July 2023 newsletter
Chairperson’s message
Since the last newsletter the Guild has had many interesting things happen. The speaker programme has been finalised for this year and next year’s is almost completed. I am looking forward to hearing them as there is a wide variety of subjects that should appeal to all members.
The speakers we have had include the Thread of Time group that talked about the history of distaff spinning. This was followed by a workshop on the different methods of spinning with a distaff, and believe me, it was harder than it looked!
We have also had our Fleece Fair which although it was quiet on the day, had some lovely fleeces for sale (and tasty cakes!) I must admit I did succumb to the lure of a good fleece or two! All of you who didn’t come missed an excellent opportunity to increase your stash and meet people from outside our Guild.
Going forward we will shortly have a new, more modern website thanks to the expertise of one of our new members, Laura Tyley.
Also there will be the Guild competitions towards the end of the year. Hopefully, there will be more entrants than the disappointing number of the last few years. Remember this is a chance to showcase what you can do. The theme is “Childhood Memories” and my mind is already racing with ideas of colours and textures I associate with holidays as a child, cartoon and storybook characters that I loved, pets that I had etc
I look forward to seeing you all soon and don’t forget that the meetings in July, August Workshop and September will be held at Fivehead Village Hall. (Maps are on the website).
Marilyn
Guild competitions 2023
The theme for this year’s competitions is CHILDHOOD MEMORIES”.
The dates are:
September 16th Dyeing
October 21st Spinning
November 18th Weaving
It would be great to see more entries and they give an excellent opportunity to use some of that stash.
Committee Members from March 2023
Marilyn Biggs: Chairperson
Ian Waite: Honorary Treasurer
Norma Sanders: Honorary Secretary
Mandy Stead, Hilary Tudgee and Sophie Fovargue: Membership Secretary, Fleece Fair organiser and programme organisers
Jan Hopwood: Demonstration organiser
Sue Prosser: Tea/coffee rota and raffle organiser
Georgina Vye: Facebook page administrator
Kathy Wright: Sales page, Newsletter editor
Other roles:
Phil Hocking: Librarian
Jenni Llewellyn: Librarian
Guild programme 2023/24
July 15th: Isabella Whitworth will be speaking on “18th century dyeing in the South West
August 20th: Jennie Loader workshop on “Felt forage baskets” for 8 – 10 people Full day bookable workshop £25 a head including all materials. NO ACTUAL MEETING.
September 16th: Social spinning in the main hall with a Workshop by Pam Martin on making Yorkshire buttons in the back room from 11 am to 3 pm. Dyeing competition
October 28th: Daniel Harris of the London cloth company will be talking about his work rescuing woollen mills and making cloth. Spinning competition.
November 18th: Janet Phillips will be talking on “Designing Woven Fabric” Weaving competition
December 17th: Christmas social.
January 20th 2024: Brian Bond will be speaking on “My journey in Natural Dyeing”. Sales of seeds, dried dye stuffs and dyed wool fibre/yarn
One-hour spinning workshops for 2023 for beginners or interested people.
Please email Kathy Wright (Kathywright24@gmail.com) by the second Saturday of the month if you would like to join. There is no charge. Place –somewhere at Fivehead then the small room at Hatch Beauchamp
Time – 10.30 til 12
July: Understanding your wheel and Introduction to hand carding. Bring along a spinning wheel, bobbin, yarn for leader, spinning oil. Lap cloth or apron, flick carder and/or hand carders, scissors, washed fleece can be long staple but preferably shortish, 1 – 3”
August: No normal meeting
September: Forward/backward drafting. Bring along a spinning wheel, bobbin, yarn for leader, wool top or rolags.
November: Plying. Bring along a spinning wheel, two bobbins with spun yarn (don’t have to be equal), empty bobbin, yarn for leader, lazy kate or shoe box wide enough for your bobbins and two knitting needles size 8 /4mm.
January: What you can do with wool tops/batts. Bring along a wheel, tops, carders, 2 lengths of dowelling or 2 big knitting needles or 2 x 12 “ rulers
February: Drum carding. Bring along a drum carder if you have one and wheel. Clean fleece or tops if you would like a go. Knitting needle, tweezers, carder or dog brush.
March: Introduction to combing. Bring along a spinning wheel, bobbin, leader, dog comb, afro comb, mini wool combs, long staple (3 – 5”) washed fleece
April: Blending on carders and drum carder and blending board. Bring along a spinning wheel, bobbin, leader, hand carders, coloured fleece/tops.
