Weaving with Found Objects in December

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by

Tuesday 2 December, starting at 1 pm (NOTE THIS IS AN AFTERNOON MEETING!)

Location: Congregational Church of Harvard, 5 Still River Rd, Harvard MA

Come weave with found natural materials! Beautiful seedhead from the side of the road? Irresistible piece of driftwood? Intriguing porcupine quills? Here’s the opportunity to play!

Guild member Fran Levi will lead participants in making small woven creations off the loom with items found in nature. She will bring wisteria and grape vine wreaths and straight and forked sticks for making primitive looms and lots of dried flowers, birchbark, feathers, wasp nests, snake skins and more to share. Hemp, linen, wire and other warp options will be available.

Participants might bring collage scissors (not your good fiber scissors!), pruning shears, a tapestry needle, crochet hook, scraps of hand spun, a portable warped loom or a started basket and whatever you’ve found in nature that might be fun to weave.

Fran is a juried member of The League of New Hampshire Craftsmen. She is one of the leaders of the weaving program at the Townsend Senior Center.

Fran is also looking for a few people who can commit to arriving at 12 to help get transfer supplies from her car and set up, and people who can stay afterward to help clean up.

Doubleweave Workshop Announced

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by

Doubleweave Round Robin; 4 to 8 and more shafts

Thursday 3/19/26 to Saturday 3/21/26
At the Congregational Church in Harvard, MA

Doubleweave coasters woven by Gretchen Romey-Tanzer

Gretchen Romey-Tanzer will be leading this round robin workshop exclusively for members of the NVWG.

The workshop will be an introduction and expansion of double layer doubleweave. We will cover designing and drafting doubleweave structures with color interactions being the focus. Looms will be set-up to sample systems that will produce different effects depending on treadling sequences and weft colors used. Experimentation will be encouraged. A handout of all the potential samples will be included.

The workshop will be limited to 15 people. Cost will be $150 plus materials fee (approximately $20.)

Participants must be able to warp their loom (4-16 shaft table or floor loom) independently prior to the workshop. Warps and drafts will be provided by Gretchen a few weeks prior to the workshop. All level of weavers are welcome.

Signup will begin on 12/1/25. A signup link will be sent to members on that date. (No signups will be accepted before that date.) The tuition must be fully paid within a week of that date in order to hold your spot. Those who are attending the Guild meeting on Tuesday 12/2 may deliver checks or cash at that time. Others may be mailed to NVWG, PO Box 50, Harvard MA 01451.

Gretchen Romey-Tanzer has been a professional weaver, teacher and fiber artist for over 45 years. Her focus on complex doubleweave has received recognition for Excellence in Weaving from the American Craft Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Gretchen’s fiber pieces are in the collections of Art Museum collections in Boston MA, Denver CO, and Racine WI. She has been leading doubleweave workshops to New England weavers for 15 years.

2025-26 Meetings Announced

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by

All meetings are held at the Congregational Church of Harvard at 5 Still River Rd, Harvard, MA, unless otherwise noted.

Most meetings start with a half hour of time to socialize, snack, and browse the library books, with the meeting starting at 7:30.

DatePresenterProgram
23 Sept 2025, 7pmAll membersNEWS Review
28 Oct 2025, 7pmLeslie ArdisonBackstrap/hands-on/demo (Central and South America)
02 Dec 2025, 1 pmFran LeviGrapevine wreaths/decor
27 Jan 2026, 7pm on ZoomMyra Chang ThompsonSpanish Colonial Weaving (Churro Sheep)
24 Feb 2026, 7pm on ZoomBarbara Setsu PickettVelvet Weaving (origins around the world)
24 Mar 2026, 7pmMihoko WakabayashiSaori (Japan)
28 Apr 2026, 7pmMichelle Parish or other Fibershed repWestern Mass Fibershed (close to home)
26 May 2026, 7pmPenny LacroixNorwegian weaving
23 Jun 2026, 6pmAll! (Location TBA)POT LUCK

Guests are welcome! If you feel that you want to attend multiple meetings, please consider joining the Guild.

Rag Rugs Wrap Up “Zero Waste”

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by

with Mary Mandarino

In person only at the Congregational Church of Harvard
Tuesday 27 May 2025, starting at 7pm

Rag Rug woven by Mary Mandarino

Our presenter is Mary Mandarino, a weaver and teacher of Rag rug weaving with over 35 years of weaving experience. She has been the treasurer for the New England Weavers Seminar and is a member of the Weavers Guild of Boston, where she served as Special Workshop and Morning Workshop Program Chair and is currently the Publicity and Social Media Chair. Mary has taught at Spinning and Weaving Week for HGA, Springfield Weavers and Cranberry Weavers, and offers private instruction for weavers on hand painting yarns. She is currently an active member of the South End Woven Collaborative at 450 Harrison Ave in Boston.

Keeping with the theme of Zero Waste, Mary’s program will review various techniques for making rag rugs. Techniques include cutting rags for rugs on the bias, stitching technique for rag strips versus inlay, T-Shirt cutting, and making chenille for pile rugs. Rugs, Samplers and various materials will be brought for show and tell.

