It’s always good to start from the beginning. With the two classes last week, students in one did just that, while the other was geared for beyond beginners. Interestingly, the three instructors for these classes started at the beginning and have gone well beyond here at Sievers. In the Quilting 101: Boot Camp, co-teachers Ellen Graf and Jackie Barry started students off with the basics of how to choose fabrics, accurately measure and safely cut fabric and sew patchwork blocks while establishing good techniques. Learning four different blocks and combining them, students created a wall hanging or table topper. Speaking of starting with the basics, Ellen came to Sievers for a Basic Spinning class in 1983, returning later for beginner-level […]
September days are here
The first several days of September have certainly mirrored the lines from the poem by the same name, capturing the “.. summer’s best of weather, And autumn’s best of cheer.” Other bests of September have been happening in our recent classes, including Splint-Woven Basketry, Navajo Weaving and Metalwork Jewelry Boot Camp. Basketmakers used their five days in the studio to full advantage, creating baskets of all shapes, sizes, colors and patterns. Add to that the new and renewed friendships, the many offers of helping hands with each others’ baskets and simply, but most importantly, spending treasured time together. Putting most of the week’s worth of baskets in one photo makes for quite an impressive display! From preparing the Navajo loom […]
Three of a (fiber art) kind
Perhaps the art and practice of batik, beginning weaving and cartonnage might not have much in common, but from August 15-25, these three (one-of-a-kind!) classes certainly shared the joy of learning, making and being creative. This was the first year we’ve had an Introduction to Batik class since…way back. Our batik classes evolved over the years to a studio week for experienced batik students, so when Anne Landre offered to teach an introductory class with Karen Zeman, we enthusiastically said, “Yes!”. Anne brought many, if not all, of her Indonesian tjaps, which allowed beginners to apply an entire design in wax at one time on the fabric. After applying the wax, the cotton or rayon fabrics were dyed one or […]
Wonderful and better
It was a wonderful week of Rigid Heddle Weaving with Deb Jones and the only thing that could have made the week better was to have an Open Quilt Studio at the same time…so we did! Some of the weavers were beginners and some had previous rigid heddle experience, so there were intermediate-level techniques and project ideas, including weft-faced weaves. Beginners started with scarves, then made a sampler, then had time for at least one more project. The instructor, Deb Jones, first came to Sievers as a student in Franie Philps’ Intermediate Spinning class in 1991. She continued to take spinning-related classes with Deb Menz as well as weaving, marbling, papermaking, feltmaking and coiled basketry. In 1999, less than a […]
Over, under and around
Simply put, weaving can be described as over, under and around. We’ve had all of that since the last week of June through early July. We began with Introduction to Overshot taught by Nancy Adams along with Jeanette Biederman’s Splint-Woven Basketry class and then most recently, Covered Coiled Baskets with Lynn Stracka Schuster. As an introduction to overshot weaving, the samples Nancy wove to inspire her students were appropriate for using the four-harness Sievers looms. All of those threads passing over and under each other many times in the students’ projects resulted in stunning handwovens. Now that they’ve been introduced, we hope overshot is a new weaving friend! Over, under and around makes a basket, too! To consider all the […]
Blue leads the way
Blue led the way during the week of June 14-21, starting with Anne Landre’s Shibori & Indigo Dyeing class. Using the Japanese technique of resist-dyeing with the option of several indigo vats in a range of light, medium and dark intensities, students stitched, clamped or folded cotton, silk and linen fabrics and then dyed them for predicted (and surprising) results. The blue sky each day of class seemed to be reflected directly into the fabrics. As Anne says, “Jump into the blue!” Besides blue, all colors were incorporated in the scarves, table runners and twill samplers in Susan Frame’s Beginning Weaving class. Of the eight students, seven were new to Sievers and one had taken just one class previously, Basic […]
Catching up
It’s been three weeks since our last post so it’s well past time to catch up with what’s been happening at Sievers. After a short break in classes over the Fourth of July, Sandy De Master and Mary Germain were here for their Baltic Knitting Extravaganza class. Knitters new to Latvian and Estonian knitting began with a lined, ornament-sized mitten and went on to design their own pair or other project. The hardest part is deciding which of the many great color and motif inspirations to choose! These mittens deserve a hand (and these hands deserve the mittens)! What can we say about Rigid Heddle Weaving with Deb Jones? It’s a fast-paced weaving experience, complete with excellent instruction, beautiful yarns, […]
Stashes
The subject of stashes (yarns, fabrics, books, fiber art tools and/or supplies) is a common topic of conversation among fiber artists. This year, more than most, we’re guessing the stashes out there were used (at least partially…), sorted through, organized, admired or donated due to the fact that we’ve all been spending more time at home than usual. This year and last, Sievers has had a class for weavers to specifically “bust the stash”, taught by Judie Yamamoto. During the last week in September, the four students in class were able to create new combinations with yarns from their stashes, including using these hand-dyed wools. If the definition of stash is to hide away or store in a secret place, […]
