Durham Guild Open Day for spinning

Using a spinning wheel

Our Open Day for Spinning was a chance for us to demonstrate and teach.

Drop spindle spinning

One visitor was Hannah, a skilled spinner who loves all things to do with textiles.  She showed her considerable skills by using a spinning wheel with which she was not familiar.  Her spun yarn is very fine and even.

Hannah spinning expertly

a very fine yarn

More spinning

But not every one spins, so several members brought their looms.

Jane has an Ashford Knitters Loom on which she is weaving a leno scarf.

Leno lace weaver

Her yarn is a crepe vintage and it will be very interesting to see the final scarf.

Yarn from New Mexico

She loves her Ashford loom and brought along a selection of the scarves that she has woven. These two scarves were from yarn brought in a charity shop.  The yarn came from Hope, New Mexico and has a lovely feel.

Even plain weave can produce some wonderful effects.  Look at this clasped weft scarf with the wavy pattern.It is really unusual.

The wavy line is produced by the 'clasped weft' technique.

Douglas loves tartan and brought his four shaft table loom to finish threading his latest piece. He only weaves tartans and is a knowledgeable specialist.

Threading takes time and patience.

Hannah's mum and her unique crocheted blanket.

Hannah's mum was crocheting a beautifully designed blanket.  The inspiration was Seaham harbour and beach.  The colours and pattern are lovely and this unique design is for two special friends who appreciate the love and care which goes into handmade articles.

A tapestry piece.

The Guild has many other skills as well.  Here is a tapestry piece.

The Guild had a busy day and we enjoyed meeting new people interested in craft.

Weaving Open Day.

Durham Guild Weaving Open Day on Saturday 15th October 2016

Our next open day is about Weaving and is on Saturday October 15th in St Oswald's Institute. Put it in your diary.

There will be a number of looms ready warped and plenty of people on hand to help.  Do come along.

I will be bringing my backstrap and a number of heddles ready warped for anyone to try. One loom I will be bringing is my Swedish Band Loom. This was the first loom that I bought once I became hooked on weaving.

My first loom

Weave a friendship bracelet.

To see this loom in action go to my YouTube video:  Five Ways of Weaving Narrow Bands  
https://youtu.be/ZzhuDomPtxE

I will warp up this loom so that visitors can have a go and weave a friendship bracelet.

I am researching friendship bracelets at the moment and should have a good supply of examples to show. Here is my first idea which I wove on my Swedish band loom.

drawdown for friendship bracelet

This band is woven in 16/2 Swedish cotton used double using four colours.  The weft is a blue cottolin yarn.  There are 35 warp ends in total.  The band is 1.4 cm in width.

Close up of woven band

To finish the bracelet, the warp ends were plaited.  At one end, I divided the warp ends into two groups and plaited them separately.  The ends were whipped to finish.

At the other end, I divided the warp ends into two groups but only plaited them for a short length.  I then overlapped the two groups and plaited them as one.  This gave a loop at one end for fastening the bracelet.  Here is the result.

Friendship bracelet

I love the effect of a wavy stripes.


To see the another Swedish loom in action at Skansen, the open air museum in Stockholm, go to Slöjda med Skansen: Bandvävning   https://youtu.be/jPeBqxW6ZUw

Next post:

My next post in April will be about the colour green.  Do follow my blog to get updates.

Happy Weaving

Susan J Foulkes April 2016