May: Introduction to Andean plying and Navajo plying. Bring along a Spinning wheel, bobbin of yarn, lazy kate (or shoe box equivalent), empty bobbin.
Bursary information
Did you know that the Somerset Guild offers bursaries to help members pay for courses at the Association Summer School or any other course connected with our craft? Please contact the Guild in the usual way to find out more information.
You will be asked to write stating what the learning will be, how much it costs and what you can bring back into the Guild to benefit other members. Generally there would be an expectation that you show the fruits of your learning in some way – a short talk and exhibition of work, or teaching at a Guild Skills Day.
Equipment to Hire
Did you know that the Guild has equipment for hire? There is a deposit, returnable when the item is received and checked by a committee member. A hire charge of 5% of the deposit per month is made.
Notes taken at the AGM of the Association of Guilds of Weaving, spinning and Dyeing.
On a very hot Saturday 10th June 2023 Janet Maher, Norma Sanders and I attended the AGM of the AGWSD at Conway Hall in London. This is a short feedback of some points of interest.
Guilds present 23 in person, 14 via zoom and 30 making postal contribution.
The President Jennie Parry gave an interesting welcome speech highlighting the need for team work and good communication. And her valuable links with Graduates being of two way benefit and of current trends for natural fibres and flax.
In the chair’s report Janet Crowther described the organisation as ‘bottom up and not top down’ relying on volunteers from the grass roots. Volunteers are desperately needed within the GPC and individual guilds.
The WHIP page on the website has been updated and is now known as the Guild Information Hub. This can be accessed at wsd.org.uk click on Members tag and then GIH in the paragraph entitled Individual Member Resources, it is a useful resource for all Guild members.
Two propositions were carried.
Mileage allowance for cars used on approved Association business increased from 40p per mile to 45p per mile.
The affiliation fee be increased from £4.75 to £5 per guild member from 1st January 2025
Foundation Certificate are in urgent need of Mentors. members who have completed the COA, or are good at English long draw. Mentoring can largely be done by zoom so location is not an issue. Information about bursaries for those wishing to undertake the COA can be found on the AGWSD website.
Janet gave an informative and thoroughly detailed talk about Health and Safety for Guilds
And the topics for discussion were;
Sale of work at Association National Exhibition, proposed by Hallamshire and District Guild
Diversity of membership nationally and at guild level. Proposed by Bradford Guild.
If any one has any further questions about the meeting I would be very happy to try and answer them.
Sarah Basham
My Crafty Life – Patricia Ilsey
Pat was taught to knit by her Grandmother. Her first garment was a Fairisle Jumper which she often knitted under the table at school. It even fitted her! She soon knitted a Fairisle beret which sold.
Pat enjoyed farm work in school holidays. Having left school at 15 she often spent time riding her friend’s pony and knitted her friend a Fairisle jumper.
At 18 at joined the Air Force where she continued to knit, started dressmaking (she still uses the same machine. At 21 she started cakemaking and decorating. She also started embroidery and crochet – she is still working on the same crochet piece.
Pat later worked as a waitress in Torquay and still did seasonal farm work. She attempted to write the Lord’s prayer on a postage stamp. She enjoyed driving her Lambretta scooter amongst others. Pat was still friends with Anne who paid her a shilling for each ball of wool she knitted. At this point she moved from Yeovil to Newton Abbot where she tried machine knitting but she didn’t continue with that. Having met and married a painter and decorator Pat took up painting and decorating herself. She used to go to jumbles finding jumper to buy, unravel and knit up into Fairisle jumpers. She worked as a knitter for the Natural Dye Company where she designed and worked out quantities for knitting patterns which were sold. Her husband became ill and was hospitalized in London. On visits to London Pa made sugarcraft roses.
A friend in New Zealand found Pat a penpal and after 18 months of correspondence they got married and she moved to New Zealand. There Pat joined a local craft group and started spinning on a borrowed wheel (she had one class before moving to New Zealand). She entered a quality mark assessment scheme and reached the stand after only two years. She enjoyed spinning novelty yarns and won many awards for spinning Alpaca. She enter a longest thread competition and won. With this type of thread she knitted ring shawls and veils of lace knitting, starting with a crocheted centre and creating her own design. Over the years Pat has won 15 awards, her highlight was in 1990 when she flick carded a third of a Romany fleece with 4inch staples and made a sleeveless full length evening gown wit stocking stitch and ribbing and won a Supreme Award. The dress was featured in the Royal Easter Parade in Sidney in addition to other fashion parades.
