Have you ever wondered how wonderful it would be to
make your own fabrics, whether for suitings, skirts or for cushions, for example?
Do you think you need a
huge loom that would fill your dining room? Do you think that all you can weave on a simple loom is
scarves and table runners?
Well you might be
pleasantly surprised! Most of the introductory courses I teach are on simple and affordable looms that not only allow you to weave scarves, but beautiful fabrics that can be used to make clothes.
If you attended one of the courses I run for
Skylark Holiday, for example, such as the
Introduction to Weaving course you would:
- Learn to warp a loom.
- Weave a scarf.
- Learn how to plan a warp for fabric for a chosen project.
- Weave a piece of fabric for a cushion cover or small article of your choice.
- Finish your fabric to that it can be cut and sewn.
- Finish the ends of your scarf without knotting.
Hear I am (on the left) wearing a suit made of hand woven fabric. The swatches for this suit were woven on a simple rigid heddle loom.
Bibi (on the right) is weaving her hand woven scarf. She designed the fabric herself and it was woven on a rigid heddle loom. It could be cut and sewn to make a skirt, for example.
So you see, it's not so difficult!
Posted by: alison in workshops, spinning, dyeing on
Mar 25, 2010
I've just got back from the Netherlands where I had been invited to tutor a couple of two day workshops along with a my colleagues, Jane Deane and Amanda Hannaford.
The spinning and dyeing workshops were organised in The Hague by De Spinners and in Zeeland by Textielwerk Wol en Zo. They were so well received that we've been invited back in 2011 for a series of 3 day workshops at both venues and are being advertised at a Textile Festival. 
Posted by: alison in Creative Spinning on
Nov 8, 2009
Last week-end I was asked to tutor a workshop for Kent Guild of Spinners, Dyers and Weavers. I usually run my workshops from 10am to 4pm, but once a year Kent Guild have a free members workshop which runs from 11.15am to 3.30p, so it was remarkable that such beautiful yarns were produced!
Here are a some images of a few of the yarns that they were inspired to produce:
These lovely yarns were colour blended using the garden pots as inspiration.
This lovely "tuft" and "spiral" yarn was inspired by an image in a gardening magazine.
Another magazine image that was the inspiration for these blended and "tuft" yarns.
This lovely yarn was inspired by the picture on a greetings card.
These yarns were produced in less than 3 1/2 hours, just think what could be produced in 2 or 5 days! Why not take a look at our spinning courses to see what we can offer you!
Alison
I thought you might like to know that I've been selected to exhibit in L'Espace at Maison & Objet in Paris.
After a successful trip to 100% Design, London, in September, I got invited by Design Factory, the premier organisation supporting designer makers in the East Midlands, to submit work for selection. Design Factory are taking 6 designer makers to Paris for this prestigious show and have the sponsorship or Ateliers d'Art de France (the equivalent of the Crafts Council in France) and UKTI.
Lifes getting quite exciting now!
Alison
Posted by: alison in Untagged on
Jun 29, 2009
I got back from Woolfest yesterday afternoon after a visit to the Pencil Museum at Keswick, on the way back!
Lorraine and I had a lovely time, especially meeting old friends and new. Tam, from the West of Scotland Guild, was staying at our B & B and so we were able to have a good chat at the Wheatsheaf on Thursday evening and at breakfast and the Spin-in.
Helen Melvin of Fiery Felts, Michael Williams with his wonderful spindles and spinning and weaving equipment, John, partner of Deb the Mulberry Dyer, was there on his own, (Deb was too busy meeting dye commissions) and had a great chat with Gill Challis and her family both evenings.
There were quite a few members of the Derbyshire Guild, my local guild, who kept popping in to our stand to visit and who we sat and spun with at the "Spin-in"! We met them on the Saturday evening for a really nice meal over at the Shepherds Inn.
I managed to get my photograph taken with the Online Guild, who meet on their stand every day at 12noon. I set my alarm on my mobile so that I wouldn't forget!
I spent quite a bit of time showing Michael Williams clients how to use their new spindles, which generated quite a bit of interest and sold several of our Creative Spinning books and quite a few of Skylark Holidays leaflets were taken. I do hope that I'm able to meet those of you who took the leaflets at a future spinning, weaving or dyeing course next year or even later.
On the whole it was a great Woolfest again. One comment was made, thought that if you were a dyer and had taken random dyed skeins of yarn to sell, you had a huge amount of competition!
Bye for now.
Alison
