Weaving Indiana Guild Exhibit and the Winner is !

The most popular scarf in the Weaving Indiana exhibit belonged to Sue Parker Bassett, who wove the mostly red scarf in echo weave (the scarf labeled "B" just left of center). The name drawn from the scarf ballots was Diane Crane. She got to take home the exhibit pattern book.

MWC was great fun and we can't wait to see you all again in Kansas next time!
From Mindy McCain

'Superior Seasons' Fashion Show wrap up and DVD

‘Superior Seasons’ was the theme of Northern Wefts 2011 fashion show presented Friday night June 24th at Finlandia College in Hancock Michigan. You have been viewing the winning garments from the fashion show on this blog posted by Donna Kallner our Awards chair person and the creator of this blog.

The Master of Ceremonies for ‘Superior Seasons’ was Mary Sue Fenner; she organized and planned the fashion show as well as designed and typed the program for the event. She was assisted back stage by Mauree Childress and a number of volunteers, some who have been taking classes from Mary Sue at Kele Alpaca in Kewaunee Wisconsin or at Sievers Fiber Arts School on Washington Island Wisconsin. Debbie Skubal, Kim Ristow, Candee Brey , Jean Haroldson and Mariah Peterson.

Mary Sue was dressed in a Tunic made of Pompeii, a yarn from Silk City Fibers. It is a blend of nylon, cotton and acrylic. It is a two layered tunic, with Sand Dune and Lava Rock colors it is lined with hand dyed silk from Vogue pattern #1240. She looked stunning as she announced the 74 entries as they were professionally presented by our talented group of models.

Superior Seasons 2011

Here are a few fashion samples of the DVD photos for you to enjoy. I have my favorites and I will share them with you, I am hoping I get the correct titles for these garments as I am taking them from the Fashion Show Program and I am hoping the artist name is correct as some are being modeled by our volunteer models and not the designers.

Alie Thompson created and modeled this beautiful Jacket
"Senecio in Wool" This reminds me of a Mondrian Painting. Look at the detail of this fabric.

This cute summer robe "Sunflower Morning' was woven by Diane May of Beloit, Wisconsin. the garment is plain weave on a 4 harness loom using hand dyed unmercerized cotton and flake cotton. It was modeled by Mariah Peterson.

This Wool felted coat was created by Pat Filzen from Reedsville Wisconsin. Pat hand dyed the wool then hand felted the fabric for her garment. 'A walk in the forest' was modeled by Leslie one of our volunteers.



















I loved the collar on this garment by Sydney Hans from Chicago Il. 'Lake Sunset Jacket' was woven on a 4 harness loom in tabby with 5/2 Perle cotton using a random stripe warp technique. A sari silk panel is the insert in the back of the garment. Modeled by Nadine Sanders.



If you would like to order a DVD of the still photos taken by Larry Retzlaff of Minnesota you can send a check for $6 made out to MWC 2011 and your address to Jean Lind for her address please check the MWA conference web page. Larry, an amateur photographer graciously offered to shoot photos during ‘Superior Seasons’ we gladly accepted and I am sure you will be delighted by the results. Thank you so much Larry for this great remembrance of Superior Seasons. If you have already ordered the DVD it should arrive in early September.

A Closer Look -- Stretch of the Imagination

This post is part of a series taking a closer look at award-winning entries from exhibits at Northern Wefts.

Jean Hutchison's Stretch of the Imagination was the result of a challenge Jean posed to herself.

"I was introduced to bead leno in a Robyn Spacy workshop," she says. "Experimenting on my own after the workshop, I was excited to find that I could get a somewhat stretchy fabric depending on my sett and fiber.  I went on to try doup leno where I achieved much more stretch.  After experimenting with a series of doup leno scarves, I challenged myself to weave fabric for a garment."

That garment won the Margaret Grant Memorial Award for weaving on no more than four shafts in the fashion show at Northern Wefts. This award recognizes an elegant fashion fabric developed from a simple structure that complements a garment's design.

