Yesterday we had a lovely and quiet day. Lots of phone calls to and from family and dear friends near & far.
We decided to take a thermos of tea and some Christmas goodies and go for a walk to enjoy our beautiful island. We chose the Burgoyne Bay walk. Here are the boats in the bay…
The walk is an easy and beautiful path…
along the water…
Life on the island!
Happy Holidays and Happy Weaving,
Terri
My website: www.saorisaltspring.com
Just in time for Christmas…
Lynn came by last week and we always have fun doing a show and tell (a mini SAORI Kai!). Lynn brought a fabulous new top that she made…
I loved the colours, of course, and it was so comfortable to wear that I didn’t want to give it back. Well, the next best thing was examining how she made it, and with her help and hints making one of my own!
I just happened to have this fabric that last year had been hanging in my house – now ready for some clothing 🙂
The pattern is from the Self Innovation book and is very easy to make. My fabric was narrower than the pattern called for, so I cut one length of fabric down the middle lengthwise and added it to the edge of the fabric to make it wider before beginning the construction.
Front….
Back….
Ready for Christmas! – or anything!!
Happy Weaving,
Terri
My website: www.saltspringweaving.ca
Yesterday, I posted this photo on Facebook:
Here’s the rest of the story…
I had finished weaving a piece this summer and it has been waiting to be made into something. Yesterday was the day!! I had an idea to make a shawl/jacket based on the pattern in the “blue” SAORI clothing design book – pattern # 28.
I measured my weaving and it was approximately the same width and the exact length – go figure! So I got started and made a few modifications to the design as I put it together.
When I was finished, I asked Alan to take some photos. I don’t like having my photo taken at the best of times – but it didn’t work on the dress form, so here I am modelling it.
With the large collar down….
With the large collar back…
With the large collar up as a hood….
With it rolled into a bulky collar…
From the back…
And then when I got tired of modelling (you know, where to put your hands? where to look? how to stand? – a model I’m not!), I jumped up in the air…Alan kept taking photos and so that’s how we got the photo that I posted yesterday.
Today, I found a few more ways to wear it. What to call it – a tunic, a shawl, a jacket, a vest – it is all of these….
And….so simple to construct…
Just 3 pieces sewn together along the selvedge edges with holes left for the arms!
Happy Weaving,
Terri
My website: www.saltspringweaving.ca
Yesterday was the Blossom Festival on Salt Spring Island and
a picnic in the Japanese Garden.
Blossoms!
Japanese Garden at the Peace Park, Salt Spring Island
I prepared my loom with a “blossom warp” using the colours of cherry blossoms and some spring green.
Blossom Warp
At the event there were many Japanese things to see, do and listen to – calligraphy, haiku, music, aikido demonstrations, bento boxes, beautiful plants for sale
and of course SAORI weaving!
Raffi and others sing “Haru ga Kita”
Okinawan Karate Dance
calligraphy
I had a lot of people come by to learn more about SAORI weaving and to try it out by adding to the Blossom Banner.
Weaving the blossom banner
Weaving the blossom banner
It was so great to be out again and sharing the joy of weaving with others!
The SAORI and Calligraphy tent
Here is what has been done so far. I’m hoping to take the loom back out
to the Earth Day festival and have more people weaving.
The blossom banner so far
Happy Weaving,
Terri
My website: www.saorisaltspring.ca
Last week I enjoyed making a custom warp.
Tanya asked if I could make a warp for her based on a basket of yarns that she has. She wants to make a baby blanket for a friend. She asked for a wide, approximately 5 metre long warp, that is ‘stripe-y’. Yarns should be suitable for a baby blanket and be based on, but not limited to, the colours in her basket of yarns.
Here’s the basket of beautiful yarns…
So I made a warp in all cottons (her yarns are bamboo and cotton).
It is 240 threads wide and 5.5 metres long.
Here is the warp…
It was fun to make! I have asked Tanya if she could take a picture once it is on her loom and then the finished blanket as it will be fun to see the whole collaborative process.
Happy Weaving,
Terri
My website: www.saltspringweaving.ca
Making a warp
From a basket of colours….
To a warp wound…
To the loom….
I’m looking forward to seeing the weaving!
Happy Weaving,
Terri
My website: www.saorisaltspring.com
As you may know from reading many of my posts – I LOVE the colour blue! So, no surprise, I had a piece of SAORI woven cloth that was mainly blues. I had been experimenting with Saori-style log cabin when working on this weaving.
I have wanted to make a new bag for a while now – and had an idea one day when I was at our local thrift store. There was a pair of jeans for $1.00. The legs and hems were not in good shape.
So I bought them, washed them, sewed across the top of the legs then cut the legs off and turned them inside out.
Then, I took my cloth…
…sewed it into a tube the same width as the hips of the jeans, leaving the fringe end out. Then I sewed across the bottom (right sides together) and turned it right side out. I then took the jeans and put them inside the woven bag – this became the lining – complete with pockets!
Next I pulled on the threads at the top of the bag to gather it in a bit as the waist of the jeans was narrower than the hips. Then I sewed around the top of the jeans and weaving together to complete the bag.
I have used a woven belt as the gathering and the handle too, by putting it through the belt loops.
So easy – I’m so pleased!
Happy Weaving,
Terri
PS – Next time I’ll try to remember to take step-by-step photos!
