You Made A Latch Hook, Now What?
Once you finish a latch hook, you probably want to display it! Whether it is on the wall, on the couch or in a frame- placing it somewhere in your space for everyone to see your work is important. Latch hooks are most of the time a lot of work so its necessary to show off what you have done.
These past few weeks I have been working on a large latch hook project from a kit that I got a few years (??) back. Though I am not finished with mine yet, I figured it would be fun to share all the resources that I have found about what to do once you create a latch hook project! Because latch hook and weaving are so similar, some of the projects are the same, but still fun none the less! I have use Pinterest for most of my resources and also came with some fun projects so I will share those as well!
MAKE A PILLOW
One of my personal favorite things to make are pillows, so it makes sense that I really love making pillows out of latch hook creations. That is my plan for the one I am working on now because it is a shape and it feel that would look so COOL so it is a no brainier for me to make this latch hook a pillow. Pinterest also had some cute extra shaggy pillow latch hook creations that will bring texture to any room.
The way to go about making a pillow is actually super easy! Once you are done making your creation, you cut the latch hook out leaving 4 rows of the latch hook canvas and then cut a matching piece of fabric as the backing! Using your sewing machine, sew the latch hook and the fabric together INSIDE OUT using a zigzag stitch on your machine. You will be sewing into the last row of the latch hook project. You will leave a medium size hole to flip the project outside right and then just hand sew closed! Here is a great resource!
MAKE A WALL HANGING
Another great way to go about a latch hook is a wall hanging, just like a weaving! I have seen some really big ones and they just are such an amazing texture to be added to any space. Like goodbye gallery wall, hello texture wall?!
When it comes to finishing the piece, I will post the resources at the bottom of this post, but it mainly comes down to sewing the sides so they have yarn on the sides as opposed to just having raw edges. It depends on how you would lie to attach the latch hooking to the dowel but some people say tie loops of string to the latch hook canvas and then just slide the dowel through the knots, where as others say to sew around the dowel like you probably do in weaving.
A few of the favorite resources for making wall hanging are:
-Honestly WTF - this is also a great resource for making a latch hook!
-Studio DIY: this rainbow latch hook is a dream! It is so big and cool and I seriously love it a lot!
MAKE A RUG
This may be an obvious choice considering that latch hooking is also called rug hooking and it was originally created to make shag rugs! I actually have a rug in the house that was more than likely created using a latch hook technique. Cool right? I just have never came across many resources on how to successfully make a rug. Luckily, the ladies of A Beautiful Mess have figured it out and hooked us up with a DIY! This project showed me that it isn’t all that hard to make it happen, I want to try some cool patterns and so I think that means that might be making a few new area rugs for my home! (There are a few typos in the post and it is a little oddly formatted, but it gets the point across with photos)
FRAME IT
The framing it concept just came to me literally in the last 24 hours. There are no resources here, this is just what happens when I am scrolling Instagram stories and see a project that someone else is making. Lindsey Campbell of Hello Hydrangea posted in her stories last night that she was creating a series of small weaving’s and framing them to create a cute little gallery wall. I know that some people truly prefer to have a framed border around their work, so this way that she is doing it makes for something that can be really sweet!
Basically what she is doing, is using a shadow box frame, taking a piece of card stock, cutting it to the size of the frame, sewing the weaving to the card stock and the rest is history! As weavings and latch hooks are different, I think it would be perfectly fine to take the glass out of the frame that way the texture can still exist! This can also be a really great way to give a latch hook as a gift!
FINISHING RESOURCES
Basically everyone finishes latch hooks the same that way you don’t have a raw edge. The knots are perfectly in place and they will not shift no matter what you do with the project. So this is mainly just for personal preference. Some people also fold the side over a little bit and then sew to create an edge. It is all aesthetic, but no one will ever see it.
Hands Occupied does a good job at explaining how to finish the edges for all size projects. I only do this for when I am leaving the latch hook as a wall hanging, and I would do the same for a rug. You do not have to take this step for making a pillow.