LINEN - From Seed to Garment
with Nancy Van Tassel and Vilija Deutschman
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| The lovely flax plant |
Two of our own Treadles members have been working with flax and linen for a number of years now.
Nancy Van Tassel has had a fun and successful time growing her own flax to process into linen. She will talk about her successes, failures and give pointers on what it takes to try it yourself. She has also had an article about the process published in the Ashford's publication, The Wheel.
Vilija has been spinning and weaving with linen since her days working at Conner Prairie Living History Museum in Indiana where the whole process was a part of the 1836 farmstead display. She will demonstrate different ways to dress a distaff, how to spin line flax even if you don't have a distaff, talk a bit about woven linen cloth, as well as give pointers on spinning flax into linen.
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| Flax in various stages of preparation |
Bring your own wheel to give it a try. You will have a chance to try to spin on Vilija's wheel, but everyone will go home with both line flax from a "strick" and flax prepared in roving form. Something for everyone if you have any interest at all in this "Queen of fibers."
Don't forget, our challenge for this year is to spin about 200 yards of either cotton or linen to then weave your own towel on an already prepared loom.
UPCOMING DATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR
Oct. 23 Cotton Picking Day! Firebaugh, CA
From Windfall Farms, "Join us on Wednesday, October 23rd to experience Central Valley culture and help us hand pick colored cotton at Windfall Farms with the farmers and SCP staff. The day will start at 9:30 am in a colored cotton field near Firebaugh. We will hand pick the colored bolls, pack them into bins and learn more about what happens to the fiber and how it grows.
For all the details please visit our Events page, http://sustainablecotton.org/events"
PlusOct. 29 Cotton Farm Tour Firebaugh CA
Again, from Windfall Farm, "Join us on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 for a one-day Cotton Farm Tour through the San Joaquin Valley to gain a behind-the-scenes look at the many sides of cotton production. You'll meet the farmers, see cotton being harvested and learn about Cleaner Cotton™. You'll visit a perennial hedgerow, walk through a colored cotton field, tour a running cotton gin, join us for lunch and take home samples of cotton fiber. Throughout the day, leading industry experts and professionals will present an inside perspective about the many facets of cotton cultivation and processing, addressing issues such as water use, cotton farming practices and the current state of the market for Cleaner Cotton™ fiber.
For all the details please visit our Events page: http://sustainablecotton.org/events'
Oct. 26 Ygnacio Valley Library Activity Fair. 12pm to 3pm. Again, we would like a few people to participate in this event. This is geared to the 45 - 55 age group to introduce what others in their area are doing for fun. They are trying to showcase lots of different spare time activities and would be a good place to showcase spinning/knitting/weaving and what our Guild is all about.
Nov. 20 T2T meeting: Program with Will and Kate about cotton
CNCH CONFERENCE NEWS
Branch Out With Fibers - CNCH 2014
A Fiber Artisans' Conference
April 25 - 27, Oakland Marriott Convention Center
For those new to our Guild system, this is the next annual conference for all northern California member guilds. This includes weavers, spinners, dyers and basketmakers guilds. Joan will have more to tell at the next meeting along with some registration booklets. You can also look at the info online at the link to the right: Conference of Northern California Handweavers, under Bay Area Guild Info.
"What's Your Bag?"
One of the activities for us to participate in is a Guild Display Gallery. The theme for this conference is: "What's Your Bag?" Techniques and materials are an open field, we can choose whatever we want to do. It simply has to be a bag of some sort: tote, clutch, purse, etc. We already have one great idea and we will discuss it at the meeting.
"Return to Sender"
Some of you already have the fiber for this year's challenge. There is only one bag remaining of the ones that our Guild pre-bought and distributed at the last meeting. But you can still get some by sending in $9 by February 1st to Gina Glock, PO Box 682, Bayside,CA 95524 [checks payable to CNCH 2014]
"Return of Return to Sender"
If you spun up some of the Dreamy Goat Fiber from the 2012 conference, this is the place to show off the finished item you made with that yarn. Didn't make anything yet? Get busy! The only requirement is that your spun yarn from 2012 be clearly recognizable in the finished item.
Gallery entry is open to all members of CNCH member Guilds [you don't have to attend conference to enter]. Entry fee is $5 per item and each person is limited to a maximum of 3 entries. See the web site or registration booklet for full info and entry form.
Entry form deadline: March 15
Finished item deadline: April 10 [you will need to send in your item.
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| Happy Halloween from Junior and friend |