Stripes

I love stripes and I enjoy designing new stripes.  After finishing my last blog I thought about the lovely book about Estonian skirt stripes  Virumaa Seelikud. Taking inspiration from the book I decided to design two stripes to share with you. For details of the book look at the previous blog entry in March or the  book list on the blog.

Here is a sample page so that you can see the high quality of this book.

Virumaa Seelikud  by Kersti Loite

Making yarn wraps.

Making a yarn wrap is a good way of looking at colour and proportion before you start weaving. Here is yarn wrap taken from the skirt material which dates from 1909. The yarn wrap is a guide.

Yarn wrap

If you look at the yarn wrap you can see 2 white yarns 4 pale pink 4 dark pink then 4 black.  In the centre there are 4 pale blue.

If you wanted to weave a narrow band so that this is what appears on the surface you need to double the warp ends for each colour. There are 90 warp ends.  I wove the band using 16/2 cotton and it is 2.4 cm in width.

band woven with 16/2 cotton

drawdown for weaving a narrow band

On page 89 there is a lovely stripe design for woven material for a skirt.  I looked at one element of the stripe pattern and made a yarn wrap using 16/2 cotton. For a narrower band you can alter the width of each strip.  Here I have halved the number for each stripe.  Using different yarn will also affect the width of the band.

Yarn wrap for narrow band

For this band I used 55 warp ends.  I used the number of yarns that can be seen on the surface of the yarn wrap.

Band woven with 16/2 cotton.

drawdown for narrow band

The woven bands

Do look at the page on Plain Weave Warp Faced Bands on my blog for another example.

Stripe Inspiration.

Here are two more books which I bought several years ago which are a good source of inspiration for stripes.

Stripe Design Textile Patterns in Japan
2005  ISBN 4-89444-422-4















The second book is small but contains 650 examples of patterns from Japan

Japanese Textiles II Stripes and Lattices
ISBN 4-86152-024-X

Tea Towels

I have just finished weaving a set of small tea towels for our motor home.
Warp: cottolin in four shades: pale grey dark grey burgundy and pale burgundy.
Weft: One towel -  burgundy; one towel - pale burgundy and the final towel is woven as drawn in.
Sett: 20 ends per inch

Woven on 8 shafts 

Weave structure: plain weave.  I used 8 shafts but plain weave can be woven using any even number of shafts.

Stripes can be turned into checks very easily but take longer to weave as more shuttles have to be used.

Three tea towels

Check pattern on loom

Susan J Foulkes  April 2015

A Tartan Question

Northumbrian Pipes

My friend Richard plays the Northumbrian pipes and also makes them. Recently he was given a set of old pipes which are Border or Lowland pipes.  They are over 100 years old.  Richard is going to make a copy of them and donate the originals to a museum.  However, he is trying to find out as much as he can about them. The pipes were carefully packaged with the fragments of a tartan cover.

As a weaver I was particularly interested in the fragment of tartan which came with the pipes.

First of all I need to describe the Northumbrian Pipes. Here is a picture of a set of pipes that Richard is restoring at the moment. He supplied the descriptions of the different types of pipes.

The Burleigh set of Northumbrian Pipes made by David Burleigh of Longframlington c. 1976

This shows a set of "standard" Northumbrian small-pipes which is currently undergoing restoration by Richard.  These are typical of what most people would understand by Northunbrian pipes.  This layout has the chanter coming out of one stock (the socket that is tied into the airbag), and three drones all coming out of another different stock.  They are bellows-blown so they have a third stock that takes the blowpipe.  They are played with the drones across the chest rather than over the shoulder.  The leather air bag is usually covered in fabric - in this case blue velvet - and it is this bag cover that gives us the fragments of tartan in the sample. 

They have the same general layout as "large Northumbrian Pipes" which have an uncertain pedigree and several names but are most commonly known as "Border pipes".

