January seems to be a month when people still enjoy “winter”, so here is a snowflake table topper to bring winter into the house (without the cold).

This table topper is an example for how you can easily adapt a hexagon design to make it a weaving project. All you really need to do is count the colored hexagons, then decide on which loom size to use, and off you go to choosing your yarns.

In this example, the design is about 9 hexagons wide at its widest point. I chose the 2” TinyTURTLE™ hexagon loom, which will make a nice table topper that will be about 18” wide (results may vary depending on what yarn you’ll be using).

I used some stash yarn that I had set aside for a “winter project” for quite some time. The Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted is another perfect yarn for weaving on the TURTLE hexagon looms. It creates a nice and dense fabric (even more dense if you consider felting it), which is excellent for a table topper.

After weaving the hexagons, I laid out the design on a design felt, the blues first, and then just filling in the gaps with the white. For this design it doesn’t matter, but I laid out the hexagons all in the same direction, starting threads pointing up, ending threads pointing to the side. This way I have yarn ends for sewing where I need them, and the resulting fabric looks like a true even weave.

If all those ends are too much for you, weave in the ends, then sew the hexagons together with thread. Or, if you don’t want to weave in the ends: Sew the hexagons together with thread, keep the ends on one side, then add a pretty calico print fabric backing to the table topper to “hide” the weaving ends. You see, you have options …

To sew the hexagons together, the pictures show my favorite method: Sew hexagons to hexagons within a row first, then sew rows to rows. That way your design will not mess up.

I finished my table topper with a good Eucalan bath and let it air dry.

If you want a denser fabric, you could felt. Just remember that your work will shrink when you felt. To maintain a good table topper size, even with felting, you might consider weaving larger hexagons, using the original TURTLE Loom™.

Enjoy!