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.
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.
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
Saturday and Sunday February 18-19, 2023
at Thistle Hill Weavers
143 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 $175.00
Lunch and materials are included
Saturday and Sunday February 18-19, 2023
9:30am – 4:30pm both days.
For more information or to register, please contact us.
A Weekend of Textile Exploration at Hyde Hall
September 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 6:30pm
Sunday September 18th: 9:30 – 4:00pm
Registration includes lunches and dinner
Registration fee $275.00
Space is limited to 20 people
For more information, please contact us.
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.
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.
