Teach Someone to Weave 2009: Runs April and May
Printer-friendly versionIn the months of April and May, I invite you to post your experiences and pictures of teaching weaving. In June, I'll randomly select a post from this forum topic and give the author/teacher a prize: a custom scarf warp hand-painted by me in your favorite colorway.
Happy Weaving (and teaching!)
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Teaching my niece
I have been teaching my 7-year old niece how to weave, little by little when I see her (She lives a couple hours away from me). Her interest really began with a visit to a historical farm where a large floor loom was being demonstrated. I remember being similarly fascinated as a child by such demonstrations. She started to learn weaving basics at Christmas when she received a small table loom as a present from her Grandma. Her loom is similar to the Brio loom but with string heddles instead of a rigid heddle. It is actually identical to one her grandma had when she was little. I warped this loom for her before Grandma gave it to her. At our family Christmas celebration I sat down with her and showed her how it works and helped her to get started with it.
She got her first opportunity to try a multi-shaft loom when she came for a weekend visit to my house. When she walked into my dining room and saw my "big" loom (LeClerc Medico table loom), she was in awe. I showed her how my loom works and she helped me to weave a double-wide blanket. I was able to explain a little bit about how double weave works. It was my first double weave project and until I actually had the loom warped up and started weaving, I couldn't fully comprehend how it works. Now that she has seen it and has helped to weave it, she has also begun to understand it - and at a much younger age than me. I'm looking forward to my next opportunity to work with her - hopefully in May.
Teaching New Weavers
I taught my first weaving class on April 11, 2009 at Green Planet Yarns in Campbell, and it was a huge delight - I'll do THAT again! Today there are four newly accomplished weavers in the world, who learned to warp a rigid heddle frame loom, weave, and finish their first project with an overhand-knot fringe in this one-day beginner's workshop. Three of the four bought their store workshop looms, and the fourth who already has a floor loom, knows she wants a bigger one than the store had in stock. Those who bought their Glimåkra Emelias have Joanne Hall's wonderful illustrated notes on warping. The store owner included a book for each students as a class take-away along with my handouts, and the book I chose for them is Betty Linn Davenport's Hands On: Rigid Heddle Weaving.
I called up my weaving colorist and weaving-insructor-emerita mother, who these days is keeping closer to her bed, and laughed, "See what you started!" We had one of the Great chats, and she filled me in on more connections than I had known about. As it turns out my mother knows Betty Davenport, and they each learned a lot about weaving and teaching of the same from Suzanne Gaston-Voûte, who I admired as a young girl accompanying mom to classes and such at the Weavers Guild of Minnesota in the '60s and '70s. So the cycle continues.
Ruth Temple Redwood City, CA
Teaching and Introduction
I think one of the most fun introductions to weaving I have done was at my baby shower. I asked the girls giving it if we could have it at my house. Then I had my loom warped and ready for a baby blanket.
During the shower, everyone present took a turn and wove a repeat on the blanket (including my mother who I don't think would have dared touch my loom under any other circumstances), and at the end of the day, I had a blanket!
Needless to say, this blanket will be a treasured heirloom, despite it's many inconsistencies. And I think the women enjoyed it as well, though granted, some more than others.
In order to facilitate the process I had labeled each of the treadles and marked the treadling pattern in a column on a piece of paper that I hung off the top of the loom (castle?) and a clothespin. And I had two thirteen year olds 'babysit' the loom.
They had been two of five girls (ages 10-13) that I had at my place for a week last summer for knitting camp that morphed into more of a weaving camp as they made head bands on a pipe loom (Sarah Swett's book), and warped, threaded, sleyed, and wove dishrags on the floor loom. (A couple of the girls caught threading errors as they took their turn at sleying the reed!)
So these two girls came early to learn the pattern and get acquainted with winding the bobbins and using shuttles (they had only used yarn butterflies previously), then they made all the grown women comfortable, showing each woman when her turn came what to do and how it all worked.
I think many of them came away surprised at the simplicity of the weaving; some will definitely want more; others appreciate the experience without any wish to duplicate it. But I would still call it a success.
I love it!
What a fantastic idea! Now that sounds like a baby shower I would enjoy! I really like the way you involved the younger people you had already taught to help to teach their elders. Such love and memories were woven into that blanket for your little one.