The Border or Lowland Pipes

This engraving is of a painting c.1822 by Thomas Sword Good (1789 - 1872) of Berwick.

This engraving shows exactly the type of Border pipes that the tartan came from, with two short tenor drones about the same length and a longer baritone drone. The engraving shows the piper as left-handed which may possibly be due to the reversal of the engraving process, although left-handed pipers were not unknown. This is a good representation of Border pipes. 

The Border (or Lowland Pipes) being researched

Lowland pipes in Museum

Played in the North of England and the Lowlands of Scotland from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, Border Pipes are quiet enough to play alongside other acoustic instruments but maintain the characteristic skirl of the Great Highland Bagpipe. Like Northumbrian small-pipes, Border pipes are bellows-blown, have three drones set in a common stock which lie across the chest. They have a nine note scale, and usually employ GHB fingering and gracing.  Their repertoire is drawn from Scottish and Northumbrian sources, not least the 1733 William Dixon manuscript which is the earliest surviving collection of bagpipe tunes in the UK.

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The Tartan Cover

Fragment of tartan which originally covered the leather bag.

This is the tartan from the set of Border pipes probably dating from 1800 - 1850.  Originally, it

would have covered the leather airbag. As you can see by the picture the tartan is in a poor state.  Some of the holes are for the stock and drones but the material itself is extremely fragile. The scale is indicated by the ruler. 

Unfortunately the photograph that I took did not reproduce the subtlety of the colours.  The colours are: natural( beige/white), light olive and dark olive and a soft red.  (four colours in all). I counted the threads to find the pattern repeat.  The ruler gives an idea of the size of the tartan pattern. 

Pattern repeat:

red              24     24    24                         28

light olive         8     8      60               18       18            60

dark olive                             8       26                26     8  

natural                                      8                            8

Pattern repeat is 356 warp ends.   Selvedge is 8 threads natural which is in a tighter weave

In the book The Tartan Weaver’s Guide by James D. Scarlett  it is noted that 'As late as the 1840 a setting of 52 per inch was normal.' The sett for the tartan fragment appears to be 48 per inch square. 

Identifying the tartan.

We are trying to identify the tartan.  If you can identify the pattern, do let us know.  It would be lovely to present the pipes to a museum with as much information as possible. 

Just a note about tartans in general.  Clan tartans are an invention of the early 18th century.  Walter Scott wanted the Highlanders to pay homage to George IV on his first visit to Scotland in 1822.  One firm of weavers, William Wilson and Son of Bannockburn immediately saw the economic possibilities of selling more of their tartan patterns. They put together a Key Pattern Book so that Highland Chiefs could buy what they required.  Thus tartans became associated with Highland Clans. 

Susan J Foulkes
Richard
April 2015

Update August 2016

Richard has developed a web page of his findings about piping in North Shields.

Here is the link: http://northshieldsnsp.co.uk/

He will be following up the information about the likely origin of the tartan kindly supplied by Peter. He identified the tartan as probably one of Wilsons' numbered patterns c1820-40; specifically, a variation of the No 43, Kidd or Caledonia, of which there there were several.

He pointed out that my draft is faulty in the methodology used for recording tartans and the shades and he supplied the correct version.
Here it is: The correct method for the setting (per Wilsons') method is R/12 LB8 G50 K8 W8 LB16 R/34 - half pivot counts.
R = red
LB = light blue
G = green
W = white
K = black

Susan J Foulkes August 2016

Travels around the Baltic: Estonia

Whilst planning our trip, I read many books and articles about the countries we were to visit.  Sigrid Rausing had just published an account of her stay in Estonia in 1993-4 whilst completing her anthropological fieldwork. She describes the lives of the minority Swedes who lived on the peninsula of Noarootsi.  Estonia had become an independent country once more and the world changed for the people of this small country. It is a very moving account.

