Upcoming Workshops You Might Be Interested In
Upcoming workshops and classes in 2025
I rarely get the opportunity to write a newsy letter from Thistle Hill Weavers, but 2025 has found me at the computer in the office ready to get started on the New Year. I also hardly ever get to introduce the crew here at Thistle Hill Weavers: Raina Roe, Dan Myrick, Holly Oakley, Crystal Wack, Lisbeth Ruggeri, and Betty Muscarella. The crew here is really the heart and soul of Thistle Hill Weavers and although often less visible than I am, they are the weavers and finishers who get the job done. We have some interesting projects ahead of us this year in addition to the upholstery fabrics for our long time clients we are working on two projects for Hyde Hall – George Clarke’s bed hangings and Anne’s bed hangings and carpet. We are finishing up the silk damask for the Fulford House in Canada and some private client damasks for window treatments. I will be teaching a few workshops this year here at the mill, and at Kilts Farm in Stone Arabia, New York, and Historic Eastfield Village in Nassau, New York. But the BIG NEWS for those of you interested in textile history is this year’s Textile History Forum to be held August 1, 2 and 3 in Marshfield VT at Kate Smith’s Weavers Croft. We have invited Michael Nix from England to be our keynote speaker this year. Michael’s book on Norwich Textiles: A Global Study 1750 to 1840. is helpful to understanding the production of worsted cloths that were so much a part of the 18th and 19th century. Workshops and classes in 2025 Design and Drafting Patterns for HandweaversFebruary 15th and 16th9:30-4:00 This is class for hand weavers who want to understand weave structure and pattern formulas. This is not a weaving workshop, instead, we will be drafting patterns and weave structures on graph paper and computers. Understanding of how the intersection of threads work to form useful structures allows us to create our own patterns and textiles that serve both as beautiful fabrics but also meet our needs for drape and durability. The goal of this class is for students to be able to design their own patterns using weave formulas rather than printed drafts.. A bibliography will be sent ahead of the class. Lunch is included. Class is limited to six students. $125 Historic Textile Workshop: Reading Historic Weaver’s Drafts and Examining Historic TextilesMarch 22nd and 23rd This is a hands on work shop, a combination of reading and interpreting the weaving recipes left by fancy weavers and vernacular weavers and examining historic coverlets woven using these drafts. There are so many different short hand methods of recording threading and treadling patterns. We will look at styles that became the backbone of American hand weaving in the colonial revival and styles that are unusual. Lunch is included. Class is limited to 10 students. $125 Spin, Span, Spun at Historic Eastfield VillageJune 14th and 15th Spinning Straw into Gold or Spinning on traditional spinning wheels. Do you own a traditional spinning wheel? This workshop is geared to folks who are already familiar with spinning but want to improve their knowledge of traditional spinning techniques and the care of traditional wheels. Saturday we will work on treadle and flyer wheels (low wheels, flax wheels). We will get your spinning wheel running if it needs some work and we will break, and heckle flax and dress distaffs for spinning linen. Sunday we will work with walking wheels (great wheels, wool wheels) and spin wool and cotton. We will look at different accelerating heads that were available in the 19th century. Previous spinning knowledge is preferred as we will not have enough time to be able to teach beginning spinning. However, if you have a wheel but don’t know how it works and want to get your wheel in good condition please join us. This workshop will be held at Historic Eastfield Village, Nassau NY Bring Your Spinning Wheels – Opening Day at Kilts Farm, Stone Arabia, NYMAY 18th Calling all spinners, traditional and modern…come spin for the day at Kilts Farm. Join me and enjoy showing the public the variety of our wheels in motion.
We’re Having a Sale!
Thistle Hill Weavers Over Run Fabric, Carpet and Yarn Sale Save the date: Saturday, July 20, 9:30am to 4:30pm We are over stocked with our historic fabrics. Please help us out, we would like to clear off some shelves! We have our historic carpets, worsted and silk fabrics, some small pieces of fuzzy bling, all at discounted prices. We will also have yarn for sale. When we cannot use the ends of cones, or we are finished with a project we have boxes of yarn left over. Ready and waiting for for your creative talents! Upcoming Events June 22nd and 23rd: Dating and Identifying Historic Everyday Fabrics. Still a few spots left.Sanborn Mills Farm, Loudon New Hampshiresanbornmills.org July 13th and 14th: Timber Frame Loom Workshop. Help set up a barn frame loom at Kilts Farm and learn about styles and differences in looms in the 18th century.Kiltsfarm.org August 2nd,3rd, 4th: Textile Tool Technology: What makes a spinning wheel work and what happens when water power changes the method of production. Three day seminar with hands on textile tools and textiles.Eastfeld Village Nassau, New Yorkhistoriceastfield.org September 13th: Woven Clothing Fabrics in early 19th Century QuiltsAQSA ,Tarrytown NY.Americanquiltstudygroup.org September 28th: Bring a textile discovery day at Kilts Farm. Our version of Antiques Roadshow. We learn so much from the textiles that we have been passed down through the generations.Kiltsfarm.org October 4th: What were coverlet weavers also weaving? The other fabrics mentioned in weavers ads.Zoom lecture thru the coverlet study group.Contact Marty Schlabach: mls5@cornell.edu October 5th: The Gleich Lecture at the Arkell Museum and Library, Canajoharie NY.arkellmuseum.org November 3rd: Dating and Identifying Historic Textiles at Historic Deerfield, Worcester, MA. Lecture and Zoom. Bring a textile to identify.historic-deerfield.org December 7th and 8th:Open House here at Thistle Hill Weavers!