Teaching 2-82 year-olds at Maker Faire
For the past two years, the Weavers and Spinners Society of Austin has had a double-wide booth at Maker Faire to teach the public about weaving and spinning. We have all types and sizes who come into our booth (with our encouragement!) and try weaving.
We have tiny tots who can weave on our Wolf Pup and our table looms; kids who get so eager to try that waiting their turn can be hard; tweens who aren't sure they are supposed to like it that much but do; and grownups who are tentative and then surprised at how easy it is.
The first year, there were 3 boys who tried weaving and really liked it. At the end of the day, when, after seeing all the the remarkable things at Maker Faire, their mom asked what they wanted to do with the last 30 minutes left, they all said "weaving"!
This year, we set up more looms! They all stayed busy. One young woman, after getting a short lesson, came back several times and wove for over 3 hours. A shy tween boy, after getting a lesson, wove and studied, methodically working through the treadling, beating, and color results.
A pig-tailed tot "got" weaving so quickly that she declared that we could all just leave her alone to weave because she was good at it..jpg)
There are lots of grown-up geeks at Maker Faire and I gave them my geeky explanation of looms and weaving (gleaned from my mother, who used the player piano functions as illustrations when trying to explain software to my grandmother!): Threading the heddles is hardware/hard coding. It can't be changed during weaving. The tie-up is firmware. It can be changed, but seldom is during a project. The treadling, beat, yarn choice make up software -- they can all be changed at will. They love this description and go off nodding as if they have been let into a secret society!
We are all exhausted after teaching weaving and spinning non-stop but it is so rewarding to get to share the love we have for our craft with so many people.
MWilson - Weaver; WSSA Newsletter Editor and Maker Faire Organizer; and CW2010 Seminars Chair.
Teaching weaving to children, and by emails and by YouTube
First of all, I have loved reading the other comments - especially about teaching young children to weave. When my kids were little, I always kept a small Spears loom warped and available to them. They would weave whenever they felt like it.
Often my son, who was a 'go fast' kind of zooming little guy, would stand and weave and you could see him going into a meditative state. Then, he would race off again. He wove many accessories for his favorite stuffed animals.
For his wedding, he wanted me to weave the tartan for his kilt. I didn't have time to do that, but did make the kilts. I wove the flash bands for his, and all the groomsmen's kilt hose. That intrigued his bride, whom I have now gotten totally hooked on weaving.
My daughter has been a dedicated inkle weaver since she was a young girl. She fell in love with inkle weaving and stayed in love with it. She isn't really interested in any other kind of weaving at this point, as it blends so harmoniously with all her other design work.
Next: Teaching a friend to weave by email: Recently, a friend of mine saw the cover of my not-yet-released book: The Woven Bag, which is a collection of 30 + bags woven on small looms.
The photo of the bags on the cover made her want to start weaving right away.
We have been emailing back and forth, as she has begun her adventures in weaving, and it has been pure and simple joy! She remembered that she had already bought one small loom for her granddaughter and then bought another from eBay and one through Amazon.com.
It's been fascinating to work with her through emails, and to be part of her introduction to the joys of weaving. One of the great blessings of the internet is being able to create community through a common passion - a common thread, so to speak!
And, the metaphor that comes to mind, is of 'weaving a community' through the wonders of technology. Truly wonderful!
Through the internet, I teach tutorials on the most basic of all looms: The potholder loom. It's a simple, humble little loom that can be the source of tremendous creativity.
I get lovely feedback from people, telling me that the YouTube videos that I make about weaving with yarn on the potholder loom, bring them great joy and inspires them to learn to weave. That's what it's all about. Teaching weaving whenever, and how ever we can! Joy!
Noreen Crone-Findlay
www.crone-findlay.com and www.blisstree.com/hankeringforyarn
Teach someone to weave 2009
I thought I would take a different approach and tell you about my most 'memorable' workshop, the workshop from ----. I won't reveal where it took place, but I'm sure that if any of the participants read this, they will recognize it. I hope they can laugh at it now as I do.
The night before the workshop on weaving with two warps, one of the participants called and said she wasn't going to be able to attend as planned. Unfortunately, hers was the only loom with that particular draft assignment. (I teach round robin workshops and duplicate some drafts when there are enough people.) I called another student, who had a duplicate draft, and asked if she could wind a certain number of extra warp ends for each warp and change drafts. She agreed.
Day 1. The morning started out rather well, except that one other person didn't show up. I did my lecture and the students started warping their looms per instructions. Then the woman who called the night before showed up and dropped off her loom which was already warped. She hadn't told me she was going to do this, and I had to rewarp it correctly.
