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The Newsletter of the London Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers

Issue 237 March 2010

ContentsContact details 2

Editorial 3

Meetings:

December - Competitions 18February - Lucy Norris 5Future Meetings 24

Features:

Introducing: Prick Your Finger 7Postcard from Downunder 13Wetlands Wallhanging 15Snow and Tell 16Guild Summer Holiday 23

Regulars:

Weave Study Group 10Spinning Skills-sharing 11Library News 20Membership News 21Guild News 25AGM 2010 Agenda 28What's On in Textiles 29

Warp&Weft

Warp and Weft Issue 237

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March 2010

London Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyerswww.londonguildofweavers.org.uk

President

Daphne Ratcliffe - [email protected] 020 8997 0291

Vice Presidents

Aileen KennedyNancy Lee ChildMary SmithMelanie Venes

Executive Committee: Officers

Chair - Jenifer Midgley - [email protected] 020 8892 4708 Treasurer - Lola McDowell - [email protected] 020 8749 0923Secretary - Jane Rutt - [email protected] 0207 580 8583

Committee members

David Armstrong - [email protected] 020 8399 4832Penny Brazier - [email protected] 020 7630 9093 - Membership SecretaryRoberto Campana - [email protected] 07730 284 258 - Exhibitions OfficerBrenda Gibson - [email protected] 020 8673 4914 - Webmaster, Design & Layout of Warp & Weft, PublicitySharen McGrail - [email protected] 020 8446 3418Theresa Munford - [email protected] 020 8748 3737 - Editor of Warp & WeftJan Slater - [email protected] 020 8870 3854 - LibrarianSonia Tindale - [email protected] 020 7722 9343 - Programme Secretary

Front cover: The Wetlands wallhanging in development - see article pae 15

Editorial

Today I pulled out the boxes of old W&Ws that lie stashed in the depths of my cupboard and searched through their yellowing pages for the March 1963 edition. I was curious about how the Guild coped with that other memorable winter. I must confess I was also hoping to find that they’d had to cancel a meeting too, that we weren’t just 21st century softies. Sorry folks, we are!

I quote: 12 January 1963“In spite of the Siberian weather, a

large number packed themselves into Room 4 in Church House…”

Of course, another explanation may be that in those days it was just too boring to stay in….no internet, no box sets of DVDs and no central heating. Trudging through snow was probably preferable to huddling in front of a gas fire listening to the light programme.

Fortunately, we will still be able to hear the speaker booked for January, as Helga Matos is able to speak at our March meeting instead (see p. 24 for details of her forthcoming talk). And our February meeting was very well attended. If you missed Lucy Norris’ fascinating talk, you can read all about it in this issue and learn of the long and convoluted journey we launch our old clothes on when we toss them into a recycling bin.

The profligacy of our attitude to clothing in the West is one of the motivations behind Rachael Matthew’s yarn adventures based in her shop ‘Prick Your Finger’. W&W brings you the first of a two-part

feature on this London textile artist. And our ‘postcard’ this time comes from the antipodes, from a recent trip Sonia Tindale made to Australia and New Zealand.

Now that winter might finally be nearly over, there are exhibitions to entice us on the road again, for example ‘Kaleidoscope’ opening in Mansfield on 17 April (details p. 30) and the exciting prospect of a Guild Summer School in Norfolk (p. 23). And should we get a freak snowstorm or two in the coming months, then there’s always our exhibition in October and the December competitions (p.26) to start working on.

But let’s finish this editorial with the opening paragraph of the editorial of W&W March 1963:

“Last quarter, doubtless under the benign influence of pre-Christmas festivities, we tended to wax slightly lyrical over the signs and portents of approaching winter. Alas, the ‘eager nip’ we regarded with such benevolent expectancy proved to be a gargantuan bite and as we write we are still surrounded by piled –up evidence of the Ice-age conditions we have all had to endure. We freely admit that we take an even more jaundiced view owing to our car having had a slight brush with an ice-berg deposited on our doorstep by the snow-plough which our local Council, thoughtfully making amends after piously awaiting a thaw for a couple of weeks, sent around to clear a way to civilisation.”

Plus ca change?

Theresa Munford

mailto:[email protected]




March 2010

February 2010:Mutilated hosiery and the Indian shoddy industry – Lucy NorrisThe February lecture came at us from all directions - textiles, recycling, anthropology and a bit of philosophy, and gave us a lot to think about.

Dr Lucy Norris is an anthropologist at University College London, currently working on the textile recycling industry in India - the aptly named ’shoddy industry’. She has spent a lot of time in India and it was whilst living in Delhi that she came across this subject and started researching it. In 2005, she returned to India with a photographer and subsequently they had an exhibition at the Horniman Museum. Many of the slides in the lecture came from this time.

We all know of the over-consumption of clothes in the West and how we blithely chuck them out, usually to a charity shop. We are also aware that a great deal of what we chuck out is not worth re-selling, but what happens after that, I for one had only a vague idea.

The piles of old textiles collected by the large rag companies are sorted, in the north of England, into re-sellable stuff going to, say, Africa, and the rest is mutilated in huge machines before being re-baled and sailing off to north India, the biggest textile recycling centre in the world. In theory the mutilated textiles cannot be resold as garments and can therefore arrive

at a special port in India without any tariffs. It then heads up the romantic-sounding Grand Trunk Road (romantic to those of us brought up on Kipling) to the unromantic 350 shoddy mills in Panipat, about 80 kilometres north of Delhi.

First, a myriad of Indian men and women do the hard, fiddly work by hand before it gets to the machinery stage. Taking everything out of pockets - coins, badges, business cards; cutting out zips and metal buttons which can be resold. As Dr Norris said, it is fascinating to see all the business cards and shop labels from Essex to Texas all intermingling on the floor. As, of course, it is not just British unwanted textiles they are dealing with, but goods from all over the world.

The old jackets, trousers etc are then sliced up, with lethal-looking vegetable cutters, removing cuffs, interlining - anything that will not go through the shredder. Colours are sorted into colour families with over 80 names, but grey, black and sludgy brown predominate.

