December 2023 Guild Meeting – Visible Mending

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by

France has launched an initiative to combat clothing waste, subsidizing the repair of shoes and clothes on the verge of becoming unusable instead of throwing them away. Are you ready to follow suit? A so-called “darning loom” is the latest gadget in the fiber community, enabling clever consumers to repair their own clothing with “visible mending”. This inexpensive device holds your knit or woven fabric under tension and provides an anchor for warp threads while you weave a patch. The downside to the ingenious little loom is the lack of instructions in the package when you purchase them. Here’s your opportunity to learn how to use it to weave a patch that is functional – repairing a real hole – or just decorative.

Our Nov/Dec meeting will be held on Tuesday 5 December, starting at 1pm at the Congregational Church in Harvard. The program is a hands-on activity to learn to mend or darn holes in fabrics using the trendy “Speedweve” looms. If you do not have a little loom and did not pre-order one, they can be purchased online. This is the one we are purchasing for the group order, but you can get any variation or size that you prefer. Those who do not wish to participate in the mending are welcome to come just to see what’s happening and enjoy an afternoon together!

What’s happening at the meeting?

  • 1:00 Social time and library browsing
  • 1:30 Announcements and Show & Tell
  • 2:00 Begin the mending! The activity will be led by the Weavers’ Study Group that meets on Tuesdays at The Fiber Loft.
  • 4:00 Be done and cleaned up

What to bring:

  • A couple articles of woven or knit clothing in need of small (not larger than 1” square) mending. Examples of items might be jeans, sweaters or jackets, but other items can also be repaired. For practice, a plain scrap of fabric can also be used.
  • Bits of smooth yarn – commercial or handspun – to create decorative patches. Embroidery floss, or 5/2 or 10/2 mercerized cotton works well, but feel free to be creative!
  • Tapestry needle (one also comes with the loom)
  • Scissors
  • Glasses or magnifiers
  • $5 co-pay if you pre-ordered a loom
  • Or bring your own loom

22Oct Open House at Faulkner House, and an Honor for NVWG

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by

Earlier this month, the kind folks at Iron Work Farm (of which Faulkner House is a part) bestowed honors upon our Guild, naming us the 2023 Volunteers of the Year!  We all have so much fun doing our demos there that it seems a little sinful to be acknowledged for it.  I guess that proves that community outreach can be rewarding on many, many levels!  We are very grateful that Iron Work Farm and the Faulkner House are so appreciative of our playtime!

Care to join us?  The final Open House of the year will be held this Sunday (22Oct) from 3-5pm.  The address is 5 High St, Acton MA.  NVWG members are invited to weave, spin, knit, or do any other type of fiber art demo…or just come to check things out!  It’s a very cool early 1700’s house with a rich history.  Contact Laura (laura@northbrookalpacas.com) for more details.

October 2023 Guild Meeting

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by

Finished samples from all the looms!

The October meeting for the Nashoba Valley Weavers’ Guild is Tuesday 10/24 at the Congregational Church in Harvard, 2 Still River Rd.

Our main meeting will be a member participation show & tell. Everyone will have the opportunity to share about the class(es) they took at NEWS or what they wove over the summer. We’ll also get a recap of the lace workshop that went on last week and will get to see the samples that were generated from that. Please bring things you made at NEWS or over the summer!

Agenda for the evening:
6:00 Board meeting
7:00 Social time
7:30 Start of business meeting – announcements and then show & tell

Also, if you have not yet paid your dues for this year, they are due to the Treasurer by this meeting. After that, unpaid people will be dropped from the membership list and google group. You may also mail your dues to PO Box 50, Harvard MA 01451.

September 2023 Guild meeting and program

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by
Weaving Air: A Brief Overview of Lace Weaves
Laurie Autio

Lace weaves magically allow the weaver to bend the grid, creating holes to allow air and light to become part of their design. These weaves have been called plain weave with defects (Diana Frost), with floats added in one or both directions to pattern the cloth. This introductory lecture covers five loom-controlled lace weaves:  Huck, Canvas, Swedish Lace, Lace Bronson, and Spot Bronson. We’ll look at how each structure works, plus setts, materials, and weaving tips. There will be a wide variety of samples and pieces to examine.

Laurie Autio began weaving in 1985 and enjoys all parts of weaving, particularly figuring out how design and structure work and can be pushed. Music, crystallography, nature, and study of Japanese textiles influence her design work and lace weaves are a passion. Her weaving education includes a Master Weaver Certificate from Hill Institute (2000), serving as Coordinator of Study Groups for Complex Weavers (1998-2001), and a large library. Laurie began teaching around 1993 for various guilds, NEWS, Convergence, and Complex Weavers. In recent years she has run a four-year class called Explorations in Advanced Weaving and is slowly learning about Jacquard weaving. Laurie has served as President of Complex Weavers, Dean of Weavers Guild of Boston, President of Weavers of Western Mass., and Chair of Pioneer Valley Weavers. She enjoys writing, was co-editor of Interlaced (Weavers Guild of Boston, 2012) and editor of Eight Shafts: Beyond the Beginning, Personal Approaches to Design (Complex Weavers, 2022).

Where: Congregational Church of Harvard, 5 Still River Rd., Harvard, MA
When: Tuesday 26 September, 7 p.m.

The meeting starts with socializing, snacks, and browsing the library. The formal meeting and presentation begin at 7:30. This presentation will be educational for all Guild members, whether participating in the October Lace Workshop or not.