Library time, socializing and snacks will begin at 7. Mary’s program will begin at 7:30.

.

April Book Discussion

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by

VANISHING FLEECE: ADVENTURES IN AMERICAN WOOL

Tuesday 22 April 2025, starting at 7pm at the Congregational Church of Harvard, 5 Still River Rd

For something different, the Guild will take the role of “book group” for just this month and discuss Clara Parkes’ 2021 book Vanishing Fleece. Clara leads a fast-paced, cross-country adventure to transform a 676-pound bale of wool into four different kinds of yarn—and discover a vanishing domestic wool industry. Along the way, you meet a cast of characters that includes the shepherds, dyers, and countless workers without whom our knitting needles would be empty, our mills idle, and our feet woefully cold.

All are welcome! Even if you haven’t read the book, come to enjoy the discussion. (It’s a quick read, only 192 pages.) Clara herself reads the audio book – a great way to multi-task while you’re threading your loom!

Socializing, snacking and Library Time start at 7pm, and the meeting will get underway at 7:30 with announcements and show & tell.

March Meeting in Person

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by

Diana Vaughn on the NEWS Fashion and Gallery Show Submissions Process

March 25, 2025 at the Congregational Church of Harvard, 5 Still River Rd, beginning at 7 pm

NEWS webpage https://www.newenglandweavers.org/gallery-fashion-shows

Diana Vaughn is a NEWS Trustee and representative for the Weavers’ Guild of Boston. WGB is responsible for the Gallery Show intake and jurying, so Diana will be able to walk through the process of submitting articles. She’ll also talk in general about submissions to the Fashion Show.

  • Who can submit articles?
  • What types of articles can be submitted? What cannot be submitted?
  • What is the process?
  • How does the weaver need to prepare their article for display? Should hangers, rods, or other holders be supplied by the weaver?

All members are encouraged to attend, regardless of experience level or intent to submit something. Before the meeting, members are encouraged to look at the NEWS Gallery & Fashion Show webpage.

Agenda for the evening:

  • 6:00pm Board meeting
  • 7:00pm Socializing, snacks & library time.
  • 7:15pm Show & Tell
  • 7:30pm Formal meeting starts

What are you thinking of submitting?

Sari Silk Ribbon Squares

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by

Tuesday 25 February 2025
Meeting at 7pm, program at 7:30pm
On Zoom only

Liz Keefe with Sari Silk handwovens

Liz Keefe will join us in February via Zoom to talk about a journey that started with weaving traditional overshot patterns, and that led to a discovery of sari silk ribbons. She will also touch on ideas of how to work with color choices, and how to keep creativity alive.

Liz Keefe is a weaver and fiber artist. She uses fabric to explore the emotional intensity of color. Liz is a member of City Art Cooperative Gallery in San Francisco. Examples of the sari silk ribbon squares can be found on her portfolio page.

Members will receive a link via email. Visitors may contact the Program Committee to request the link.

Natalie Drummond on Zoom to start 2025

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by

Tuesday 28 January 2025, starting at 7 pm on Zoom

Deflected Doubleweave Meets Sustainability and Zero Waste

Deflected Doubleweave by Natalie Drummond

Natalie Drummond is an educator and fiber artisan living in Fremont, Indiana. Born and raised in Virginia, she developed a love of science, teaching, and fiber. Her early work focused on sewing and needlefelting. She later learned to weave from a Fort Wayne Weaver’s Guild instructor. Fine Arts instruction in Craftmanship and Design from Purdue (Fort Wayne) University followed in 2015. In 2019, she was awarded a MAFA fellowship focusing on Deflected Doubleweave. Natalie has pursued weaving and color with a passion ever since. Her program will focus on her journey with deflected doubleweave as well as discussion on sustainability and zero waste.

7:00 – social time, announcements and show & tell
7;30 – program with Natalie Drummond begins

Deflected Doubleweave

Visitors are welcome. Please contact the Program Director for the link.

Woven Pendants in December

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by
Pendant Front, about 2″x2.25″

The Nov/Dec meeting of the NVWG will be on 3 December, starting at 1pm at the Congregational Church of Harvard, 5 Still River Rd, Harvard MA. (There is no meeting in November.) Note that this is an afternoon hands-on meeting!

Guild member Arlette Stawasz will be leading us in creating woven pendants to be used as an ornament or for a necklace. In keeping with our “Zero Waste” theme, we’ll be using thrums, so grab some pretty ones from your scrap bag! (There will plenty to share, so come even if you don’t have any thrums.)

Arlette will supply the tiny Lucite frames on which we’ll weave. The photo has a wooden frame, but we’ll be using clear Lucite.

Materials to bring:

  • Scissors
  • Thin thrums – small amounts are fine
  • Tapestry needle
  • Beads (optional)
  • Needle and thread if you bring beads

Arlette has been weaving about 20 years and is the Resource Manager in the Textiles Area at the MakeIt Labs in Nashua. She likes exploring different kinds of weaving.

Back of pendant