A busy spring.....

The month of April was a time of back to back students here at the school and though spring was slow in coming, the activity in the barn was blossoming! To start off the month we had a mother and daughter team come up from the south to weave wool throws. Mother Chris had woven a bit and Hilarie was a complete beginner but they both finished their throws in record time. Hilarie went on the weave a few cotton towels and Chris made a warp to take home. The next week brought Carrie Jessen all the way from Minnesota and she made good use of her time in the weaving of a cotton towel warp, a piece of overshot and also made a multicolored towel warp to take home. Three bouncy ladies from Burlington then came for a week during their school vacation - Debbie, Leisa and Kathy - and the houndstooth cotton warp, a cotton warp with horizontal stripes and a wool throw were their choices. Next came Lora Loope from Michigan, also to weave a houndstooth cotton warp and to make a warp to take home. This was Lora's first weaving experience also and she made a warp to take home to put on a barn frame loom at her local historical society. The last batch of students was a husband and wife team from Delaware - Lemuel and Jessie Hudson - and this was Lem's first weaving experience also. He took to it so well that he wove off a cotton baby blanket, after finishing his throw and Jessie made a warp for them to put on her AVL at home. They will also be returning to buy one of our barn looms so that they each can have their own loom. It was so inspiring to have all these new weavers join the fold!

Hilarie working on her throw.

Chris, Hilarie's mom, learning how to wind a bobbin from Lynnette.

Hilarie and Chris with their finished throws.

Hilarie went on to weave another warp of cotton towels in a houndstooth pattern.

Carrie working on her multi-colored towel warp.

Carrie with her finished towels and a piece of overshot.

Debbie working on her houndstooth towels.

Leisa makes progress on her cotton towels.

Kathy pleased with the throw for her son's wedding.

The finished products!

And the back side....

Lora with her houndstooth warp.

Lemuel cutting off his throw.

Lem's wife Jessie cutting off her throw.

The happy couple!

March Highlights.....

March was an exciting month here at MSW with a long awaited for workshop by Rabbit Goody on Pattern Weaving and Drafting. We had a full class of 12 students and in two very full days everyone came away with more information then they thought possible. Besides working with the usual graph paper process, Rabbit also brought her computer with the Fiberworks PCW program and students got to see how wonderful the capabilities of computer technology can be in designing patterns. We also had numerous looms set up with various weave structures so that everyone could see how these patterns translated into actual cloth. The next week we had two new students from Williamstown, MA ...Suzy Konecky and Matthew Ball ...who were head cheesemaker and farm manager, respectively...of Cricket Hill Farm. They both needed a little break from the cows and decided to come and weave for a week. Suzy wove a cotton dishtowel warp of green and black and Matthew opted for a wool throw in Navy and Gold. They both were pleased with their finished pieces and promised to send some of their speciality cheese from the farm for us to sample! In the upholstery shed out back, Ellie worked with long term former student, Polly Connell's handwoven cotton to cover a wonderful old chaise. Polly had woven the fabric years ago and was patiently waiting for Ellie's return from England. It was well worth the wait!

Rabbit explaining the in's and out's of pattern drafting to an attentive class!

Sandra and Stevie choosing an overshot pattern to figure out.

Rabbit showing Susan and Monica how to use the computer to work out their block pattern.

Rabbit, Stevie and Alison discussing the pros and cons of computers versus graph paper.

Matthew checking out Suzy's dishtowel warp.

Matthew tieing the fringe on his finished throw.

Suzy's finished dishtowel warp!

Suzy and Matthew with their finished projects.

Polly's chaise with her handwoven cotten.

A happy customer!

Remembering Peter.....30 March 1954 - 3 March 2013

Those of my former students from years past will surely remember my partner, Peter Fischer. We were together from 2003 to 2011 and Peter was a major presence around the barn both as official raddle maker and loom repairman but especially at the daily lunch table. On March 3, Peter made the painful decision to end his own life after a very debilitating depression. Words cannot even begin to describe the shock that rocked this community ....for Peter  made an impact on everyone he met. I will shorten this blog post by not including many more words but with a few choice photos of how best we will remember Peter. My loss is beyond words.

With the new kittens...Rosie and Isabelle

At one of our Monday lunches....

Showing off his new suit...

Peter dyeing his tee shirts at an indigo workshop.

In our happier days....

Mid Febuary Goings On.....

