Due to the forecasted snowstorm, the December meeting is postponed one week to Tuesday 12/9/25. All other details are the same.
Meeting Postponement due to SNOW!
Snow Policy
Hopefully we will not have to deal with this on Tuesday, but just in case, here’s what you need to know:
Generally, if the Harvard Public Schools are closed, we do not have a meeting in Harvard. We’ll also send an email to membership. If you’re not a member and are wondering about a meeting, please contact us before venturing out.
Of course, in January and February, our meetings are on Zoom, so they happen regardless of the weather!
Weaving with Found Objects in December
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
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
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
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.
| Date | Presenter | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 23 Sept 2025, 7pm | All members | NEWS Review |
| 28 Oct 2025, 7pm | Leslie Ardison | Backstrap/hands-on/demo (Central and South America) |
| 02 Dec 2025, 1 pm | Fran Levi | Grapevine wreaths/decor |
| 27 Jan 2026, 7pm on Zoom | Myra Chang Thompson | Spanish Colonial Weaving (Churro Sheep) |
| 24 Feb 2026, 7pm on Zoom | Barbara Setsu Pickett | Velvet Weaving (origins around the world) |
| 24 Mar 2026, 7pm | Mihoko Wakabayashi | Saori (Japan) |
| 28 Apr 2026, 7pm | Michelle Parish or other Fibershed rep | Western Mass Fibershed (close to home) |
| 26 May 2026, 7pm | Penny Lacroix | Norwegian weaving |
| 23 Jun 2026, 6pm | All! (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”
with Mary Mandarino
In person only at the Congregational Church of Harvard
Tuesday 27 May 2025, starting at 7pm
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.
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April Book Discussion
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
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
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
Tuesday 25 February 2025
Meeting at 7pm, program at 7:30pm
On Zoom only
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
Tuesday 28 January 2025, starting at 7 pm on Zoom
Deflected Doubleweave Meets Sustainability and Zero Waste
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
Visitors are welcome. Please contact the Program Director for the link.