Summer Reading

Looking for a good book? Then consider this one....

Job well done! My hat is off to the ladies of the Rhode Island Weavers Guild!

Bertha Gray Hayes was an amazing member of that guild and obviously loved to weave and had a passion for overshot. First of all, I must admit that I have to dig deeper and learn more of the overall story but basically weaver Bertha Gray Hayes left behind an amazing collection of 72 sample cards, all her notes and papers to her guild. She had her own sample card stock and each had a lovely miniature sample. The ladies of the guild took all 72 samples, plus an additional 20 they found later and reproduced them here in this book in their entirety. Then they take the samples and had them reproduced in a more modern format using a weaving program, and then presented them...all 92... again. There are historical notes such as Bertha's letters from Mary Meigs Atwater, copies of her lessons from the Shuttle Craft Guild Weaving course of instruction, circa 1939. In short, it's an amazing body of work, both Bertha's collection and the efforts by the Rhode Island Guild to preserve the collection. If you like overshot, miniature overshot in particular and also the past history of weaving revival, then consider adding this book to your library. { I got it for under $30 Canadian! }

So while you are laying at the beach, traveling, in between house guests....pick this lovely book up and enjoy! Weaving titles don't seem to stick around very long so don't delay....

These pictures show some of Ms. Hayes sample cards with her draft and woven samples. The last picture shows how a draft has been updated with a modern computer draft.

You can see by the size of my hand that these are lovely big pictures, good quality paper and a hard cover edition as well.

These pages show some of her early weaving lessons that she did through correspondence.

All through out you can see dozens of hand done draw downs, usually in coloured pencils.

She even played with images for greeting cards. These delightful drawings show some of her 'doodles' and they eventually became reality at her loom and cards in the hands of friends.

So, I'm back to reading further.... and awaiting the arrival of my brother on Monday. I might be able to squeak in some weaving today. We are having a heat wave here and the studio is so much cooler! We've had 2 or 3 days of rain in the past six weeks.... very dry here!

Hope your summer is a good one and for our friends 'down under'....our turn for wool sox and drinking a hot toddy is coming...