Congratulations to Janet Gallant, the winner of our Teach Someone to Weave Contest! Thanks go out to everyone who entered.
Here's Janet's entry:
I was fortunate to have a mother who was an exceptional seamstress who shared with me her love of creating unique, original designs. I was seven when she gave me my first sewing machine and the lessons that helped me develop my fascination with all things fiber. I grew up and became a homemaker, a mother, and a teacher. Always using and sharing my love for sewing and creating something new. I hadn’t discovered weaving yet, but there were always sewing projects included in my classroom projects. It was then that I realized not all children grew up in a home with an active and vibrant sewing machine. My students loved to create projects that included the sewing machine.
I have since retired and learned to spin and weave; creating clothing from my hand woven fabrics. Most recently, I have become an instructor at the Adirondack Folk School in Lake Lazerne, New York. Now, the fun begins. I am working towards growing our weaving studio to include a variety of looms and weaving classes. I want to encourage students to fall in love with weaving and the joy that comes from the words “I made it myself.”
With that end in mind, my weaving classes are project based; meaning that I have done the work of warping the loom for them. The slow, often tedious process that begins all woven projects must be learned but I prefer to teach that after they discover their love for the act of weaving. They enter the studio with looms dressed in rich colors or a neutral linen or cotton. Projects are selected for children or and adults, beginner to more challenging levels. I have had students, both children and adults, fall in love with weaving and go on to purchase a loom and return for instructions in how to weave start to finish. Others, love the weaving process but do not have the space or budget for a loom and all the equipment that is needed to prepare a warp. They return often for another class and new project to weave. Some of my students have their own loom attend the classes to learn a new weave structure. Floor loom weavers have attended a tapestry weaving class leaving with a new weaving skill and knowing there will soon be a tapestry loom joining their private studio space at home.
The classes at the folk school weave together so much more than the threads and yarns that we use. As the weaving process begins to settle within each student, conversations start and the stories of their lives weave together as they share common interests and experiences. Students are encouraged to walk around and marvel at the woven cloth each new friend is creating. I have watched returning weavers help a new weaver when they look confused. Classes are limited to five students so the one to one interaction and instruction is a benefit to all; including the instructor. A new perspective of color and texture is always an important element of the class. Insight from a student that I can’t possibly predict is often a most valuable lesson discussion.
And, of course, there is the lunch break. A time to come together, always at a table set with a tablecloth and a homemade sweet treat. Laughter and stories. Always an eagerness to return to the loom to discover, as promised in the morning introduction, that act of weaving is soothing, enjoyable, and can be addictive.
Most of the photographs were taken at the folk school studio. You will also see my granddaughter helping me create batts to spin the art yarn used in my weaving classes. There is one photo taken in my granddaughter’s fourth grade classroom. I brought seven rigid heddle looms to the school and spent four days teaching children tapestry weaving. This lesson started with a walk on the school’s nature trail and a discussion sharing our favorite places in nature. The students used the images in their memories to create their tapestry.