Tallin

Our first stop was Tallin, the capital of Estonia. It is a striving modern city but it has a charming old town centre with a delightful old quarter full of craft shops.  I found this shop which sells the best of Estonian craft. It is in the centre of town and very near the oldest coffee shop which is definitely a place to visit after shopping.

The Estonian Handcraft House

Many craft shops had woven bands and the lovely striped material typical of the country but this shop had the best selection. I bought a number of examples of the woven bands.

Map showing different striped patterns from around Estonia.

We went to the Estonian Open Air Museum outside the town.  Fortunately on a Saturday, a local folk dance group performs.  Here they are dressed in a variety of costumes from around Estonia.

Folk dance display at the Open Air Museum

The typical Estonian inn, the Kolu Hall served traditional food which was simple but very tasty and very popular.The adjoining hall, which originally had been the stables, had a display of old textiles.

display of old textiles at the Kolu Hall

Here is a close up on one of the wall hangings.

My impression of Estonia is that education and knowledge are considered very important.  There are an impressive number of lovely books on various craft topics which are superbly presented.  There is a realisation that if crafts are to survive then providing the detailed information in an attractive and comprehensive way is essential.  There are books giving knitting patterns for patterned mittens, books on weaving and embroidery.  These are not coffee table picture books but have clear instructions for anyone who wishes to learn and practice the crafts.

Virumaa Seelikud by Kersti Loite.

Here is the lovely book about weaving striped cloth.  The stripes are photographed in sufficient detail to make your own warp plans.  The stripes are also useful as a source of design for narrow bands.

The book is in Estonian but the illustrations are very clear.


The book is Virumaa Seelikud by Kersti Loite. published in 2013  ISBN 978-9949-33-310-3






Too often information about patterns is not available or hidden away in museums.  The Estonian Government seems to have taken the decision to provide funds to enable a range of  publications.
This spreads to all media.  Estonia is well known for its impressive internet access.  The internet is also used to disseminate useful information about Estonia, its history and people.  The Estonian Institute has a useful web page and runs Estonica:  the Estonian Encyclopedia.  I have given the link to the page about Folk costume.

Tartu

From Tallin we drove down to Tartu, the university town.  The university is the oldest in the region. It was founded in 1632 by Sweden.

Town Square, Tartu

The town square is very pretty but it was raining hard so we spent a lot of time in a coffee shop.

Atlantis by the river in Tartu

This is Alantis where we met Gunnar and Kristiina for coffee.  Unfortunately the weather was dull and rainy but in the summer the river is busy with tourists. Gunnar lovingly makes beautiful wooden weaving tools and it was a real pleasure to meet him. See the equipment stockists on the blog page for details.



I had arranged to go to the museum in Tartu to view some woven belts behind the scenes.  The staff were helpful but unfortunately I was not allowed to take any photographs. It is the only time that I have visited a museum and not been allowed to take photographs. In order to analyse a band pattern, I need photographs to see the pattern and the construction more clearly. I enlarge the photographs on my computer to make the graph of the pattern. My photographs are private but I send any analysis to the Museums concerned. Band analysis is very time consuming.  The greater number of pattern threads, the longer it takes to graph the pattern. Some very complex patterns can take over a week to analyse. I came away very disappointed.  I wrote some notes about the bands I was allowed to see but it is simply not possible to do any detailed pattern analysis on the spot.

It was a very long way to travel but the few bands that I was given to look at were interesting for two reasons.  All were woven on a circular warp and had never been used as belts.  They were still uncut. Although I had to wear gloves to examine the bands, they were made of a rather coarse wool, in fact, very similar to the modern woven belts that I had purchased.  The museum is putting its band collection online, but I have been unable to trace the bands I saw, even when I used the accession numbers for the bands. However, the museum had a very good shop and the staff there were very helpful.

Parnu

On our way back to Tallin we stopped in Parnu.  Unfortunately for us it was Sunday and we could only stay for one night.  It is a lovely seaside town with an old centre that is being restored.  There is a striking collection of 1930's buildings at the coast and a lovely Art Nouveau house in the town.