Her husband bought her a wheel and together they bought a property for £15000 with three quarters of an acre which needed total renovation. Pat learnt dry stone walling, garden landscaping, use of chainsaws, in addition to coping with no running water. When they got running water the tank, no longer needed, was used for wine making using fruit from the garden. Possums were a pest in her front garden but, undaunted, she extended the deck, undertook roof repairs and built a ramp for her husband’s mobility scooter. When her husband died she returned to the UK.
She entered Flower Shows and met a member of Somerset Guild, soon after Pat joined and entered the National Exhibition.
The latest craft type interests Pat has been learning is Hedge trimming and African Drumming.
(Many thanks to Lia Jenkinson for taken notes then written up by Kathy Wright)
GUILD NEWSLETTER REPORT
The Evangelical Church of Distaff Spinners
Saturday 20th May 2023 (written up by Sophie Fovargue)
“A Thread in Time”
Three ladies visited our Guild from the above on-line group
Mary - gave the talk
Alice - was in charge of the computer slide show
Jane - spun with a Distaff and Spindle Whorl during the talk
Mary explained that there are many forms of Distaff Spinning around the world and that the form of spinning being demonstrated and discussed today was distinct from the other types, such as distaff spinning with flax and the various forms of spinning with drop or supported spindles. The type of spinning particular to this group (who have researched the subject deeply) is “The European School of Distaff Spinning”.
The history of distaff spinning is difficult to accurately date as the distaff’s and the wooden spindle holding the Whorl are generally made of wood and archeological remains are very rare, however in a few sites in Scandinavia (where the soil was wet and frozen Archaeologists have found evidence which allows them to confidently say that Distaffs were being used in Eleventh Century AD. Other evidence came mainly from early manuscripts and paintings. A wall painting in a Hampshire Church dated to 1130 -1140 AD depicts a lady distaff spinning. Later examples were shown from the Holkham Bible (1327 AD), the Luttrell Psalter (1325- 1340 AD), the Oxford Douce Manuscript (1450-1500 AD), a painting by Peter Bruegel the Elder titled Netherland Proverbs (1559 AD) as does another Dutch painting by Micheal Swerts (1618-45 AD). Later still, a French painting by Marie Aladene Alophe shows a peasant woman (1812 -83) and a photograph titled “Big Margaret Spinning” was taken in 1898-1899 on Eriskay Scotland. All of these examples were felt to clearly depict and trace the history of the European School of Distaff Spinning.
The internet and youtube in particular have been helpful in gauging to what extent this particular form of Distaff Spinning is still being practiced around Europe. Home movie enthusiasts have filme Spinners on their travels and then uploaded the film onto the internet. Most of the examples come from the Balkens, Roumania (2011), Serbia (2012), Azerbaijan (1977), Bulgaria (2009) and Spain (2003). There were also examples from Greece but these were not in the same tradition as a supported or drop spindle was used.
Outside Europe the Distaff is still used in peasant communities, but all the examples found were from very different spinning traditions. In Ecuador a freestanding distaff is still used for cotton spinning by long draw. In southern Ethiopia a Man has been recorded drop spinning with a distaff with a top whorl spindle. An early photograph (1884) depicts a Navajo lady sitting on the floor using a thigh rolling spindle and distaff.
The key aspects of “The European School of Distaff Spinning” which make distinct from the other traditions are as follows:-
The Distaff is held on the non-dominant side of the body (typically tucked under the arm) or into a belt at the waist.
Drafting - is of the “short-draw” variety and is done between the non-dominant (usually left ) hand and the distaff.
The Spindle is held either “in hand” or suspended immediately below the dominant hand(usually the right hand), this is termed as “short-suspension”.The
Thread being produced is held horizontally across the body and is of a very “High -Twist” being both thin and strong
The Fibre is wool, which is prepared and wrapped around the Distaff frequently being tied in place by a ribbon.
The Wooden spindle is typically around nine inches long and is a narrow tapered stick with a very slightly bulbous area a couple of inches from the bottom with the whorl sitting directly below this area..
The Whorl is a small bulbous spherical whorl often made of lead, stone or pottery and is surprisingly heavy for its size. This type of whorl is very different from the drop spindle whorl which is often disc shaped and often much lighter for its comparative size.
Advantages of Spinning tn the tradition of The European School of Distaff Spinning
For a peasant society the equipment is cheap and easily obtainable and very practical.
The Disaff at its most basic is simply “a stick”
The Spindle is a small strong whittled, shaped stick which can easily be removed from the whorl, so that when the spindle is full of spun wool a new spindle can be inserted into the whorl, leaving the twist to “set” on the spun wool.