Day 2. The first day's no-show arrived and said she thought it started today. She had a lot of catching up to do. Toward the end of the day I was informed that we had to pick up and move everything into an adjacent room. (You know how weavers spread out during a workshop!) We were in a community center, and our room was to be used for a church service the next day. I wasn't told why we weren't able to use the adjacent room from the start.
Day 3. It wasn't just any church service. It was a rock and roll church service! As I began my morning lecture, the band started rehearsing with full amps, guitars, drums, and vocals. It was absolutely deafening! They played the same song over and over and over! When I could make myself heard above the din, I said I would continue the lecture after everything was done next door, and the best thing to do was to continue weaving the samples. Meanwhile, my students started making comments: "Don't they know any other songs?" "They're so awful." "She's really off key." And my favorite, which made everyone laugh, "I don't think God likes to be yelled at." Annoyed as we were, at this point all we could do was laugh. And I still laugh at it today.
Barbara Walker
Barbara J. Walker
Teaching "Stripes" to Weavers
At the 2008 conference of the Montana Association of Weavers and Spinners in Helena, Montana, I taught a class called "Sensational Stripes". The idea of the class is to introduce new ways to look at organizing stripes in handwovens. I taught 5 formulas for making stripes that are pleasing to the eye.
Included among the formulas was Pascal's Triangle, which I'm shown here explaining..jpg)
Once I had explained the formulas, the students did wraps or drafts (second photo) using one of the formulas and then shared their new-found knowledge with the class.
I have gone on to teach this class a few more times and am scheduled to teach it in Oregon this fall.
Sarah PIlgrim / www.sarahpilgrim.com
Spinners become Weavers!
I've been teaching spinning, weaving and dyeing for over 25 years now, but the greatest joy for me is that most of my students come to me wanting to learn to spin, but in a very short space of time they want to learn to weave too. I don't push it at them, either, I just show them what I do. My approach has always been quiet enthusiasm for my craft and as a result my students feel that too.
It's wonderful when they ask how can they do that on their little loom and we work out ways to modify more complex structures to enable them to be woven on simpler looms.
I'm so proud of what my students have achieved over the last 25 + years!
Alison
www.spinningandweaving.weebly.com
Weaving as School
We're a homeschool family. At 5 years old, my now 13 year old daughter proclaimed "Subtraction is from the H Word!"
Since then, I've looked for opportunities to teach math in as many non-traditional ways as possible.
Kaity has begun to show intrest in one of my rigid heddle looms. She has wound both colors of warp, and sleyed the heddle for one color of the Grab it and Go bag. As she works, she imagines her next projects.
Our Home Contact teacher is allowing for all of her time spent to be counted as education hours. I wish I had been able to learn in imaginative ways, growing up in Public School
Oops!
I didn't see where to sign in, to leave my contact information.
A Jurado
http://www.spinningdoula.com
is it hard?
I recently taught a young friend to weave. As an experiment I startd her on a project some might say was hard, and started her with an end feed shuttle. My hypothisis was as a beginner with almost no experience, she wouldn't know it was "hard".
She loved winding,warping and throwing the shuttle and treadeling randomly to discover new twills. Since what i showed her was all she knew, it didn't occur to her it might be hard.
A new fearless and excited weaver!
Easter weaving
My daughter, a Waldorf school teacher, was reading Living Crafts magazine and was interested in the articles about weaving with children.
Finally having her interest I brought an inkle loom, a peg loom and a bag of yarn
with me when we went to visit for Easter. I taught my 8 year old grandson to weave on the peg loom and my daughter to weave on the inkle loom. We had a great time! 
Simone
simonen@comcast.net
New Weavers
Here are Lucille, Rhena and Kimberly with their new scarves woven this weekend. The warp was wound from a skein of hand-painted rayon slub, the weft Bambu 7.
After their Beginning Weaving class in March, these 3 intepid new weavers wanted another class. :)
Cheers,
Laura
Laura
At the beginning of your weaving, throw three picks withouth beating in between each pick. Then squeeze all three picks together. Throw one more pick, and the warp should be evenly spread.