Whispered aside from Donna: As a volunteer handling garments at the fashion show judging, it was exciting to see judge Daryl Lancaster's appreciation for this entry. I knew I couldn't do justice to an explanation of what it takes to weave this structure. Jean generously answered the questions I should have asked. These are her words.

Doup leno is a structure where two warp ends twist around each other and the twist is held in place by the weft. It produces a lacy fabric. 

First doups must be made. These are the loops that produce the twist. I used nylon mason cord. These are attached to the bottom of shaft 2. 

The doup goes through the eye of a heddle on shaft 1. Then a thread on shaft 4 goes over the doup and a thread on shaft 3 goes through the doup.

 

The result is that the warp ends threaded on shafts 3 and 4 can twist. I found an article by Irma Spaartaren, “Give it a Twist:  Doup Leno” at  www.weavezine.com  to be very helpful in figuring this all out.


As far as the actual weaving, there are only two repeated pics.  The shed is very small for one of them.  On this shed, I used a sword to establish the shed, put the sword up on its edge and then put the shuttle through.  Luckily there were only 8 picks per inch.

The weaving and sewing of this project were definite challenges for me.  I am very thankful for encouragement and help from Alie Thompson and weavers in her Woodstock Weavers garment class, and from Virginia Reisner from Chicago area guilds and Joanne Hall from Glimakra-USA for tips on getting a better shed.

The warp for this fabric is 20/2 pearl cotton doubled and novelty yarn sett at 16 doubles per inch and sleyed as 2 doubles-2 doubles-0 in a 12-dent reed. The weft is Bambu. The garment pattern Jean used is Simplicity 2283.

Jean learned to weave at Sievers School of Fiber Arts almost thirty years ago. Jean is known both for her weaving for the home -- table runners, placemats, window treatments, rugs, coverlets and more -- and her elegant handwoven garments.  "I enjoy designing fabric through  understanding and using different weave structures," she says.

Fashion Show Stories

It won't be long before editing is complete on the fashion show CD from Northern Wefts. In the meantime, I wanted to share a few stories from the fashion show that you won't get on the CD.

Judith Larsen won the Sievers gift certificate

The Well-Dressed Volunteer
You can count on Midwest Weavers Conference audiences to put on a darn good show themselves on fashion show night. Judith Larsen of Cedarburg, Wisconsin wasn't expecting paparazzi to focus on her that night, but she was dressed for the limelight. Judith won a special drawing just for conference volunteers, which was held at the end of the fashion show. Her prize was a gift certificate for a class at Sievers School of Fiber Arts. This photo of Judith shows that the best accessory for a beautiful handwoven garment is a brilliant smile.

Daryl Lancaster in Albuquerque Sunset

The Prodigal Coat
Daryl Lancaster, who judged the fashion show, got her delayed luggage just in time to wear Albuquerque Sunset to the fashion show. Daryl has written about the fashion show here. But I'd like to point you to the story of her coat, which is told in several chapters here, here, here, here and here. It's great fun to get to follow someone else's design process.

The Coveted Jacket
One of the perks of being a volunteer is getting to touch things that are out of reach otherwise. Debbie Skubal and I got to touch every single garment in the fashion show as we presented them to Daryl during the judging. Even better, we modeled many of them for her.

Virginia Parent's lac and logwood jacket

One of my personal favorites was the Lac and Logwood Jacket made by Virginia Parent of Andover, Minnesota. Virginia teaches intermediate spinning classes at the Weavers Guild of Minnesota and elsewhere, and coordinates a monthly spinners study group. She generously shared some details about this garment.

The yarn for the jacket was handspun from a Corriedale-cross fleece raised and sheared by a shepherd in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Virginia spun the yarn Z twist, washed, and wound the singles yarn on her Macomber loom in a four-harness broken twill pattern. The weft was commercial 20/2 yarn.  After mending broken warp threads, she lightly fulled the fabric.