The equipment is very portable and the technique once mastered can be done while walking, or indeed as old paintings demonstrated while “feeding the poultry” or “riding a mule”!
In a peasant society, where dwellings are small, often with earth floors the equipment and wool are easy to hang up out of the way of dirt.
Due to the shape of the Whorl the rotational speed is much higher than a disc whorl but spins for a much shorter period, however because of the “short-suspension” of the spindle the spinner can frequently twist the top of the spindle so that the “Radius of Gyration” is not an issue, the result is that the production of yarn can be much faster than that achieved with other types of Drop Spindle Spinning. (The group went on to show the research they had done in this area, which was done with a number of volunteers spinning for a set period of time by one or other method and then measuring the legion of yarn achieved.) Faster spinning ,means reduced labour costs.
The fact the yarn spun by this method is typically of a “high twist” / worsted type has further advantages being thin and strong and ultimately very hard wearing and suitable for weaving without plying; this means a finer fabric can be achieved which is still strong hard wearing.
The talk finished and various questions followed . Jane who throughout the talk had been timed spinning (58 mins) she then measured the exquisite lace weight thread she had spun which was 105 meters. She had used a Shetland x Romney fleece which she had prepared by “combing”.
This was a fascinating talk and complimented the talk we had from Amanda Hannaford in February 2023.
Visit to Fabricaal in Portugal by Lia Jenkinson
In February this year I was finally able to fulfil one of my weaving wishes. I arranged a visit to Fabricaal in the depths of the Portuguese countryside not far from the Spanish border. This wonderful weaving factory has been functioning for more than 100 years to produce initially traditional Portuguese blankets. The wool comes from the local merino sheep and is processed in northern Portugal and then dyed according to Fabricaal’s specifications in the Rosarios 4 factory site elsewhere in Portugal (another interesting story to read). Fabricaal was founded in the 1930’s and revived in the 70s by Mizette Nielsen. It has now been purchased and given a breath of fresh air by the current owners who have taken it to a different level by creating new products based on timeless designs and new colour combinations which reflect the local landscape.
In February this year I was finally able to fulfil one of my weaving wishes. I arranged a visit to Fabricaal in the depths of the Portuguese countryside not far from the Spanish border. This wonderful weaving factory has been functioning for more than 100 years to produce initially traditional Portuguese blankets. The wool comes from the local merino sheep and is processed in northern Portugal and then dyed according to Fabricaal’s specifications in the Rosarios 4 factory site elsewhere in Portugal (another interesting story to read). Fabricaal was founded in the 1930’s and revived in the 70s by Mizette Nielsen. It has now been purchased and given a breath of fresh air by the current owners who have taken it to a different level by creating new products based on timeless designs and new colour combinations which reflect the local landscape.
They welcome visitors and I dragged my husband and the couple we were staying with along with me, only to find out they were as engrossed as I was in the whole experience. The original looms were clacking away and there was a feeling of camaraderie amongst all the weavers. The creative director was on site designing at the loom (my kind of person!) and the technical director took us through the whole process, explaining the traditional boundweave designs and the new products they are now creating. The whole process is carried out manually, the wooden looms are repaired by a local carpenter and the only innovation since the beginning has been the introduction of flying shuttles. The weavers undergo a 3 months apprenticeship and move from loom to loom according to the size of orders coming in. A bonus of the visit is the location in one of the most beautiful areas of Portugal particularly in spring in time to enjoy the explosion of colour from the wildflowers.
Fabricaal history: www. https://www.fabricaal.com/en/home
More about Fabricaal: https://www.boutique-homes.com/journal/the-looms-of-fabrica-alentejana-de-lanificos
Rosarios 4 factory background history: https://rosarios4.com/en/the-story/
Mizette Nielsen being interviewed: https://pioniraproject.com/fabrica-alentejana-lanificios/
Tea/coffee Rota – 2023
July 15th
10.30 – 12.00: Tracey Bartlett & Juliet Johnstone
12.00 – 1.45: Rosemary Warren & Paulette Bjergfest
September 16th
10.30 – 12.00: Jan N & Julia J
12.00 – 1.45: Diane Colthorpe
October 21st
10.30 – 12.00: Jan H.
12.00 – 1.45: Ian Waite & Sonia Waite
November 18th
10.30 – 12.00: Brenda L & Brenda H
12.00 – 1.45: Pam Mitchell & Liz Lawrence
Reserves: Julie R., Sue Latimer, Tricia R., Willow Iredale