The "Monday Morning" study group at the Edmonton Weavers' Guild did a collective project where they each decided to make a weaving in response to the Emily Carr Painting, "A Rushing Sea of Undergrowth". Using the colours, textures and feeling of the painting as a starting point, the weavers each explored their own interpretations of the painting. Take a look at all of the different projects that came out of this!

Libby Bolster

Handwoven scarf

Catherine Melnychuk

"Forest Kaleidoscope"

This scarf was inspired by the colour palette of the painting and the way colours and shapes change around us as we walk through a forest.

Catherine Melnychuk

"Forest Clearing"

This scarf is meant to evoke the dappled colours and texture of foliage in the forest clearing centred in the painting. The scarf is woven in Tencel to reflect the light. Catherine used an odd weave called turned Bronson Lace to create a textural feel to the scarf.

Catherine Melnychuk

"Harmonic Chaos"

Nature is both structured and random simultaneously. This shawl embodies those contracts. The weave structure is a combination of tuned twill and broken turned twill on 16 shafts. Catherine wove with a thick and thin Peruvian highland wool/alpaca/silk yarn to introduce a further randomness when compared to the harder edges of the basic geometric design. The colours are a play on the notion of shadows and light. 

Nancy Taschuk

Nancy wove a rug to resemble the yellow and green colours of the Emily Carr painting. The dark warp ends resemble the trees and the dark border represents the forest floor. 

Jen Black

A hand painted warp and hand dyed weft, 2/10 tencel

Mary-Lou Hogg and Mary-Ann Hawrelyk

Details from Mary-Lou: A 4 shaft summer and winter weave in cotton. This piece is Mary-Lou's first attempt to use a painting as an inspiration to design a weaving. She loved all the colours and decided to use many of them in her piece. She chose 'summer and winter' as she thought it would show he horizontal and vertical lines of the photo with bold colours showing in the foreground and background.

In our Weave & Sew workshops we guide participants through creating one of a kind pieces from thread, to cloth, to garment. We love the whole process and have decided to share an inside look! 

The Ogden Cami is one of our favourite patterns for Weave and Sew. We have found several ways to incorporate handwoven fabric in this pattern while still keeping the fit and feel of the original. We use linen or linen blends for the fabric that will compliment the handwoven. 

Step 1: Choosing materials

Before the participants come we lay out all sorts of different combinations of thread and fabric that will work well for the project. For this project we used a linen blend fabric and paired it with some of our favorite cotton, silk, and cotton blend yarns. The first part of the workshop involves designing. Based on the provided pattern, participants get to choose how best to combine their handwoven materials with the fabric that will best suit their style and body type. 

Step 2: Weaving with Kim

Once participants choose a colour scheme, they get to choose a weave structure. Kim demonstrates how to create different patterns on the looms and participants can try and see which one they like best.  After a quick weaving lesson, off they go!

Step 3: Remove weaving from loom and wash fabric

Step 4: Sewing with Angela

 Angela makes sure each participant chooses the best size and helps make small pattern adjustments for fit. It is always fun to see people cutting in to their handwoven fabric!  All the patterns we use for Weave and Sew are tested many times before they are used for a class.  The pattern gets cut out and the handwoven inserted into the pattern.  This is where Angela uses her skills to make sure you have a beautiful transition from the handwoven to the fabric.

 

Step 5: Fitting

As participants start nearing the end of the sewing portion of the workshop, they start to try on their garment. This is when we help make suggestions for the perfect fit and make the little adjustments that make the garment sit well on your body. We take the time to make sure you are happy with your project.

 

Step 6: Take your custom made project home and wear it for years to come!

Check out our workshops page for the most up to date Weave and Sew Workshop opportunities!

People are often wary of weaving with linen. It has a reputation for being unforgiving. We have put together some of the reasons why we love working with linen and some tips and tricks to help you be successful adding linen to your weaving repertoire. With a little care, you can incorporate linen into your projects and enjoy the benefits of this classic fiber. 

