Warning, Warning, fabric store ahead!

I’m in Boulder Colorado.  Can I say this is a gorgeous city?  The vistas, the colors, the light, the crisp autumn air, (OK, the air is a little thin, I live at sea level), the changing leaves, it doesn’t get any better than this.

I gave a two day workshop on making a vest from handwoven fabric to the Handweavers Guild of Boulder on Saturday and Sunday.  The class was held at the Boulder Rec Center, and I couldn’t stop staring out the window at the view.  The space was huge, and everyone had plenty of room to work, and to spread out, the fabrics were gorgeous, and everyone seemed to have a great time, and told me how much they learned.

There were some wonderful details, combinations of fabrics, including using the natural fringed edge of a commercial fabric as an interesting band detail.  I have students study their fabrics for what makes them unique, whether they are handwoven or commercial, some of the most interesting design elements come from using parts of fabrics that might not be considered usable, like the selvedges.

Of course, no matter how many days I have to teach a class, it never seems to be enough, there is always the frantic race at the end, and it is hard to get a group photo and rarely is anyone ever completely finished, there are always hours of hand sewing to be done later.  I love when I get a group photo months later of all the finished vests!

The Saturday night of the workshop, a few of us went out to eat at a wonderful upscale Mexican Restaurant in Boulder called Agave.  The food was delicious and the presentation artful, and the textures and colors made for a great photo, possibly inspiration for another painted warp.

This morning, Monday, I gave a lecture to the general guild (OMG, Boulder has more than 300 members!) on Great Garments from Handwoven Cloth.  It was a roller coaster kind of lecture; I raced through the entire process from initial inspiration, to designing the cloth, sett and finishing, measuring oneself and selecting patterns, to basic sewing techniques, and handling of handwoven fabrics.  I got lots of positive comments after the lecture, and I have to say, I’ve sat through a lot of guild business meetings in my career, but never have I seen a more efficient group, plow through the business in a succinct manner, get through show and tell, and have a 15 minute break to get ready for the speaker, all in under an hour.  Impressive…

Betsy Blumenthal is my hostess, she is a fantastic weaver, you may know her from her years at Schacht.  (For the non weavers, Schacht is a really well known and respected loom manufacturer).  Betsy took me to lunch after the guild meeting this morning, to a Boulder landmark called the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse.  The Teahouse was built in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, and sent in pieces to Boulder, its sister city.  The building is spectacular, the decorative elements inspirational and colorful, and the food absolutely delicious. I had the Mediterranean Salmon Wrap, poached salmon, Israeli couscous, mixed greens, feta, hummus and pickled onions with lemon-mint vinaigrette.  All in the wrap!  It came with sides of a shredded beet salad and a shredded carrot and raisin salad.  The presentation alone was worth a photograph.

Then, we headed to Elfriede’s Fine Fabrics.  It is hard to comprehend that I’ve been in two world class fine fabric stores within two weeks of each other, Waechter’s Silk Shop in Asheville, and now Elfriede’s in Boulder.  The fabric store was so inspiring, “touch” overload, the cashmeres, the velvets, the silks, the wools, the remnant bin…  My poor credit card had quite the workout.  There was a silk burnout fabric that I absolutely fell in love with, the print and color palette was so appealing, I rarely get a fabric that isn’t a remnant, but I had to go home with this.  And I found a beautiful (actually Betsy found it) deflected double weave wool silk fabric that I had to have at least a quarter yard.  It was so soft, of course it was Italian, and at $40. a yard, I settled for a quarter yard.  Elfrieda herself was so excited to have a couple of weavers in the shop who knew weave structure, fiber content, and she proudly showed us the highlights of her collection.

Then I hit the fabric remnants’ bin.  🙂

OK, so on top of what I bought at Waechter’s a week or so ago, my little stack of fabrics from this trip, will keep me sewing all winter.  I need to sew.  A lot.  It has been too long, and I am just itching to make some new wardrobe additions and really play with my new fabrics.  I’ve promised myself that I won’t let all this great new stash just sit around.  I think I will start a self imposed “garment of the week” club.  I have the patterns, I have the zippers and thread, and all I need is time.  Which of course eludes me…

I have one more lecture to give, tomorrow night, and then home, and a quick unpack and repack and then the final workshop of the year (not including the Newark Museum weekly class) at the NY Sheep and Wool Festival.  I have about two weeks of writing proposals for conferences and teaching opportunities in 2011 and 2012.  And then I’m really hoping the universe will be kind and reward me for all of my intense work this year, and let me play, uninterrupted for 4 or 5 months.  OK, I know I’m being delusional, life is what happens when you are planning something else, but I can dream can’t I?

Stay tuned…