My birthday was last week. I celebrated with dear friends by renting kayaks and paddling on Irondequoit Creek. It was really lovely, but of course I didn’t think to take any photos.
Today I went to the One World Goods store in Pittsford before getting my groceries at Trader Joes. I’d previously stopped and browsed in this store, committed to Fair Trade, but not bought. I’d been thinking about one of their handmade purses since that first visit months ago, and decided I wouldn’t wait any longer. Well, I bought a bag and more. I figured that I’d consider them birthday presents to myself.
First I picked out 3 pairs of earrings. The ones on the cards are from Mexico, the Om symbol earrings from India.
The bag was made in Guatemala, with wonderfully colorful embroidery, lots of zippers, and an adjustable strap.
I couldn’t pass up the pants, handwoven and sewn in Nepal. They fit just like I wanted my pants made from my cotton/linen fabric to fit. I couldn’t wait to get home and compare the weight of the two fabrics.
I had to laugh. They feel very much like the fabric I’d started weaving, the looser beat, the fabric I thought was too loose for pants and am saving for a top. It figures, doesn’t it? Anyway, when I get up the gumption to go back to the pants with my handwoven, I can use these as a sort of guide for sizing.
On the weaving front, this past weekend was the annual Roycroft Summer Festival in East Aurora. It was sooooo hot – in the 90’s both days. And we’re set up on a blacktop parking lot. The crowds were very thin…people stayed home in their air conditioning and/or pools. So sales were poor for all the artists that I spoke with. But I enjoyed doing another community weaving project as part of my booth. I had everyone from preschoolers to grandparents take place. Here’s a teenage boy – I blurred his face since I didn’t ask permission to take or use the photo.
Here’s what the weaving looked like at the end of Sunday. I’m going to do a bit more work on it before I hang it, but I do enjoy this process and may well do more.
Hello again Peg.
Thanks ever so much for your reply and the information about your project. Now I am even more enthused… especially after reading the links you included. I would indeed like to have more details, either here or via e-mail. We have a large foyer will be perfect for such a project, and we do have folks who can help people get started.
Thank you,Ann
What a good idea it was to have the hanging warp ready for weavers to try. I’d like to know more about it if and when you can find the time. What worked best for warp and maybe more about your wefts. It looks like you might have used tulle or net (which I’d have never even thought of using!) among other things. Did you just have a basket of odds and ends for them to choose from? And? And? And? I would love to set up something in the foyer of the building where our guild has their October Show & Sale….. it would be perfect for people to see and do while they wait for the doors to open.
Thanks in advance,
Ann Belau
Ann-Happy to share what I did. I used an 8/3 cotton I’ve had hanging around for the warp. I sett it at about 6EPI, which looked fine in the reed. By the time I’d taken it out of the reed and tied it onto the bamboo pole, it was undoubtedly closer than that. Plus my woven header and footer, which I had hoped would spread the threads out well, didn’t do such a good job of that. If you used an actual tapestry loom, or had another way to hold the threads apart, I’d recommend that.
For the weft I did use strips of tulle with a bit of ribbon thrown in. I’ve done this process, albeit modified, before, and the tulle provides an interesting almost-stained-glass look. Check out these links for the prior project, and let me know if you want more details on how I set that one up: http://secondwindjewelry.com/jewelry-weaving-blog/2013/07/community-weaving-day/
http://secondwindjewelry.com/jewelry-weaving-blog/2013/09/more-progress/
I will tell you that very few could do the weaving without a fair amount of initial help, so be prepared to have someone on hand if you want people to do it while they’re waiting in the hallway.
I’d love to know what you do!
Happy Birthday! You certainly deserved all those treats and more. You can make a pattern from those pants. I know there are numerous tutorials on line with different ways.
Painting this week. No weaving, no sewing no fun!