Teaching young students
As an Elementary Principal I often taught weaving in our enrichment program. Medium to large groups - once a week - not ideal but fun. I usually started with paper weaving to make sure they understand the over/under concept, moved on to pot holders loops and cardboard looms and then frame looms. I included the cultural aspect of weaving by sharing many of the textiles I've collected from all over the world along with the hands on activities. We also read children's books about children in other countries who weave. So it becomes part art and part social studies. I find teaching weaving to young students to be very rewarding - the most hyperactive children become tranquil and focused.
When I retired I was able to spend more time with our grandnephews and they started weaving. Again I had super active young boys who, amazingly, could sit for hours and just weave. They started with pot holders and moved quickly through rigid heddle and on to 2 harness table looms. In the picture below they are ages 9 & 7 and were just beginning the weavings that eventually became small pillows. I can't wait for this summer vacation so they can weave some more. Virginia Glenn
children's storybooks about weavers
It is wonder-full to combine weaving and language ARTS. I am always looking for storybooks for read alouds. Do you have a book list? Please share your favourite story titles for us all. elma harder
story books
Always willing to share - Here are the ones I've used. I also find that kids just love to look at the pictures of weaving in any adult textile books that I bring to class. And they can be amazingly careful with my treasured books if I just let them know how special the books are.
Abuela's Weave by Omar Castañeda (also available in Spanish - el Tapíz de Abuela); Dia's Story Cloth by Dia Cha; The Goat in the Rug by Geraldine Blood, Charles and Link Martin; 10 Little Rabbits by Virginia Grossman and Sylvia Song; The Weaving of a Dream by Marilee Heyer; Navajo Rugs and Blankets, a coloring book by Chuck and Andrea Mobley, The Spider Weaver by Margaret Musgrove and Julie Cairns; Angela Weaves a Dream by Michele Solá; Kids Weaving by Sara Swett (not a story book but a great resource for teaching kids to weave); Dat-so-la-lee by Dixie Westergard (this one is about a Native American basket weaver and not really a kids book but it's short and informative); Coloring book of Incas, Aztecs and Mayas - (also not a story book but I use the coloring pictures to teach design and some of the traditional ways of the different cultures); Grandmother Five Baskets by Lisa Larrabee
happy reading and let me know if you want any publisher info - Virginia Glenn
New Teacher
What a timely forum! I am just about ready to teach my very first weaving class. I'm starting the students with a rigid heddle, and hope this introduction will encourage some to continue with "multi-heddle" weaving. This class will be taught at a lifelong learning institute, so I expect every age to be there. I have a lesson plan, but am unsure how to gauge the length of time needed for each segment. For instance, how long should I allow for a discussion on measuring warp and types of yarn? How long for actually warping? Finishing techniques? I'm planning to furnish the yarn and charge a materials fee, and I expect about four or five students in the class.
If anyone has any teaching tips, I'm wide open.
Purlgirl in Sweet Home Alabama (Yes, I knit too) purlgirl429@bellsouth.net
New teacher
Dear A. Weaver;
I have been teaching beginning weaving for about 7 years and am fairly successful at developing new weavers with a passion for our craft. I have one hint for you - most students don't get all the "book larnin'" stuff until they have had hands on experience with a loom! I introduce some vocabulary first, including the parts of a loom, and then get right to preparing a warp, dressing the loom and weaving. We all do the same project the first time around. They are always thrilled with their first scarf and THEN they are ready to learn about yarns, tension, edges, project planning, reading drafts etc.
Best wishes-
Pamela in Denver
teaching at distance
Great topic!
When my mother expressed an interest in weaving, I didn't let the 1200 miles between us keep me from gaining a weaving buddy. Through the wonders of technology, I've been able to teach her quite a bit about weaving.
First, I helped her purchase a RH loom off E-bay and then later a floor loom advertised on a discussion list. When they arrived, she emailed me many close-up pictures of the looms which we then discussed over the phone. For her birthday, I sent her weaving books from Amazon that were duplicates of mine. I can thus refer to a page or illustration when I'm trying to explain a technique or select a draft.
Recently she obtained a netbook with a webcam allowing her to make video calls with Skype. This has broadened our discussions as she walks around her weaving room pointing the camera at various things. Last week I helped her select yarn for a scarf. I viewed her yarn stash and she held up different yarns close to the camera so I could see the textures and advise her on the best choice for warp and weft.
Some things are admittedly difficult to teach by distance such as warping the loom. I find myself forgetting the camera and pointing at the screen quite a bit. However, I think we've both benefited from these lessons and I know our relationship is strengthened from being able to share our love of weaving.