helping traditional skills flourish in our modern world
Väv Immersion Celebration & GRAND EXHIBITION
Friday, Oct 18, 4-6 pm – Come and go as you please!
80 Bassett Road, Shelburne Center MA 01370
Meet our wonderful students!
See an exhibit of their work
Celebrate their accomplishments
YUMMY Edible treats
& stories of their weaving days
FOR 8 WEEKS
They have been
DESIGNING
WEAVING
HEMMING
LEARNING
copious amounts
about making
textiles
——
THEIR
BINDERS ARE
FABULOUS
On March 14, 2024, local artisan and author, Peggy Hart joined us to celebrate her book, Wool: Unraveling an American Story of Artisans and Innovation.
Nearly two dozen people, including a few rapt teens, filled the Farmhouse living room as Peggy offered a captivating book reading. She discussed the research that went into writing her book and passed around samples of wool textiles during her talk. She also brought a sample of an extruded garden amendment she has been developing that is made from waste wool. Peggy shared a number of excerpts from her book, including a fascinating story about wool that had been at the bottom of the ocean for decades!
She showed us images from museums, advertisements from magazines, and brought the data to life with her engaging speaking style. Peggy demonstrated wool’s impact on millions of lives, from immigrants, slaves and Native Americans, to farmers and advertisers. She revealed the trends in wool consumption throughout history through interesting charts and charming graphics and photographs. Peggy gives a voice to the story of technological and social change, marketing forces, and above all, consumer choices.
During our time with Peggy, she shared pictures of her weaving studio in Shelburne Falls, which is the home of Bedfellows Blankets. She has a collection of industrial looms, including 1940’s Crompton and Knowles dobby looms with widths up to 92”. She enjoys weaving complex structures, often utilizing 24 harnesses, compared to the standard 4 harnesses on a hand loom, to achieve unusual, intricate patterns. She weaves original designs from cotton and wool as well as completing custom weaving using wool and alpaca fiber.
To learn more about Peggy and purchase your own copy of her extraordinary book, please visit her website at https://www.blanketweave.com/
Local artisan and author, Peggy Hart joins us on March 14th at 7:30PM to celebrate her book, Wool: Unraveling an American Story of Artisans and Innovation.
In this beautiful book, our dear friend and neighbor Peggy Hart tells wool’s colorful and surprisingly epic tale. She shows how it has impacted millions of lives–from immigrants, slaves, and Native Americans to farmers and advertisers. Learn little-known but fascinating facts about US society’s changing relationship to wool–for example, how huge flocks of sheep were driven to the California gold fields to feed hungry miners, and why sheep grazed on the White House lawn during World War I. This is a story of technological and social change, marketing forces, and our choices as consumers. Wool is a must-read for anyone who has knitted (or worn!) socks, woven a piece of cloth, or curled up with a warm wool blanket.
“Wool’s colorful and epic tale has impacted millions of lives, including artisans, inventors, immigrants, merchants, mill owners, millworkers, slaves, and Native Americans, to farmers and advertisers. A story of technological and social change, marketing forces, and our choices as consumers, Wool is a must-read for anyone who has knitted (or worn!) socks, woven a piece of cloth, or curled up with a warm wool blanket.”
“Wool by Peggy Hart draws on the author’s deep professional experience in the wool industry to explore its rise, fall, and resurgence in America. From the birth of this nation to present day, Hart traces the sheep, fabrics, and trends
“This is an approachable general history–you can learn about agriculture, social issues, economics, industry, and fashion. It explores the impact mechanization (and convenience) had on America’s Wool industry. While this is an introductory volume, an extensive reference and bibliography directs you to more information
“This is an enjoyable read and the archival photographs provide additional delight.”
Peggy Hart is a textile designer, production weaver, and teacher with experience in designing, producing, and marketing hundreds of blankets annually including custom blankets for sheep and alpaca farmers using their own yarn. The woolen mills of New England are gone, but inside her barn in rural Massachusetts there lurks a complete 1940’s weave shop. Old industrial looms live their second life weaving cotton and wool blankets. Each loom is a ton and a half of greasy gears, wheels, and pulleys; mechanical innovation that made complex patterns possible. Hart has a deep interest in the history of weaving and wool in America.
Väv Immersion is an 8-week Scandinavian weaving intensive co-sponsored by Fabric of Life and Vävstuga Weaving School.