Photo: Tim Mitchell


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Introducing: Prick Your Finger

Welcome to the first in the new W&W series, ‘Introducing’, and what a smashing two- part interview we have for you to kick off this new feature! I have been chatting to Rachael Matthews, co-founder of the Prick Your Finger haberdashery in East London about their hand spinning activities.

First of all Rachael told me a little bit about the Prick Your Finger manifesto, and the experiences that had inspired it.

“Before we established Prick Your Finger, Louise worked a lot in fashion and she knew a lot about knitwear manufacture in this country and how difficult it is. Concurrently, I was an artist and author, and as an artist I’m very interested in what the yarn is telling me because that’s my paint, my ‘tool’ for creating if you like. So I need to understand the character of the yarn and I just found more and more that when I was talking to the yarn it had always come from another country and it was always spun somewhere else. In the first instance we wanted Prick Your Finger to be a shop where all the yarn came from the UK. So when we’re talking to a customer we can say this is the type of sheep this yarn has come from, these are its qualities, and it’s good for this, it washes like this, this is a picture of

the sheep and this is where it lives, this is who farms it and so on.”

As well as stocking hand and mill spun yarns by textile artists and yarn producers from around the British Isles, Rachael and Louise stock their own yarn too;

“Anyone who knows anything about sheep and farming knows that lots of fleeces go to waste, and we have our roots in the country so we’ve always had friends who were just giving us fleeces. We started having them mill spun to sell in the shop - some DK, 4ply and chunky yarns, which we hand dyed. Our range of hand spun is a whole different thing though – hand spinning allows us to be artists, business women and activists all at once.”

First of all, Rachael tells me a bit more about the viability of the spinning wheel in the economic considerations of running a shop,

Whole families are involved, with young children playing around the piles of old clothes. Dr Norris asked the women why they thought all these clothes had arrived in India and got a most surprising answer. “In the West there is a water shortage, and they can’t afford to wash the clothes and have to throw them away.”

The piles of shredded, colour-coded cloth are then put through teasing machines, carding machines and eventually spinning machines and then onto bobbins made out of recycled paper. No re-dyeing is involved. The yarn is then spun into blankets selling for a £1 or less and, with a neat twist, some are bought by Western charities (who would have sold the unwanted textiles originally) to be used as ‘aid blankets’.

We then veered off to learn about the acrylic side of the recycling, with the usual cutting up and shredding etc but this time the yarn was over-dyed. There seems to be very little dyeing knowledge, with people using the cheapest dyes on the market - and goodness knows what pollution goes on. This dyed yarn is woven up on old Jacquard and Dobby looms producing brightly-coloured blankets with old designs and names such as ‘Maharaja’. Some of the recycled stuff is remade into garments in India and comes back to the West as new jumpers.

So, we in the West buy too much and chuck out far too much. But it does seem to not only end up as re-useable and useful textiles, but also gives employment to very poor women on the way. As always, though, there is a big question mark over their work

conditions and the pollution.This recycling industry first began

in Yorkshire in the early 19th century and gave us the term ‘shoddy’. As the industry declined in Yorkshire it resurfaced in India and now there is the likelihood that it might shift to Africa. But meanwhile there is much that Dr Norris wants to research in India with the effects of our profligacy on the economy, health and way of life of all the people involved.

Altogether an extremely, interesting, and thought-provoking lecture on a little-known subject.

Jan Slater

The cut-up clothing is fed through a ‘teaser’ to shred it, and then carded and spun to make recycled shoddy yarn. Photos: Tim Mitchell www.timmitchellphotography.co.uk


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knitwear – and that you can’t simply knit up a cardigan for a tenner! This misunderstanding of what goes into making a garment - the skill, the time, the materials – and the cost of these things, is very deep rooted. People seem to have forgotten what craft is all about. So I feel that our hand spun gives us a real power, a big political edge. We stock as much hand spun as we do mill spun, and that’s a big tool in raising the awareness in consumers of ‘cost per wear’.”

Find out next issue about the sorts of yarns Rachael and Louise spin, and their spinning adventures in the music and art worlds. In the meantime if you

want to find out more refer to W&W issue 228 (December 2007) p30 for a small piece on their store and their background as artists, or see their website at www.prickyourfinger.com

Lisa Busby

“I went to Iceland this year and learned that when the Vikings first arrived in Iceland hand spun was their currency because they couldn’t ship any of the silver over, it was too risky, so sheep and hand-spun yarns were the best ways for them to trade with other countries. I love this idea and it really relates to what we do here at Prick Your Finger, we have made a space for us to be able to make things and be artists but the hand spun is

really important in funding what we do. It’s like a really simple economy where you can just say ‘OK if I spin a kilo of this fibre this week and we sell it, that would be X amount of money’.

“ What I really like about that as an economy is that spinning is such a good tool to fit into a business. If there is a day when you’re not feeling too clever you can sit at the wheel and still bang out a lot of work. Or

alternatively, if you need to have a really in-depth conversation with your business partner, doing that whilst spinning is entirely possible. The spinning wheel is a really brilliant meeting place for all of these things to happen and it still churns out the yarn and the money as it goes. People think this cottage industry approach is defunct but it’s not, it is achievable and for the consumer it’s not that much more expensive that buying an expensive yarn from a high-end store, machine-made. We see on a day-to-day basis - when you sell a yarn to a customer they feel a lot more love out of that yarn because it has been spun for them.”

More than simply an economic tool though, Rachael and Louise believe in the power of the spinning wheel as a political tool,

“We are really inspired by Gandhi and his text ‘The Philosophy of the Spinning Wheel’. Gandhi believed that spinning as an activity enriched our emotional wellbeing as well as our aesthetic, moral, social, intellectual and spiritual development. The spinning wheel was the means by which India gained independence from Britain who had taken over the cotton industry. Gandhi urged the Indian people to grow their own cotton and spin their own yarn to gain economic independence.

The political aspects of spinning are very important to us because we are really anti-sweatshop and anti-disposable fashion. We want to teach people about good quality

We textile fans have always known what makes the universe tick…

What is ‘string theory’?

