Check out Karen's Interweave Webinar Jan. 16

Looking for weaving inspiration and planning and design help in 2014. I am teaching an Interweave Webinar version of my Spice Up Your Recipe Weaving workshop. You can tune in live on Jan. 16, or order the recorded version to watch when you can. Here's a link:

Karen's Planning & Design Webinar

The Classroom is Open!

Well, actually it never closed, but I am pleased to announce that I have finally graduated from the Haywood Community College Professional Crafts-Fiber Program!

What that means, and no one is happier about this than Barb, is I will be much more available to work at Sutherland, and I am eager to welcome new and returning students back to the classroom. So I have been thinking about how to structure classroom time while maintaining flexibility for those who must schedule weaving classes around a job or other commitments or those coming from some distance to take a class. At the same time, I’m trying to carve out a little weekend time for myself, now that my weekdays are not dedicated to attending school.

Here is the plan, beginning in June 2013.

Open Classroom Saturdays

Most Saturdays of every month, except those where I am otherwise committed or the studio is busy, will be Open Classroom days from 10 am-4 pm. On these days, students may schedule Just Weave, Weaving I; or any of the Next Step classes in four- or six-hour sessions.

Next Step classes include “Weave a Twill Gamp, More Twills & A Taste of Overshot, Handwoven Lace, Color and Weave (a color a weave gamp below ) and Spice Up Your Recipe Weaving: A New Weaver’s Guide to Design & Project Planning.”

Students may begin a class at any time as long as a loom is available. They will continue the class on consecutive Open Classroom days, sharing the classroom and instructor time with others who may be at different stages in the same class or in a different class.

Advance registration and a 50% deposit are required to reserve an Open Classroom loom. Two make-up classes will be allowed, but if a student needs to miss more than two sessions, I simply ask that he or she leave the loom empty during the absence.

Fees will be the same as posted in the Class Listing: $95 for Just Weave; $310 for the 32-hour Weaving I class; or $215 for the 18-hour Next Step classes, plus yarn fees. If Saturdays just don’t work for you, call and we’ll work something out.

For the next few months, Open Classroom Saturdays will include June 1, 15 and 29; and July 13 and 20.

Weekend Workshops

To better accommodate those who travel here to take a class,  or who would prefer a more concentrated focus on a subject, I will schedule a two- or three-day workshop on Friday- Saturday or Friday-Sunday every other month. The subject may be any of the classes currently on the Class Listing or new ones I develop. First up will be Introduction to Designing & Weaving Warp Rep, July 26-27.

For some workshops, including this one, students may be asked to bring a pre-warped loom, or they may reserve an available classroom loom one day in advance. A small fee will be charged for loom rental for workshops.

Participation will be limited, based on space required for a particular workshop, and a minimum number of participants will be needed for the workshop to run.

Two-day workshops will be $180 per person and three-day workshops will be $215 per person, plus yarn fees if applicable.

Private Instruction

I will also offer private lessons or custom classes on Tuesday-Friday at $30/hour, based on loom and time availability.

Guest Instructors

Sutherland will continue to present workshops by guest instructors. In fact, we’ve had a few seats open up in Daryl Lancaster’s Wearable Extravaganza five or seven-day workshop June 3-7(or 9). But contact us quickly if you are interested.

We’ve also just booked Kathie Roig, who will teach her popular Warp Painting class on August 23-25 and Connie Lippert teaching Wedge Weave Fundamentals Nov. 2-3. You’ll hear more details about these soon.

A new Sutherland Handweaving Studio Calendar of Classes & Events also should be ready for you to access soon. I’ll post a link when we’re done testing.

For those who haven’t been to the studio in a while, remember that we have moved. We are now at 372 Depot St. Unit 20, a sister studio with Desert Moon Designs Studios & Gallery, just a few doors down. I hope to see you here soon.

