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Review: Rigid Heddle Weaving with Angela Tong on Craftsy

Not too long ago, Angela Tong asked me if I was interested in taking her Rigid Heddle Weaving Craftsy Class and gifted me enrollment to the class for free. Truthfully, it had been a while since I'd even logged into Craftsy - in that time, the Craftsy website has been redesigned, and they've also created an app for smartphone and tablet users!

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Test driving the app was almost as exciting to me as taking this class (almost!!). I was able to set my iPad up next to my loom to watch the class lessons as I worked on my project, which was super handy. Also, iOS users can download lessons for offline viewing, which would be great for traveling. It was just as easy to make notes on videos as it is on the desktop version, and I notice they added a "30 second repeat" option (or maybe that's always been there and I'm just now noticing?!).

Although it's been a while since I've watched any of my (many) Craftsy classes, I am a huge fan of them; every single class I've taken has been informative and well-produced, and Angela's Rigid Heddle Weaving class was no exception. It featured 8 video lessons which were packed with a ton of great into; I learned so much as I watched each video and worked on my class project, the Scrappy Stashbuster Yarn Scarf. Absolutely everything needed to complete your first project from start to finish was covered here: keeping track of where I am in my project, making neater edges, weaving in ends as I go....and even though I was overly ambitious with my own scarf project, I had some pretty awesome results:

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(I'll be sharing more scarf photos on Weaving Wednesday, for now I want to focus on this review!).

Once students get their first project under their belts, they can try a slightly more advanced project to create two matching tea towels. These lessons cover a lot of interesting material, from winding a warp to creating a decorative hemstitch as an alternative to fringe on your project. I'm not sure that I'm ready to give this project a try just yet (and I am still really obsessed with making stash-busting scarves!), but I'm sure that day will come soon. I still got a lot of great takeaways from watching the videos, so they are worth checking out, even if you don't plan on making that project just yet.

Of the downloadable resources, my absolute favorite is the Calculating Amounts of Yarn worksheet; I have actually printed out multiple copies to use on future projects. Also included are worksheets for winding a warp, along with patterns for both of the class projects. At the end, there is a bonus lesson where Angela shares some different fringes for finishing a woven piece, which I'll definitely be experimenting with on future projects!

I would 100% recommend this class to anyone new to rigid heddle weaving; while the books I have are excellent references, you really can't beat seeing something before your very eyes. And if you can't get to an actual class or workshop, this really is the next best thing. I love that I can continually refer back to the videos when I need a refresher on direct warping my loom or finishing a project.

Click here to sign up for Angela Tong's Rigid Heddle Weaving Craftsy Class!

You may like to know: This class was provided to me for free for the purposes of a review; all opinions are my own. This post uses affiliate links. 


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