Sage Weavers - What's it all about?

 Our  bimonthly meeting was, as usual, filled with lots of conversation, opinions and catching up time.  This month we had a bounty of free yarn.  Some just so-so and some very nice indeed.  There were also stacks of Handwoven, Väv Magasinet, Shuttle Spindle and Dyepot and maybe a few others.  Most everything was gone by the end of the meeting, so it's in new hands and new future projects.

We started our round robin "show and tell" with Nancy P.  She has a history of education in weaving tapestry and brought three of her pieces for show and tell.   

  

Nancy P. with her larger than life Calla Lily Tapestry

 

Nancy told us that these were all woven sideways and that they were woven with the back facing the weaver.  Such amazing work and we were all happy that Nancy shared her work with us.

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Our next bit of show and tell was from Diana F.   Diana is a newer weaver and has subscribed to the School of Weaving with Jane Stafford.  The following photos are of her two towel warps.  The towels were so wonderfully soft and you could immediately tell they will be very absorbent. Can't  you envision this hanging in your kitchen?

 

 

                     This one is calmer, color-wise, but very elegant in its design

 

  

 

 This end piece was really the exciting end to Diana's project.  She tried weaving a tube for the very first time - and achieved one, much to her amazement.  She was so elated,  she wore it as a little scarf around her neck  for a while!

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We ended the meeting by looking at the new book by Stacy Harvey-Brown, 

Creative Dimensions in Weaving:  A Handweaver's Guide to Texture.

 

The photos in the book lure you into the world of textiles with texture, differential shrinkage, distortion and woven sculpture.  To illustrate, Beryl brought in a couple of samples from a Zoom workshop with Denise Kovnat in 2022 about deflected double weave.  The new book covers this subject, but also many more topics and is a sure bet to shake up your weaving  experience.

 

 

 

 

Deflected Double Weave from an Online Class

 In February or March, Reno Fiber Guild had Denise Kovnat lead a class in Deflected Double Weave for Collapse Fabrics.    This was an online class that was spread over more than a week.  The participants had ample time to work on many different samples using a large variety of different kinds of threads.  It was a blast, expecially when we wet finished our pieces and could see how the weave structure deflected and distorted the surface of the fabric.  Work from that class is still being presented at Sage Weavers and we had two lovely pieces at our last meeting.  

Nancy S. brought this intriguing four shaft sample.  In the class, Denise had given us instructions on how to weave two separate layers and explained how this might be used in a scarf - a gap in the fabric so that one end could be inserted through the scarf.  Nancy didn't have enough warp left for a full scarf, but she did weave the layers and finished the sample with a twisted fringe.  The colors are glorious and this would make a scarf that would be noticed!

Susan M. wove a sampler that turned into a full length scarf.  She used wool in some of her wefts so that it would partially felt during the wet finishing.  She also added an exciting button  and kumihimo loop to fasten the edges of the scarf when worn.  

Susan (photo to the right) wore a top that she wove and Jill A. sewed for her.  Not sure if this is deflected double weave or not, but it certainly is striking.