Your proud Haywood grad,

Karen

Sutherland Study Group Invitation & News

Hello Sutherland friends,

Happy 2013. We have three exciting announcements to share with you as the new year gets started.

First, the third year of our Sutherland Weaver’s Study Group begins this Sunday, Jan. 13, at 2 pm at Sutherland Handweaving Studio. With the start of a new study subject, this is the perfect time to join. We will be reviewing our projects from the 2012 block design study with projects we wove from our shared profile draft. Then we will be kicking off our 2013 study of color in weaving with a video by Laura Bryant. We will be using Color-Aid papers to assist in our study and will have some sets available at the meeting. Each month, one member does a presentation related to the study subject, and we will be deciding what form those presentations will take on Sunday. We also leave time each meeting for show and tell, or show and ask, which is always inspiring and often just as educational as our study presentation. Please think about joining us this year. We have members with all ranges of experience who work on all styles and sizes of looms. Dues are $15 per year.

Second, Sutherland will be moving to a new location Feb. 1. We have enjoyed our time at the Cotton Mill, but now are taking the opportunity to move to a new studio in the River Arts District. We will be at 372 Depot Street, Unit 20, under the building banner of Desert Moon Designs, a gallery a few doors down. Not only will we have a big, glass storefront and more visitor traffic walking by, we also will be air conditioned! We are excited about the opportunities this presents for more comfortable classes, events AND STUDY GROUP MEETINGS in the summertime. There is parking on the street outside the building or in a new free, lighted parking lot across the street. For those who are familiar with Magnetic Field Theater, we are in that building. We’re planning an open house to celebrate, but may wait until spring, when the weather gets nice.

Third, speaking of classes, we are pleased that Daryl Lancaster has agreed to return June 3-9, 2013, to teach her Wearable Extravaganza, sewing with handwoven or other special fabrics workshop. For those who have never taken Daryl’s jacket class, that is the focus of this workshop. For those who have made the jacket, you may bring any pattern or patterns you like and get the benefit of Daryl’s help with design, fitting and couture finishing techniques. This year, you’ll be able to choose from the standard five-day workshop (Mon-Fri), or an expanded seven-day workshop (Mon-Sun). The two extra days are optional, but well worth the investment in terms of finishing up your projects. We’re still working out all the details given our new location, which will be…did I already mention this…air conditioned. But if you’re interested, let us know and we’ll put you at the top of our contact list when registration opens.

Just to be clear, our Study Group meeting this Sunday will be at our Cotton Mill studio. Starting in February, we’ll be in the new location.

We’re looking forward to a creative, successful year in 2013. We thank you for supporting us and hope to see you in the studio soon.

Karen

Don’t Miss this Fashion Show Opportunity!

Call for Entries

Project Handmade Fashion Show to Feature Contemporary Designs by Local Makers

(May 23, 2012). Textile artists and fashion designers working within a 100-mile radius of Asheville, NC, are invited to submit entries for Project Handmade, a fashion show dedicated to showcasing contemporary garments made with traditional handcrafted detail using local materials. The goal is to inspire textile artists to engage resources available in the region and encourage innovation to showcase and distinguish the region’s creative fiber and textile art community. The fashion show will be fall 2012 at the Asheville Art Museum.

Entries are due July 15, 2012, and must include digital images of original garments or fashion accessories representative of the applicant’s work and an artist’s statement that explains the processes involved in sourcing, creating, manipulating or embellishing the work and/or the fiber, yarn, fabric or patterns used to craft it.

Participants selected for the juried show will be asked to create garments or fashion accessories following the theme: Earth Tone Palette. Finished work must be received by Oct. 15, 2012, and is subject to final approval by the fashion show committee after the actual work arrives.

Any hand-processed technique may be used to make the fashion show submissions: growing, spinning, weaving, knitting, felting, dyeing, printing, draping, stitching, tailoring, painting or molding. Locally produced and repurposed materials are encouraged, as well as collaborations. For example, a local fashion designer might obtain fabric from a local weaver using yarn processed locally from a local fiber producer.

