June Meeting: Reviewing the Maryanne Stamford Workshop

Winter weariness (or over commitment) seems to have set in, so it was a small group who enjoyed the June Weavers' meeting. It was an informal, cosy, round-table meeting with plenty of time for conversation. Win gave a summary of the Maryanne Stamford workshop and those who had attended added their comments and observations. All who had attended had found it a challenge and more complex than expected, but had learned a lot and were glad they had taken the opportunity to attend.

Win's first sample is now off the loom. She has tried various background patterns and even a small amount of pick-up.

Chris had several pattern variations to choose from that Maryanne had printed out using the PCW sotfware. This one appealed and is looking good on the loom. Keep up the good work Chris.

Although not at the meeting, Meg was overjoyed that tie down did need not be in tabby, though it took some time and energy to figure out why her "twills" didn't show up as well as Win's. 

Show and Tell was rather thin on the ground but Rose showed off her recently made Jacket. The fabric is from 'way back' and when asked when she had woven it, Rose thought is was one of her 'more recent' pieces, maybe from about five years ago. She fibbed! Research into the archives shows it was woven in June/July 2001! And no, there is no moth damage (and yes, there's more where that came from.) Lots of helpful ideas were forthcoming about buttons/fastening etc, and brownie points were awarded for the Thai silk scarf.

A closeup shows the 8 shaft twill blocks (2-1-2-3) woven as a goose-eye. The warp and weft are the same, a VERY fine wool singles, used double and still set at 24e.p.i. (My friend Sue Broad challenged me with this yarn.) The warp was 33 inches in the reed and 6 yards long. A supplementary warp at the change of direction is a boucle knitting wool with a metallic silver thread through it.

Conscious of the Festival coming to Marlborough in 2012, it's time to start getting serious about wearing our work. Remember, YOU are the FASHION!

by Rose Pelvin

Granddaughter's Cape, by Rose

This is the cape I made for my granddaughter to help her through the Christchurch winter. It is woven in 2/2 twill in some sort of wool blend. The yarn is from my 'way-back' stash and had no label. It produced a very lightweight soft fabric that drapes well and is very warm.

by Rose Pelvin

June's House

When I was in Blenheim in April for the block weave workshop, I had the great pleasure of visiting June McKenzie at her home.  The house itself is a lovely old villa with a rambling garden, but what was so exciting was every room was full of June's woven work, not just scarves and fabrics, but garments and even upholstered pieces. 

So, may I suggest you make yourself a nice cup of something lovely, and "walk" with me?

 Possibly my most favorite piece of the day was this foot stool. 

Rain got heavier and the light very bad, so the colors in the photo above and below are not representative of these fabrics, but I knew you'd want to see the texture and the design.

Thank you for a lovely time, June.

You can see more of June's work here.


by Meg Nakagawa

Table Pieces, by Betsy

In April, I had an opportunity to shoot some of Betsy's table pieces in cotton, cottolin, and wool.


by Meg Nakagawa

Merino & Silk Scarf, by Judy Bool

Judy says. "This scarf has warp in silk, weft in merino with scale, the 8-shaft network draft by Ingrid Boesel in 20 EPI can be found on Page 33 of Weavers magazine, Issue 25."


by Meg Nakagawa

"Timeless Treasures", by Rose Pelvin

These are from my exhibition, "Timeless Treasures", at Fibre Spectrum, Trafalgar Street, Nelson, for the month of May.

by Rose Pelvin

April Block Weave Workshop, Part 2

Some of us were greatly helped by looking at her woven samples to understand the theory; all of us were in awe of her samples, each of us having different favorites.

 Joan could not believe she put on a brown warp for a sampler, but she did get lovely results.

 Chris's consultation with Maryann paid off; she got nice bright samples.

Judy was hard at work.

 Marjike experimented with polychrome Summer & Winter.

 Maryann demonstrated pick up.

Win was tentative at first, but became very brave.

Win's sample: reversed 3-end twill in the background.

This was woven with a textured weft yarn. Says Win, "It should be woven with the pattern on the reverse side to minimise lifting of sheds."

"In the pale weft section the part between the 2 motifs is done by 'pick up ' method," by Win, who previous thought "pick-up" was a dirty word! 

Joan, you're not still talking about the brown warp, are you??

by Rose Pelvin, Win Currie & Meg Nakagawa

April Block Weave Workshop, Part 1

On 14 & 15 April, we welcomed Maryann Stamford from Queensland, Australia, to teach us about weaving in blocks. At times some of us felt our brains were scrambled, but the many woven samples Maryann showed us helped, and in the end we came out excited about new possibilities.

 Let's see how how we can weave the word "GUEST" on a guest towel.

 Anne, Betsy and Judy filling in squares...

 Barbara and Joan creating separate blocks...

 Chris and Marjike figuring out the lifting order; do we see a smile on Chris?

 

 Chris gets her profile draft converted into a weaving draft by Maryanne.

"Oh, and we know how to weave this now!"

by Rose Pelvin & Meg Nakagawa

Sneak Preview, by Rose Pelvin

Advance notice that I have an exhibition at Fibre Spectrum in Nelson for May. I've called it Timeless Treasures as I'm bringing out some of my linen pieces that have been 'maturing' in a dark alcove for a while. I do have some new work in the form of braided cords for necklaces, and in between there are scarves - where would we be without them.

by Rose Pelvin

Creative Fibre Festival 2011 and 2012, by Chris

The annual festival of Creative Fibre, or NZSWWS, (New Zealand Spinning, Weaving and Woolcrafts Society) opens in beautiful Thames tomorrow, Thursday 28 April. To everybody going to Thames, have a lovely time, and look out for the Festival 2012 team - they'll be the ones in funny hats proclaiming Love Marlborough. Because...

The festival in 2012 will be held in Blenheim, hosted by our big-sister organization, Marlborough Creative Fibre guild, and today, we are happy to announce the official launch of our website/blog, Facebook page, and Twitter.

This blog will be updated as details of the festival are finalised and information/material are made available. So, please visit regularly.

by Chris Beech