Call for Submissions: Winter 2025—Family Ties

Back in 2013, when I was an assistant editor at Handwoven magazine, we had an issue with the theme Weaving Your Heritage. For that issue, designers looked to their cultural heritage, their familial heritage, and even heirlooms in their home to come up with their designs. I loved not only seeing the beautiful projects (as always), but also reading the heartfelt stories behind them. Because it’s stuck with me for ten-plus years, I figured it was time to try a similar theme for Easy Weaving with Little Looms, so enter the theme for the Winter 2025 issue: Family Ties.

For this issue, I’m asking weavers to look back at their past for weaving inspiration. We’re looking for projects inspired by happy memories of time spend with family, favorite childhood toys, family heirlooms, and so much more. Think dish towels inspired by your mom’s Pyrex collection, a shawl to remind you of a family vacation to the mountains, or a warm and wooly scarf inspired by the patterning on your grandma’s favorite couch.

A stuffed animal inspired by a childhood toy, similar to the Cocoa Bear by Gabi van Tassell, would fit this theme beautifully.

Memories don’t have to be from childhood, though; if it’s a special memory, it counts as inspiration. Maybe you’d like to weave a runner to remind you of the first time you hosted Thanksgiving or some napkins in honor of your first apartment. Whatever you weave, we’d like you to be able to tie it to a tangible memory of a person, place, thing, or experience. Designs should not be inspired by general time periods.

Also, please note, projects that use discontinued yarns will not be accepted. Hand-dyed yarns will be allowed as long as either the yarn is available for sale or instructions are given in the project for dyeing the yarn.

We base our project selections for each issue on contributor photographs. Please include a photo or photos of the finished item or of items you’ve woven that are similar to the item you propose to weave for the issue. We will review the proposals and ask for additional photographs if needed. After the project-selection meeting, we will contact everyone whose project is accepted and ask that it be submitted along with the project paperwork.

You can find the palette for the issue here.

• Proposals for projects (including preliminary photos) and articles due: 12/2/2024
• Additional photographs of projects due: 2/10/2025
• Non-project article text and photographs due: 3/24/2025
• Physical projects with paperwork due: 3/2/2025

Please use our Little Looms submission form for proposals. Submission guidelines can be found here.

Please use the address below for any questions or inquiries that won’t fit into our submission form. Please contact us and ask for a physical address to send any pieces of your proposal that cannot be emailed.

Editorial email: handwoven@longthreadmedia.com

We are looking forward to seeing your proposals for projects and articles!

Happy weaving!

Christina