The fashion show is a joint project of Local Cloth: Farm/Fiber/Fashion Network and the Asheville Art Museum. Local Cloth is a Western North Carolina-based organization that encourages and supports collaboration among textile artists, designers, fiber producers, suppliers and related small businesses. Its mission is to sustain and grow a thriving regional fiber and textile arts economy and bring locally grown and made textile products to consumers within and beyond the Blue Ridge. Both Project Handmade and Local Cloth: Farm/Fiber/Fashion Network operate in cooperation with Handmade in America.

More details and entry guidelines are available at www.projecthandmade.org.

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New Year, New Study Group Subject

Happy New Year, Sutherland Handweaving Studio Friends!

Karen Donde and Barb Butler invite all weavers and weaver wanna be’s to join Sutherland’s Weavers’ Study Group as we start our second year. Our first meeting will be this Sunday, Jan. 8, from 2-4 pm, at our studio in the Cotton Mill Studios, 122 Riverside Drive, Asheville. We’re starting a brand new study subject, so this is an ideal time to join. We meet monthly on a Sunday afternoon, but which Sunday tends to fluctuate. We’ll try to work that out at the first meeting. So check out the details below and let us know if you’d like to join us. If you’re interested but can’t make it Sunday, we’ll put you on the contact list for next month. Don’t worry, we’ll catch you up.

Our study subject this year is block weaves. The group will choose one profile draft and everyone will weave a piece based on that profile, similar to Handwoven’s Weave-Along last year. Members will choose a month to show their sample and discuss how they interpreted the design. The process will work with any loom, from rigid heddle to multi-shaft.

At the first meeting on Sunday, Karen will provide a little tutorial about block theory, how to develop a profile draft and how to translate it to various weaves. We’ll work together to design a two-block profile draft that will be our inspiration for the year. Then we’ll assign months for members to present. Here’s one of Karen’s latest block weave projects.

We will also collect our $15 annual dues for 2012. Show-and-tell is one of the best parts of our meeting, so please bring whatever you’ve been working on, thinking about working on or have questions about. We love sharing successes and ideas.

We decided at our last meeting to arrange a tour of the Oriole Mill in Hendersonville, followed by dinner at the pizza place in Hendersonville. Our dues from last year would be applied to the bill for last year’s study group members. Others are welcome to join us. We’ll just ask that you buy your own pizza. 

We had a lot of fun learning together last year and are excited about our study group’s second year. Hope you can join us!

Karen and Barb

Dear Santa…

Sutherland Handweaving Studio has some exciting news about guest instructors for 2012, just in time for holiday gift giving or gift hinting!

 Excellent Holiday Gift Number ONE:

Laura Fry will teach a one-day seminar titled A Good Yarn, Saturday, March 17. Laura has been weaving professionally since 1977. Her work has evolved from table textiles to yardage woven for a fashion designer. She teaches throughout Canada and the U.S., writes for a variety of textile publications and has won numerous awards for her clothing fabrics. In 1997 she became the 27^th weaver to earn certification as one of Canada’s Master Weavers.  Her book, “Magic in the Water,” which is filled with woven samples prior to and after wet finishing, is a very special acquisition for a weaver’s library. Here’s just one page from my copy showing the samples on the right and a photo of the finished project on the left.

 

A Good Yarn is designed to help weavers better control their end results. Laura discusses fiber characteristics, yarn spinning and how weave structure and density affecting the finished textile. This is a tabletop workshop with no loom required. We have room for 20 participants and the cost is $120, plus a $10 supply fee. We’re going to need full payment for this workshop up front, as Laura is coming from British Columbia on a tour of the Southeast, and we need to lock in her travel plans as soon as possible.

