do not quite understand the principle of work, or simply prefer to learn more clearly, below is a video.