Parnu - the seaside hotel. 

The Tourist Information Office was excellent - as indeed they all are in Estonia.   They have an impressive selection of information booklets in English that are both quirky and informative.
Her is a selection.

Estonian Tourist information booklets in English.

Woven Treasures

I bought a number of  lovely woven belts in Estonia. Here is one of them.  It is a similar structure as the Sámi bands in the workshop I have been giving for the Braid Society. Here the pattern threads work in groups against a plain weave background. It is not warp faced.

The wool is rather coarse to the touch but the colours are lovely and bright. There are three groups of patterns threads in black, blue and black and two groups with three threads of green. It is 4cm in width and 263 cm in length excluding the fringes.

The book about this type of Estonian band pattern, Lapilised Vööd by Merike Freienthal and Veinika Västrik  is listed on my blog. It is in Estonian, but the graphs and pictures are so clear that any weaver can understand the process of weaving and the patterns.


Susan J Foulkes March 2015

The beauty of Estonian craft

Tartu,  Estonia

Gunnar Karro works wonders in wood.  He designs and carves the most lovely weaving implements. Friends of mine had bought some of his work and whilst I was in Estonia last summer, I arranged to meet him.

He sells his work on Etsy  https://www.etsy.com/uk/people/Ampstrike

We met Gunnar and his wife in Tartu, Estonia.   He showed me the range of items that he makes.

Lucet and curved shuttle

The temptation was too great and I came away with a lovely curved shuttle and a lucet.  I use a lucet frequently as I can make coloured narrow cords out of fine thread. It fits in the hand so well and is so smooth to the touch.



I know that some of his customers have asked for specific designs, so I commissioned him to make a heddle and shuttle with a delicate carved horse.









I gave him a picture of the Uffington White Horse and he translated this ancient design into a motif for my heddle and shuttle.

'Not what a horse looks like, but what a horse be'  

Heddle by Gunnar Karro

The horse motif on the band shuttle, beautifully carved by Gunnar Karro.

The two colours of the wood of the shuttle makes the horse look as though it is running along a hill top.

Gunnar also made a handy stand for the heddle and shuttle.  This makes them items for display as well as use.

I have posted a page about threading a standard heddle on my blog which shows me using the stand to thread the heddle.  It is easier to thread the heddle if it is upright and the stand works perfectly.


If you want to know more about the Uffington White Horse, see more information about the horse at this link.     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uffington_White_Horse

Uffington White Horse

This is the Uffington White Horse.  Recent archaeological evidence dates suggests that it is at least 2,500 years old and was initially constructed in the early Iron Age or perhaps even the late Bronze Age. The position and its distinctive shape has been maintained more or less intact since that time.[i]

The White Horse is easily visible form the valley and on a clear day can be seen from 15 - 20 miles away.  It is enormous.  The horse is 110 m (about 361 feet) long.



Terry Pratchet's book A Hat Full of Sky describes a carved chalk horse - 'Not what a horse looks like, but what a horse be ...It had been carved in the turf before history began, by people who had manged to convey in a few flowing lines everything a horse was: strength, grace, beauty and speed, straining to break free of the hill.' (page 78)

I have started weaving with the heddle.  It is a joy to use and will always remind me of meeting Gunnar and his wife in Tartu.  I am touched by the beauty of the carving and the wood.  Wood has such a warm smooth feel. One friend described his work as feeling like silk and I now know what she means.

Susan J Foulkes March 2015

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[i] Miles, D., Palmer, S., Loc, G., Gosden, S & Cromarty, A., (2003) Uffinton White Horse and its Landscape: investigations at White Horse Hill Uffington, 1989-95 and Tower Hill Ashbury 1993-4, Oxford Archaeology Thames Valley Landscapes Monograph 18, pages 77 - 78

Travels around the Baltic: Finland

Helsinki

We spent two weeks in Finland on our travels around the Baltic.  We took the ferry to Helsinki from Tallin, Estonia.

