We’re thrilled to welcome Jette Vandermeiden to Austin for a few days in January. She’ll be speaking at our January 14th program night and teaching a 3- day workshop.
The program night topic is “Warp with a Trapeze/Mangle Your Cloth”. Sounds fun doesn’t it? Kind of circusy? Not really. A warping trapeze is an ingenious device that allows the weaver to put long warps on a loom with wonderfully even tension. I love mine. And mangling.. that sounds… well, bad. It’s not. It’s how the Scandinavians get their linen so beautifully shiny and flat. I remember my grandmother’s mangle — it was a huge wooden box full of rocks, that rested on a giant wooden cylinder. Modern Scandinavians have smaller electric versions in their homes, and we will be learning the process using a marble rolling pin.
Here is the program description from Jette’s website:
The Scandinavians weave beautiful and fine cloth. They have a different approach to setting up a warp, preparing their looms, and weaving. Find out what a warping trapeze will do and how to mangle your cloth. Included are demonstrations of dressing a loom using a trapeze, and finishing cloth using a simple mangle.
Our program nights run from 6:30-8:45 at NorthWest Recreation Center.
Jette Vandermeiden has been creating textiles since early childhood. Studying weaving, embroidery, knitting and bobbin lace at college led her to find her strength in weave theory, structure and design of cloth. With her extensive knowledge of fibre related topics, Jette has been a consultant to museums, documentary researchers, and developers of weaving curriculum for college fibre arts programs. A prolific writer and teacher, Jette has conducted classes and workshops across Canada, USA and England and is a regular columnist for FIBRE FOCUS. She weaves damask and Scandinavian weaves on her drawlooms, and volunteers at several museums, consulting on the Jacquard loom. Her goal is to share weaving skills so this ancient craft will continue to enrich our lives.
The weekend immediately after Jette is teaching a 3 day workshop “All Tied Up”, the website description follows:
The tie-up is your best friend! Thread the loom with one versatile threading and learn how to re-arrange your tie-up so you can weave many, many different structures and projects without re-threading. Discover how integrated twills, layered double weave, summer and winter, plaited twill, breaks and recesses, M’s and O’s, waffle weave and so many others can all be woven with small changes to the tie-up.