(Mrs Stephanie Hawking, Cambridge)

“String Theory” was first discovered in the 1930s at Battenburg University by Professor Hans Twining, who argued that the entire universe was made, not from atoms as had previously been thought, but from particles of string. His famous paper Das Univers von Stringpartikel Gemacht (1933) was suppressed by

Hitler as a ‘Jewish Conspiracy’. The theory was revived in the 1980s by a team of mathematicians at Berkeley, California, led by Professor Melvin R. Ropey. It was briefly known as ‘Ropey Theory’ before reverting to its original title as ‘String Theory’ and is now generally accepted as the most plausible explanation for the structure and nature of the universe.

Rev. A K H Reef-KnotReprinted with kind permission from ‘Private Eye’

http://www.prickyourfinger.com


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Weave Study Group

After a not very positive response to its first experiments with Tencel (see W&W March 2009) the Weave Study Group decided to take another look at this relatively new yarn and came up with some interesting results.

Jenifer had woven a shadow weave throw with a tencel warp and merino weft and the group agreed it had a good handle and drape. We spent some time discussing the best way to finish the ends, and it was suggested that lightly felting the ends might be effective.

Brenda had woven three samples using a wool/tencel mix warp sett at 30epi and using silk, wool and wool/tencel for each of the wefts. Washing the samples had not affected the finish very much and gave a light fabric that would work well for a top.

Anne had produced two throws, using a 2/30s tencel for the warp, one having the same weft and the other using 2/60s silk. Though both had a lovely handle and drape, the all tencel piece was felt to be particularly successful. Anne now wishes to dye the throws and is hoping that a reader of W&W might be able to help her in choosing a dye method that will bring out the differences in the silk and tencel.

Joey and David had both produced samples of collapse weave, combining tencel with various wools that shrank to varying degrees. David had entrusted his samples to the washing machine while Joey felt that she had more control over the end product by

finishing her samples in the tumble dryer.

Eve brought the fabric that she had used for her entry to the Xmas competition and explained some of the effects she had achieved with her stitched double cloth, including some double cloth pleated on both sides.

Olga had experimented with her scarf, setting the tencel at differing epis at each side and then weaving it with a fine woollen weft which she had dyed using buddleia and then overspun. Although she felt one side was more effective than the other, it worked very successfully as a piece.

The general consensus appeared to be that given the right project tencel could be an ideal yarn. It is easy to work with and can have a good handle and drape. However, while it still remains a yarn that is not readily available in the UK and therefore relatively expensive, it would be necessary to weigh up the pros and cons of substituting it with another yarn, with similar properties, such as silk.

The group agreed to look at the topic of diamonds for the next meeting and would welcome any new members who might be interested in joining them.

David Armstrong

Opposite left: a selction of tencel projects and samplesOpposite right: spinners in earnest discussions

Spinning Skills-sharing GroupEight spinners met on Saturday 13 February for the quarterly spinners’ forum. In preparation for the Guild’s Autumn exhibition in our Diamond Jubilee year, Daphne introduced the discussion on patterns including diamonds and showed us samples. Diamond pattern designs are most readily found in traditional patterns in the popular media of knitting and crochet. Books on Shetland, Fair Isle, Aran, Guernsey or Ganseys, and Canal Barge decorations will provide inspiration for a variety of diamonds. Everyone had brought some ‘diamond’ samples which were admired and discussed, including some non-diamond items, namely Theresa’s lovely glove puppet sheep.

The discussion continued to develop, thinking about diamonds firstly as geometrical shapes, possibly

made up from triangles or zigzags, and then the wide range of ideas that might be produced considering the diamond as a gem with sparkling facets. Exhibition entries will need to be colourful to show up against white walls.

Helpful hints during the session:Knitting with a dominant purl stitch

as part of the diamond pattern lost its definition when the item was pressed.

Fair Isle patterns on hats get tighter as worked, affecting the finished size. This may be remedied by having the right side facing into the circular needles when knitting in the round, with the floats being carried on the outside.

For the next meeting, 8 May, try and produce a diamond hat.

Val Palmer

March 2010

Postcard from Downunder

We flew to Melbourne via San Francisco and a visit to an old school friend of mine. We were going to drive along the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide; this was built after WWI to provide work for the homecoming soldiers; it has become a wonderful memorial to those who died, so beautiful with spectacular views across the rolling waves of the southern ocean.

The first place we stopped was a small town called Lorne and the first place we headed for was the Visitors Centre. As we walked in, I was met by a display of large hanks of space-dyed wool, blues, purples, lavenders, soft greens, bright greens, sunrise yellow, autumn brown and pink. Enquiring about a B&B in town suddenly didn’t seem very important – I had to go and look at these lovely rainbows! The feel was gorgeous, soft, soft. It was five-ply knitting wool spun from Polwarth sheep which are Australia’s first breed of sheep. I was told that some of the young sheep wear little coats in the cold weather to keep the wool fine and soft! Do I need more yarn? Did

I resist temptation? I’ll give you one guess!

New Zealand is near enough to Oz that we couldn’t resist a visit to what must be one of the most beautiful countries in the world. We had previously visited the South Island so this time we explored the North.

Heading towards the Bay of Islands in the far north we see a large sign announcing ‘Sheep World’. Luckily we have time to stop and visit the farm. There are various other animals on view mainly for the benefit of the many children who visit – miniature horses, alpacas, pigs and goats. Then we meet the shepherd and his three dogs which enable him to herd 6-7,000 sheep from high pastures down to the farm. It was a treat to watch the dogs demonstrating with a small flock of about 20 sheep. The Huntaway dog pushes from behind trying to make sure that no sheep breaks out of the flock; the two ‘eye’ dogs run each side of the flock, keeping it compact. Their responses to the shepherd’s commands are incredible; he uses voice commands

the handweaversstudio & gallery

A treasure trove for weavers, spinners, felters, braiders,dyers, threadheads and fibre fiends - and the place tocome for classes and workshops.

There’s always something new here - yarns, books, equipment - so comeand visit us, register for a class or workshop, or simply browse our website.

Open Monday - Saturday, 10:00 - 6:00

140 Seven Sisters RoadLondon N7 7NSTel: 020 7272 1891

[email protected] www.handweavers.co.uk

summer term workshopsWe’re just working out our summer workshop programme as Warp & Weftgoes to press, so watch our website for details. One date is already fixed and booking up fast:

3 - 6 June Ann Richards “Just add water”And some advance warning, Jason Collingwood will be teaching again forus in October, this time on block weaves.


