September Meeting: Show and Tell

Show and tell has been a bit sparse lately. Could it be that everyone is busy working for the Festival?

Rose's Perendale, merino and mohair throw rug which should be in the Area Exhibition but she didn't look at the calendar soon enough!

This fabric is a fine boucle weft on an 8 shaft combination twill merino warp in two shades of green. If all goes well you will see Rose walking around at Festival wearing it. (What are YOU going to wear?)

Anne's gorgeous textured scarf from last month, now finished and looking great. Amazing what you can do with cocolastic.

This is what we call the 'weaver's handshake.' We think there will be a lot of it going on at Festival, and not just for weaving but knitting, felting, crochet and who knows what other techniques.

Get busy, everybody.

Rose

September Meeting: Rag Weaving, Part 2

Still on rag weaves - more that have stood the test of time.

Bag by Sue, finished with a fancy button and chain handle.

Cushion by Tricia with sample of the fabric strip attached.

A more complex cushion by June. Making the twisted cord for the outside took her the whole length of the house and them some!

Tricia contemplates the bolster-shaped cushion she made out of - guess what - cushion covers!

Chris made this 'up-to-the-minute' waistcoat for her teenagedaughter. Did she wear it? No!

A pity because it is lovely, and beautifully made.

Rose

September Meeting: Rag Weaving, Part 1

Here are some photos from the September Weavers' meeting.

The topic was rag weaving and it was amazing what appeared and how long some of it has been in fairly constant use. Most of these items were woven about 20 years ago.

Betsy's charming bath mat, woven on a point twill threading with a weft of soft fabric offcut strips sold in garden shops for tying plants.

Chris's brilliant (in all senses of the word) picnic rug, woven double width from re-purposed curtains.

The rest, to the best of my knowledge, are Sue's. They have had constant use and constant washing and are probably in better condition than the washing machine Sue used to stuff them into - some of them are quite large!

More to come.
Rose

Weavezine Project

I have a small fun project here. The instructions can be found at Weavezine.com.

The bear could be made from commercial fabric scraps, knitted or crocheted squares or whatever you have available.

I used a diagonal weaving frame 10 cm x 10 cm

This is the second one I have made and is a slight improvement on the first one, although it still doesn’t look much like a bear, which will spend its entire life masquerading as a rabbit. Unfortunately I have not yet got a photo of the first one

by Noelene Gratton

November 2010 Meeting - Part 6: Weaving Weft Ikat

This is the last of six posts from the November 2010 meeting, and the last scenes from Ikat Workshop by Julia Murbach of Richmond Weavers.

Julia had brought with her a lovely little 4 shaft floor loom, very narrow but perfect for weaving samples. She had prepared 4 different bobbins of ikat dyed weft for us to try.

Joan

Betsy weaving with Sue looking on.

by Rose Pelvin

November 2010 Meeting - Part 5: The Audience

This is the fifth of six posts from the November 2010 meeting. These four posts show scenes from Ikat Workshop by Julia Murbach of Richmond Weavers.

Julia had a very attentive audience

 Sue, Tricia and June

 Dawn and Jan looked after us

 Barbara, Betsy, Win and Joan

 Chris, Anne Rive, Noelene, Anne Jones (formerly Udy)

 Jenny

Joan, Julia, Chris, ?? and Betsy


by Rose Pelvin

November 2010 Meeting - Part 4: Ikat Examples

This is the fourth of six posts from the November 2010 meeting. These four posts show scenes from Ikat Workshop by Julia Murbach of Richmond Weavers.

Julia explained how mirror image ikats like this can be prepared double and then opened out. This one is in a fairly coarse cotton but has a fine cotton band at each end.

A large bedspread woven by Julia, with ikat panels and stripes

A selection of Julia’s ikat weavings

Silk ikat in a satin weave, brought back from China by Joan. Note the difference in the two sides.

A commercially woven fabric. Note the unravelled thread showing the spacing of the dyed sections.

More views of Julia’s work

A teatowel made by Julia during a course where she says “too many cooks” can cause chaos. It looks fine to me!

by Rose Pelvin

November 2010 Meeting - Part 3: Ikat Demonstration by Julia Murbach

This is the third of six posts from the November 2010 meeting. The next four posts show scenes from Ikat Workshop by Julia Murbach of Richmond Weavers.

Julia demonstrates how to make the ties.

The raddle is attached to the FRONT of the loom and the warp temporarily wound on to the front beam.

With the warp firmly attached at the front, the various sections are manipulated through the shifting box according to the pre-determined pattern.

The warp is tied on to the back stick (uneven lengths because of the shifting of some sections) and beamed on to the back roller.

And yes, the pattern is intact.

And after being wound on the back beam, the warp is ready to thread

by Rose Pelvin

November 2010 Meeting - Part 2: Year of the Garment

This is the second of six posts from the November 2010 Meeting.  2010's goal was for everybody to create a garment out of our own handwoven cloth.

 Joan tries on Judy’s top (part 1 of a 2-part outfit) woven in two fancy twills.

Tricia’s jacket with lots of colours on white is a work in progress. Joan tells her how long to make it. Buttons of various colours will complete the look.

 

Win’s black wrap has an edging of her signature frills around it.

Joan wove a 4 shaft crepe fabric after our workshop. Her generous wrap has inset sleeves and a multi-coloured crochet edge.

 

Rose wore her 8 panel skirt but forgot to ask someone to take her photo. Taking one in the mirror without using a flash shows an unsteady hand! Fine rayon threads incorporated in the warp give a sheen. Linen in the weft ensures that it creases!

by Rose Pelvin