 

Fall 2023 Programs Announced!

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by

All programs this fall will be at the Congregational Church in Harvard, MA. We start with snacks, socializing and library time. Details will be posted soon!

26 September, 7 pm (meeting and presentation at 7:30) – Introduction to Lace Weaves with Laurie Autio

24 October, 7 pm (meeting and presentation at 7:30) – Show & Tell and NEWS Recap – Bring your summer creations and samples from your NEWS classes.

Tues 5 December starting at 1 pm – Little Darning Looms hands-on workshop

Annual Meeting and Potluck!

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by
Our last meeting of the year!
Date: Tuesday 27 June 2023, 6 pm
Where: Member’s home
If you are a current member of NVWG, you should have gotten an email with all the details on 15June.
If you are NOT a member and would like to join, please contact chair@nvwg.org to request the details.
We will have a brief business meeting to elect officers and vote on bylaws changes.  Then we will party, and show off our Guild Challenge accomplishments.  There will also be door prizes!

 

May 23, 2023 Meeting 7:00 PM Congregational Church, Harvard, MA

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by

The May Nashoba Valley Weavers Guild meeting will be at the Congregational Church in Harvard, MA. This is an in-person meeting. The meeting begins at 7:00 PM, followed by our presentation with Kristin Kelley-Munoz.

Tapestry Weaving from a Former Multi-Shaft Weaver’s Point of View

After spending over 20 years as a multi-shaft/cloth weaver, and prompted by the pandemic-forced closures of shows such as Paradise City, Kristin changed her weaving practice completely, starting over again as a tapestry weaver. After learning the basics through online classes, she was accepted into the two-year, low residency Foundation in Tapestry program at the West Dean Tapestry studio, one of the last remaining large tapestry studios in the world, located in southern England. In this presentation, Kristin will give an overview of tapestry from its ancient roots through to the current state of the field, and share her experiences in making this change and her studying at West Dean so far. She will bring along samples, books and a few different types of small tapestry looms for Guild members to see and try out, time permitting. She will also provide an extensive list of resources that she has found helpful in her journey – in case anyone else would like to explore the slow art of tapestry weaving as well.

Guild Meeting Tuesday, April 25, 2023, Congregational Church , Harvard, MA

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by

This is an in-person meeting that begins at 7:00 PM with social and library browsing time. The program–Creative Meditation: Finding Connection through Making with Christopher Croucher starts at 7:30 PM.

Creative Meditation: Finding Connection through Making

Meditation isn’t just about making your mind go blank.  In fact, unless you’re a monk high in the Himalayas, that’s really not the goal of meditation at all.  There are so many ways and so many reasons to practice reaching a meditative state including stress reduction, clearer thinking and even some health benefits.  One of my favorite ways to reach that state is to dive fully into a creative project.

In this workshop we will briefly discuss meditation, what it is and isn’t, and some of its benefits.  Then we will practice together with a guided meditation about connecting with our craft and art.  All you need is an art or craft you’d like to work on, preferably something a bit repetitive or simple like a simple knitting project, spinning, stitching or simple embroidery, sketching or anything that doesn’t require checking on a pattern.

I look forward to sharing this technique with you!

Christopher Croucher is an artist, performer and healer who enjoys weaving (pun intended) those three aspects of his work together to create beautiful experiences for those he encounters.  Chris practices a wide range of arts and crafts including but never limited to spinning and knitting, watercolor painting, sculpting, pyrography, sewing, and in many cases anything else he can get his hands on.  He is a professional dancer and choreographer and is currently growing his meditative dance series called Letting the Land Lead.  He also works with groups and one-on-one clients as a massage therapist and energy healer and teaches workshops based on all of his work.  During whatever time he has after doing all of that, Chris loves to be in nature.  Most of all, he simply loves sharing his passion for the magic of the world.   

March Zoom Meeting, Tuesday 28,2023 7:00 PM

Nashoba Valley Weavers' Guild Posted on by

The March 2023 Nashoba Valley Weavers Meeting Zoom Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 28, at 7:00 PM. Our program for the night is a tour of the Saunderstown (RI) Weaving School historic looms with Norma Smayda.

HISTORY

The Saunderstown (RI) Weaving School was established in 1974 and continues to offer classes in handweaving on floor looms. The school began with two Glimakra looms and a Monica table loom from Scandinavia, two small Harrisvilles’, one big Hammett, and five weaving students. This number quickly grew to between twenty-five and thirty students per semester, year-round. Over the years more looms came in, many were donated, others were bought, new, and used, and occasionally a few looms were left to make room for others. At this time there are about forty-five floor looms, plus several table, tapestry and band looms. Over twenty-five loom makers are represented. Some of the looms are historic, and most have stories to tell. Two looms belonged to Weaver Rose, another was built by Milo Gallinger for his wife Osma, one loom was used in the Bauhaus, another is a specially designed two-legged loom, and one was built by a Hollywood movie actor for his Rockette wife. The weaving school also houses a large library of about 2,000 volumes. This will be a narrated slide show into the workings of the Saunderstown Weaving School.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER

Norma Smayda learned to weave in Norway, and occasionally returned there to teach. In 1974 she established and continues to run the Saunderstown Weaving School. In addition, she lectures and gives workshops, especially on her favorite topics–Scandinavian weaving techniques, weave structures, and the work of Weaver Rose and Bertha Gray Hayes. She has written two books: Weaving Designs by Bertha Gray Hayes and Ondulé Textiles: Weaving Contours with a Fan Reed.