Creative Fibre at Heritage Day, Brayshaw Park, Blenheim, February 6th 2011

Jan showing Inkle Weaving

by Chris Beech

Book Cover, by Jan Hannay

Jan Hannay and I had a fun morning when she made good her promise to turn her mirror image tapestry into a book cover.

by Rose Pelvin

July Meeting: Part 2: Show and Tell

Scarves are still in!
Clockwise from top left: Win, Jan, Betsy, Chris and Joan.

Jan completed this tapestry in a mirror image design. Next time you see this it will be a book cover.

Joan made this double cordiroy rug in the glorious colours of rata flowers fallen on to a clump of bird's-nest fern. Her meticulous finishing of the warp ends is a work in progress.

Detail.

Win rediscovered an old favourite, dog roses in plain weave on a background of Bronson lace. She used Irish linen weft on a cotton warp.

by Rose Pelvin

July Meeting: Part 1 - Frames

The email from Group Mum Chris read:

Frames are not just for tapestry weaving.
What about woven frames for loom woven pieces [or even your body] ??
Bring along examples of woven pieces displaying a woven frame, or examples where you feel a frame might have been advantageous - tea towels, table runners, wraps, rugs etc.
Examples of frames that didn't work are as instructive as those that did.
Think outside the square!

June conducted the meeting on the importance of using framing in designing one's work, using previous members brought in.

Clockwise from top left: work by Joan, Chris, Betsy, Rose, Rose, Joan

Center, Dawn's small Pohutukawa tapestry. Clockwise from top, Win, Win, Win, Tapestry Group, and Jan's embroidery.

Win, Betsy and Jan.

Chris and Nancy.

Judy, Win, Betsy and Nancy.

by Rose Pelvin & Chris Beech

May Meeting Show & Tell, Part II

Rose has woven the fabric for a skirt. Every warp end has three ends of polyester machine thread with it! (Why would anybody want to do that?)

Noelene is busy with the dye pot, planning to make a rug with the Wilson tartan.

Jan raided her button tin after seeing this idea Up the Garden Path.

Chris tells Joan her scarf is gorgeous, but it’s not handwoven!

Noelene’s work in progress – her first attempt at double weave. It will become a cushion. Unfortunately the colour is not true; it’s more of a caramel/brown than this.

Rose used soft cotton for these baby wraps. The weave is a crepe, trialled at recent workshop.


by Rose Pelvin

Fibre Fantasia: Nelson-Marlborough-Buller Area Exhibition - Part 2

by Jan Hennay

by Jan Hannay

by June McKnezie

by Rose Pelvin

by Rose Pelvin
by Denise Cleghorn
by Zoe Thompson
by Christine Marks
Nancy, Chris and Joan

by Rose Pelvin

More Small Gifts

Here are some more small gift ideas.

Inkle Braids by Jan and Chris

Earing hangers by Rose

Who made this lovely bag?

Jacob's Ladder by Chris

Hand towels by me.

by Joan McLauchlan

Bags, by Jan Hannay

The larger one is a felted bag.

The smaller a beaded one, and in the future, we may be able to put our cell phones in here!

by Meg Nakagawa

International Year of Natural Fibre Part 1

The International Year of Natural Fibre was celebrated in Blenheim at an event hosted by the Rural Women's organisation. Our Guild was well represented with weaving, spinning and felting and alpaca products on show; in fact we provided about half the display. Unfortunately the public stayed away in droves, nevertheless we enjoyed a social time of admiring our own work and that of the other stall holders.

Weaving on display included tea towels and place mats from past projects and scarves with amazing textures.

Jan's Inkle Loom attracted some attention and questions.

Chris and Jan watch a demonstration.

Anne demonstrates weaving.

Joan and Katie watch Cherrie and Christine at work

This wine-theme tapestry was woven by Jan, Christine and Sue Broad, (a long time member who now resides in Dunedin). It was intended to be one third of a triptych but looks great on its own.

by Rose Pelvin

September Meeting Part 1

Our September meeting, on the 21st, focused on cutting and sewing handwoven fabrics. It was quite a hoot - a lot of fun and a few laughs bringing out garments "ancient and modern," though the emphasis was on the ancient, some being between thirty and forty years old. A lot of pieces had stood the test of time and there were a lot of comments such as "timeless," or "you could wear that now." Expert workmanship in the construction was much admired. One happy result was a skirt changing hands and being worn home by its new owner. There was a good discussion about the many rolls of fabric that have been stashed away and not made up. Some people went home with a clearer idea of what to do next.

Beautifully tailored . . Joan's coat and skirt tailored under Birgite's instructions. (It was this skirt that ended up with Jan.)

An early model . . . One of Jenny Murray's first woven garments. She went on to make several fashion parade outfits.

An old curtain . . . Joan's. She gave it a vigorous fulling and the various yarns reacted differently. The colour is original, not overdyed. We all thought she should make a pair of big floor cushions with rich cords and tassels.

As new. . . Jenny Murray. A more recent model in Marnie Kelly's boucle yarn.

English warp... Betsy brought this warp home from England and searched till she found the perendale weft for it.

by Rose Pelvin

Bag, by Jan Hannay

Front and back views of a bag woven by Jan Hannay using a cardboard box as a loom. The instructions were in a 2008 issue of Handwoven magazine.

by Rose Pelvin