Then she dyed it with lac, then overdyed with logwood to give it a richer wine color. From a distance, the color is rich. Up close, it's even more complex and beautiful. Like Julie Hurd's Mushrooms for Color sweater, the natural dyes used in this garment made a subtle statement eloquently.

Virginia used a pattern recommended for fleece fabric (Simplicity 3563), because the hand of her fulled fabric is very similar fleece. The fit is achieved by sewn tucks. Loop buttonholes were created from fabric tubes, and the buttons are vintage.

Virginia says, "This jacket is very comfortable to wear, is crease resistant, hand washable, and just needs a little brushing now and then to remove pills. Looks great with jeans and a turtleneck or dressier pants."

More Stories To Share
On my personal blog, I wrote about the diamond mesh hair net Lisa McLane made and wore to the show. If you have links to other stories or stories of your own to share, please click on "Comments" below this post. There were many more stories behind the garments on and off the stage, and we'd love to hear them!

A Closer Look -- Sunset At Sea

This post is part of a series taking a closer look at award-winning entries from exhibits at Northern Wefts.

Vicki Tardy's Sunset At Sea

In her stash, Vicki Tardy of Iowa City, Iowa, had some handpainted silk roving she bought at a Midwest Weavers conference a number of years ago. This year, that fiber returned to Midwest Weavers. Vicki went home with the Elsie Bell Award for excellence in hand spinning.

Vicki used that handpainted silk roving to spin the warp thread for Sunset At Sea. The scarf is woven in a technique called turned overshot based on the pattern "Pioneer Trail" in A Handweaver's Pattern Book by Marguerite P. Davison.  The ground cloth is 20/2 silk in navy blue.


You know that fiber you purchased at Northern Wefts? We can't wait to see it again!

A Closer Look -- Iguana Sculpture

This post is part of a series taking a closer look at award-winning entries from exhibits at Northern Wefts.

Iguana sculpture by Ann Masemore

Ann Masemore of Minneapolis weaves recycled plastic into yardage to make into handbags and totes -- usually. But one particular combination of colors (produced from Cub, Whole Foods and Lunds grocery and produce bags, frozen veggie bags, retail shopping bags and a black trash bag) reminded her of reptile skin when she took the yardage off the loom. So instead of a faux alligator bag, she made an actual faux reptile. Ann's Iguana sculpture won the hearts of viewers as well as first place in the Non-Wearable category of the Re-use, Re-new Re-cycle exhibit at Northern Wefts.

Entries in this exhibit were displayed with photographs of the materials they transformed.

Iguana was made with 8/4 100% cotton rug warp at 10 epi for the plain weave fabric, which Ann wove on a 4-shaft Kessenich rug loom. The black ruff on the head is actually the header. The body, tail, head and legs were all cut from the recycled plastic bag yardage, machine sewn and stuffed with quilt batting.

The head includes vintage buttons, beads, and brass 2-prong paper brads. The tongue is the zipper portion of a recycled zip-closure plastic bag.

In addition to a one-year membership to the Textile Center in Minneapolis, Ann's winning entry in Re-use, Re-new Re-cycle won a basket woven from recycled Korean newspapers and filled with (naturally) re-gift items.

Follow up for Northern Wefts 2011 Guild Exhibits

There are lots of nice posts about Northern Wefts 2011 if you have not visited Daryl Lancasters Blog yet it is a must read. She had all the winning garments for the Superior Seasons Fashion Show and a nice write up about the judging. Amy Tyler also Blogged about her experience at Northern Wefts 2011. Thank you to both Daryl and Amy for sharing their thoughts and pictures of the conference.
Cameron Taylor Brown wrote about Northern Wefts 2011 and her experience in U.P. of Michigan. For some more uplifting reading check out she had to say about her workshop June 20-25 and view pictures of her Copper Harbor Tour on Thursday of the conference. Robyn Spady compared her trip to the U.P. to weather in Seattle Washington. It was a good time to weave when it is pouring outside.