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March 2010

and whistles (plastic reeds). It is not the words that the dogs understand but the tone of voice and pitch of the whistle that they obey. Each dog has its own orders, the shepherd has to know all the commands for all his dogs.

Having brought all the sheep safely into the enclosure the shepherd now shows us how he shears them. There are four or five positions in which the sheep is comfortable and relaxed so that the shepherd can cut the wool rapidly from the skin with his very sharp shearing clippers. He wears felt moccasins to protect his feet in case the clippers slip. The poor quality fleece is exported to Australia and made into industrial felt and insulation – it is fire retardant as well as warm. The high quality fleece is used for carpet making, knitting and weaving. Most of the sheep in New Zealand are Romney because they are not so susceptible to foot rot; they also have Suffolk for meat and East Fresian from Holland for milk. Sheep milk has twice as much protein and fat as cows milk. Further south

they also have Merino sheep for top quality clothing yarns – in the South Island the sheep have to grow thick warm coats for protection against the cold on the mountain slopes.

The children in the audience were asked to give the lambs milk from baby feeding bottles, which led to great excitement. I had to give Valentine (born on Valentine’s day) her milk from a much bigger bottle – a three-month-old calf is quite big and sucks with great gusto!

This time I resisted temptation and did not buy one of the gorgeous white soft as soft sheepskins – the main reason being I did not have room in my suitcase!

It would be fun to go back -- there is so much to see, but it is a very long way away. Perhaps someone else can send us the next postcard from down under – Tasmania maybe?

Sonia Tindale

Wetlands WallhangingAs you probably know, a group of London Guild spinners meets twice a month at the London Wetland Centre, Barnes, and has done almost since its opening 10 years ago. What you may not know is that their wildlife extends beyond birds to sheep! For the last few years the WWT has collaborated with the Natural History Museum and acquired a small flock of very hardy Dartmoor sheep, and now they have a few Hebrideans.

Following the clip in 2008, the centre gave one of the Dartmoor fleece to the spinners and we wanted to find a way of saying thank you to the Wetland Centre, so we decided on a collaborative project to produce something suitable to present to them. We divided the fleece between us and spun into rug weight yarn, trying to be as consistent as possible, and then had two natural dyeing days hosted by Daphne Ratcliffe. Using fustic

and logwood natural dye extracts, we achieved a varied palette of yellows and purples through various combinations of modifiers and using exhaust baths. The finished project was a rug (designed to be used as a wall hanging) that I wove on four shafts using a four block design from Peter Collingwood’s The Techniques of Rugweaving – where else? We were able to present the finished rug just before Christmas (and afterwards rewarded ourselves with a lovely pub lunch) and the Wetlands staff and management were quite delighted at the finished result. It is destined to be hung in the Wetland Living area of the site, which is now an approved venue for marriage and civil partnerships ceremonies.

Brenda Gibson


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3. Theresa Munford: “I couldn’t resist buying a 100g braid of merino/cashmere/silk from the ‘limegreenjelly’ stand at the East Sussex Guild show in Lewes last October. Space-dyed, the colour was called ‘Disco 2000’ and it felt gorgeous! I fully expected to let it lie in my stash for months if not years, just giving it the occasional squeeze to remind myself how soft and luscious it felt. But with my school snowed in and an unexpected extra week of holiday, I spun it up on my Ashford. I teased out half the top into long colour blocks and then navajo-plied it; for the other half I split the roving into four and then teased it out to make shorter colour blocks which I also navajo-plied. The plan is to knit a shawl top-down so the shorter colour blocks are at the top and the longer ones are at the bottom where the knitting rows are longer. Now all I need is another week of hibernation to get around to that!”

4. Brenda Gibson: “I thought a suitable cold weather project was a hot water bottle cover. A friend recently asked me if I knew of a knitting pattern for a hot water bottle cover – I recommended a tape measure instead! (This was unwelcome news to my friend.) Here’s the proof of the pudding. Note the double cuff on the spout – this avoids the need for any other fastening.”

Snow and tell...Most of us probably found ourselves stuck inside by the snow and freezing weather this winter. We even had to cancel the January meeting. A request for members to let W&W know what creative things they got up to while huddled up by radiators produced the following responses.

1. Jan Slater not only produced a hat, from alpaca and Wensleydale in a Fair Isle design, but she also produced a poem….

I saw the snow and thought of the cold. The alpaca I decided to spin. A hat with a pattern. What a disaster, I’m eyeing the bin. The alpaca was lumpy and bumpy, The white was all stringy and thin. I became distinctly grumpy. Again I am eyeing the bin.

I managed to finish the project. With force it will go on my head. But now the snow has all gone, And the weather is perfect instead.

2. Ruth Moulton said that, apart from some d.i.y. to make her house less draughty, she spun up merino tops to make a shawl for her sister’s baby, expected in May. She has designed a swirly pattern of colour on a traditional lace structure. The glorious swatch of colours hanging from the wheel in the photo look like just the thing to chase away winter blues!


Competition Review - December 2009 One plus One or More Than One

Eve Alexander writes:

I was absolutely delighted with the responses to the competitions set in the spring of 2009. Great efforts were made to comply with the guidelines, to produce lovely things to use or wear and some were great fun as well.Kennedy Cup for Spinning - a finished item using two or more types of handspun yarn.

Members positively excelled with the yarn types, some using far more than the minimum two required. They made a lovely range of things from the whimsical and fun to the practical, all beautifully thought out and most with good guides as to why they had used different fibres and techniques.

Lore Youngmark Prize - a finished item showing two faces of the same woven fabric

Entrants seemed to use the competition parameters as a jumping-off point for creative and imaginative leaps. They produced an amazing group of fabrics, all of which complied with the cloth guidelines and many of which dramatically exceeded the requirements to great effect.

Gwen Shaw Competition - a finished item using more than one skill.

Competitors chose many different ways to show their design processes.

The range of methods was impressive, as were the additional skills involved in completion of the items. Most used additional textile based skills to enhance their work and again, more than met the set parameters.

