Another ferry ride, and I’m on Whidbey Island, beautiful special Whidbey Island, where I taught before many many years ago. Where eagles soar, water is visible from most of the island, and there are some really really talented weavers, surface designers, and a felter too.
I taught a five day Garment Construction Intensive, the same one I teach at Sievers [1] and at Harrisville [2], and the fun thing when I do this for a guild, is that most of the people in the class already have a history together, they know each other and each other’s work, and there is usually a lot more helping each other out than relying on me for feedback. They know they still have each other when the class is over.
That said, I worked my little tail off…
This venue was a huge test for me, of the months I have spent reworking my jacket patterns, handouts and samples. Other than a few minor errors in the handout, which I fixed in 15 minutes once I got back to my main computer, everything went swimmingly well. The fit on the reworked jacket samples was spot on, and the collar addition worked perfectly. There was a lot of excitement for making the long walking vest, and the swing coat version of the jacket as well. It made me really happy to hear at the end, “…next time I’m making the swing version of the jacket, or the one with the collar, or the walking vest, etc.” It is always good when a guild starts talking about when are you coming back…
That said, the space was bright and cheery. We had the workshop at the Art Center in Coupeville.
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The students worked their little tails off…
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They squealed in delight when Jan installed her placket on the tunic perfectly.
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They squealed in delight when Jodi made her collar perfectly.
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They squealed in delight at the seam finish…
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They squealed in delight when they realized that a dated plain cotton fabric, handwoven years ago, could be mitered into an adorable summer top.
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They really squealed in delight when they didn’t think they had enough fabric and I showed them how to make it work.
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“Can I add sleeves to this vest pattern?” Answer: “Of course, just overlay your jacket pattern and use the armhole and sleeve from that”.
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We had some jackets that still have to be finished, sleeves and such…
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We had a tunic…
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We had a swing coat (still without sleeves)…
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We had a jacket with a shawl collar…
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And we had the classic Daryl Jacket, all beautifully done.
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We had a couple of walking vests and don’t you just hate it when you go through the photos of the class and realize that somehow you didn’t get a single photo of either of them! But they are in the class photo below. I missed one of the jackets as well.
We had some commercial patterns too. Marnie’s handwoven fabric is gorgeous in this Butterick 5822. She is doing a beautiful job.
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And then there was Janet. Janet is a felter and she used my template to create panels in felt, some with eco-dying, printing with plant material. Janet used her dressform and lots of feedback from both me and the class, and created this unbelievable masterpiece. The base was my jacket pattern. She presented it almost finished at the guild meeting when the class was over. I think it still needed some buttonholes and some additional hand sewing, but pretty impressive for five days work. Her top in the first photo is also felted.
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And here is my group of wonderful talented ladies, there are a couple of long walking vests in various stages in the front along with one additional jacket that somehow I failed to photograph. Which is too bad because the handwoven fabric is gorgeous. First row, second in from the right.
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And now I’m home, prepping for Fiber in the Forest [31], which is in just a mere week, I can’t believe I’m on a plane back out to the west coast next Wednesday. I follow that with a two days of inkle weaving classes at Eugene Textile Center [32], I believe there is still room in all classes…
Stay tuned…