The Weave Fair, Vaxjo, Sweden 2017

Weave Fair 2017

The Weave Fair was held in Vaxjo, Sweden in September.  The Weave fair is a fantastic occasion to meet other weavers from around the world and see an astonishing range of equipment and yarns.  There is a comprehensive lecture programme including some lectures in English.
The town of Vaxjo had displays of weaving and the longest rag rug every produced.

It led past a display by the local craft guild who had looms where they demonstrated their skills.

Another long rug led to a local shop where more woven goods were displayed as well as another loom.

The rug led to a shop.

Lots of woven goods on display

The local museums also had a colourful display of both contemporary and old examples of weaving.


To get to the Weave fair, I had to board a bus in the town centre with the destination Samarkand.  So I took 'The Golden Road to Samarkand.'  The Weave Fair seems like a caravanserai, although not a place to rest but to meet and buy.

The bus to Samarkand

I attended all three days as there is always something to do and see. All the major loom makers were there and the weaving equipment was very tempting. I like to arrive early so that I can take alook around  before it gets too busy.

Toika Finland

Yes the loom equipment did stretch this far!

Glimakra USA

All the yarn was very tempting.  A rainbow of colours in wool, linen and cotton.

There were plenty of weavers demonstrating their skills. Local guilds gave their time to bring their looms and show a variety of weaving techniques from tapestry to draw loom weaving.

 At the Weave Fair in Boras in 2011, I attended a inspirational lecture by Andreas Moeller.  He is an accomplished weaver/designer as you can see from his web site.  He spoke about the 8 shaft countermarche loom that he had designed for weavers in Africa.  It is an amazing loom and here he demonstrated its capabilities.   Here is his web site  http://www.moeller-hamburg.com/c/English
I have uploaded a video onto my Facebook page. 

I have posted a video of Andreas weaving on his loom on my Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/sue.foulkes.5   It is astonishing how quickly he can weave.

Here is a piece from his blog about this remarkable loom.
In 2009 he constructed the Personal-Flying-8 Workshop Unit, a loom and all the equipment that is needed for weaving. It can be built easily by one person, without the use of electricity, without the need of drilling holes and without metal parts like brackets or axles.
The building instructions for the Personal-Flying-8 loom and the book Flying-8 Das Weben can be ordered from Andreas.

The Selvedge magazine stand

Selvedge magazine was also represented. I have been interviewed for an upcoming edition of Selvedge along with a tapestry weaver, Matty and spinner, Amanda.  It was a wonderful opportunity for us all to talk about our passion for craft and the role the the Association of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers has for us and other like minded craft practitioners. http://www.wsd.org.uk/

I have a new article due to be published in the next edition of the Journal published by the Association with an accompanying YouTube video. (yes, it is about band weaving!). Amanda's work in Tibet is in the current Autumn edition of the Journal.

I was looking forward to seeing the stall for the Leksands Hemlöjd.  In Leksand it was the first outlet outside of Stockholm to sell local crafts and was founded in 1904. This was a must go to destination for me every time I visit Sweden.

At the Weave fair, I bought a pattern book of bands as well as a stunning band from Insjon near Leksand.

The busy Leksand stall.

This is the beautiful hand woven band that I bought. 

I had an amazing time at the Weave fair. I met weavers from around the world. The stand for the Swedish Weavers Association was of particular interest. http://www.riksvav.se/   I bought one of their practical large bags which was very useful for all my purchases. I will write more about this in a future blog.

An excellent bag for carrying lots of 'goodies'.

The Skane region is famous for its embroidery.  The stand gives an idea of how colourful they are.

The cushions are glorious.

These bags came as kits so that you could make your own.  The bands were all commercially woven.  

We also visited other places in Sweden.  We went back to Orebro and found other sights to explore including the iconic water tower.   There is a small open air collection of old houses in a lovely park.

Lovely old buildings to explore. This shows Siw's shop.

Here I met Siw Norup who had a small shop selling her handmade items.

 She was selling her collection of woven bands as she does not weave them any more. She wove simple warp faced bands and was selling her heddles and band locks.

The bands were very colourful and I bought one as a souvenir. It uses different weights of wool and has an interesting asymmetrical pattern.

woven band by Siw

I hope you have enjoyed this trip to Sweden and the Weave Fair.  The next Fair is in three years time.
One area of the exhibition hall was partitioned as a private area for the people running the various stands.  I spotted these two patient dogs - I felt the same after three days.

The free online workshop for patterned band weaving starts today.  See my blog for details.

I will be writing future blogs about the other places I visited in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland.

Happy weaving

Susan J Foulkes