Jette Vandermeiden visits the Reno Fiber Guild

What better way to spend the gloomy days of late February than to have a three day workshop with Canadian weaver/instructor, Jette Vandermeiden.  There were two workshops going on simultaneously, one for four shaft weavers and another for eight shaft weavers.  The eight shaft workshop is called "All Tied Up" .  All samples were woven on a straight draw threading and with a straight draw treadling.  So, the magic was in changing the tie-up. 


Here is Nancy B's sampler.  Nancy says

"I had a wonderful three days at the workshop with Jette Vandermeiden. Jette was a fantastic teacher and a lovely person. I learned so much about all the variations of weaving that can be done with just one basic threading. It was eye-opening!"

Shelley was working with a new Schacht table loom.  Here is what Shelley says about the workshop.

"I really enjoyed the class. She is a good teacher. I learned a lot about different weave types, (satin, canvas, etc.) and how to use tie-ups to achieve different structures with only a single straight draw threading. The course also gave me an idea of the possibilities for creating my own drafts and using other drafts turned to change design and structure. I will refer to my notes going forward when I want to create my own projects."

Here are some comments made by Suzanne about the workshop.

 

 "Over the course of 3-days in Jette Vandermedien's workshop,  "All Tied Up",
Jette proved to us that  that ..." tie-up is your best friend!  Thread the
loom with one versatile threading and learn how to re-arrange your tie-up so
you can weave many, many different structures and projects without
re-threading. Discover how integrated twills, layered double weave, summer
and winter, plaited twill, breaks and recesses, M’s and O’s, waffle weave
and so many others can all be woven with small changes to the tie-up."
While this workshop was originally designed for 8-shaft looms, Jette
re-designed ours to include weavers with only 4-shalf looms.  The 8-shaft
looms were dressed in a straight draw threading, and the 4-shaft looms were
dressed with 4 threading's, Straight Twill, Rosepath, and M's & W's.

Our time spent with Jette began with a short refresher into drafting and
quickly progressed into in-depth lessons to understanding the tie-in between
threading and tie-ups, translating weave structures, and creating with first
the use of both paper & pencil and then weaving on our looms.  True to her
word, if you're persistent enough, the possibilities could be endless!
*Confessions of a floor loom person who loves her treadles...with the
endless possibilities for tie-ups, after day two, I had table loom envy!

In this photo of my washed sample warp, where I could only win an award for
having and using the most colors of leftover 8/2 yarns in a stash, I have no
less than 40 woven samples before I ran out of warp, approximately 3 1/2
yards.  Albeit not so attractive, this "washed" warp of woven samples along
with the lessons and information gleaned over the 3-days spent with Jette
provides many future fun, thought provoking projects using my stash! "