Part of the historic Fish Quay in Helsinki

The fish quay in Helsinki was wonderful.  There is an old fish market which sells a large variety of fish, fresh and smoked.  The cafe providing fish soup is well worth a visit.

Waiting for the fish soup

What a lovely country! I knew very little about Finland other than that Finnish design is highly regarded. We love visiting new places and seeing the local styles of architecture.  One famous Finnish architect is Alva Aarto. We saw his house and office in Helsinki and visited the museum in Jyväskylä . We also went to Noormarkku to see the Villa Mairea, which houses an astonishing modern art collection. If you get the opportunity it is worth the effort to  make a visit.  It is the first time I have seen an art collection in a homely setting.  Art museums and stately homes make art seemed detached - objects to view.  Seeing Kandinsky, Degas, Gris, Braque, Picasso and Leger in such an intimate atmosphere gives another dimension to the experience of paintings and sculpture.

Villa Mairea built in 1938

Staying for a while in Seinajoki, enabled us to see the town centre that Alva Aalto designed. 

To return to the topic of weaving, when we were in Helsinki, we visited the National Museum which is built in the National Romantic style. There is a lovely collection of costumes and woven bands.  I was particularly interested in the carved wooden heddles. These were made as gifts for an intended bride and have an immense amount of careful work lavished on them.  Some of them were circular, a feature of heddles from the coastal area of Finland, which was strongly influenced by Sweden. 

National Museum, Helsinki.

Guarding the National Museum entrance

When I started weaving I subscribed to Vav Magasinet, the Swedish Weaving Magazine, and bought several interesting back issues. One contained an article about Kitty Collan-Tham. (Vav Magasinet, Nr 4, 1993 pages 20 - 22).  I did not weave bands at the time but this article inspired me to find out more about this lovely craft.  When I was researching places to visit on our Baltic trip, I was thrilled to find that the museum in Jyväskylä has a collection of her woven bands.  A curator at the British Museum had given me details about the Jyväskylä collection.

Jyväskylä

In the Craft Museum in Jyväskylä there is a beautiful display of textiles, including woven bands. There are also information sheets in Finnish which can be downloaded.  The pictures of woven bands are detailed and to my delight the information sheets mentioned that they had a Kitty Collan-Tham collection.

I contacted the museum and arranged to visit whilst we were in Finland.  I was made very welcome and thoroughly enjoyed my visit.  I saw about 200 woven bands in detail.  The work to analyse the patterns and weave examples is going to take a long time.  I was intrigued to see the influences from Sweden, Estonia, Russia and the Sami in the band patterns.

 I was particularly impressed that the collection also included narrow bands where the pattern is simply formed by the order of the warp threads.  These are the easiest bands to weave yet can be very decorative.  Too often museums only collect the most impressive or colourful so the collection is skewed in favour of the most decorative examples.  These humble examples of design are also important as they show the full range of the type of bands that were woven.

Here is an example.

There are 27 warp ends for this band

The woven band

I wove this band on my Swedish band loom.  It is another Finnish pattern which I saw in the National Museum.  There are 27 woollen warp ends.

















I have analysed and woven one of the bands with 25 pattern threads because it was so intriguing. I am still examining my photographs of the collection.

I was particularly thrilled that the final box of bands that I examined were the bands woven by Kitty. In fact they were the bands featured in the Vav Magasinet article. I carefully lined them up in the same formation as the picture in Vav.  Her weaving is lovely and the colours were quite varied.  I am looking forward to weaving some of them myself.
I am very grateful for the staff who gave up their time to answer my questions and make my visit to the conservation centre so rewarding.  I was even treated to cinnamon buns with my coffee!

We drove further north and stayed in Oulu.  This town on the coast was very attractive with its islands and bridges.  It was ideal for cycling.