All in all, it was a pleasure to have the great responsibility of discussing each piece. I thank everyone who participated and all those who helped to organise the day.

And the winners were….

The Kennedy Cup for Spinning: Jan Slater‘The inspiration for the uneven square-like design I used for my cushion came from Eastern Turkey Black Sea architecture. Some of the old grand houses are built with wooden frames infilled with stones. I used alpaca, Blue-faced Leicester and Romney for the ‘stones’ in 2-ply. As the competition called for two differently spun yarns I used a 4-ply crepe, again in Romney, to add texture for the ‘wooden frame’. For the verso of the cushion I just used all the yarns, spun 2 ply, in stripes.’ Lore Youngmark Prize: Shahnaz Nasr“I wove a satin and sateen using four different yarns. The warp yarns were a purple cotton and a thicker white silk, the weft yarns were a fine cotton and a man-made metallic and colour boucle. I wove some twill samples but found the satin and sateen was much more satisfactory. The fabric would not have been suitable for a scarf, it was much too heavy, but it was perfect for a cushion.”

Gwen Shaw Competition: Val Palmer“I wanted my second skill to be woodwork as that’s one of the crafts I enjoy and at first planned just to do a fretwork zip pull for the pocket on a bag. But then I decided to make the handle and toggle from wood as well. The inspiration for the zip pull was a photo of the shadow of leaves on the trunk of a tree. I developed the weave pattern after attending one of Melanie Venes’ workshops at Handweavers. I tried to get the background colour to be like leaves on the ground but I’m not sure I succeeded as well as I’d have liked. The yarns are ones I already had rather than bought specially for the project.”

Beginners Prize: Val Palmer“I had fun creating the underwater ‘fish’ scene for the Christmas competition. Following this year’s theme of adding one or more yarns, the scene was made up of different blends of plying, producing fancy yarns to look like various types of seaweed and coral. I was thrilled to win the prize as a beginner spinner.”


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Membership News

We are pleased to welcome four new members to the Guild since the last W&W. Their names are printed below and their full contact details can be found on the members’ website.

It’s worth mentioning I think, that one of our new members, Sarah, is a textile student at Leeds University and that one of her lecturers recommended that she join the Guild to receive our excellent W&W! Let’s hope she makes it to a meeting one of these days.

We have one returnee to the Guild, Susan. It’s always nice to have people back.

Renewals for this year are still trickling in but there are about 25 members who still have to renew. This needs to be done quickly and if you are one of the ‘25’, you will find a final reminder in this copy of W&W. This will be your last copy if you do not renew: you have until 1 April.

If you have renewed, but did not send a SAE or collected your membership card at a meeting, you should now find it enclosed.

I have had two members let me know that they are not renewing this year. Jocelyne Fortin has moved to France and Stella Masters has resigned after 30 years as a member. She has said that she finds it difficult to get out and about and doesn’t do much weaving now. It’s very nice to hear from members – even if they are leaving, as it ‘draws a line’ under their membership – and helps me with the paperwork!

In January, as you know, we had to cancel the meeting because of the weather conditions. We were able to email all of our members who had supplied us with email addresses, but had to spend considerable time phoning round everybody else. I wondered if any members who do not have access to the internet themselves, could give me an ‘emergency’ email address, perhaps that of a friend or relative that we could use for just such an occasion. It won’t go on the general address list, but be kept separately. If you think that it’s possible to do, please ask your nominated friend to email me. The cancellation of our January meeting is a classic reason to keep all addresses and phone numbers up to date.

New members:Lyn Duffus, Northolt, MiddxSusan Poston, London SW4Sarah Hunsperger, Clayton-Le-WoodsMarie McAdam, London W6Frances Johnson, London N4

Penny BrazierMembership SecretaryApartment 2166 Rochester RowLondon SW1P [email protected]

Library News

There are no new books in the library this time. I thought, instead, I would mention some of the books we already have. I consulted some weavers and spinners at the Guild’s skill-sharing session to see what author/book they have found useful. This is the outcome:

WEAVING: Mary Atwater: The Shuttle-Craft Book of American Hand-Weaving. (recommended as being a good read). Peter Collingwood: The Techniques of Rug Weaving (the bible for rug weavers). G.H. Oelsner: A Handbook of Weavers. (another bible). And Ann Sutton, Peter Collingwood, Geraldine St Aubyn Hubbard: The Craft of the Weaver. At this point I had to stop the weavers who were hauling book after book out of the boxes and I was swamped.

TAPESTRY WEAVING: Tadek Beutlich: The Technique of Woven Tapestry (very clear diagrams).

SPINNING: Mabel Ross: Encyclopedia of Handspinning.

PLYING: Diane Varney: Spinning Designer Yarns.

DYEING: Jenny Dean: The Craft of Natural Dyeing.

KNITTING (diamond ideas): Sheila McGregor: Traditional Knitting.

And one to cover all: Rachel Brown: The Weaving, Spinning and Dyeing Book.

And lastly, I thought I would give a brief mention of a book recently out that I am enjoying reading. You

might like to look at it when you are next in a bookshop. Christopher Alexander: A Carpet Ride to Khiva. His account of setting up a carpet-weaving cooperative in Khiva with UNESCO backing, employing local weavers and dyers, training up young disadvantaged women, and discovering carpet designs. But the part I found fascinating is his hunt for natural dyes - dried pomegranate skins, madder, indigo, zok, oak galls etc, a hunt that takes him from exotic Khiva to dangerous Afghanistan. Written with humour.

Jan Slater

For Sale in Reigate, Surrey

FINNISH COUNTERMARCH LOOM.Width overall : 59” / 150cm Depth 54”/137cm Height 61”/154cmWeaving width 48”/122cm 8 shafts with underslung beater.Bench included - all birch wood .Reed - Raddle - 20 sticks Shuttles - 4 sledge - 2 boat.Quiet in operation ; excellent condition.Inclusive price £750 ono. Can be transported in an estate car with roof rack.Sheila ForbesPeatswood , 2 Blanford Road, Reigate, Surrey, RH2 7DR.Tel. 01737 248031 E-mail: [email protected]



March 2010

London Guild Weaving & Spinning Summer Holiday in Norfolk 19 to 26 June 2010If textile tours to South America or Eastern Europe are beyond your budget, follow the example set by Roberto and Elizabeth last year and take a weaving holiday in Norfolk. Sandy beaches, big skies, birding, walking, good food, what more can you ask for? Well, how about the luxury of having time to sit and spin or weave with friends?

