Weaving figures in Boundweave

Since I published photos of my friend Nancy Ellison’s weaving of pastors and sheep, I have had requests for drafts and help from others who want to weave similar pieces.  I haven’t even tried it myself! But I can help you learn to do it with information graciously shared with me.

In the fall of 2016, Jane Flanagan, a weaver and instructor in Bolton, England, wrote to ask whether her student could reproduce Nancy’s “Pastors in a Row” weaving, after it appeared on the Scandinavian Weavers Study Group blog.

It was fine with Nancy, but she didn’t have a written draft or instructions.  Jane figured it out, and two of her students went on to weave pieces similar to Nancy’s.  See them here. This fall, Jane sent me a draft and some notes about her weaving experiences.  PDF here. Thank you, Jane!

Also, this fall at the Weavers Guild of Minnesota I picked up a used copy of Clotilde Barrett’s wonderful book on boundweave titled just that–Boundweave. Her book includes a whole chapter on weaving figures in boundweave. Since the book was published in 1987, but I didn’t see it available digitally, I thought it was worth writing to her and asking whether I could share her information.  Clotilde was very positive about my posting the pages, and happy that weavers would be interested.

What a lovely gift! The pdf for Chapter 7, “Figurative Boundweave,” plus a portion of Chapter 6 on krokbragd, is here.  I’d love to see photos of projects you weave, which I will send on to Clotilde, too.

Clotilde wondered whether I am planning to attend Convergence in Reno this summer (I don’t think I will be going).  She plans to attend, so if you run into her, you can thank her personally for sharing her knowledge with us.

My practice of asking authors whether I can share information–because it never hurts to ask–has served me well over time. That’s the way I acquire a lot of the content for the Norwegian Textile Letter.

I am so often struck by the generosity of people in sharing their knowledge. Weavers especially!  One notable failure was last fall when I asked the Dow Jones Company if I could reprint an interesting article I read in the Wall Street Journal, “A Scientist’s Guide to the Coziest Sweaters,” for the Weavers Guild. No problem was the reply, at the special nonprofit 1/2 price deal, it would only cost $825 to post it in HTML for six months ($1100 for a pdf version). So thank you Jane and Clotilde for your instruction.  You won’t become as wealthy as Dow Jones as a result, but you have the appreciation of many weavers.

ADDENDUM:  I noted this blog post on the Facebook “Weaving” group, and alert reader Bill Crawford suggested another resource.  “Don’t forget that Nancy Hoskins has a wonderful book on weaving figures. She has a video also. Book title is: “Weft-Faced Pattern Weaves: Tabby to Taquete. “

Also, Ingrid Koch, the moderator of the “Weaving Krokbragd” Facebook group, has posted many great instructional resources and photos in the “Files” portion of the group. When I get around to making my own figurative piece, lack of instructions won’t be an issue!