Learn the ancient craft of hand weaving, using natural, found, recycled and sustainable fibres, and our 4 WeaveMaster and Louet table looms.
Our weaving workshops are suitable for any level - from total beginners, to weavers looking to hone their skills in a particular area.
During this workshop you will get a taste of the inner workings of the looms, try some basic weaving techniques, and get to grips with the structure of fabric.
Looms were given to war veterans for work and therapy - weaving is often recommended as a form of meditation to improve well-being.
Learn ways of weaving on-loom and off-loom, get creative, and gain an understanding go how the fabric of your clothes is made.
We do local workshops in the Essex area, but we also travel around the country with our looms, visiting corporate offices, universities, schools, WIs, guilds, and events. The workshops are available to groups or as private one-to-one tutorials.
All materials, yarns, looms & tools are provided - but please do bring any found yarns you'd like to try, we can also cut old clothes into strips and re-weave them into something new!
We currently have 4 table top looms, all named in honour of their previous owners - pictured and detailed below:
Eve & Alex, both WeaveMaster looms with 4 shafts, and 30cm weaving width each.
Laurie, a Louet Loom, collapsable, single beam, 4 shafts, 70cm weaving width:
Marion - a larger WeaveMaster Loom, 4 shaft, single beam, 100cm weaving width:
These are some of the basic weaving structures that you will try - these will help you to get to grips with the construction, and then you'll be ready to try some others, or even make up your own!
If you'd like to weave at home but you don't have a loom, we can try frame weaving, or weaving on a simple piece of card! - requires patience and a good eye for needles but the process is very therapeutic, and these make great framed artworks too.
We can also try painting on the warp, and making colourful yarn windings - a great way to explore how colours go together when planning a stripe or check design.
By the end of the workshop you will have:
- Gained an understanding of the basics of weaving
- A woven sample or two and a couple of yarn windings to take home
- Learnt some new skills
- Enjoyed the therapeutic experience of creating cloth on (or off!) a loom
- Met some nice people!
- And (hopefully!) formed a plan to carry on weaving at home ;-)
Weavers looking for one-to-one tutorials to hone their skills, we can cover specific areas such as - working out a warping plan, warping, winding on, threading up, as well as weaving techniques such as double cloth, colour and weave, pleats, ikat, painted warp/weft, block, and also finishing and natural dyeing techniques.
For more information, or to discuss dates and prices, please get in touch via our contact page.