Others Less Known

This is the second part of my 'looking back' tribute. Then we'll resume more modern pursuits!

Mary Meigs Atwater taught Harriet Tidball weaving. I know that many of you will have books by Harriet on your shelves. But Harriet wasn't always a 'Tidball'... she was a Douglas first.

She eventually took over the publishing of The Shuttle Craft Guild and became well known in her own right. These were the heady days of the weaving revival. Ms. Atwater even traveled to Canada and taught at the Banff Fine Arts and met up with weavers like: Ethel Henderson and Mary Sandin. (Though I'm not sure if she met Mary E. Black of Key to Weaving Fame)
Mary Sandin, Ethel Henderson and Mary Black wrote the Loom Music series of weaving newsletters from 1944 to 1965 and were charter members of The Guild of Canadian Weavers . I'm the current past president of this Canadian national weaving organization. It was formed in 1947 and has just celebrated their 60th anniversary. But more on this group at another time.

So now that you have twigged to the fact I'm a history buff, you can well imagine my joy when I went through the collection of books I bought in Victoria. At some point in the previous owners weaving life, she had acquired old books from the then retiring weavers of the day and so they kept passing these treasures forward.

Among the books were some interesting booklets: 'Natural Dyes of the Navajo' dated 1946 and printed by the United States Government printer; lessons plans on dyeing, spinning and weaving by the BC Teachers Association (yes, these topics used to be taught in our local schools at one time!) Then I found these booklets:



It was a collection of coverlets, in overshot and this was endorsed by the current President's wife, Eleanor Roosevelt. This picture is in the inside cover. Even then, there were concerns about preserving this early weaving history.


Then I found this booklet:



This was a program for a textile fair that at the time of this printing was into it's 7th season in 1945- 1946. In addition to the booklet was a folded sheet which gave the drafts of all coverlets on display. They were encouraging weavers to reproduce them and share.

I have tried to show the size of the folder (above) and then a close up of the drafts.

There was an old brown book at the bottom of the box when I was unpacking them at home. The title is a bit hard to read due to the fancy text but it reads " Dainty Work for Pleasure and Profit"

The book covers literally *everything* do do with womanly handicrafts of the day in 1902, including spinning and weaving. This book is more of a curiosity now and I'm keeping it because of it's venerable old age of 106 years.

My towels have come off the big loom and a new warp is already on....we're back to the present in the next entry.

Mary Meigs Atwater

I'm very sure that many of you have heard of Mary Meigs Atwater. She was the power house behind revitalizing hand weaving from approximately the 1930's and well into the 1950's in the USA and Canada. Ms Atwater was the principal author and owner of the Shuttle Craft Guild monographs, which are still in print. She was also the author of many well known weaving books that grace our library shelves today.

I didn't pay too much attention other than knowing her name. A dear friend and weaving mentor gave me a gift prior to my moving away and suddenly I owned an old treasure and wanted to know much more!

The Recipe Book is comprised of drafts that Mary wrote in the 1930's and later complied into a recipe book style format in the 1950's when she needed to raise some money. This old book also came with an original swatch. The yarn is a single strand synthetic and there is a waffle weave centre surrounded by three thread basket weave:

Some time later, a friend with a yarn business decided to retire and she sold her inventory to a wool processor and store. I went to see what was there and came away with two books. One was called " The Age of Homespun" about early colonial spinning and weaving in the young American colonies. The second was "Weaving a Life" as shown above. I read the book and was astounded to learn that Mary Meigs Atwater lived six full lives in her one! Her husband died young and she had to support herself and two children so she took up weaving and eventually taught classes.
Her early years training as an artist in Paris meant that she had a beautiful way of drawing her drafts and a distinctive writing style. I won't say more about the story as I don't want to spoil it for you. But take my word, its a super read!
Here is an illustration from a Rug weaving monograph:

The titles and text on these covers were done by Mary.

Mary Meigs Atwater

I was fortunate to acquire these original monographs from the books and magazines recently purchased from the retiring weaver in Victoria. They are clear, concise and relevant to what we are looking for in today's weaving. The Weaving Course alone is the complete set of long distance study material that she sent out to weavers in isolation. Weavers back then did not have the benefit of a local guilds, the yarns, equipment and Internet as we do today. Just a desire to learn and a love of the craft.