Thornham is a very pretty village with 3 pubs, a shop and a weaving studio. There are some lovely holiday cottages as well as B&B accommodation. Melanie Venes is offering a mini summer school: a five day weaving course with lots of socialising. The studio can accommodate up to six weavers, and the local hall is reserved in case we need more space. Spinners are welcome too. There are several outdoor locations available if the weather is kind, otherwise we’ll make use of holiday cottages or the hall.

The fee for the weaving course will be £150 which includes materials and lunch. Melanie is flexible and happy to tailor the course around the participants. There are six 4-shaft and four 8-shaft looms available, or you can bring your own.

Spinners will be charged £25, to cover hire of the hall and refreshments. There will be no formal tuition for the spinners but

projects could be organised if they are interested. Most spinners like to use their own wheels, but Melanie does have some Ashford spinning wheels, and there is a Guild wheel available that can be borrowed.

There will be at least one excursion, probably to an alpaca farm and then on to Woad Inc, to see a demonstration of dyeing. Other visits could be to historic houses, Sandringham, Holkham, Houghton, Blickling and Fellbrigg are all within easy distance.

We will need to reserve accommodation soon. Depending on the number of people who would like to attend we may offer this idea to other guilds.

For further information contact Roberto on 07730284258 or e-mail [email protected]

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Page 25

March 2010

Future Meetings

13 March Annual General Meeting (for Agenda see page 28)Helga Matos: Creative Weaving(Helga was to be our speaker at the January meeting that was snowed off. Fortunately, she is able to speak after the AGM, replacing the ‘show and tell’ of Guild members’ textile artefacts.)

Helga Matos is a recent graduate from the Royal College of Art. During her Masters degree she became interested in how we are influenced by our surroundings and how we interact with surfaces. Helga developed a 3D technique using the jacquard and experimented with unconventional materials creating very unusual fabrics. Helga will also be talking about her recent visit to South Korea where she was part of a Hemp Textiles Development Project sponsored by the Korean government.

10 April Rachel Hunt: Cotehele House – Old tapestries, new audiences, limited time, no moneyRachel’s talk will explore the dilemmas, trials, tribulations and triumphs of conserving and interpreting tapestries as part of a country house collection.

8 MayEliza McClelland: To Bead or not to BeadThis talk is about beadwork on canvas. It includes information about

the sources of Eliza’s designs from historic houses round the country and theatrical anecdotes about how she came to visit them.

Eliza will bring many projects to pass round: cushions, a child’s collar, a toybag, a make-up box, a jewellery roll – and a huge patchwork quilt made from snippets of millions of theatre costumes!

There will also be lots about beads: where to find them, how to shade with them, how to break them down, and how they can enhance your work to create things that will last forever.

12 JunePat Foster: SilkPat will discuss the processing of silk yarn and fabric, looking at how silk yarn was used to create priceless fabrics through the ages from early Chinese drawlooms through Byzantine presentation cloths to 20th century Jacquard looms. She will talk about her own weaving, which shows a range of techniques from copies of Okinawan and Indonesian fabrics to double-stitched cloth treated with silk paint, space-dyed wefts and disperse dyeing and used to make pictures. She will also talk about using a fan reed with silk and the special effects that can be achieved as well as chameleon and lampas. Samples will be available to examine.

Guild News

Guild Diamond Anniversary and Exhibition

The events sub-committee is pressing ahead with organizing the celebration of the London Guild’s 60th anniversary. As detailed in the last edition of W&W the exhibition will be set up on 3 October and be open from 4 - 9 October. The title is simply ‘Diamond’ so that should give plenty of scope for creative interpretations. Submission fees will be £5 per piece with a limit of three items per member; if items are for sale, the Guild will take commission of 10%. The address of the venue is 14 Baylis Road, London SE1 7AA, website: waterlooactioncentre.co.uk

Guild Sales Table

Spring may see you clearing out your stash of yarns, fleece or equipment. Don’t forget that every meeting there is a Sales Table. Bring along anything you want to sell, marked with a price. The Guild takes just 10% commission. And it’s a good place to buy things to replenish those nice clear shelves after your spring clean!

Journal Distribution

Last year the committee discussed ways of improving the way the Journal is distributed to Guild members. Increased postage costs negated any savings the Guild made by buying a bulk subscription. Also, packing,

labelling and posting two heavy boxes of Journals four times a year was an onerous task. So from this year on, the Guild has switched to individual subscriptions. Your Journal will be posted out from the publishers as for other individual subscriptions. This makes no difference to how you set up your subscription when you renew your membership. The only slight change is that we can no longer offer the 50p early bird discount, so all subscribers pay £15 per annum. A new subscriber part way through the calendar year pays a pro-rata subscription for the balance of the year.

Guild trips

Full details of the exciting London Guild Summer School can be found on page 23. There are also plans for the following two visits: • St Paul’s Cathedral, to have a private viewing of the vestments that will feature in our August meeting;• Susan Dye’s dyers garden in Hertfordshire (Susan will be our speaker at the July meeting).

We will confirm dates and times for these as soon as possible but if you have any questions now please contact Roberto 07730284258, roberto [email protected]

Spitalfields City Farm

Roberto recently visited some of London’s city farms and had a request from Spitalfields City Farm for the London Guild to demonstrate


Page 27

March 2010

spinning and weaving on Sunday 23 May. They are having a Woolfest with shearing demonstrations and such like. They have some rare breeds there including North Ronaldsay and Castle Moorit as well as the native breed Southdown. Knitters are also needed for ‘have a go’ sessions. The farm has spinning wheels and a loom. If you would like to take part please contact Roberto (contact details above).

