Summer Colour in Cloth

                                               Our garden is full of colour and inspiration!

I am always influenced by the nature around me, summer colours start to feed into my woven cloth at this time of year.
This month I have been making vibrant cotton warps for the looms. It is a nice break from working in wool on the looms. (I'm busy spinning on the wheel in the garden, so there will be plenty of woolly projects later in the year).
However some people have allergies and do ask me if I weave and knit in cotton, so its always good to offer an alternative. Also in the summer months its great to work in cool cottons and linen.

 Hand weaving the Saori Way along with more tradition weaves of stripes and squares in gorgeous colourways.

 New cloth fresh from the loom.

Beautiful Summer Wraps/Shawls in soft cotton. The perfect "go to" accessory for the Season.

A Celebration Of Wool

UPDATE, THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

Just to let you know of my next Event at Quarr Abbey.
I'm very excited to be taking part in this new event and it will be so nice to be exhibiting at Quarr in early Spring time for a change.
If you are on the Island we hope to see you there.

Meanwhile we will be busy in our home studio making new items to sell through our online shops

Warp Speed - Part One

 Warp - the threads stretched on the loom.
In this photo you can see the warp threads being loaded this is called dressing the loom.

On my Ashford rigid heddle loom I thread the warp directly on the loom using a free standing wood peg to hold all warp wraps. I thread each one through the heddle as I go. It's a great way of mixing and experimenting with warp stripes.  

 For my Saori Loom I like to make my own warps (even though you can purchase ready made warps for this make of loom). I enjoy  creating cloth that is totally unique with my own warp patterns, colour choices, yarn, widths and lengths.
 To do this I have a warping frame on which I make my warp first, before transferring it to the loom to be threaded up. It is a slower process but Slow Cloth is just that, it take time, weaving knowledge with purpose and love for the craft.

 Here is a close up of the warp threads. Each warp end is individually threaded in the reed.

 Here you can see the heddles are all threaded too. I'm ready to wind the warp on to the roller. I have a 6 metre length which is kept under a light tension as I slowly wind it on to the loom.

When all the length of the warp is on the roller, I adjust the loom until I'm happy with the evenness and tension of the warp.
Time to make cloth!

Winning The Cup And Woolfest

My Handwoven Saori Styled  Black and White Shawl Wrap won

"The Marleen Upson Memorial Cup For Weaving"

at I.O.W Spinners, Weavers and Dyers Guild this year. 

Here is a photo of my winning shawl modelled with a WrightTurned Wooden Brooch & Pin set.

I so enjoyed weaving this piece as I used different weaving methods with different textures and types of yarn along with soft blends of coloured tones in plums, greys, charcoals, blacks and whites. It is rich and luxurious giving a lightness and softness to the touch.

This item along with several of my other scarves, accessories and homeware will be available to purchase at Woolfest.

http://www.woolfest.co.uk/

Kim of The Saori Shed  will kindly be displaying and selling my saori work.

She can be found at stand H162-163.

http://www.thesaorished.co.uk/

 

If you are able to go to the event she will be offering an opportunity for people to weave on a saori loom and a chance to win a saori banner.

Pop along to her website and Woolfest website for more details.

Please contact me through my online shops at Folksy or Etsy by clicking on my links in the right hand column of this blog if you are interested in having an unique SWH saori weaving made especially for you or a WT brooch/pin.

Alternatively browse our shops for new pieces being added which will be ready to purchase.