Reading the past and Reproducing It: Weavers’ Drafts and Historic Everyday Fabrics
A Textile Day at Hyde Hall: Reading Weavers’ Drafts and Textile Identification
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 EastfieldContact Rabbit Goody at Thistle Hill Weavers for more information.Email: rabbitgoodythw@gmail.comCell phone: 518.852.5536
Join us for a weekend of textile tool exploration at Kilts Farm
The Fabric of Everyday Life :Dish Rags to Silk to Silk Damask: A Weekend of Textiles at Hyde Hall
A Weekend of Textile Exploration at Hyde HallSeptember 17th and 18th, 2022. The household at Hyde Hall used hundreds of yards of cloth between 1817 and 1835, some of it woven locally for everyday use and much of it imported for furnishing textiles. Hyde Hall provides an incredible backdrop for this exploration because it has a wealth of textiles that survive and George Clarke wrote detailed receipts for the purchase of carpet, drapery and household linens. This weekend will explore all the fabric necessary to run an elaborate household before paper towels. We will examine surviving pieces from the collection and also look at everyday towels, sheets, blankets and yes, dish cloths. The session will put into context how the everyday textiles that we take for granted were the necessary fabric of everyday life. We will meet in the new education space – the woodshed – for these sessions, and we will have a special dinner in the Dining Room at Hyde Hall with music on Saturday evening. Saturday September 17th, 9:30 to 4:00 with dinner at 6:30pmSunday September 18th: 9:30 – 4:00pm Registration includes lunches and dinnerRegistration fee $275.00Space is limited to 20 peopleFor more information, please contact us.
Two Upcoming Textile Workshops
Saturday, June 11, 2022: Join me for a behind-the-scenes tour of coverlets in the collection of the New York State Museum. This one-day workshop is designed for textile historians and weavers and is an opportunity to see several very special coverlets from the New York State Museum collection. We will examine and discuss coverlets and also tour the textile storage facility. The workshop will be limited to 15 students and will be an active hands-on discussion of the weave structures, the weaving equipment, the provenance and the place that these coverlets have in 19th century material culture. If you have an interest in coverlets, this is a good opportunity to meet with others and share knowledge and to examine coverlets that have not been available on exhibit. Workshop Cost is $50 for the day. Lunch is on your own. Bring a bag lunch or visit the food court in the Empire Plaza. Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3: Designing and Drafting Weave Structures Workshop at Thistle Hill Weavers. This two-day short course is aimed at helping weavers understand the practical aspects and application of block weave structure. If you are a weaver and want to know how to design, this workshop is for you! This class teaches the theory of blocks and allows students to develop their own patterns in different weave structures. We will be designing block patterns and fitting appropriate weave structures into those designs. The structures we will be working with are float work (overshot), summer and winter, double cloth, twill blocks, spot weave and damask. This class will meet from 10am to 4pm both days. Class is limited to 8 students. Cost for this class is $125 and includes lunch both days.Please contact us for more details or to register.
Explore Weave Structures: Designing and Drafting for Hand Weavers
Saturday and Sunday February 18-19, 2023at Thistle Hill Weavers143 Baxter Rd Cherry Valley NY 13320 This is a basic drafting course for hand weavers. Learn to recognize, develop and design your own work in several different weave structures. The goal of the class is to teach the fundamentals of weave structure including spot, block structures, complex twills, crepe weave and satins. When we understand weave structures, we can design fabric that is both beautiful and functional. This is an opportunity to explore how different weave structures affect drape, durability and surface texture. Explanations of weavers’ drafts, both modern and historic, will serve as teaching tools for understanding how to draft patterns. Students will then design in several different structures and then have the opportunity to develop their own patterns to use in their own weaving. The class will be taught by Rabbit Goody at Thistle Hill Weavers and is intended for weavers of any level who wish to understand more about weave structures. The class starts with basic skills of reading weavers’ drafts and translating patterns into several weave structures. Students will then design a project for their own looms using different structures. This is a theory class rather than a weaving class but looms will be set up with a few different structures to demonstrate different aspects of structure. Cost for the weekend is $175.00Lunch and materials are includedSaturday and Sunday February 18-19, 20239:30am – 4:30pm both days.For more information or to register, please contact us.