Happily, that hasn't changed a bit!

*Additional pictures added to this post December 2018*

Passing it on

Last Fall, I went to Victoria to view an old loom and a weaver'supplies for sale. One of those sad occassions where old age now means that it's time to sell off all the equipment and do-dads of a weaving life. Your happy purchase is their sorrow. That day will come for each of us one day.

The collection included *many* books and papers from a weaving interlude dating from the mid 1970's to late 1980's. I was able to add many amazing collectible and out of print books to my library and then sold many more. I still have some sitting here that need new homes.

Among the papers, were a series of weaving swatches by the Victoria Guild from the early to mid 1980's. The colours are dated but the weaving information is fabulous! Great inspiration when the 'grey matter' runs dry. I have over 4 three inch wide binder full of swatch exchanges from various guilds, my own weaving, plus my friends'. I never tire of looking through them. They are so simple to make: just add an extra 12 inches to your next project. I then draft up the design and weaving notes in my PCW Fiberworks program and hit print. One friend said she loves getting 'the big brown envelope' that arrives suddenly in the mail and there are my last 6 months worth of projects to share.

Below is one swatch from the Victoria collection that is extra special. The guild handed out this sample in 1984. The material is from old curtains woven by a long time guild member way back in 1938 for her mother. Now doesn't that tug at your heart strings! The two pictures are my attempt to show clarity of the summer and winter weave structure as well as the colours. The colours run in value somewhere between these two images.



Here is the accompanying notes (sure hope you can make it out okay) :

The profile draft for this design is shown next and the sample fit somewhere in this scheme:

The book referenced in the notes is this one:

I think this book is on most weavers' book shelves. But when have we *really* looked at it? Some times it takes a small treasure like the swatch to nudge us into a second (or even a first!) look. We wait for the latest new weaving books to be announced by the various publishers with their shiny covers and glossy pages. But perhaps a backwards glance is even better?

We'll take a backwards look next entry....

New Tricks and Resources

So it seems our heat wave was a short term thing and we are back to a more normal range. Blankets off, then blankets back on the bed and there's the chilly house in the mornings. Things weatherwise are not 'business as usual'!

There have been some discussion on other blogs and chat groups about keeping track of where you are when weaving a project. I've seen pictures of tape measures pinned to the selvedges and also cash register tapes rolling along. These will mean that the weaver is weaving to the exact measurement they need *provided* they allow for take up. If they don't, it will come up short and how much depends on the grist of the yarn used, their beat and the warp's relaxation once it comes off the loom. I had a mentor tell me that if the length is critical, such as in a piece for a test program, then relax the warp on the loom and measure it the next day. That will be a better guide to what you have.

But I like to use temples! They must be moved every so often and a tape measure or tape roll in the way at the edge would be a big pain to move all the time. So I developed my own system to monitor where I am. Most weavers adapt something to suit their needs and I'm sharing what I do. Be warned that I have an 'organize gene' and so this isn't difficult for me to do. But those 'less organized' may forget to pick up a pen and have challenges. :)

I simply measure along the edge of the selvedge and place a large loop of scrap yarn in at a measured point. On a sheet of paper, which I keep in the loom bench, I have a note of how long the towel planned to be and allowances amde for things such as hems, borders etc. In the towels currently on my loom, they are to be 34 " long total. I would weave 4" for hem, then 2"for a border, then I'm weaving the main part of the towel. BUT I must subtract for the other hem and border so 6" x 2 = 12" Take 12 away from 34 and the main part of the towel will be 12" before I must start the opposite border, then hem. Each new planned section is easy to track as I go along, armed with my plan, pen and paper. I had already factored in take up into the length I want for the towel along with shrinkage after wet finshing.

Here's a picture of a towel where it's to be 34" in length and there are no borders. Simply 2/16's weft in mercerized black cotton. All I need to do is to track inches woven. I measure what I have woven new and move the cotton loop. The new inches are added to the previous total and I make a new total. As a friend says "easy peasy".

