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    What's New at Thistle Hill Weavers

    We are so excited! Our new video is live!

    See it on our video page or on Youtube.

    We are so excited to share not just our looms in action, but also where you can see our work in historic sites. Featured in the video are, The Emily Dickinson Museum, Hyde Hall, Cedar Grove, and Schuyler Mansion.

    The video was created by Longbow Media.

    Announcing Our Spinning Workshop

    A New Year Begins: New Staff, New Classes, Exciting Projects

    Thistle Hill Weavers has had busy and interesting year weaving fabric for a few films, having a film of our own made, working on historic houses and special projects that kept us happy and learning.

    The Rosen House bedspread will go down as being one of the more interesting projects along with the Mandalorian Cloak for Ahsoka. We finished a green silk upholstery fabric for Hyde Hall and we finished the window treatments for Emily Dickinson’s bedroom.

    The Textile History Forum was held in July and Helena Loermans gave a keynote presentation about the complex weaves used as artists canvas in master paintings from the 16th century forward.

    We finished the carpets for Grouseland, William Henry Harrison’s home, and we seem to be in carpet mode. The jacquard is working again and we are weaving figured ingrain carpet along with our Venetian, Geometric ingrain, Twill block and diamond carpets.

    Our staff is now 7: Emma Gerry joined us in the last few months along with Lisbeth Ruggeri. Crystal Wack, Daniel Myrick, Holly Oakley, Raina Roe, and Betty Muscrella make up the rest of our team. Cathy Nark is now a staff consultant for drapery. The staff at Thistle Hill and I are looking forward to new projects that are in the works. We like visitors and you are welcome to come tour the mill. A phone call or email ahead is probably helpful. Best email address is rabbitgoodythw@gmail.com

    I have been spending a bit more time working on the historic textile equipment at Kilts Farm, Stone Arabia, New York where I have become a board member. I have also begun work on my book on identifying and dating everyday textiles 18th and 19th century.

    I taught a course at Eastfield Village this past summer and will have the opportunity to teach again this coming summer. Eastfield, like Kilts Farm, is very special. Both places are dedicated to hands on learning of historic trades and methods. The course I will be teaching at Eastfield is a journey into the transition between hand and powered textile Technology. This will be both lecture and hands on with textile equipment.

    Kilts Farm workshops will be announced in February. They include my textile tools class and also hearth cooking, basket making, blacksmithing, and other hands on workshops. Stay tuned!

    My coverlet collection is still growing. I cant seem to help myself but Lisbeth was hired to catalogue the collection and although she has spent more time in the mill, her ability to organize the space has been very helpful. I invite folks to contact me for a time to come and explore the collection.

    I will be teaching two courses this year at Thistle Hill. In February, I will teach a course on coverlets and weavers drafts open to weavers and non-weavers. We will explore what weavers were recording and we will look at coverlets in my collection. In March, I will teach a beginning weaving class. I teach beginners about weaving a scarf from silk and worsted yarn. This is a great way to find out if weaving is something that you would like to pursue or just an opportunity to try weaving and then move on to something else.

    Classes at Thistle Hill Weavers:

    Weavers Drafts and Coverlets: A show and tell and explore class: February 17th and 18th. Cost is $125 includes lunch. Limited to 12 students.

    Beginning Weaving: Weave a luxurious scarf: March 15th, 16th and 17th. Cost $275 includes materials and lunch. Limited to 5 students.

    Please stay in touch and enjoy textiles.

    Rabbit Goody and staff.

    Please Join Us For Our Annual Open House

    Thistle Hill Weavers Open House 2023

    Reading the past and Reproducing It: Weavers’ Drafts and Historic Everyday Fabrics

    A Textile Day at Hyde Hall: reading Weavers’ Drafts and Textile Identification

    2023 Textile History Forum Schedule

    Register online at Thistle Hill Weavers.

       

       

    Join us for: Vernacular vs. Fancy: The Family Weaver and the Fancy Weaver in the Rural Northeast AND What’s in Your Closet?

    August 4-6 (3 days) – Limit: 25 students

    The $225 fee for this class is due upon arrival at the beginning of the weekend. This is not a free class.

    Family vernacular textile production occurred side by side with fancy weaving in most rural areas of New York, New England and Pennsylvania between the late 18th century and the mid 19th century.

    We will use surviving textiles as examples to unravel the relationship between vernacular textile production, and the fancy weaver from 1780 to 1860.

    Fancy weavers, also called trade or professional weavers, and family weavers were often working in the same rural areas between 1780 and 1860. The session will begin with an examination of the types of textiles produced by farm families as everyday utilitarian fabrics as contrasted with the coverlets and carpets and other complex textiles produced by the fancy weavers.

    Surviving textiles, advertisements, journals and inventories will be used to illustrate the products of each group and the relationship between families that wove themselves but also used the fancy weaver for fabrics that they could not produce.

    We will also look at the introduction of local waterpower for carding, spinning, and finishing, that helped both home cloth production and the fancy weaver. The class will examine historic textiles from the collections of Rabbit Goody, Eastfield Village, and participants. Participants are encouraged to bring textiles for us to puzzle over, both plain and fancy.

    This three-day workshop runs Friday August 4th, Saturday August 5th and Sunday August 6th. 9:30 to 4pm. Lunch included.

    Register for the class at Historic Eastfield
    Contact Rabbit Goody at Thistle Hill Weavers for more information.
    Email: rabbitgoodythw@gmail.com
    Cell phone: 518.852.5536

    Join us for a weekend of textile tool exploration at Kilts Farm

    Join us for an Exciting Textile Forum

    Register online here.