Makersfest 2016 - My 1st fine arts fair!!!!!!!

This will be my very 1st show/fair!!!!! I'm so excited. I'll be booth #24 and I'll have dozens and dozens of handwoven pillows. Most of the work you've seen me do over the last few months has been for pillow fronts. Here is a sneak peek....

I can't wait to show you the finished booth!!

Happy Weaving!

The end of a 10/2 warp

Frankly, I never thought this would be a blog post of mine! I've used so many yards of 3/2 cotton that it has become my standard and I love it. That said, when the drafts for the Bertha Gray Hayes overshot workshop came out, I had some choices to make. I could thread 5/2 cotton at 16 epi or 10/2 cotton at 20 or 24 epi. Since I wove with 5/2 at 20 epi previously,and thought the results a bit stiff, I went with 10/2 with a sett of 20 epi. 

After the workshop was over, I still had quite a bit of my 7 yard warp left so I decided to weave a scarf. One of my favorite variations from the workshop was rose fashion, on opposites. In the picture below, it is the green section...

I liked the feel of the bamboo that I had used for the sampler so I used the same yarn but in a coppery color. 

I ran out of the copper color just shy of 60 inches. I had just enough warp left to try one final technique that Norma Smayda showed us. She called it Allenstand....

I didn't have multiple colors in the 10/2 so I used 5/2 for tabby & pattern which made the design a bit chunky, but I like it. 

I must say I'm sad to be done with the Trellis warp. Though I didn't like it much at all initially, it did grow on me. 

Here is the finished scarf.....

I'm very happy with it. The bamboo is shimmery and the off white compliments the copper perfectly. It has gorgeous drape and a fabulous feel❤️❤️❤️

Happy Weaving!

John Landes #2 in Linen

I've been wanting to weave this forever. 

I never really liked the way it looked drafted for overshot. I knew that I needed 6 shafts to do the design in Summer & Winter, they way I wanted; so I waited.

Fast forward to this past March & the addition of my 8 shaft Macomber to my little family of looms. Now, I could weave this. Well, not really. Adjusting to this loom has been more of a learning curve than I had thought. Again the pattern would wait. 

Fast forward again to a few weeks ago when I took the overshot workshop with Norma Smayda. One of the most important things I learned in those few precious days, was to not be scared of a fine warp. Bearing that in mind, I decided to go ahead with my long awaited project. 

I'll be using 16/2 Bockens linen for warp & tabby weft. As I'm still warping, I'm not sure if I'll use cotton or wool or maybe a heavier weight linen as pattern weft. Ah, the possibilities!!!

Here is my profile draft, and as I said, I'll be weaving summer & winter, so each square represents 4 threads. 

Warping using two coffee cans to hold the spools of linen.

467 ends ready to go!

Happy Weaving!

An Overshot Workshop With The Incomparable Norma Smayda!!!!

A fore note: this is a long post! I learned an insane amount in 3 days so please, bear with me 😉

5/11/16

Today is the start of my overshot workshop with Norma Smayda!!!! I'm nervous about a few things. 1st being, 10/2 cotton is the finest yarn I've ever worked with. I managed to get the loom sleyed & threaded and wove a few inches. I'm also having tension issues with string aprons. The Dorset loom that I borrowed for this workshop, as well as my 8 shaft Macomber, use string aprons. Another thing I'm nervous about is that I've never woven with anyone before. I wonder if self teaching will prove to be a help or a hindrance. Yikes!!!!!!

Lastly I'm worried about only having 4 treadles. This is going to be interesting!!!!!

After our monthly guild meeting, which yielded several beauties for show & tell,...

.....we were introduced to Norma Smayda. She gave us a fascinating presentation on Bertha Gray Hayes & then we dove right into weaving. 

I spent the 1st part of our workshop trying to understand how I've been wrong about overshot in Rose fashion. I was under the impression that if you inverted a star treadling that you would get rose fashion. Apparently you do not reverse the treadling but you switch shafts 1+2 for 2+3 and you switch shafts 3+4 for 4+1. Based on the drafts I made when I got home, if you invert the treadling, as I've been doing, and then you treadle with the shaft switching, you can get two different rose motifs in one piece. Pretty cool. Here are my results from day 1.....

