In February I took a trip to Vashon Island. It is off the coast of Washington State. I went there for a week long weaving class and then I taught spinning for two days. I have been meaning to talk about it here ever since I got back.
The teaching part was great. The students were wonderful and I had a great time with them. Most of them were from the Vashon Weavers and also the Seattle Weavers Guild. Those two days flew by.
The thing that has stuck with me and has been niggling at me is the weaving I did in 5 days. The class was taught by Sue Willingham who has a studio on the island and offers classes on a regular basis as well as Janet Dawson, Sue’s Daughter who lives in Nova Scotia and has her own fiber business called the Bobbin Tree.
We spent time learning how to use a weaving software called Fiberworks which is very powerful and beyond what I need but so fun to play with. We also learned an easy way to warp from back to front which made me not afraid of it anymore.
There were 8 students and 9 looms. We each warped a loom 2 times and then the weaving round robin started. I came home with 9 good size samples and a great notebook so i can remember what we did.
Wanna see what we did?
This is the same cloth that Janet made and used to upholster a chair.
This one is a sampler of Bronson lace. There were 4 threadings and then we saw what happened when we changed the treadling in each square.
Overshot. One of my favorites. We played with the software to come up with a border that worked with the center.
This was threaded as straight twill but the treadling was interesting. I beat the first part hard and then loosened up.
This was a sett gamp. the threading was the same all the way across but the sett changed. Then we had to beat correctly to get an even weave.
This is the same threading and treadling as the blue one above. It’s in cotton and beat harder to use as a towel.
So cute – Twill! I love it!
This one is waffle weave. i haven’t finished the fabric yet. It will shrink right up and make a lovely absorbent towel.
And another of my favorites! Huck Lace.
See how much we accomplished? Just 5 days. I want to get out my loom. Maybe this summer when things slow down a bit.