I have been busy writing up a report or 2 or 3 reports for the Kansas group who will host the 2013 Midwest Weavers Conference in Emporia, Kansas June 20-22 they have selected the name 'Prairie Winds' and have a lovely logo.

Donna Kallner has been busy adding blogs about the winning entries for the Members' exhibit. I also have pictures of some of the items at the members' and teachers' exhibits.

The following pictures were taken at Northern Wefts 2011 exciting Guild Exhibit 'Aurora Borealis'.Yarnwinder Guild of Marquette Michigan entered this delightful exhibit in the 'Aurora Borealis' Guild Exhibit show. Beautiful handwoven scarves in Northern Lights colors displayed on a free standing copper structure.
The entry from the Delta County Spinners and Weavers Guild was a great collection of figures of each member of their guild engaged in their favorite fiber craft. Each character had a recognizable resemblance of each guild member. With a lovely northern lights watercolor as a backdrop for the display. Delta County Guild is located in Escanaba Wisconsin.

Sand County Weavers entry was called 'Aurora Borealis Colors to Dye for' the exhibit had many entries from weavers in Central Wisconsin.

The Craft Guild of Iowa presented a lovely array of scarves and wall hangings in the colors of the Northern Lights called 'Dancing Spirits'.
The Weavers' Guild of Kalamazoo Michigan did a Aurora Borealis Color study in Woven Towels. The display was very nice with the bright colors against the dark background. Each towel hung a metal ring on the wooden rack.




















The Shuttlecraft Guild from Sheboygan Wisconsin created a 'Northern Lights Kid's Camp' for their Guild Exhibit. This was a very original and unique exhibit.


The Illinois Prairie Weavers Guild presented this Exhibit to show their interpretation of the Aurora Borealis Theme. I am sorry to say in the hast to take pictures, I did not get their theme information. So if you have it please comment or send me an email to include it in this blog.
Our local Buellwood Weavers and Fiber Guild from Hancock Michigan presented out Guild Exhibit 'Northern de Lights' which had a variety of weaving, spinning, quilting, and painted silk scarves with a our individual interpretations of the Aurora Borealis.

Now for the winners!
The St. Louis Guild did ' A Study in Iridescence'
for which they won third place.

Anita Luvera Mayer did an excellent job at judging the Guild/Study Group Exhibits.
Her evaluations were written out and each guild received a critique from her judging. I believe her choices of 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners were mostly based on their presentation. All 3 winners had single theme items in their exhibits. (Rugs, scarves, scarves.) These exhibits had excellent lighting, signage, and an over all professional presentation.

The judging criteria was:
1. Adherence to Theme
2. How well over all exhibit theme
3. Overall visual appearance
4. Individual pieces demonstrate overall quality of craftsmanship
5. Presentation / professionalism
6. Documentation of guild involvement

#'s 3, 4, 5, 6 were very important in the judging.
Theme: "Aurora Borealis: Northern Lights - Ever Changing"

Second Place went to the Fiber Guild of Indiana who asked us to vote for your favorite piece in the exhibit. They were all so lovely it was hard to decide which one to vote for and I did not find out which one won? So if you are reading this and know the answer I am interested in finding out which was the winning scarf!














and First Place went to the Weavers Guild of Minnesota for their Rag Rug Study Group display.

They also took the peoples Choice award for this Exhibit.














So congratulations to our winners and thank you for participating in this beautiful display. Everyone who entered the room was awed by the talent the members of the various guilds displayed for this Midwest Weavers Conference.

A Closer Look -- Mushrooms For Color Sweater

This post is part of a series taking a closer look at award-winning entries from exhibits at Northern Wefts.

Julie Hurd's "Mushrooms For Color" Sweater

Julie Hurd of Bellaire, Michigan won the Traditional Heritage award in the fashion show at Northern Wefts. Her "Mushrooms For Color" Sweater shows the wide range of hues and shades that can be achieved with fungi in the dyepot.

