Links To The Past -- Libbie Crawford

This series of posts honors weavers whose memorial awards will be presented during the 2011 Midwest Weavers Conference. 

Libbie Crawford

Libbie Crawford (1913-1983) reportedly liked "all kinds of yarn and weaving as long as it isn't blue."

Libbie Crawford in a fashion show garment

This information, written by Betty Epstein, appeared in the Weaver's Guild of St. Louis newsletter after Libbie's death in 1983.

In 1939 (Libbie) stopped to buy some rugs in a shop in Boone, North Carolina.  Upon discovering it was a weaving school, she stayed to learn to weave. When Miss Elizabeth Lord, who taught Libbie to weave, went on a sabbatical, Libbie became her replacement at Berea college. She also studied weaving at Penland and in Sweden. 

In 1951, with her husband Paul, she moved to Kirkwood, Missouri. She joined the Weavers Guild of St. Louis and the Artists Guild, where she gave lessons in their building on Union Boulevard.  She taught weaving at Washington University and in her own studio.  She was a past president and permanent information chairman of the Weavers Guild, a founding member of the Midwest Weavers Conference and a member of the the first nominating committee of the Handweavers Guild of America, in which she served as state representative and member of the Board of Directors.

She loved weaving and weavers until her death in August, 1983.

Weaving by Libbie Crawford

The Libbie Crawford Memorial Award for loom-controlled weaving will be presented later this month at Northern Wefts.

Thank you to Karen Kelley Schultz and members of the St. Louis guild who provided this information.