Competitions for December 2010

Our annual competitions are judged by members’ votes and each carries a monetary prize. To enter, there are no formalities, just bring along your entry or entries to the meeting on 11 December. Eve Alexander has kindly offered to comment on entries again this year. The committee decided on the following competitions at their meeting in February:

The Kennedy Cup for SpinningBackgroundThe Kennedy Cup for Spinning was set up in 1992 to honour Aileen Kennedy and her late husband. Aileen is a current Vice-President of the London Guild and was Guild Secretary for many years. The Competition: Now you see it, soon you won’t: Rare breeds

The brief this year is to produce a finished item from yarn spun from a rare breed sheep. As a guide to what counts as ‘rare breed’ we reproduce below the table from the website of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust: http://

www.rbst.org.uk/watch-list/main There are some discrepancies

between lists of what are classified as ‘rare’. Two fleece that we will also include are Bowmont and Hebridean (listed as a rare breed in the Journal in 2003). If you are planning to enter the competition and are unsure if the fleece you choose ‘qualifies’ please let the Guild Committee know before the November meeting so it can be

okayed. This will avoid any problems with judging the entries at the December meeting. The item should be accompanied by a sample skein and a brief summary of why you chose that yarn for the project.

The Lore Youngmark PrizeBackgroundThis competition has been held every year since 1987 to honour a member who, amongst other achievements, co-authored the book Foundations of Weaving and was an inspirational teacher. The competition was originally open only to weavers weaving floor rugs but in recent years the competition brief has been broadened to include a wider range of weaving techniques.The Competition: Holier than thou: A finished item incorporating one or more lace weave structures.

The Gwen Shaw CompetitionBackgroundGwen Shaw was a founding member of the London Guild and a force behind its success. When she died in 1959 a subscription list was opened to purchase something that would

perpetuate her memory. This is now the Gwen Shaw Cup, which is awarded to a London Guild member at the annual competition. The emphasis is on designing and all entries must be accompanied by evidence of the design process. The Competition: The theme is ‘Shadows’; you can interpret this as you wish.

Beginner’s PrizeDon’t forget that if you are new to a craft and have put an entry into one of the above competitions, you can be considered for the Beginner’s Prize, inaugurated by Melanie Venes three years ago. This could be called the don’t-hide-your-light-under-a-bushel prize and is intended to encourage those who consider themselves novices in spinning, weaving or dyeing to have a go. Remember, everyone was a novice once and it’s by meeting challenges and embarking on projects that we refine and develop our skills.

Category Breed/s

1. Critical Boreray

2. Endangered Leicester Longwool; North Ronaldsay

3. Vulnerable Castlemilk Moorit; Devon and Cornwall Longwool; Hill Radnor; Teeswater

4. At Risk Balwen; Lincoln Longwool; Manx Loaghtan; Norfolk Horn; Oxford Down; Portland; Soay; Wensleydale; Whitefaced Dartmoor; Whitefaced Woodland

5. Minority Cotswold; Dorset Down; Dorset Horn; Greyface Dartmoor; Shropshire

A Chinese poem

Last night in a dream I returned to my old home And saw my wife weaving at her loom. She held her shuttle poised, as though lost in thought, As though she had no strength to lift it further.

I called. She turned her head to look, But her eyes were blank. She did not know me. So many years have we been parted The hair at my temples has lost its old colour.

Han Shan 9th century Chinese poet

http://www.rbst.org.uk/watch-list/main

http://www.rbst.org.uk/watch-list/main


Page 29

March 2010

AGM AgendaThe 60th Annual General Meetingof the London Guild of Weavers, Spinners and DyersTo be held at 2.30pm on Saturday 13 March 2010 at St Stephen’s House, 48 Emperor’s Gate, London SW7 4HJ

AGENDA1. Apologies for absence.2. Minutes of the 59th AGM held on 14 March 2009.3. Matters Arising4. Reports on the activities of the Guild during 2009.•Chair of the Guild•Membership Secretary•Editor of W& W•Librarian•Exhibitions Officer5. Report on the Guild accounts (Lola McDowell, Guild Treasurer)6. Recommendations by the committee for subscriptions for membership year 2011.7. Election of members for the executive committee Wendy Morris has been invited by the committee to be President and is willing to take on the role.Theresa Munford has been nominated as Chair of the executive committee 8. Any Other Business9. Date of the 61st Annual General Meeting to be held on Saturday 12 March 2011.

What's On in Textiles

V&A Courses

6/7 May Tucked and Twisted Quilting Techniques (tutor: Jennie Rayment)14 May Superstitchers Machine Embroidery (tutor: Louise Gardiner)2/3 June Durham-style Quilting (tutor: Jenny Barlow)18/19 June Colour in Design with Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy

All courses take place in the Sackler Centre, phone 020 7942 2211 or go to www.vam.ac.uk

V&A Seminars

13 March ‘Riche robes and Stuffes’ European Dress & Textiles 1300–160027 March Underwear: Craving, Collecting & Caring For more details phone 020 7942 2211 or go to www.vam.ac.uk

19 February - 1 May 2010 Mrs Delany and Her Circle

Sir John Soane’s Museum, 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3BP 020 7440 4246The exhibition surveys the entire life of Mrs. Delany, née Mary Granville (1700-1788), and essays the full range of her creative endeavours: art, fashion, and science. The centre pieces of the show will include sections of Delany’s court dress magnificently embroidered with naturalistic flowers. This exhibition is the first time that these surviving sections of fabric have

been brought together.Admission freewww.soane.org

27 February - 13 March Hot Needles - Cool Stitches - Knitting, Felting, Stitching

The Studios, Art Van Go, 1 Stevenage Road, Knebworth, SG3 6ANTues - Fri 10.30 - 4, Sat 10 - 2. Details from 01438 814946

March - May 2010 Textile Exhibition

Arthouse Gallery, Oad Street Centre, Nr. Borden, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8LB9.30am - 5.30pm daily. Admission free. Details from 01795 842244, www.arthousegallery-kent.co.uk

11 - 28 March Ipek – the story of silk

Handmade Interiors, 10 Cheshire Street, London E2 6EH. Handmade Interiors (in Association with Handmade in Britain) announces their second exhibition IPEK (meaning ‘silk’ in Turkish) featuring contemporary British and Turkish designer-makers. The gallery will also feature some antique silk textiles along with their permanent ranges. Thurs- Sunday 11am - 6pm, for details phone 020 7613 5200 or go to www.handmade-interiors.co.uk

13 - 14 March Contemporary Textiles Fair

Landmark Arts Centre, Ferry Road,

Love from Nancy…

The London Guild was delighted to raise £500 to send to Nancy Lee Childas a retirement gift along with a book of messages showing how much she has meant to us over the years. Here’s Nancy’s letter back.

