Magic Fringe Kitchen Linens

It can be scary to cut your own handwoven fabric. You've worked so hard and put many hours into a beautiful handmade work of art, that the prospect of using scissors to cut up that work can seem like a daunting task. It's often a lot faster to weave up one large piece of fabric and then split it up into smaller pieces that you're making. We created this Magic Fringe Kitchen Linens project to give you lots of practice cutting up your own handwoven fabric. Cutting is necessary to create the Magic Fringe effect, and it's such a neat technique that we think it will cure your fear of the scissors! 

We used Cascade Nifty Cotton and Cascade Nifty Cotton Splash to create these plain weave table linens with Magic Fringe. You can make either 1 table runner or 2 placemats and 4 coasters. You will need 2 skeins of the Cascade Nifty Cotton Splash, and then 2 total skeins of Cascade Nifty Cotton in 2 different colors. If you want to make all of the items, 1 table runner, 2 placemats, and 4 coasters, you will need 4 skeins of Cascade Nifty Cotton Splash, and 2 total skeins of Cascade Nifty Cotton in 2 different colors.

Materials Needed

- Loom, we used the Schacht Flip Folding Rigid Heddle Loom but you can use any rigid heddle or multi harness loom with at least a 14" weaving width

- 8 Dent Rigid Heddle or Reed

- 2 Skeins Cascade Nifty Cotton Splash (we used Seattle - 208) and 2 Skeins of Cascade Nifty Cotton (we used   

Sapphire - 14 and Silver - 4)

- Scissors

- Paper for Warp Separation

- Sewing machine

- Pins

Pattern: Plain Weave

We wrote this pattern up for a Rigid Heddle Loom but you can also use a Floor Loom or a Table Loom! Check out our blog post, How to Create Plain Weave on a Multi Harness Loom if you need help setting up your treadles!

Color Management: In our project Color A is the Nifty Cotton Splash Seattle 208, Color B is the Nifty Cotton Sapphire - 14, and Color C is Nifty Cotton Silver - 4.

Warp

Our warp was 98" long and 13.25" wide. You can really do any pattern of plaid or stripes that you want but if you want your linens to turn out like our this is our warp sequence:

8 ends Color C, 3 ends Color A, 1 end Color B, 5 ends Color A, 1 end Color B, 5 ends Color A, 1 end Color B, /5 ends Color A, 1 end Color B, 3 ends Color A, 8 ends Color C, 3 ends Color A, 1 end Color B, 5 ends Color A, 1 end Color B, 5 ends Color A, 1 end Color B, 5 ends Color A, 1 end Color B, 3 ends Color A, 8 ends Color C, 3 ends Color A, 1 end Color B, 5 ends Color A, 1 end Color B, 5 ends Color A, 1 end Color B, 5 ends Color A, 1 end Color B, 3 ends Color A, 7 ends Color C. (remember the odd ends allows for the last threads to be in a hole)

Weft

We tried to keep a balanced weave by keeping our ppi at 8. Measure as you go to ensure you have a balanced weave. Our stripe pattern for the weft is: [8 picks Color C, 26 picks Color A] 4 times, 8 picks Color C. Notice we didn't use Color B in the weft, just the warp. 

Our woven length was 56". Once you've finished weaving, cut your piece off your loom and tie your warp ends into small bundles to keep them from going anywhere. 

Magic Fringe

Amy made a video tutorial to demonstrate her Magic Fringe technique. The video covers everything you need to do to create the magic fringe from prep to finishing. 

In the video Amy takes our 56" length of woven fabric and first turns it into a table runner with Magic Fringe. Which turned out like this: 

She then further cuts down this table runner to create our placemats! There is a little piece of fabric left in the middle that is too small to be a placemat. Amy used this piece of left over fabric to create the coasters with magic fringe.

If you like the table runner you can stop there. If you like all of the items and want all of them you will have to weave two identical 56" lengths of fabric and will require 4 skeins of Cascade Nifty Cotton Splash, but 1 skein of each solid color should be enough. We hope you love the Magic Fringe technique! We love pulling the weft out and seeing the fringe magically appear. 

We've created some color palettes of Nifty Cotton and Nifty Cotton Splash for you that you can check out below. The Nifty Cotton Splash will be your Color A. You can really use either of the Nifty Cotton colors as either Color B or C, but if you want a low contrast larger check with pinstripes like our project you should use the darker color as Color B. 

This is the color palette we used for our sample project. We think it would lovely in bright kitchens with white cabinets. 2 Skeins Nifty Cotton Splash in Seattle - 208, 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Silver - 4, and 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Sapphire - 14 

This is a high contrast choice. If you love bold plaids that pack a punch, this will be a good option for you. 2 Skeins Nifty Cotton Splash in Lake - 218, 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Red - 02, and 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Black - 03

Wildflower Field draws its inspiration from all of the wonderful spring flowers we see popping up here in Kentucky. This one is for people who are not afraid of color. 2 Skeins Nifty Cotton Splash in Petunia - 212, 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Yellow - 22, and 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Purple - 28

A monotone palette centered around citrusy goodness. These would be festive statement placemats. 2 Skeins Nifty Cotton Splash in Sundrop - 202, 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Soft Yellow - 10, and 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Marigold - 23

These would be the perfect placemats to bust out for the 4th of July! 2 Skeins Nifty Cotton Splash in Rink Side - 217, 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Red - 02, and 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Sapphire - 14

We love this fresh Spring green and mint palette to bring a pop of color into your kitchen. 2 Skeins Nifty Cotton Splash in Flow - 219, 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Mint - 12, and 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Lime - 11

This one is for pink lovers or would be a great seasonal Valentine's Day set! 2 Skeins Nifty Cotton Splash in Carnation - 205, 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Rose Pink - 26, and 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Berry - 25

We were tempted to make this one into our sample project, but we use purple and green combos too much so we tried to branch out! 2 Skeins Nifty Cotton Splash in Spectrum - 209, 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Grape - 08, and 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Sea Green - 31

This autumnal palette would look lovely in any country themed kitchen. It gives us crunchy leaves and apple picking vibes. 2 Skeins Nifty Cotton Splash in Primary - 203, 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Terra Cotta - 35, and 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Red - 02

We were reminded of pastel frosting and sprinkles by this lavender and bright blue combo. 2 Skeins Nifty Cotton Splash in Hydrangea - 206, 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Soft Lilac - 07, and 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Turquoise - 16

We think this one will look fantastic in kitchens with darker color palettes. 2 Skeins Nifty Cotton Splash in Smoke & Roses - 216, 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Plum - 42, and 1 Skein Nifty Cotton in Jet - 27

Tag us in any Magic Fringe projects you make on social media, we'd love to see your work!