Eyelash Blouse, by Rose Pelvin

I wrote it for my Cross Country (sample exchange) project previously.

At the last Weavers meeting last year, Joan was wearing a lovely white cotton shirt which had blocks of dense weave and blocks of more open weave. It had intrigued me before and we had a discussion about it. She had bought in it Nepal and had actually seen the fabric being woven.

I was keen to work out how it was done and prepared to work out a complicated draft, but Joan explained how it was done, with a whole lot of overshot floats which were trimmed off afterwards - easy peasy! My sample is a lot softer than Joan's crisp shirt fabric but has a nice handle and drape. The first sample (with colours and eyelashes) was beaten quite hard, so the next was was beaten much more lightly. Perhaps something in between would be about right.


I was glad to have something different to send to CCW for my own choice. I've been a member for so long I'm running out of ideas!

Does that clear your confusion, Meg?

by Rose Pelvin

March Meeting

"What inspires you when you weave to create a garment?" was the theme of this month's meeting last Monday. We discussed how we are inspired to weave for a garment.

Some weavers look at the yarns and design fabric. Some of us look at what is in fashion in clothing stores and catalogs and go home and create their own. Others start with colors.

We got to see and feel some garments, as well as samples of garment fabrics.

One of Jenny's lovely coats.

Rose's eye lash sample of Joan's blouse? (I miss out on a lot by not going to every meeting!)

And we also had our usual show and tell.

Judy's merino sample - unwashed

Judy's merino sample - fulled

Betsy's bag with sari yarns - summer side

Betsy's bag - winter side

Betsy's mohair wrap - the middle part of the wrap was brushed, but in the two ends boucle loops were kept.

Anne Udy scarf

Nancy's hat from a kit set (?)

Nancy's hat on Joan

Last but not the least, Nancy's husband Robin Taylor's debut piece; the weft is hand-spun (by Nancy) alpaca, the warp is 80% wool, 20% alpaca.

I'm sorry for the sorry photos and report; I am both thrilled and overwhelmed by the idea of sewing and I was very preoccupied.

by Meg Nakagawa

Changing Threads

"Changing Threads" exhibition opened at Refinery Art Space gallery in Nelson today. From Marlborough Weavers, Rose Pelvin and Moorhouse had works accepted to this exhibition.

The exhibition will be open until 10 April.

"Litehaus"
by Rose Pelvin

"Joyful Jazz"
by Peg Moorhouse

Fulled Merino Scarves - Part 2, by Judy Bool

I wove 3 sample pieces once the scarves were finished and used these to test the amount of fulling. The first wash left the weave still loose. The second gave the effect you see in the finished articles. A more felted effect could be achieved by a third washing but I wanted to retain the ends unfelted.

The final result was 3 very soft cuddly scarves.

by Judy Bool

Fulled Merino Scarves - Part 1, by Judy Bool

from “The Best of Weavers – Fabrics That Go Bump”

I really was not sure which project to tackle first from this lovely book. The pictures inside the back cover took my eye and as I have some very soft 2ply merino. Well, here is the result. (The right hand scarf in pic is from a different draft.)

A lace variation on a very large scale, consisting of ¾” blocks of plain weave alternating with blocks of warp floats and blocks of weft floats. Reference; Sandra Rule.

I decided to wind one warp for the three scarves – do them all at once! In hind sight, this was not good idea. I have an 8 shaft floor loom and as the tie-up changes for each scarf, it was not easy to re-tie the shafts.

As you can see in the photos, the sett was loose at 16 epi&ppi. When I took the scarves off the loom it was like handling a fishing net.

by Judy Bool

Cherry Blossom Blanket, by Meg Nakagawa

My mother, who lives in Yokohama, Japan, hates the winter and the cold. She tolerates it, just, until the Christmas and New Year holiday, but after the grandchildren resume their normal lives, her days are spent, among other things, planning flower blossom trips around Tokyo and beyond. (Flower blossom viewing is a centuries-old national pastime there.) In January, there are the winter peonies at Kamakura Shrine; February/March, plums; March/April cherry blossoms; May, irises and wisterias; June, hydrangeas, and so on, and so on all year round.

Having booked my first planned trip in nine years, (three trips in between were emergencies,) I thought to weave her something reminding her of the coming spring during the worst of the of the winter, when I'd be home. Since I was born in early April, and because they are my favorite, I wanted to weave a blanket inspired by Japanese cherry blossoms.

Here, you see the tentative pink and the white petals, along with the gray, cold sky, and some darker petals - they are the multiple-petaled blossoms. Cherry flowers last anywhere between a few days to a week, their petals often blown away in the spring wind, (sometimes called "petal blizzard",) , or washed away in the cold rain. By the time the yellow-green baby leaves come out, the flowers are over for another year.

I got this blanket off the loom just in time to take home with me in January, and fringed and wet-finished it in my mother's bath tub.

(That's Dad wondering how many more pics I need before he could get the blanket back.)

by Meg Nakagawa

Look, A New Loom, by Rose Pelvin

I've talked much about my "new" loom I thought it's time I showed you.

Oh well! Everyone knows I'm a weaver, so what does it matter if my lounge gets turned into a weavery. When I had the opportunity to acquire a beautifully handcrafted totara jack loom, I just had to have it. Not just any old loom; that would have received the response, "sorry I don't have room for it." But this one belonged to a very dear friend (and pupil) Ethne Bloore and was custom built for her, after much contemplation and consultation, by her husband Hugh. Ethne and Hugh have both since died and I have become the custodian of the loom. Hence the shuffling of furniture and the take-over of the living area. I now have fibre from one end of the house to the other - and I love it!

The pictures show the loom and its superbly designed rimu stool, with storage, that fits neatly underneath it, and the finished piece made from the warp that was on the loom. Ethne had woven the piece with the yellow weft and I finished off the warp with a runner in blue/green weft - "An Ethne colour" said Joan when she saw it.

by Rose Pelvin