We are super-pleased to debut our latest video project with Tom Knisely. A regular contributor to Handwoven magazine, Tom has also taught beginning weaving, rug weaving, how to care for your loom, and a variety of other topics. His latest class is a dive into designing your own handwoven projects, from adapting and combining drafts into something new to finding your personal muse in the colors and textures of everyday objects.
Part project-planning workshop, part inspiring pep talk, Designing Handwoven Projects will have you thinking about what you weave in new ways, starting with how you find weaverly inspiration. Tom has the magical ability to morph images of moss and mushrooms into finished cloth. If you feel that might be a bit challenging, something as prosaic as a barcode can get you designing: just use it as the basis for a striped warp.
An example that Tom teaches directly is a table runner he created based on a Martin Brenneman jacquard coverlet. The coverlet featured an intricate border of grapevines, and it was far too complicated for the loom Tom had. It reminded him of the Cat Track and Snail Trail pattern, though . . . a pattern also known as Wandering Vine. Look at the original coverlet and Tom’s table runner above, and see how one inspired the other.
A working draft
Even if you don’t have antique textiles lying around, you probably do have pattern books. In the meatiest part of the workshop, Tom shows how to adapt and combine patterns into the project you want to weave, including the borders. Tom says a woven piece without a border is like a painting without a frame, and he shows you how to create several versions of mirrored borders for your project.
You’ll also want to think about what threads and sett to use and how to combine all this stuff and make it work in that project you are dreaming of. Tom gives you tools to do this and a few handy worksheets to help you along the way. If you have wanted to move beyond reading drafts but aren’t sure how, Designing Handwoven Projects is a great place to start.
Designing Handwoven Projects is a new streamable course you can watch at your own pace, anywhere, any time, on any device. Download it today and get started.
Never stop learning, Allison