 Excellent Holiday Gift Number TWO:

Daryl Lancaster returns to Sutherland  May 29-June 2 to teach her very popular five-day garment construction class, A Wearable Extravaganza: Wrap your body in clothing from you own hands. This is a terrific class for those wanting to learn to fit and sew clothing from their handwoven, hand printed, dyed, quilted, felted or other special fabric, as well as for those more experienced students wanting polished and professional results. Students will construct a basic unlined jacket, from their own fabric, custom fit to themselves, while learning all sorts of inspiring techniques to make their garments reflect their creativity. This class is designed to teach creativity as well as technique. Students who have already made a jacket with Daryl may opt to bring their own patterns. Even if you’ve taken a similar sewing class with Daryl, this class will move you to your own next level. Here is a link to the full prospectus, which includes more details and the supply list. Yes, you’ll need a sewing machine for this one. 

We’re limited to only 10 participants for Daryl’s class, so make your reservation early. Cost is $450, plus a $35 materials fee, which includes an extensive handout…a book actually. A deposit of $225 will be needed to reserve your place in the class. The full balance will be due May 1, 2012.

Cancellation policy for both Sutherland workshops: Refunds of payments and deposits, less a $10 service fee, will be accepted up to 30 days prior to the workshop. After that date, refunds are only possible if another student can take your place.

FINALLY, Excellent Holiday Gift Number Three:

If your interest in weaving classes is more at a beginning level, another Weaving I: Three Warps, Three Towels class with Karen starts Saturday, Jan. 14, from 10 am-2 pm. This class will continue for eight, four-hour segments on consecutive Saturdays. Cost is $310, plus yarn fee.

So if your special Santa keeps bugging you for gift ideas, slip this blog post onto his or her computer screen . We have gift certificates!  BUT please don’t wait to contact us if you want to make sure you have a place in our guest instructor classes. We think these are going to fill quickly.

Happy Holidays from Karen and Barb

What happened to this year?

It can’t be the last week of October. I feel like I’ve been in a time warp since last spring…which partly explains why posts have been few and far between.

First the news of the hour. Our Sutherland Weavers’ Study Group will celebrate the conclusion of its first year of study this Sunday, Oct. 30, at 2 pm. We’ll discuss our progress, look at projects from the year and plan our study for year 2.

This is a great time to join the Study Group. We include weavers of all experience levels weaving on all kinds of looms, rigid heddle to multi-shaft compudobby. We always learn from and inspire each other. The show and tell is excellent.

Next year, we’re talking about stash reduction as the theme of our study, and we’ll firm up the details Sunday. We voted to use our dues from last year to purchase something (yarn or book maybe) that we can all use during the study. Suggestions welcome. We’re also doing a finger-food potluck. Nothing big, just some snacks and cider, but what’s a party without food?

Let us know if you’d like to stop in and check us out. New members are always welcome.

Next up at Sutherland is the much-anticipated tapestry weaving workshop with Tommye Scanlin and Pat Williams. It’s been full for months with a waiting list, so we’ll be talking with Tommye and Pat about scheduling another one for next year.

The following weekend is our River Arts District Studio Stroll, Nov. 12 and 13. It’s always a crazy weekend with weaving demos and hundreds of strollers shopping for holiday gifts. All of our River Arts District Artists are open both days, so there are lots of great gift ideas. We, of course, favor handwoven scarves and towels!

Meanwhile I’m trying to keep up with the schedule at Haywood Community College Professional Crafts-Fiber program, writing for the Handwoven’s Weaving Today newsletter and planning the classes I’ll be teaching at Convergence next year. Look for this scarf I wove for Weaving Today’s block draft Weave-along in the new November-December Handwoven!

And Barb has Sutherland looking awesome with new work, new lighting, new displays and a NEW LOOM!

Here’s Barb getting acquainted with Meg, our new 32-shaft Louet Megado compu-dobby. It’s added a whole new dimension to our weaving.

Hope we’ll see you in the studio soon!

Karen