My website: www.saltspringweaving.ca
Back in April at the Blossom Festival on Salt Spring Island, I invited people to weave a “Blossom Banner” to send to the people of Japan as a message of hope for their recovery from the earthquake and tsunami.
When I went to Hawaii later in April, I met with Kenzo and Naoto Jo of SAORI No Mori and presented the Blossom Banner to them to take back to Japan. Sendai was the place that we kept hearing about in the news from Japan after the earthquake and tsunami. I also had a connection to Sendai as I had sent a Peace Banner there in the past for SAORI Peace Weave 2008.
When the banner arrived in Japan, Akiko Jo asked me if it would be alright if the banner went to some other SAORI studios before finally going to Sendai. She told me about one of the SAORI studios in a smaller centre, Ishinomaki (see note below), that had been devastated by the tsunami.
Of course, it would be totally fine with me – and all those who wove it too I’m sure. The intention in the weaving of the banner was to bring hope and good wishes for recovery to the people in Japan – so wherever that may be needed was certainly a good thing and I felt very honoured.
Akiko translated the posts about the banner from my blog into Japanese and Kenzo took the banner to the grand re-opening of the studio.
The owner of the studio had a very difficult time during the tsunami, but really wanted to re-open her studio. From Akiko’s email:
The owner of the studio is Ms. Emiko Oikawa.
The name of her studio is SAORI Weaving Studio “Yokisha”.
“Yokisha” is made of three Kanji (Chinese) characters, and each character means “give”, “joy” and “building”.
So they mean that “the studio gives joy to the visitors”.Ms. Oikawa is so energetic to re-open her studio only 3 months after the disaster. As you can see on some of the photos, the streets of her neighborhood are still filled with the remaining wreckage, including some boats. The wreckage carried around by the Tsunami reached the height of the traffic lights, and damaged them.
Photos from the opening….
Akiko also says in her note:
Everyone who attended the reception looked at them and were impressed by
the kind thoughts brought with the banner all the way from Canada.
This is a weaving done by Kenzo Jo and his colleagues at Saori no Mori in Osaka, Japan also for the opening. They did double-cloth weaving on both looms, so the width of this tapestry is 240cm (four times 60cm).
We wish Ms. Oikawa and all of the visitors to the studio much hope and joy.”
Now the banner will travel to other studios before going to Sendai.
Thank you to all the weavers who participated in weaving the Blossom Banner – it now continues on it’s relay through Japan!
Happy Weaving,
Terri
My website: www.saltspringweaving.ca
Note from Wikipedia on Ishinomaki:
The city was among the most seriously affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.] A tsunami about 10 meters high traveled 600 meters inland and destroyed around 80% of the 700 houses in the coastal whaling port of Ayukawa and district of Kadonowaki. Approximately 46% of the city was inundated by the tsunami. One elementary school, Okawa Elementary, was completely destroyed, killing 74 of 108 students and 10 of 13 teachers and staff. As of 17 June 2011 a total of 3,097 deaths had been confirmed in Ishinomaki due to the tsunami, with 2,770 unaccounted for. The earthquake shifted the city southeast and downward, lowering it by as much as 1.2 m in some areas and causing it to flood twice daily at high tide.
I have been wanting to go to Japan during Cherry Blossom season ever since I started Saori Weaving and made my first trip there. Last year I missed it by a couple of weeks. This year it is my prayers that I’m sending to Japan.
However, this weekend there is a Blossom Festival on Salt Spring Island!! How cool is that?? So, I’m going to participate and take my Saori loom with a ‘blossom’ warp on it and take a basketful of blossom-y yarns and invite people to weave.
The banner, when completed, will be sent to Japan as I see it as a sign of new growth, rebuilding, collaboration and hope.
This will happen on Sunday, April 10 at the Harbour House Hotel in Ganges on Salt Spring Island from Noon – 5pm. There are many other events happening too.
If you are able, please come by and add some threads of hope and spring to the banner.
A friend of mine just sent this quote that I think is so appropriate – and so I’ve added it to this post:
Yoshida Kenko once said that “Blossoms are scattered by the wind and the wind cares nothing, but the blossoms of the heart no wind can touch.”
Happy Weaving,
Terri
My website: www.saorisaltspring.com
I spent a wonderful morning with Tara and her mom Eve. Tara had purchased one of the pink pre-wound warps and wove the whole thing – 12 metres of it – washed it and brought it back to sew into a dress. She had seen a picture in the Saori Photo Report book that she wanted to try.
We had to decide whether it would be a dress or a tunic – or a bit of both. It’s long enough to be a dress, but could also be worn as a tunic.
Basically, it’s two long pieces sewn together at the shoulders…
The front and the back are quite different – and it can be worn either way…
We sewed in a side panel for a bit more room – using 1/2 of the width of the fabric and it was too wide. Eve had the great idea to fold it in half again and just sew it down, leaving the bottom the full width as a ‘kick pleat’ for extra room for walking, sitting, etc.
Everyone was pleased with how it turned out.
Now Tara has another 6 or 7 metres of fabric to make something with – or to sell.
It’s always interesting to see how things come together when sewing Saori-style. Each piece of fabric, each garment is different!
Happy Weaving,
Terri
My website: www.saorisaltspring.com
