Entries from the Fair

Several of our members entered woven items and handspun in the County Fair this year.  I realized I forgot to photograph the hand spun but here are the woven entries.  

Several items woven by Betsy, including two table runners, a rug, shawl and scarf.

 Dee submitted various items including yardage, a scarf, a jacket sewn by her daughter using Dee's woven yardage and a shawl.  One of her scarves won the "People's Choice" Award.

Diana's entries included a scarf and two towels.

Ingrid submitted a scarf and two towels.

Marcy entered a huck placemat and dresser scarf.

 

 Sue H exhibited her tablecloth and fiesta placemats.

Sue R entered an inkle band, small towel, small basket and a vest. 

We All Have to Start Somewhere - Part III

In our continuing series, here are the first projects from two other weavers. 

Marcy hasn't been weaving very long and her current pieces are excellent.  Here are a couple of pieces that she wove early on.

Marcy's first blanket

Marcy's first sampler

 

 

Ingrid has been weaving for over 20 years.  She got her start in a studio in Michigan with a very talented teacher and lots of supportive weavers.  The first thing she wove was a classic sampler, trying to figure out how to actually weave and then to be able to follow a draft.

Ingrid's 1st sampler

At an early dye class, she learned how to tie up warp for ikat dying.  The colors were pretty wild, but a couple of pieces came out of that class.

Early dye class

Early dye class

She also attempted making fabric from rags - California Rag technique, developed by Trudie Roberts.  From that she made a jacket.



California rag jacket

 

We All Have to Start Somewhere: Part I

Everyone who has a hobby, craft or pursues some kind of artistic activity starts somewhere.  There may be 2 year old weaving prodigies, but most people begin with few skills.  Recently the Not 2 Squares shared their weaving beginnings.  Here's a glimpse at a few of the first efforts of our members:

One of Dee's first projects was a red bag.   Here is an example of some later work - a beautiful vest.  There's lovely sewing and detail.  Also a recently woven scarf.

Diana's first sampler, with a detailed look.

One of her first projects was a checkered towel.








One of Gus' first projects was fairly ambitious overshot fabric to be used to cover dining room chairs.  The upholstery lasted many years before being replaced with newly woven fabric. 

 

 

 There will be more examples in future posts.

 

 

 

 

A Bunch of Warped Weavers

Beryl, Diana and Dee examining the montly show and tell

A gaggle of geese - an exaltation of larks - a covey of quail.  I wonder what a flock of weavers might be called?  A warp of weavers? 

Our group loves to weave and we love looking at what others in our group are weaving.   This is why the non-study group idea seems to work for us.  There are no assignments to weave a certain structure, although we usually pick a topic or challenge for the year.   Our challenges come within ourselves as we talk about weaving and discuss what works and doesn't work for us.  We bring our failures and our successes and talk about both.

At our last meeting we discussed the problems of weaving with chenille.  Is there a way to get it on the bobbin or pirn without twisting?  Selvedge problems.  Do you sley your selvedge threads more closely or loosely than your warp?  Does the end-feed shuttle help get good selvedges?  Are these yarns cottolin?  Look at what happened when I used the bright yellow on this warp!  And the question
always on our lips - what sett did you use?

All the time during the examining of show and tell textiles, each weaver is thinking about how they might interpret this draft or where they might take the color scheme.  Maybe I can use up that shrieking yellow in my stash if I tone it down with subdued warp colors.  I'm going to try  chenille again and this time I'm going to sett it a whole lot closer.  Using calendar pictures as a color scheme is a great idea - I think I'll try it for a future warp.  This simple structure makes a fantastic looking shawl - maybe I've give the simple approach a try.

The Not 2 Square weavers invite all of our readers to start or join a weaving group.  See where it takes you personally in your weaving.  And most of all, see  if it doesn't expand your weaving in new and exciting ways.