May 28, 2012

Introduction to Weaving

I signed up for an introduction to weaving workshop at the Handweavers and Spinner Guild of Victoria at the beginning of this year. It's a 5-week course, one evening per week. The first workshop started last week. The reason for my wanting to learn weaving came from the the loom given to me by a dear friend. On the tour I had a little taste of weaving on a traditional Japanese loom. The loom was dressed and ready for us to weave. Our weaving consisted of throwing the shuttle left and right together with the paddles we had to move up and down with our feet. To my surprise, I loved it! It was comforting that I actually like weaving. After paying big dollars for my workshop I was looking forward to it.


The first workshop introduced us to the table loom we are going to be using. It looked somewhat baby-like compared to the floor loom I weaved on in Japan. We learned the different names of the parts of the loom. I have been watching a YouTube video by Elizziewag of "How to weave on a loom". Yes, learn weaving by YouTube, I highly recommend it...!


Next we  were shown how to "making a warp" on a warping frame. The colour was a bit bright for me, but there was not a large choice of threads for us to use. I hope to tone it down by using just one weft colour. 


At the end of my first weaving workshop I got my warp thread ready to dress my loom in the next workshop. For the first piece we are just making a sample. On the next piece we can design our own using our  choice of threads. I do want to use my eco-dyed silk to weave sakiori  (rag weaving). Let's hope I can.


I'm so glad to find that there were young ladies taking the weaving workshop too. Our teacher Ilka is a very experienced weaver and teacher. She teaches a textiles course at RMIT University as well as working with many fashion designers in Australia.


This is the piece of weaving I did on the tour. It's about 15" x 10" in size. Big enough for a tray cloth or small table. I love the colour on this cloth.


These are two pieces of woven cloths. One is a tea-towel and the other one is a needle book made by Jean as gifts for me. Thank you Jean. I hope I will be able to weave like this one day so watch this space for some weaving articles I will show you. 

Not much is happening here lately. It's winter down here and I do miss some sunshine. We have had a lot of rain too. I'm keeping warm in the heated building at work so I can't complain. I'm still stitching away on my boro vest. I hope to get it finished and to wear it before the end of winter. 

Till next time
Nat





18 comments:

apiecefullife said...

Good on you.
Makes me want to get back to my (unused) floor loom.

deanna7trees said...

i'm a bit jealous of your weaving adventure. i'm going to check out that video. can't wait to see your progress. enjoy.

Needled Mom said...

Weaving has always fascinated me too. I actually have a friend who offered me a big floor loom, but I have no place to put it. I know that you will LOVE using your hand dyed pieces and I can't wait to see what you produce. I know it will be spectacular.

Queen Of The Armchair aka Dzintra Stitcheries said...

Nat I'm not surprised you loved weaving...you can turn your hand to anything!!! All the best for finishing your vest...I'm sure you will xoxo

blandina said...

Good for you Nat, how exciting! It is always rewarding to learn anew skill. I will look with interest to your progress.

Nedra said...

That looks like so much fun! I can tell already that you are really going to enjoy the next 5 weeks.

Lis Harwood said...

You sound very excited about the weaving course and I think you will have a great time and learn a lot. That bright pink will be toned down when you weave I'm sure. Looking forward to seeing more of what you do.

Jeannie said...

Nat, I do wish I lived near you! I have always wanted to weave and at one time had a table top loom decorating my room. I sent it to someone who actually would use it! LOL! The piece you made on your tour is beautiful. I am looking forward to weaving updates.

Kim said...

You need more life times Nat to do all you want to do!
is there any chance you are writing a tutorial or even a step by step look at how you started with a store bought vest and are making it into a personalized boro piece?

You post always inspire me to learn more, try new things and admire your efforts to learn new skills.

Happy Sewing

Els said...

Hi Nat, all this is quite interesting .... but : not my cup of tea. I have already so many things I do, I won't add another ;-)
I like the blue piece you did on the tour ! Ha making little tassels, like the ones Jude always uses in her cloths ! I think you twist two little bundles and then let those twist around each other ... (but how do you prevent un-twisting again ?)
The last two yellow creamy pieces look wonderful ! Well, when you do the weaving like all the óther things you do, I'm quite confident that you will make wonderful things in no time !!!

Queen of the Tea Cosies said...

So we might see you at Sturt weaving class, Winter School. :-)

Peggy said...

Nat, a weaving adventure! I love woven cloth, it is something that I hope to try someday, too, but so far I've only woven on a child's loom. Rag weaving will be awesome, I hope you get to do it! xo

onesmallstitch said...

enjoy your class, Nat. Can't wait to see what you do. btw - the coloured weft in your towel is dyed with kakishibu.

ParisMaddy said...

Bonjour Nat.

How exciting! Weaving. oh the adventures yet to come. I can't wait to see your creations. The weaving from your friend is really nice. So many of the weavers in the US have gone away it's nice to see it coming back in some way.

Sending a big sunny smile your way to warm you up.

much love. xo

Turtlemoonimpressions said...

I just found you - thanks for the inspiration. I jumped out of bed this morning to shut off my crock pot of rhododendrons simmering for a brew! took a break and slid into my computer chair and am glad to find so many eco dyers! It's new to me so thanks for sharing!

Sue said...

You will love weaving! I have been to busy quilting and gardening to get to my loom in a while and I really miss it. Enjoy!

Matt said...

This looks great! I seriously just work across the road, but I've been too busy to take a class.

Unknown said...

This is an interesting presentation and an interesting learning experience.



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