Oulu

We found the delightful Northern Ostrobothnia Museum, which has an informative exhibition of Sami artefacts. Look at my previous blog about Sami weaving for more details.

Cinnamon Buns

And now a coffee break! One of the delights of Sweden and Finland is the cinnamon bun.  We had to have at least one a day. The smell of freshly baked buns is truly marvellous and entices you into coffee shops. When we got home, my husband decided to bake his own to feed our addiction.

Here is the link to the cinnamon bun recipe that he found. It evokes for us the holiday in Sweden and Finland.  It is from the Guardian newspaper.

Fresh from the oven

The wonderful cinnamon and cardamon aroma when they are baking perfumes the house. It is so hard just to eat one.

Bageriet in London

 Last week I was in London and went to my favourite coffee shop - a tiny Swedish bakery which does the most wonderful cinnamon buns.

They are tucked away in Rose Street, next to Standford's bookshop near Covent Garden.

Their  mouthwatering cinnamon buns.

Susan J Foulkes 2015

Travels around the Baltic: Sámi weaving

The Sámi people

The Sámi people are the indigenous people of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. When I first became interested in band weaving, I decided to travel to Sweden to see the type of bands that were in museums.  I had only seen black and white diagrams of band patterns and a few colour photographs.

In 2009, travelling up to Sweden through Europe, we stopped in Schleswig and it was there that I saw my first collection of bands.  They were Sámi bands - and I knew nothing about the Sámi people  I was thrilled to see such lovely examples of band weaving and I wanted to find out more about the Sámi people, their crafts and culture.

Of course, in Sweden most museums have collections of woven materials and many small towns have small museums as well. I have researched the beautiful woven Sámi bands from Sweden.  Looking closely at the patterns is illuminating.  The colours have a particular significance; a rare example of there being a meaning in the woven bands.  Too often meaning is assigned to patterns and symbols and this meaning is assumed or ascribed but has no basis in fact.

Sweden

In Stockholm, the Nordiska museum has a Sámi gallery which was very interesting and introduced me to the place of Sámi people and culture in the history of Sweden.  Going back last summer, I was slightly disappointed to see that the gallery has hardly changed in the last six years.

In 2011, we travelled as far as Kiruna and Jokkmokk to attend the Sámi market in August in Jokkmokk. However, the real highlight was the Ájtte, Swedish Mountain and Sámi Museum which has a stunning collection of clothes and lots of examples of woven bands. Every year the most important Sámi market is held in Jokkmokk in the first week in February.  I would love to attend this event. 

Last summer, we went to the Weave Fair in Umea.  Umea was the European Capital of Culture in 2014 and the programme for the year included many events for and about the Sámi people.

 Sámi heddles and bands

At the Weave fair, Astrid Enoksson, who lives in Tarnaby, had a display of display of Sámi costume and weaving. Her rigid heddles are made out of reindeer antler.

This beautiful coat and band was on the display.

See the blog entry for October for more about the Weave Fair in Umea.

This band has nine pattern threads and is a very quick design to weave.

At the Weave Fair, Stoorstalka had an attractive stall at the entrance of the Market Hall. They had a  very dramatic backdrop for their stall. 

The Stoorstalka stand at the Weave Fair

Sámi rock art

In Umea in the Västerbottens Museum there was a display of  ancient Sámi rock art.  A fascinating glimpse into another world.

 a replica Sámi pot

I bought this lovely copy of an Iron age Sámi pot.  It is 3.5 inches tall and stands on my desk as a reminder of a wonderful holiday.

 Finland

On our travels around the Baltic, I found two other museums with a Sámi collection. Unfortunately the museum in Estonia had none of its collection on display when I visited.  In Finland however, there were many examples of Sámi weaving and craft. We spent two weeks in this lovely country.