Haroldstone Rd, London17 December 2009Dear London Guild Members, everyone who wrote in the green spiral book,

I am crying. You’ve come to my ‘wake’ and written welcomed, kind things in the visitors’ book. But it’s not a completion, we are still walking about, I can thank you with pen and paper.

I am so fortunate to know you all. Lucky me. Who is embarrassed with the book and cheque in my hand? First time in my life, speechless, with tears.

I came to my first London Guild meeting in 1969. Your thoughtfulness has given me an anniversary celebration.

All my love to all of you,

Nancy

http://www.vam.ac.uk

http://www.arthousegallery-kent.co.uk


Page 31

March 2010

Opinions

The committee is not responsible for the opinions expressed in Warp & Weft. Nothing may be copied without the permission of the editor. Where a communication to the editor or any of the officers requires a reply, please email or enclose a stamped addressed envelope.

Warp & Weft Online

This edition of Warp & Weft is available in colour in a private members’ area on the London Guild website. Members whose email addresses are known are sent a Username and Password that enables access to the private area of the site. If you do not have the access details, please email [email protected].

Advertising in Warp & Weft

Warp & Weft accepts both display and classified advertising at the editor’s discretion. The cost for display ads is £15 full page, £10 half page. A layout and setting service

is available if required, cost £20 and £10 respectively. Small (ie classified) ads cost £5 (members) and £7.50 (non-members) for up to 25 words. Adverts must be prepaid by cheque made payable to “London Guild of Weavers”. Send copy and payment to the editor.

Articles and Images for Warp & Weft

Articles (Word, RTF or text files) should be emailed to the editor please. If that is not possible, they should be printed out or typed in as large and clear a typeface as possible, with no end-of-line hyphenation. Images should preferably be sent in JPEG format with a minimum 300 dpi resolution at the intended printed size.

Copy Dates

Warp & Weft is produced quarterly in March, June, September and December. All contributions (including advertisements) must reach the editor by:1st February for the March issue1st May for the June issue1st August for the September issue1st November for December issue

Editor

Theresa Munford27 Bracken GardensBarnesLondon SW13 9HW020 8748 [email protected]

Teddington TW11 9NNShowcasing more than 70 of the finest textile artists in the UK. Hangable and wearable art including feltmaking, embroidery, handknitwear, designer clothes and more.10am - 5pm. Details from 020 8977 7558, www.landmarkartscentre.org 20 March – 4 July 2010 Quilts 1700 – 2010

The V&A will present its first ever exhibition of British quilts, with examples dating from 1700 to the present day - a unique opportunity to view the V&A’s unseen quilt collection as well as key national loans. For more details phone 020 7942 2000 or go to www.vam.ac.uk

23 March – 19 June Plain Stripe Check

Crafts Study Centre, FarnhamAn exhibition of the work of Tim Parry-Williams and Japanese kimono weaver Ikuku Ida. Tues- Fri 10am – 5pm, Sat 10am – 4pm, closed 2-3 April; (Artists’ talk Wed 7 April, 5pm booking for the talk is essential) tel: 01252 892953 www.csc.ucreative.ac.uk

25 March Travels in the Taurus Mountains, Turkey 1990-4

Swedenborg Hall, BloomsburyDr Ken Teague will show slides and bring weavings from his travels to collect tents for the “Nomads”

Exhibition he curated for the Horniman Museum, where he was Curator for Asia. 7pm

9 April - 8 May Spectrum

An exploration of colour by Serendipity Textile Group, the New Maynard Gallery, Campus West, Welwyn Garden City, AL8 6BX 2010 The gallery is open whenever Campus West is open. Entrance Free. Details from 01707 357155

14 April Central Asian Textiles

A textile society meeting at the home of John and Joan Fisher in Berkhamsted. They will show part of their collection of Central Asian textiles. The topic for ‘show & tell’ is a hat or headdress of some kind, or any textile from Central Asia. 11am [email protected]

17 April - 19 May 29 Kaleidoscope: Fibre craftsmanship in a Colourful World

National exhibition of the Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers. Opening times: Monday to Saturday 10.00 - 17.00. Admission free. Mansfield Museum, Leeming Street, Mansfield, Notts, NG18 1NG. Further info: [email protected]

Contributions to What's On

If you know of any textile related events or exhibitions in the London area please let Sharen McGrail know:

[email protected] 8521 0355



http://www.landmarkartscentre.org/


13 March - meeting

Annual General Meeting , followed byHelga Matos: Creative Weaving(Rescheduled from January, and replacing the show and tell of artefacts)

10 April – meeting

Rachel Hunt: Cotehele House – old tapestries, new audiences, limited time, no money

8 May – meeting & study groups

Eliza McClelland: To Bead or not to Bead

12 June – meeting

Pat Foster: Silk

10 July – meeting

Sue Dye: Confirming old wives’ tales and dismissing red herrings in the use of home-grown dye plants

14 August – meeting & study groups

Marie Brisou: The Saint Paul’s Vestments Project

11 September – meeting

Lynn Scott: Alpacas

4 – 9 October – exhibition

Diamond (exhibition to mark the 60th anniversary of the London Guild)

23 October – meeting (note date!)

Frances Taylor – Spinning a Yarn

13 November – meeting & study groups

Ptolemy Mann: Significant Colour – an exploration of colour in design, weaving and architecture

11 December – meeting

Christmas Party and competitions - details of this year's themes on page 26

See www.londonguildofweavers.org.uk for additions or updates

All meetings are held at St Stephen’s House 48 Emperor’s Gate London SW7 4HJ Meetings start at 2:30pm, study groups start at 11:30 unless otherwise shown.

London Guild of Weavers, Spinners & DyersProgramme 2010

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WeaveTech/

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