A chat with another creative : Handweaver Emma Baker
- Jo Richards
- Nov 12, 2025
- 4 min read
Emma Baker is a fellow creative. She is a contemporary handweaver who creates one-of-a-kind designer accessories using luxury yarns such as merino wool, cotton, and silk. Working on a traditional floor loom, she produces beautifully crafted shawls, scarves, snoods, and tableware.
Emma is also co-founder of TabbyandTweed, a business she established nearly four years ago with fellow weaver Gillian Siggers. Together, they design and create weaving loom kits for beginners and intermediate weavers. This blog shares how we met and features a Q&A with Emma, offering an insight into her creative journey and the inspiration behind her work.
How did I meet fellow creative Emma Baker?
We are both members of Artful Collective, a group of artists, makers, and jewellers from Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Dorset. The collective brings together creatives who produce unique handcrafted pieces, share ideas, and collaborate on exhibitions.
Emma and I first met when our tables were next to each other at The Artful Christmas Weekend, an annual fair featuring beautiful handmade gifts. One of the best parts of being a maker is connecting with others in the creative community. Although Emma and I work in different mediums, we both run workshops, which has given us plenty to share and talk about.
This summer, I visited Emma’s home to run a jewellery-making workshop for eight people, a lovely group of friends and their daughters, each of whom created stunning, individual pieces.
Q&A with Handweaver Emma Baker
What inspired you to start weaving?
I’ve always loved textile crafts. Several years ago, my husband gave me a second-hand spinning wheel for Christmas, and I began producing hand-spun yarn. Before long, I realised my knitting couldn’t keep up with the amount of yarn I was making! A friend lent me a weaving book, and although I initially found it incomprehensible, the images fascinated me. I bought a rigid heddle loom - and one loom led to another. I now weave on both rigid heddle looms and an 8-shaft floor loom.
What materials do you use to create your scarves?
I work predominantly with natural fibres - mainly fine merino lambswool and organic cotton. Occasionally, I use hand-spun merino fibres, but as weaving has taken over from spinning, this has become less frequent. Merino lambswool remains my favourite; it produces wonderfully soft, warm accessories.
What techniques do you use to weave your beautiful scarves?
I weave a range of designs on my floor loom, but my favourite technique is deflected doubleweave. In this structure, coloured yarns interlace to create a reversible pattern with striking colour blocks. The “doubleweave” aspect refers to two interwoven layers of cloth that form a mirrored design on each side. “Deflected” describes how, after washing, the longer warp and weft floats shrink differently, softening the geometric edges and adding a beautiful texture to the final fabric.
What do you find most challenging about weaving?
Choosing colours! The final hue of a woven fabric depends on how the warp and weft colours interact. Before starting a major project, I always weave sample fabrics to test the sett (the number of threads per inch) and see how the colours blend. I’ve written a blog post all about my sampling process - you can read it here.
Where do you sell your handwoven accessories?
My handwoven pieces are available through my website shop, with delivery across the UK and USA. My SpireCrafts Etsy shop also ships to additional international locations.
Do you teach people to weave?
Yes! Through TabbyandTweed, we run a variety of weaving workshops. Our most popular is a full-day rigid heddle loom workshop, where participants weave a complete scarf in a single day. It’s always wonderful to see the delight on beginners’ faces when they unroll their finished scarves - each one unique in pattern and colour.
We hold regular workshops in Alderbury near Salisbury and also travel to other locations with our 16 portable looms. We also offer shorter two-hour small frame weaving workshops, where participants can make a coaster or bookmark. You can find all the weaving workshop details here.
Can anyone join your workshops?
Absolutely! All our workshops are beginner-friendly, though returning weavers are always welcome. For those with more experience, we provide opportunities to develop further skills, such as multi-shaft weaving or creating textured designs using pick-up sticks.
How do you connect your two businesses?
My passion for weaving underpins both my own creative practice and my work with TabbyandTweed. My experience helps in designing new weaving kits, selecting yarns, and refining loom designs and weaving patterns.
What is your best-selling handwoven item?
That changes from time to time, but my most consistent best-seller is the handwoven snood. It’s the perfect go-to accessory - versatile, stylish, and effortlessly chic, offering warmth without the fuss of constant readjustment.
This season, triangle scarves are also proving popular – they are on trend and have been selling well through my online shop.