I visited the craft museum in Jyväskylä in central Finland which I will mention next month in my blog about Finland. We traveled further north and stayed in Oulu.  Here, I stumbled across a lovely museum, the Northern Ostrobothnia Museum which had a collection of Sámi artifacts.  These had been collected by the museum director who spent his summers with the Sámi people in the north of Finland.  He counted them as his friends and the collection was displayed with much thought.

There were a number of bands displayed.  These lovely Sámi shoe bands have one of my favourite
patterns ( see Handwoven  2013, March /April Vol 164, no 2 for the weave pattern).










One of the shoe bands on display had three motifs.  I analysed the pattern and wove it.  It has eleven pattern threads and the graph is given on my blog.  The speckled edges are made by using a yellow weft thread so that it shows up against the red border threads. It is a very attractive shoe band. I have posted the pattern draft onto the blog for you to try.

This shoe band has eleven pattern threads.

If you want to know more about Sámi weaving, I am running an online workshop for the Braid Society on their Yahoo discussion group, Braids and Bands in March 2015. The workshop shows how to weave a particular type of band using a newly designed heddle from Stoorstalka - the Sigga heddle.  This heddle is used to make bands that have 'jumping' pattern threads. Details about the workshop and how you can join in are given on my blog.

I think that it is rather exciting that a new weaving tool has been developed.  It shows that the craft of band weaving is still meaningful and creative.

An excellent booklet The Sámi - People of the Sun and Wind, published by the
Ájtte Swedish Mountain and Sámi Museum is available in the Nordiska Museum 


Happy weaving

Susan J Foulkes
January 2015

Slow Cloth

permission to publish this chart given by Elaine Lipson

Just before Christmas I read an interesting article by Elaine Lipson about the concept of Slow Cloth. Her influential paper :The Slow Cloth Manifesto: an alternative to the politics of production is about treasuring quality and creativity in a world that seems to value mass production rather than craft.

Elaine explains how Slow Cloth has four aspects:

• exploring how we work,
• what we work with, 
• why we do it
• and where we do it in relation to other and ourselves.  

Slow cloth involves the concept of time - the time it takes to master skills, to practice and learn new skills and to work towards excellence. She makes the valid point that too many craft workshops are more concerned with selling new pieces of equipment rather than being geared for learners to develop a new skill in depth.  There is too often an emphasis on quick skills rather than making something of quality.

It is also about the continuation of cultural skills.  Skills such as weaving, are not familiar to many people and the connection to history and the meaning of these skills is sometimes not appreciated.
Our relationship to textiles has been altered by mass production and the availability of cheap clothes.

In a newspaper last year a reporter described the scene on a high street during the sales.  A woman dropped a bag of newly bought clothes but could not be bothered to pick it up as she was carrying so many other full shopping bags. The reporter found that it was full of t-shirts from a well known cut price department store.  Clothes are now considered disposable in ways that would have been unthinkable to our parents and grandparents.

The Personal Meaning of Textiles

The idea of Slow Cloth takes us back to the personal meaning of textiles.  The joy of creating something unique however small and however long it takes to make.

There is a wonderful quote in a book about Early Anglo-Saxon clothing, it is from an American re-enactor who had spent over 200 hours recreating her Anglo-Saxon cyrtel through spinning, dyeing, weaving and hand stitching,

- ' in the end it is a product of my hands, my heart and my mind and that is what really connects me to the spinners and weavers from a long time ago' (Walton Rogers, 2007, p 250).

The book finishes with the comment that we establish a direct connection between the past and the present by the pursuit of lost craft knowledge and the recreation of these forgotten skills.' (p. 251)

Slow cloth is not about a particular textile technique or a project - it is about taking time and finding the joy in learning and making.

What a good New Years resolution for 2015 - to use my heart, hands and mind to create something unique.


Happy New Year 

Susan J Foulkes 

[1] Walton Rogers, Penelope (2007) Cloth and Clothing in Early Anglo-Saxon England, AD 450 – 700, York: Council for British Archaeology.

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