About the workshop

The workshop is designed to give you a thorough and intensive grounding in frame weaving and also teach you how to turn your household waste textiles from old T-shirts to pillowcases into textile masterpieces. 

What you will learn

You will learn foundational weaving skills, such as warping techniques, weaving simple and complex designs and patterns, and finishing techniques. The aim of the course is to not only cover a range of styles but also encourage the student to develop his/her own distinctive voice as a weaver.

You can either choose to make a wall hanging, a table-mat, a clutch-bag, an abstract artwork, or you can just sample and practice the new craft. It is totally up to you, and I will be there to guide you in every step!

Places are limited so there will be enough time for a one-to-one with all of you.

Weaving with waste

Using waste for making new things is an old technique that has been largely forgotten due to industrialization, globalization, and the mass production of cheap and poorly made commodities. If we look back to the past, regardless of society and geographical location, most households used to weave and knit their own textiles and clothes sometimes by simply (re)using off-cuts and old clothes and fabrics. One of the many results of such a practice was that very minimal fabric went to waste since the makers were very much aware of how much labor handcrafted garments required. 

Most of us have some clothes/bed linens/tablecloths/children’s clothes that are so worn out that even passing them on or recycling is not an option anymore. But all such textiles are perfect to use as a weft yarn after deconstructing them—unraveling chunky knitwear—or manipulating them by cutting them into yarn or ribbons. In addition, almost every household has ropes, strings, and gift ribbons lying around somewhere. All these can be used in your weaving as weft (or even as a warp if they are long and strong enough).

In my book, you can find step-by-step photography instructions on how to turn your old T-shirts/pillow cases into continuing yarns, plus seven easy-to-follow weaving projects.

Because weaving makes us feel better

I do believe that weaving is a great craft for both, adults and kids and that we need more weavers in this world. At a time when most of us feel overwhelmed by the 24/7 demands of the digital world, craft practices, are being looked to as something of an antidote to the stresses and pressures of modern living.

Many pieces of research have shown that crafts such as weaving, focusing on repetitive actions and a skill level that can always be improved upon. This allows us to enter a "flow" state, a perfect immersive state of balance between skill and challenge.