More Show & Tell

 The first two items in this post came with our Richmond friends.

Note the fascinating braided twill. . .

and an interesting example of repp weave.

This is the detail of a wrap similar to the one Win had in the National Exhibition.  The side panels are alpaca.

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Among the 'tried and trusted' towels was this one from Joan. It would be such a pleasure to use.

Rose produced this lightweight wrap with bamboo warp separated by slub cotton panels of Bronson lace.  The weft is the same cotton.

March Meeting Part 3 of 3

Show and Tell: Joan was pleased to finally get this finished as it was woven on an 8-shaft table loom. Evedryone really liked the mix of colours and the asymmetric design.

Jen has been making scarves and working through the patterns she discovered at our last workshop. Well done Jen.

 Rose had just finished her Cross Country assignment on Deflected Double Weave. The top photo shows front and reverse of one pattern and the bottom photo shows the difference after a minor change in the tie-up.

Nancy was just back from a cruising holiday and showed some paper quilling she learned on board.

Win also had an item to show but as it is under wraps until the National Festival in Porirua this month the photo won't be posted this time.

March Meeting: Part 1 of 3

 Joan took the meeting on the topic of dyeing and overdyeing.  Here she gives us an eye-opener about  the results that can be achieved.  The cones are the 'before' and the knitted jersey is 'after.'  How cheerful is that!

And it's not all about wool. Here is some ribbon, purpose dyed for the job.

and fabric transformed.

Look for part two in a few days.

Heritage Day at the Park

Waitangi Day is Heritage Day at Brayshaw Park and, along with other Park users our Guild fronts up and flies the CF flag providing information and demonstrations.  It is just as well the Park authorities splashed out on a new flag because this is what the previous one looked like in the nor'west season a month ago.

Joan did a great job warping up the loom with a narrow 'Blooming Leaf' overshot design and brought along a sample of 'Cathedral Windows' quilting using woven blocks of the same design.

Joan's plan is for everyone (not just weavers) to weave a square for themselves . . . so take along a small amount of weft yarn of a colour of your choice and get weaving. Help is at hand if you have not woven before - and it really is easy.

Jan demonstrated inkle loom weaving, incorporating beads to fit in with the Guild theme for the month.

Rose sat in the sun and worked on her tatting and (inadvertently) her suntan.

Spinners gathered at the Girling Building and at times were hard to see for the crowd around them.

Well done!  A good start to the year.

August Meeting - Fibres

The meeting was held at Barbara's home and members were asked to bring samples of various yarns used in their work and examples woven with them. Here are some of the woven fabrics using both natural and man-made fibres.

Betsy brought along her lovely soft lightweight throw made with merino, possum and mohair fibres. It is woven in a rosepath twill which shows a completely different pattern on the reverse.

Here is a close-up of the yarns, with the space-dyed warp showing up prominently in the fringe.

Joan's warp repp table runner is made with very closely set rayon.

A natural fibre we don't often see in loom weaving is phormium tenax (New Zealand flax or harakeke). It is seen here in a wall hanging by June in which she has used many hand manipulated lace weaves.

This beautifully knitted shawlette was knitted by Nancy and of course the fibre is alpaca.