As part of our yearly schedule we will be welcoming guest instructors to host classes in their own speciality. Many of these instructors got their start by coming to classes at the Marshfield School of Weaving and we welcome them as a link in the chain of keeping the knowledge transmitted at MSW alive.
One to Three Week Classes
Classes:
March 11 - 29, 2024
May 13 - 31, 2024
*postponed to 2025*
July 8 - 26, 2024
*postponed to 2025*
October 14 -
November 1, 2024
The Woven Wardrobe Series
taught by Noel Guetti
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The Weaver’s Croft is pleased to announce an up-coming series of comprehensive weaving-and-sewing intensives. These three-week classes are offered as stand alone immersions into a specific material and garment, or can be taken together as a connected program, creating the foundation of a handmade wardrobe. Over the course of the year, we will weave and sew four core garments, in keeping with the needs of the seasons - indigo denim jeans, a cotton button-up shirt, a light linen overgarment, and a wool jacket.
During each three week class we will explore:
- a particular fiber and the weaving techniques it calls for
- historic material and garment context
- pattern drafting and fit alterations
- machine- and hand-sewing construction techniques,
with considerations for working with handwoven fabrics
- hand sewn buttonholes and other traditional hand
finishing methods
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Click the buttons at left to learn more!
15% discount
taught by Kate Smith
The purpose and focus of this 4 - 5 day weaving class will be to acquaint timber framers and wood workers with the actual process of hand weaving on an early hand loom. The loom is a very specific tool designed to hold tension and manipulate threads so that fabric can be created. Knowing exactly how this tool should respond and what is actually involved in the process of weaving will benefit all those who hope to repair, restore or build from scratch these amazing looms.
Participants will begin with designing a project, making a warp, dressing the loom and then weaving their own fabric.
Date: June 3 - 7, 2024
Cost: $750 plus materials
Weaving for Timber Framers
Willow Basket Making
Loom Basket & Wool Gathering Basket
taught by Bonnie Gale
We are honored to have the famed Bonnie Gale join us to teach a two day class on making a willow loom basket on
one day and a Scottish style wool gathering basket on the second.
Bonnie has been making and teaching willow basketry
for the past 40 years. She will bring her own locally grown willow to the class and all other materials will be provided.
Students can come to just one day or both and each project can be finished during the class.
Date: June 8 - 9, 2024
Cost: $200 plus materials for each day
taught by Andrea Myklebust
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In this class, we will learn how the warp-weighted loom works and will weave a small (approximately 24” x 36”) weft-faced project inspired by Sami grene blankets. We will use a three-post warping frame and rigid heddle to make a warp with a heading band, select and hang weights and learn about their role in the weaving process, and dress the loom for plain weave with a single heddle bar and knitted heddles. We will wind weft bobbins, and weave with sword beater and pin beater. The class includes some exploration of the history and preservation of the warp-weighted loom in the ancient North Atlantic. We will discuss building a loom of your own, and learn a variety of tactics for finding or making loom weights. No prior weaving experience is necessary for this class. Students who wish to weave with their handspun yarns are welcome to do so; please reach out ahead of time to discuss yarn specifications with the instructor.
Date: June 10-14, 2024
September 30 - October 4, 2024
Cost: $750 plus materials
Introduction to Weaving on the Warp-weighted Loom
Weaving on the Warp Weighted Loom - Additonal Projects
taught by Andrea Myklebust
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Intended for students who have completed Introduction to the Warp-weighted loom class (or who have prior experience warping and weaving on the Warp-weighted loom and are comfortable with the process of making a warp and preparing the loom for weaving), this class explores additional woven projects; rya/varafell, krokbragd, tapestry, twill,balanced weaves with handspun singles, and weaving wide projects on the warp-weighted loom. Students can choose from one of these projects, or propose their own exploration of warp-weighted loom weaving to undertake in the class. Students who have their own looms are welcome to bring them to class! If a student has a particular woven project they wish to undertake, or wishes to spin their own yarn for a project, please reach out to the instructor ahead of time to discuss your needs and make a plan.
Date: October 7 - 11, 2024
Cost: $750 plus materials
taught by Rosemary Wexler
Flowers, waves, stars, gardens: these and other images evoke the forms possible with 4-shaft overshot. This class aims to break these forms out of a strict grid, instead activating overshot's potential as a malleable design system. We will develop a no-fear understanding of floatwork drafts, so that we can fluidly transform motifs with modifications in threading and treadling. Each student will design and weave an original sample, and by incorporating inlay and clasped weft we will further expand our creative expression "between the lines" of a plain weave grid. We will also briefly cover computer drafting for those interested.
Date: June 17 - 21, 2024
Cost: $750 plus materials
Overshot Inlay
taught by Rosemary Wexler and Nelly Detra
The Jewish prayer shawl, or tallit, is the traditional garment worn by Jews during religious observance. The only specifications given in the Torah for this garment are that it should have four corners to hold the “tzitzit” or fringes. This gives the Jewish weaver a broad range of artistic options when designing a tallit. In this class each student will design and weave their own tallit, atarah and corners. We will wind up the class by tying the tzitzit together, and discuss how we can express our own vision of Jewish observance through the mitzvah of crafting and wearing tzitzit.
Date: September 24-28, 2024
Cost: $750 plus materials
Weaving a Tallit
taught by Ben Levitt, Don Estes & Seth Kelley
In this 5 day class our resident timber framers - Ben Levitt, Don Estes & Seth Kelley - will demonstrate some of
the common and not so common repair work that needs to be done to bring an early hand loom back to working
order. Some of the tasks will include dealing with twisted beams, creating missing cross pieces, capes and lays, and repairing warp and cloth beams.
Four of our most finicky looms will be used for demon- stration and participants will be able to pitch in and help in a hands on approach.
On the last day of the class participants may bring some of the problem pieces from their own looms to restore and repair.
Date: July 29 - August 2, 2024
Cost: $750 plus materials
Restoring & Repairing the Early Hand Loom
Policies
The Weaver's Croft studio is available for weavers to use for their special projects, for scheduled guest instructor classes and for research and study. Dates and fees for these activities are described in each of the individual activity pages. Payments may be made through the online cart, or by personal check.
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The studio is open for working from 8am to 8pm, Monday through Friday. Weekend Workshops days and times are outlined for each session in its description.
In order to ensure that the studio space and equipment are ready for the limited number of places that are available, we depend on advanced planning. However, if you are unable to attend, a 100% refund is available up to 60 days before the session. A 75% refund will be issued for cancellation up to 30 days before. Cancelations within 30 days are non-refundable.
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Payment plans and limited need-based scholarships are available - funding priority will be given to applicants from underserved communities. Please contact us via email for more details.