5/12/16

Today was the 2nd day of the workshop. Norma Smayda is just wonderful!! She has SO much knowledge yet she gently guides you through your mistakes and misconceptions and encourages you to see, not only the beauty of a pattern, but the beauty that each individual weaver brings to that pattern. She is warm and funny and awesome!!!!!

Thankfully I didn't have any more issues with the warp tension on the Dorset loom.

Here are some of the samples Norma brought with her. They were all so stunning and all soooooo tiny. Most of them were done at a sett of 30 epi and completely out of my comfort range. I was very intimidated!

Today I wove Shifted Rose, On Opposites, Variation on Opposites (Windeknecht), Shadow Weave, Twill, Twill & Reverse on Opposites, Feather Stitch, Inlay and Polychrome. Whew!

5/13

One day 3 of the workshop I wove Sunburst, A Bronson Lace Variation, Honeycomb, Swivel  & Flame Point. Some of  these weaves were quite a challenge because I had to treadle 3 treadles with two feet. Following a new pattern and treadling like that for the 1st time was interesting to say the least. Throw in the challenge of 5 shuttles at once, and my head almost exploded 😉

I was so sad to see our workshop end. Norma Smayda is a weaving treasure!! She was warm & caring & funny and a walking encyclopedia of weaving & fiber. She opened my eyes to so many different things that I feel it would take a lifetime to master them. If you ever have the chance, you must go to her weaving school, Saunderstown Weaving School in Rhode Island. Thank You, Norma, you are the best!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️

I also can not say Thank You enough to the wonderful women & men of the Hand Weavers of Bucks County. They have been so warm and receptive. I feel so lucky to have found such a wonderfully creative group of people to learn from and share with. To have had my first actual weaving lesson from a person like Norma is something I am so grateful for. It is thanks to people like Sue and Elizabeth and Debbie and all the people in our weaving guild that I was afforded this opportunity so Thank You, Thank You Thank You!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

When I got home, I began to apply what I learned to my current warp. This is Polychrome woven on an Orange Peel overshot threading.

Polychrome 

Shadow Weave

On Opposites

I'll post much more about the workshop & the different techniques I learned in the next few weeks. I can't wait to see what the other guild members do with this new found information. I'll bet next month's show & share will be amazing!!!!

Happy Weaving!

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mother's Day!!!!! Thanks to my beautiful daughters, I'm weaving with hand picked violets and lilies of the valley.

This is, thankfully, my last warp of pillows. I actually miscounted so I should have about 60 completely individual pillows for the show. A side note; I never used this brand of Pearl cotton before and my hands have been black since warping. I really hope that color bleed will not affect the pillow fronts. I decided to do a few with a white pattern weft and if the black bleeds a bit, maybe it would have a cool ombré effect. 

Happy Weaving

Happy Mother's Day Momma. I miss you every day!!!!!

Weaving in Hyperdrive!!!!!!

Ok, let's see what's on tap for this month....Everything!!!!!!!!! I have my overshot workshop in 10 days. 7 yard warp of 10/2 cotton is wound & chained. Need to sley & thread by tomorrow. Warp #2, 3/2 black cotton, is 1/2 sleyed on the four shaft loom for twill pillows. I probably have about 15 pillows completed, another 30 woven and another 20 or so yet to weave. AAAHHHhhhhh!!!!!!!

Anyway, I wanted to post pictures of the gamp post wet finishing. Of the things I am most grateful for, as far as my weaving journey goes, is having found Laura Fry's "Magic In The Water" very early on. At that point I was still weaving exclusively on the rigid heddle and only had about 8 scarves "finished". I immediately wet finished all of them and was dumbfounded by the transformation of the different fibers. Wet finishing has since been an obsession of mine and I can not recommend Ms. Fry's expertise enough!

The weather here in PA has been dreary for about 2 weeks straight so I can't get a good shot of the gamp in natural light. 

Here are some of the pillows I've been making....

This is my 1st time using rayon chenille.....

Happy Weaving!