We’d love some volunteers to talk weaving with us. Read on to learn more.—Handwoven editors
I learned to weave on a floor loom more than 50 years ago. I learned from a dear friend who converted her little chicken house into a studio that held just four students and made looms in the local high school woodshop from plans she got out of The Last Whole Earth Catalog. I was just nutty about weaving. I couldn’t wait for the next class. I couldn’t wait to get up in the morning to go bang out some cloth. That’s mostly what I did—wove cloth. For clothes, for table runners, napkins, dish towels, practical stuff. It fed some need in me that I didn’t begin to understand.
Even though my loom sits mostly idle now—old eyes, old knees—I still think about weaving a lot. I still stare at people’s plaid shirts, pick at airplane seat upholstery, weave stuff in my imagination.
And I also think about you. Why have you taken up this somewhat eccentric craft? What place does it have in your life? Have you been a weaver for a long, long time, or have you just barely started? Or maybe, like me, you just think about it? I really would like to know.
So send me your story. Send me a selfie. Or send me your phone number and I’ll call you up and we can talk about it.
My thought is to share the occasional story (edited with your permission), maybe 300–500 words, in the magazine or online. Not because you won a prize for your weaving, or devised an incredible project, but just because you do what you do for who knows what reason.
Don’t be shy—use the link below to email us a bit about yourself. Maybe we’ll print it, maybe we won’t, but we will love reading about you. Okay?