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.