January 2025

Checks and squares, colour, and two stretched weavers

In this newsletter you’ll find:

• Studio Views

• A few things to see and share

• Weaving Ergonomics

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Studio Views

Hello and happy 2025! I spent the holiday in between terms resting and recovering from a stressful 2024. Apologies, I haven’t written up any more thoughts on Woven Histories as I wished to - I needed rest and time to play in my studio.

That being said, I probably worked more than I should have. I’m happy to share I have a new pattern coming in VÄV Magasinet this spring. This 8 shaft pattern will only be available in their print/web editions, so be sure to renew your subscription and look for it in issue 2/2025.

Like many folks who make things, I rarely make things for myself, so I took a moment to do some material research on a wearable scale. This beautiful mug is by London (ON)-based potter Bev McNaughton and was a gift from one of my dearest friends.

Thoughts about colour continue. This is a study I made for my students at Toronto Metropolitan University. They get an intro to embroidery, crochet, knit, (simple) weaving, and mending over the 12 week term, making samples based on a topic or idea they choose. I’ve been building out the visual research part of the course and modelling how sampling can be informed by drawing, colour research and palette building.

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A few things to see and share

There are a few little things I have seen around that I’d like to share.

• My new favourite sewing tool from Kimtsu Studio! If you like to sew, this seam guide and genius multitool made by my friend Leo has been such a great help with recent projects.

  

  Leo is the most skilled sewer I’ve ever met — she thinks about construction from a professional’s vantage and I learn so much every time we talk about sewing. She developed this tool to make small tasks, like measuring and tracing seam allowances, needle placement, and marking corner pivots easier. I’ve reached for it many times while sewing over the holidays!

  
  I try not to espouse buying things in this newsletter (my own patterns being the exception!) but I actually like this tool and naturally I want to support my friend as she is just starting out. Canadians can get free lettermail shipping using this listing; if you are elsewhere in the world (or like a tracked package), please visit the Kimtsu Studio Etsy here.
  

• Brooklyn-based weaver Lisa Ventry has been making some gorgeous Circus Napkins in an alternate colourway, and she has generously allowed me to share the images in my newsletter. I love seeing how weavers tweak my patterns and colours; Lisa’s come up with a wonderful palette and is extending the woven length to make runners. I especially love the yellow one in the gallery below! Visit her Instagram here if you’d like to see more of what Lisa is making.

  

  Photos by Lisa Ventry, used with permission

• The annual DesignTO Festival is on right now in Toronto and there are several weaving-based exhibitions I’d like to see, such as:

  • Charlotte Little’s Weaving the Fibreshed.

  • Jenn Kitagawa’s Understory.

  • Superposition, hand woven sculptures by Shao-Chi Lin.

  • Recycled textiles in Ruth Wickremesooriya’s Winter Waiting.

  • Michèle Guevara’s Water - Unframed.

  The complete festival schedule can be seen here.
  

• I loved this video by MoMA about artist Melissa Cody and her exhibition Webbed Skies in 2024. Weaving + video games!

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Weaving Ergonomics

This autumn I collaborated with pal Christine Jablonski on an article for the Gist blog: A Weaver’s Guide to Ergonomics. This is something Christine and I have chatted about for several years — weaving might be many things (work, fun, creative, etc), but repetitive motions, no matter how they originate, can be a real pain (ha ha).

We’re not doctors, so this article cannot replace seeing yours for medical advice regarding aches and pains, but the article details a few of our favourite stretches and strengthening exercises that we hope will get weavers thinking more deeply about their own time at the loom.

Wishing you a limber and loose start to 2025,

amanda