This comprehensive course includes challenging projects, extensive theory classes, and an immersive artisanal community. Väv Immersion is an experience to be remembered for a lifetime. The knowledge gained from this program creates a foundation for further professional opportunities such as museum work, production weaving, textile retail, and teaching. Ultimately, the preservation of the tradition, culture, and function of hand weaving for future generations is carried forward through this intensive program.
We invite you to join us in our open-air Barn studio to come and be amazed by all the incredible work our 4 Väv Immersion students have accomplished in just 8 short weeks. They have worked hard and deserve some recognition.
At the end of March, Fabric of Life welcomed four talented weavers to Bassett Road for a Retreat for Black Weavers, the first of what we hope will be many gatherings of black weavers from across the country. These women come from diverse backgrounds and we are thrilled to have been able to facilitate their first in-person meeting. Melvenea Hodges detailed the experience in her blog, Traditions in Cloth and we have included some of her post below:
“We came up with the idea that we’d do a long weekend fellowship where we toured the homestead, learned about Swedish weaving yarns, sampled different weave structures, and shared farmhouse meals together. For the following week, a few weavers would stay and work on creating a weaving tutorial with an instructional booklet, video, and weaving kits to help new weavers get started. If I could get members from our new virtual group to come, the non-profit organization Fabric of Life with the support of The Ddora Foundation would sponsor us. I loved this idea because I would finally get to know other Black weavers for the first time and we could do something helpful for the larger fiber community. We would come together to aid in the preservation of our craft.”
“It didn’t take long to acquaint ourselves. I must have known these ladies in another lifetime. This was so special. I’m one-of-a-kind in any context but for once I felt like one of the pack. Yes, we’re a WE, not just me. It has been so surreal and daunting in these last 2 years to even speak publicly about fiber arts knowing I am one of a few Black weaver voices people will get to hear. I feel like I’m talking for us. Imagine talking for people you’ve never seen or met. That’s a responsibility that I don’t take lightly. I want to know what they value, think, feel, and what this craft means to them. We’re all Black but we’re also from all sorts of backgrounds. There are so many intricacies to sort out amongst ourselves. We could finally have those conversations in person. We’re REAL.”
“Two of us could stay the following week for the skill-sharing project. We wanted to share how to weave on a frame. It is the perfect gateway to all of the exquisite ethnic textiles being woven all over the world. Anyone can find a frame and weave an infinite assortment of textiles. It’s so special because even to this day these textiles can only be replicated by artisans. The magic is with the weaver and not the loom. Just as a spider weaves an intricate web in a frame, so does the weaver with just shared knowledge, creativity, dexterity, and perseverance. It’s a weaving heritage that remains untouched by industry.”
“My tickled soul is so invigorated.”
Melvenea Hodges
“There is work left to complete but so much was accomplished in such a short time with the support of Becky, Leni, and the Vävstuga and Fabric of Life staff. I look forward to sharing with everyone, especially aspiring weavers, the joys of weaving on a frame loom.”
“I am ever grateful to Becky, Fabric of Life, and The Ddora Foundation for helping us bring this vision to fruition.”
“As for The Society of Black Weavers, the best is yet to come. With every stroke of the keyboard, a call for connection is released into the air. Our common web is being woven slowly but surely. We find joy in weaving and now we’re doing it together.”
Väv Immersion is an 8-week Scandinavian weaving intensive co-sponsored by Fabric of Life and Vävstuga Weaving School.
This comprehensive course includes challenging projects, extensive theory classes, and an immersive artisanal community. Väv Immersion is an experience to be remembered for a lifetime. The knowledge gained from this program creates a foundation for further professional opportunities such as museum work, production weaving, textile retail, and teaching. Ultimately, the preservation of the tradition, culture, and function of hand weaving for future generations is carried forward through this intensive program.
Friday, September 3rd, 2021 from 3-6pm
Come and go as you please!
80 Bassett Road, Shelburne Center, MA 01370
We hope that you will join us for a Grand Exhibition where we will celebrate the hard work of our fourth Väv Immersion cohort. Since July 12th, these amazing individuals have been designing, weaving, hemming and learning copious amounts about making textiles. Yummy treats will be available, as Melvenea, Caroline, Gyorgyi, Sara and Jules share stories of their weaving days!
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