In Memoriam
Ruth Dabritz, one of the original founding partners of Ruthie’s Weaving Studio and a life member of Portland Handweavers Guild, passed away on January 10, 2022. She was 96. Ruth was active for several decades in PHG and participated in multiple study groups. She was also a long-time member of Complex Weavers. Ruth was a great weaver, teacher, mentor, and friend who will be missed by all who knew her.
Noting the limited opportunities for people to learn weaving in the Portland Metro area, Ruth funded the Ruth Dabritz Legacy Project to teach weaving to small groups of people wanting to learn. A service will be held at a later date.
Workshop and Seminar Opportunities
Hi from your WEGO rep!
The Central Oregon Spinning and Weaving guild (COSW) has openings for an upcoming March Karen Donde weaving workshop and a Robyn Spady weaving seminar. We are inviting all WEGO guilds to join us in filling the remaining spots.
If you would like to reserve a vacant spot, please email Ginger. Vacancies will be filled on February 1st, in the order of emails received. If you are selected for a vacant spot, we will email you a registration form and directions for sending payment.
Thank you,
Ginger Kaldenbach
COSW Program Chair
Workshop – opens to WEGO members on February 1st
Turned Beiderwand: One Threading, Multiple Structures with Karen Donde
6, 8, or more shafts; Intermediate/advanced weavers
Cost: $120
Dates and times of Zoom lectures:
Monday, March 21: 9-11:30 & 3-4:30
Tuesday, March 22: 11-noon (question & answer session)
Wednesday, March 23: 9-11 & 2:30-4:30
Saturday, March 26: 9:30-11 & 2:30-4:30
Description: Turning a Beiderwand draft creates clean pattern blocks, better drape and faster, one-shuttle weaving than its traditional supplementary weft method. The resulting threading also adapts easily to weave other structures. Students will learn Beiderwand basics and how to warp and tension a supplementary warp with or without a second warp beam, design turned Beiderwand, turn a draft and adapt the threading to weave several different structures. This workshop requires at least 6 shafts, though 8 are preferred. Drafts are provided for more shafts if available. Each participant will weave a variety of samples on his/her own loom, as that’s the fun of turning this draft. Several different drafts will be provided to offer a variety of designs for discussion.
Activities: Participants will bring/use looms with warps pre-threaded and beamed according to drafts and instructions I will provide in advance. I will allow each participant to choose one of three methods for tensioning a supplementary warp independently from the ground warp. Video tutorials will be provided for each method with warping instructions. Each day will start with lecture, explaining concepts and theory in digestible chunks. Day 1, participants will finish tying on with demos of methods for tensioning supplementary warps. Remaining time will be spent weaving different samples with breaks for hands-on design lessons using weaving software, review of my samples, photos of my work in turned Beiderwand, a show-and-tell tour of participant looms and woven samples and individual help as needed. Day 3 will include a lecture and design exercise to demonstrate further the power of this threading system.
Karen Donde Biography
Karen Donde weaves garments, accessories and home textiles for sale and teaches beginning-advanced weaving classes and workshops for guilds and conferences. Teaching credits include HGA’s Convergence (2012, 2014, 2016), Southeast Fiber Forum, Mid-Atlantic Fiber Association Conference, Midwest Weavers Conference, Intermountain Weavers Guild Conference and Florida Tropical Weavers Conference. Karen is a juried member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and graduated in 2013 from Haywood Community College’s Professional Crafts-Fiber program. An award-winning writer with a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri, Donde has published articles in Handwoven magazine, its allied publications and Heddlecraft®. (See Heddlecraft May/June 2020 for Turned Beiderwand article)
Seminar – opens to WEGO members on February 1st
Robyn Spady Seminar ~ Zoom
Saturday, March 5, 2022 ~ 9:30-12:30
Cost: $20
Four Shafts Aren’t Complex? Au Contraire!
Who says weaving on four-shaft looms can’t be complex? Too many people! In fact, four-shaft looms are capable of much more than many weavers realize. Tapping into the potential of four-shafts helps weavers learn how to maximize undervalued looms and better understand how to exploit the capabilities of looms with more shafts. From turned swivel to integrated double weaves to finding the “fashionable” ways to weave a warp, this is an opportunity for participants to see just how amazing a four-shaft loom can be.
All weavers will learn something new!