"I have used natural dyes, primarily from plants, on my handspun yarns for decades," Julie says, "and I never tire of the rich and unique colors that I can coax from flowers, weeds, trees, and shrubs." When she learned of a mushroom dying class offered at John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina, she registered immediately. The instructor was Susan Hopkins of Saranac Lake, New York.

Shortly before the class, Julie's spinning guild had assisted at a shearing. Julie was assisting in skirting the fleeces as they were shorn and packaged for sale. She knew when whe touched a Bond fleece from "James" that he was the one. Julie took the fiber to Stonehedge Fiber Mill in East Jordan, Michigan for processing into roving. She spun almost seven pounds of James' coat into a two-ply bulky weight yarn on her Ashford Traveler using a Z twist and a supported long draw. The singles were 19wpi. She S plyed two singles with a twist angle of 25 percent. Her yarn, after washing, measured 10 wpi. In preparation for her class, Julie mordanted 1/2-, 1- and 2-oz. skeins with alum, tin, iron and copper.

Most of the 12 species of fungi used in the class were dried specimens collected by the instructor. Special attention was paid to the pH of the dyebaths to produce desired colors. Some species are also sensitive to temperature. "The hues that can be obtained from mushrooms encompass the full spectrum," Julie says. "The shades obtained are typically rich and complex and resistant to fading with light and washing.

Sleeves in process

Back home after her class, Julie chose an Ann Borgeois pattern from Fair Isle Sweaters Simplified. She designed the colorways as she knitted, starting with the sleeves. "I wanted the sleeves to be identical so I measured my colors and saved half of each skein for the second sleeve," Julie says. "Fair Isle knitting generally uses only two colors per row; a peerie band might use four to five colors total."

This project left Julie wanting more experience with mushroom dyeing. "Mushrooms are seasonal with most of the dye producers appearing late summer through fall." Happily, she says, there is little overlap between edible mushrooms and dye-producing species. "Those choice morels can go directly into the frying pan as they have no value for dyeing."

A Closer Look -- Aurora Rug

This post is part of a series taking a closer look at award-winning entries from exhibits at Northern Wefts.

Aurora by Wynne Mattila

Wynne Mattila of Minneapolis earned the Handwoven magazine "Weaving For The Home" award of excellence with her handwoven rug Aurora. This entry also received the Libbie Crawford Memorial Award for Loom Controlled Weaving, and first place in the Natural Elements category Woods in the Member Exhibits.

Originally from South Range, Michigan (just a few miles from Houghton/Hancock), Wynne took her first weaving class at Suomi College, which is now Finlandia University. She wove her first rug in 1985 in a beginning rag rug class with Janet Meany and Paula Pfaff.

Wynne has lived in Minneapolis for nearly 30 years. A member of the Weavers Guild of Minnesota, Wynne teaches Scandinavian rug weaving. Her special interest is weaving rugs using Finnish cotton seine twine warp and cotton fabric strips as weft. She particularly loves designing with color by blending fabrics using an alternating 3-shuttle technique.

Aurora detail by Wynne Mattila

"My Aurora rug was inspired by the colors of the aurora borealis (the northern lights) and a Finnish Lapp weaving called a raanu," Wynne says. "Raanu are traditionally woven with wool. They are tied together to make the cover of a goati (a teepee-like structure) or for warmth as bedcovers in the Arctic climate."

Wynn says this rug can be woven on two harnesses. The warp was 8/5 wet-spun Irish linen with a sett of 10 epi. For the weft she used seven cool colors (blues and greens) and eight warm colors of Halcyon Geo singles wool yarn. The finished rug is 29 inches wide by 59 inches long plus the fringe.

At Northern Wefts, Wynne says she particularly enjoyed her pre-conference workshop on felting with Phyllis Fredendall. Very soon, she'll also be enjoying the free one-year subscription that comes with winning the Handwoven Weaving For The Home Award.

Congratulations, Wynne!