We spent this past weekend at a Colour and Weave workshop with Janet Phillips at the Berkshire Guild. As usual, it was very enjoyable. Janet is an enthusiastic and inspiring tutor.

During Day 1, I ‘unvented’ a pattern which looked interesting on the loom, so instead of continuing with the worksheet, I spent some time weaving variations of it:

Janet wanted to see what it looked like once it was washed (so the threads would ‘bloom’ and move into their final positions), so that evening I cut it off the loom and retied the warp, then washed the sample, and wow, what a surprise!

It amazes me how much fabrics change during the finishing process, even cotton. I really like this pattern, so I’ll probably continue experimenting with it using different yarns to emphasise the visual structure. First, though, I have to weave off the rest of this sample warp, and then I’ll probably put on another one to continue with my Colour and Weave experiments first as I’m really enjoying them.

I’ll let you in on a secret if you promise not to tell – I really wasn’t at all keen when it was decided that the workshop topic would be C&W and only went because I’ve enjoyed Janet’s previous workshops. I’m glad I did!