Still

Still in the red, grey and black.

 Dishtowels

I am saving a couple of these for my son who favors these colors.

Hope you are having a great Sunday.

Gloomy, damp and foggy here but a perfect day to work in the studio.

In The Red

and in the grey and the black.

While at JCCFS a few weeks ago I did have a chance to work on

 a draft for my future coverlet. 

Sample I did at JCCFS

That pattern (Mary Ann Ostrander from Davidson’s book) is one that I wove when I was 19 years old while taking a weaving semester at Berea College in Kentucky.

 I was very brave or maybe just naive to weave an overshot pattern on my second ever weaving. 

My second ever weaving!

Notice all the mistakes?

This throw was woven with both wool in the warp and the weft and it has been so long ago that I don’t remember the reasoning why. 

That is not the traditional way for coverlets, which were usually a cotton or linen warp and tabby, with wool as the pattern weft. 

I took my throw to the coverlet class to have an example of all the mistakes 

I made: beating incorrectly, mistakes in treadling and 

sewing the wrong sides together! 

Still it is pretty good for an 19-year-old novice.

 I would not advise any new weaver to start out on overshot patterns but that is why I fell in love with weaving. 

Every throw of the shuttle and the fabric developing was like magic to me. 

I have woven a lot of overshot but not in the traditional way. 

I love to see what color can do to the patterns and have worked with enlarging or decreasing motifs and tables within the drafts. 

This red warp is a table runner using the pattern I wove so long ago

 but with a few adjustments in threading and treadling. 

Black Wool pattern thread and silver pearl cotton tabby.

Red wool pattern thread and black pearl cotton tabby.

The colors are subtle and without a lot of contrast (I’m waiting on a shipment of grey wool which will provide contrast), but will make very pretty table runners. One of them will be a donation for the TRAC auction, which is held in October to raise funds for our arts council. 

I’ll post a pic of them when they are off the loom and hemmed.  

Regrouping After Folk School

The last couple of weeks have gone by with a blur, and I am still trying to process all of it. 

I spent last week at John C. Campbell Folk School, which is in Brasstown, NC, being an assistant instructor to Beth Johnson’s weaving class. 

There were nine students who were sampling in preparation to weaving a coverlet, which meant working out how to weave overshot and lots of drafting. 

Student Exhibit of Overshot Samples

They were a great group and came away with lots of new ideas and techniques. 

Hopefully when each of them returned home they will weave their coverlet or a throw. 

I am still trying to process all that I have learned and have experienced. 

If you have not been to or heard of the Folk School then please

 use this link www.folkschool.org to find out about them. 

This is a unique craft school with all types of classes, lots of music, 

in a beautiful setting and a lot of good food. 

Beginners and experienced alike can learn a new skill or improve an old one by the large variety of one week and weekend classes that they offer year round.

 My favorite part of the school is the music. 

Each day begins with Morning Song which is usually story telling mixed with a banjo or fiddle player to begin your day with a smile. 

Keith House where Morning Song is each morning.

This week, I have been playing catch up on house and yard chores 

before I can settle back into the studio next week.

 I have a lot of work to do, and 

I have my own coverlet planned to weave some time soon I hope. 

Beth's coverlet she wove as a teenager.

Antique coverlet

Student reproducing her great, great grandmother's coverlet

.

Weaving Studio at John C. Campbell Folk School.

Folk School

Next week I will be at John C. Campbell Folk School as an assistant instructor

 in  Weaving Your Coverlet workshop, taught by friend and talented weaver/musician

Beth Ross Johnson. 

If you have never heard of the folk school please use the link 

www.folkschool.org for their web site  and check them out. 

It is one of my favorite places having been there several times as a student in rug weaving workshops but this is the first time as a studio assist.

I am looking forward to all the nice people,
great food and lots of music in this special place. 

Pic from Oct. 2007, last time I was there.

I’ll post lots of pictures for you of the school and the class work on my return.

Hope you are having a great summer so far. 

Have a safe and happy fourth!