Fabric Analysis "Back in the Day"
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Sally O
During the revival of American Handweaving forward to the 1970s or 1980s, did anyone offer a correspondence course in fabric analysis? Something along the lines of a fabric swatch being sent to the subscriber, and they had to figure out how it was woven?
I know this skill is taught in textile programs, but is there a history of this activity outside of textile programs among handweavers? Just curious - Sally (who learned the skill from a program presented by Inge Dam at a past CWS) |
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Not that I’m aware of, but it was a skill taught and presented by a number of people, pre-computer days. I learned it from instruction at Weavers Guild of Minnesota though I forget which teacher it was to credit.
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🦔
coeweaves.com
e-weave-online.thinkific.com
On Feb 24, 2023, at 10:14 AM, Sally O via groups.io <s.orgren@...> wrote:
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the weaving mill has a reverse drafting club. they ran it last year and are running it again for 2023 On Fri, Feb 24, 2023 at 9:44 AM margcoe <coe@...> wrote:
-- I spend most days weaving in the studio. It is typical for me to take 2 days to read e-mail and 2-3 days to think over my reply. The culture of immediacy is, unfortunately, not very compatible with the type of work I do. |
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Gay McGeary
I don’t know of any correspondence course, but I taught myself how to do fabric analysis of early coverlets in the 1970s from the instructions from Mary Black’s New Key to Weaving. All my weaving is done based on fabric analysis of early coverlets or interpretation of early handwritten manuscripts. Gay
From: weavetech@groups.io <weavetech@groups.io> On Behalf Of margcoe
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2023 12:44 PM To: weavetech@groups.io Subject: Re: [weavetech] Fabric Analysis "Back in the Day"
Not that I’m aware of, but it was a skill taught and presented by a number of people, pre-computer days. I learned it from instruction at Weavers Guild of Minnesota though I forget which teacher it was to credit. · Marg 🦔 · (=^ ◡ ^=) coeweaves.com e-weave-online.thinkific.com
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Jayne F
Fabric analysis is one of the New Hampshire WG Ratings requirements. I haven’t read of a correspondence course. During the revival pattern recipes, but not project recipes, were abundant. Jayne
From: weavetech@groups.io <weavetech@groups.io> On Behalf Of Gay McGeary
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2023 3:22 PM To: weavetech@groups.io Subject: Re: [weavetech] Fabric Analysis "Back in the Day"
I don’t know of any correspondence course, but I taught myself how to do fabric analysis of early coverlets in the 1970s from the instructions from Mary Black’s New Key to Weaving. All my weaving is done based on fabric analysis of early coverlets or interpretation of early handwritten manuscripts. Gay
From: weavetech@groups.io <weavetech@groups.io> On Behalf Of margcoe
Not that I’m aware of, but it was a skill taught and presented by a number of people, pre-computer days. I learned it from instruction at Weavers Guild of Minnesota though I forget which teacher it was to credit. · Marg 🦔 · (=^ ◡ ^=) coeweaves.com e-weave-online.thinkific.com
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Barbara Scott
Unit 17 of the Ontario Handweavers’ Master Weaver Program focuses on Fabric Analysis. Please see https://ohs.on.ca//wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Weaving%20Certificate%20Course%20Outline%20Revised%20Sept%202022.pdf
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Perhaps the written materials for this unit would be helpful. You may purchase the units out of numerical sequence. There is more information about the program at https://ohs.on.ca/ohs-education/. Barbara Scott On Feb 24, 2023, at 3:33 PM, Jayne F <jhfpf@...> wrote:
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Deanna Johnson
I have a copy of Harriet Tidball’s monograph on Textile Structure and Analysis published in 1966 by Shuttle Craft Guild. If you are a member of a guild, maybe check your guild’s library.
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Deanna
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Teresa Ruch
I used Berta Frey's book. |
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In going through the fall/winter 1980 issue of Handwoven, there was a display ad for "Handweaving With Robert and Roberta, a Truly Excellent Home Study Program," distributed by Ayottes' Designery in Sandwich, NH. There is also a pretty good, 2-page article by Carol Strickler, "Fabric Analysis," (Handwoven, November/December 1985, pp. 83-84) that was a follow-up on her column on using computer drawdown programs (September/October 1984, pp. 86-87). As she points out at the beginning of her column, "...analysis of a fabric is like doing a drawdown in reverse. You begin with the fabric diagram on a graph and then analyze it to derive the threading, tie-up and treadling. This, too, is a laborious process which can be done quite a bit faster and more accurately by the computer (if you have a program which can do analysis...)." Strickler then goes on to give detailed instructions on how to "reverse" the drafting process.
That seems to be the extent of generally circulated (as opposed to textbook) instructions. The "why" is a bit more interesting to contemplate, as it may be a situation where so many people had easy access to in-person weaving programs that learning to do drawdowns and, by extension, fiber analysis was simply part of the classwork in a beginning weaving or textile design course. I'm not familiar with the educational systems outside California (where I grew up), but nearly every public community or junior college had weaving studios in the '60s and '70s, and the classes were free: students paid for textbooks, materials, and parking. Needless to say, the classes were extremely popular--I never managed to score a coveted spot in the academic weaving studio, in spite of being an art major--but I learned fabric analysis (including drawdowns and drafts from existing fabrics) in a classroom, as part of the fashion and textile design classes I took as an undergrad in the mid-1970s. |
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