It has been a very busy February after a quiet January and it was great to have the looms all filled up again and new projects coming off.  Besides the regulars of Stevie, Sandra, Susan and Pat, we were joined by Ginny Kern as a new monthly student.  Rose Diamond was also back for the month to finish her time from the Vt Folklife Grant to work on carpet techniques.  She choose some ambitious projects which you can see photos of below.  On the new student front, we had our neighbor Dang - who runs a Thai restaurant in Montpelier with her husband (and is also the daughter-in-law of famous illustrator - Mary Azarian) come to learn to weave on a barn frame loom with wool.  Dang grew up in Thailand watching her mother weave on a back strap type loom using different cellulosic fibers and fine cotton so this was a very different experience for her.   Next to arrive was Michele Goldman from Orono, Maine who made a beautiful striped warp of 8/2 cotton and took home a small rug loom that belonged to Sandra. Last week we hand another Miane-ite....Madeline Owen and her boyfriend, Dylan, who are running a CSA garden outside of Camden.  Madeline wove a beautiful throw and a scarf for Dylan...all in 5 days!  Stayed tuned for what's in store for March as the clothing fabrics challenge begins to take shape!

 

Stevie weaving a log cabin throw that she dyed the gold and red for.

Detail of Stevie's throw.

Susan ironing her double bed blanket woven from 3/8 Jagger Spun.

Susan starting a new warp of cotolin napkins.

Sandra weaving a luminous red cotton warp of M's &O's dishtowels.

Ginny with her finished 3/8 Jagger spun throw.

Ginny's cotton baby blanket in a sweet overshot pattern.

Dang finishing her Jagger Spun wool throw.

Michele Goldman, a new student from Maine, weaving cotton dishtowels.

Detail of Michele's towels.

Another new student from Maine....Madeline Owen weaving her 3/8 Jagger Spun throw.

Rose with her rag rug warp of wool.

Close-up of Rose's rag rug.

Rose's finished rag rug warp!

Rose designing her warp faced carpet.

Rose beaming on the warp faced carpet....it had been a long day.

Ellie playing hooky from upholstering to finish a sweater.

Rabbit Goody coming to MSW in March!

After many long years we have finally persuaded Rabbit Goody to come and teach her pattern weaving workshop here at the school!  The class is on the weekend of March 9 & 10, 2013 from 9 am to 4:30 pm. Here is a description of what's to come.....


Pattern Weaving:  Designing & Drafting

This workshop will help students understand how patterns are created through threading and treadling and how weave structures are created.  The class will work with block weaves:  using two and three block patterns including Spot Weave, M's & O's, summer and winter and float work.  We will also look at progressive weaves:  complex twills, satin and crepe weaves.  On Saturday we will discuss the theory of block weaves and try our hand at drafting and on Sunday we will create our own patterns and try them out on the loom. We will draft on point paper and the computer using Fiberworks PCW.  The class is open to beginners thru advanced weavers.   Call 802-426-377 or email the school for more information - eatonhill@fairpoint.net

Rabbit at her hand loom.

Identifying historic textiles.

Sashes, Belts & Hammocks....

It's been a quiet month here at MSW .....not much new work and no new students .....so it was a perfect time to explore some new weaving techniques.  Zoe has become interested in the hand manipulated technique of sprang and decided that she wanted to weave her very own hammock.  After a few small samplings she built herself a frame and warped it up for a full sized hammock.  Not to be outdone, Norman
then brought out some of his hand manipulated weavings most notably his work on the French Canadian

trading sashes - "Ceinture Flechee's".  These sashes are woven with the warp as the weft in incredibly beautiful and complex patterns.  Anyone interested in a class on these or in making your own hammock???

Zoe's frame for her sprang woven hammock.

Norman showing Zoe his collection of hand manipulated belts and sashes.

Two  Ceinture Flechee'....one made by Norman on left and another made in Quebec.

Detail of Quebecoise made Ceinture Flechee'

A fitting way to celebrate the end of the month...Zoe's 4oth Birthday....

Zoe's Birthday lunch!

Opening presents......

Her own copy of Norman's new DVD!

Happy New Year 2013!

The start of a new year.....and what's ahead!
This year besides focusing on clothing fabrics, we are going to explore two sets of natural dyes in depth....the Red dyes ~ cochineal, madder, brazilwood and lac ~ and the old standby's  ~ indigo  and woad. Besides perfecting the dyeing techniques of both the blue and the red, we are going to delve into some new territory, that of surface applications.  For the red dyes we are going to explore printing, silkscreening and warp painting and with the blue dyes we will be doing more with shibori, resist printing and ikat.  For the Red dye class we are pleased to have Zoe Sheehan Saldana to teach the surface applications and a former dye student, Mary Brust, will be teaching the shibori and ikat techniques.  Alison and I will be teaching the dyeing  segments of the these two classes so come join us this summer for some great workshops.
More details and dates are on the web site (or will be soon!)

ps...for those of you who would like our 2012 newsletter either as an e-newsletter or hard copy, send us an email.

Zoe back for another month long intensive to explore surface techniques with the Red Dyes:  madder and cochineal.

Rolling up the silk screened  fabric for the steamer.

Close-up of the silk screened pattern which Zoe designed.

"The Stainless  Coffin" aka - fabric steamer.

Mary Brust our new shibori teacher!

Some of Mary's shibori and ikat fabrics.