My tally sheet..... showing towel #7 and to be 34" total, with my additions. I measure often as right now I must move the work frequently to prevent me from leaning forward over the work. My physiotherapist has ordered no leaning forward and adding strain to my lower back. Since I want to weave, I do as I'm told!
I hope you give this a try and see how you like it. It will take some getting used to if you have been using other methods. Every time the cotton loop rolls over the edge of the breast beam, simply measure and move it.

Now, onto other things... In 2007 I attended Fibre Fest and had a grand time. I took a fine spinning workshop by taught by my friend Judith Glibbery. Great course and helped my spinning immensely! I wandered the vendor area and brought home some treasures: such as painted bamboo skeins from Laura Fry's booth, cashmere silk blend spinning fibre from Jane Stafford's booth and I even bought some small bobbins with the new merino wool and stainless steel yarn at Fibres Plus. Not sure what I will make with that but who knows! I'm trying to stay current with the new yarns out there.

I also bought books.... I *love* books. I keep looking for classic titles that I need for my library and also to see if any of the newer releases are worth snapping up. This book pictured below is one such book!

The ISBN # is 0-9611136-2-6 and my copy is dated 2005. I paid about $45.00 and it's well worth it. Self published by Doramay Keasbey and the address given is Eugene, Oregon, USA. It's a large book of about 300 pages and filled with crisp, clear black and white pictures, drafts and well written text. I'm finding it to be an amazing resource! Why isn't this book more talked about among the weaving community? It covers historical aspects and then quickly moves onto every possible type of pattern weave you could imagine. This was a labour of love for Ms. Keasbey! I would say it the best book I have bought recently besides Anne Dixon's new one on 4 shaft weaves. It's a keeper!

(Sorry about the two colours of font, but I can't seem to get Blogger to change it today.)

Great Inspiration!

As promised, here are the samples from the Jane Stafford "Twill Explosion" workshop. Twill is one of my favourite weaves as there is so much potential for incredible patterning! Missing this workshop was quite depressing, but the ladies of the guild have worked hard to make sure that I got 7 of the 8 samples very quickly. (Thanks so much) I washed and pressed them up and have them all in plastic sleeves. Just need to get a new binder to hold the course material. They plan to hold a session soon where we'll review what they did and learned during the course and share it all with me. Neat huh? Will almost seem like I was there....

So here's the first: Twill gamp for 8 shafts, using simple threadings.

There is a second 8 shaft twill gamp, with more complex threadings:

Then there was a sample with two threadings (straight twill and point twill) and treadled seven different ways. It's amazing how these two simple threadings change so much!

( I have NO idea of how these pictures managed to group themselves considering I asked for 'centre' positioning. Blogger has been quite difficult to deal with lately!)

There is a shadow weave, which I love! This one is woven using wool.

Next there are a couple of samples using bamboo. Here's the fine version as a turned two block twill:

Now using the heavier grist, and in plaited twill:

The drape and sheen of the bamboo is wonderful. I will add more of this to my stash in time!

Then, the (last) sample is a double weave twill:

It's neat how there is not a trace of one coloured side showing on the other except for the row near the hemstitching. Would make a great reversible rug or lap throw.

So there is one more sample to come and that's a 4 shaft twill gamp that's all set on my loom. I'm short the 8 dent reed right now (2 ends per dent for 16 epi) I do have a 15 dent reed and I'm thinking " close enough' for me! I started to sley this reed today until my back told me no more!

This was my table loom all set to go to the workshop. I'll record how this twill gamp goes as I weave it off and wet finish it. It's 4/8 cotton which is nice and soft, although a bit large for my tastes. But double weave using 4/8 would great placemats. I have a small stash of 4/8 and now I know how to use this up.

Back report: I seem to be stuck. I'm not any worse, but I don't seem to be improving either! I think physiotherapy is the key but there's no getting in any sooner than the 23rd. It started to rain this afternoon, so at least I have a reason for staying inside now.

I did get around the flower beds yesterday and got some nice shots of flowers opening. Will share some next post.

Finally: sorry about the weird grouping of pictures and text. I have no idea why it went this way as its not what I asked Blogger to do! Perhaps I can re-edit it to to a better layout next time.