Top reasons we love working with linen:

• Lies flat when pressed making it perfect for table linens
• Gets more beautiful and softer with age
• Has a beautiful sheen
• Linen is a natural fiber that withstands wear and tear
• Conducts heat away from the body making for comfortable clothing and bedding
• Linen is great for summer clothing, rug warps, wall hangings, table linens and more!
• You can feel good about weaving with linen. It is made from the fiber of the flax plant. Flax is important in crop rotation and reduces pests and diseases. Linen is a great choice for environmentally conscious weavers. 

Our Normandy Linen is new in the shop! (pictured below)  Check it out here.

Inherent characteristics of linen:

• Linen is more stiff and has less elasticity than cotton.
• Linen is absorbent and has a high sheen
• Linen has a smooth surface. This allows it to repel dirt and bacteria.  Stains are removed easily. 
• Linen dries quickly, making it great for towels.
• Linen generally shrinks very little, usually less than 10%
• There are many types of linen, here are a few terms to help you choose:
  • Line Linen- considered the best quality, line linen is considered the highest quality linen. It is smooth, shiny, and spun from the longer most lustrous fibres. Our Normandy Linen is line linen.
  • Tow Linen- Spun from short fibers. The end product is hairier and has less sheen than line linen.  Tow linen is more absorbent and has higher twist to keep the fibers together.
  • Wetspun- linen spun using water, leaving less hairy fibers sticking out and leaving more sheen. Recommended for warp yarns. Our Normandy Linen is wetspun.
  • Dryspun- linen spun without the use of water. Coarser yarn.  Linen is stronger when wet.

Tips for weaving with linen

• Use a cotton or cottolin warp and use 100% linen only in the weft. Linen is usually more expensive than cotton so this is economical as well as easier to work with.
• Increase moisture: Linen behaves much better damp. It is easier to beat in and less wiry. Using a humidifier in the room can help, but I normally just keep a spray bottle close to my loom to wet the portion of the warp I am about to weave in front of the beater. I am careful not to get my loom too wet! I also often prepare my bobbins by keeping them in an air tight container that has a small amount of water in the bottom. This keeps the linen on the bobbins moist and ready to weave.
• Wind your bobbin under even tension. This will help the yarn come off the shuttle easily and decrease the need to adjust your selvedges.
• Sometimes when weaving with linen, the yarn seems to almost “jump” off the bobbin! Hold your shuttle in a way that allows you to control the speed that the linen leaves the shuttle. I do this by holding my open bottom shuttle with my palm facing up, so I can control the bobbin speed by touching the bobbin from underneath.
• When weaving with linen it is extra important to keep good tension. Remember to advance your warp regularly so you are weaving in your loom’s “sweet spot”.
• Beaming your warp back to front helps to keep control of linen warps.
• As soon as you tie on your warp to the apron rod, spritz your warp with a little water and weave a header. This will secure the good tension and decrease the chance that your ties will slip and change your tension before you get a chance to start weaving.

Wet Finishing Linen:

• Linen will look and feel rough like burlap when it is first taken off the loom. It needs to be wet finished and either hard pressed or mangled. When finishing a linen project, some say to avoid using the dryer to avoid the linen losing it’s sheen. Personally, I will use the dryer for towels because I like the softness that the dryer adds to the linen over time.  I will avoid the dryer for table runners or decorative pieces.
• A hard press while damp works well for cottolin towels.
• What is mangling?
  • Mangling uses weight and sometimes moisture or heat to flatten the yarn and create a smooth polished surface on the fabric.
  • I lay out my damp wet finished linen on my granite countertop and take a ceramic rolling pin to it. Don’t hesitate to put some muscle into this part!  I also happen to have access to a printing press. If I get the chance I will send my woven linens through the press for a really intense mangling!

 Weaving with linen is totally worth the effort.

We look forward to seeing your linen projects!

Tag us on Instagram @gather_textiles

-Kim

Our First Learning Resource: 

Beginner Tapestry: Weaving on a Hand Loom 

Here are some of the resources we used in the video:

       

Angela & Kim