The Joy Coat – SAORI Connections coast-to-coast

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

I thought that this story would be a good celebration of Canada Day. It is a story of Coast-to-Coast SAORI connections. It also has a connection to Peachtree City, Georgia – as that is where the 2014 SAORI Conference is being held this month!

Susan Forsberg writes:

There is a SAORI Weaving page on Facebook that I frequent as a source of inspiration and community and one posting caught my heart. The cloth was attractive for the colours used and the texture of the weave. The photos were tantalizing as well as intriguing. I wondered how it was woven and kept looking to see what I could. The more I looked the more in love I was with the cloth. The weaver Janet Sponagle Hopper from Halifax called it Peach Tree City Cloth. As I was to find out later she wove it during the never ending winter on the East Coast and was intending it to go to the SAORI Conference in Peach Tree City in July 2014, the colourful weave uplifted her spirits during the cold winter. In the comments of other weavers to her post was the question about how it was woven. Janet’s answer was precise and clear as she gave her method of warping and weaving, which I printed out for future reference, as I said I was intrigued by the weave. Janet’s description of how she wound the warp and threaded it and then wove it opened new doors for me as I had not explored any of these areas in my own weaving. I kept examining the photos one after the other and the more I did the more I was in love with this cloth.

 

Finally I contacted Janet through a message and told her that I was ‘reaching for the moon’ and asked if she would part with this cloth and sell it to me and to my delight Janet said YES, I was so excited I nearly fell off my chair.

 

Soon after we talked on the telephone and got to know one another and connected on many levels and many things. Her mother in law lives in Victoria and hopefully we will get to meet on a future visit to British Columbia. A short while after that first phone call the package arrived with tissue carefully in the folds and all around it along with a lovely card saying that ‘it had been a pleasure to get to know me a bit across this vast country and to know that she had created something in the Peach Tree City cloth that brings me joy’ and that she would look forward to seeing my new garment.

 

Well I looked and looked and hugged that cloth, studied patterns for garments, and looked at the cloth some more and I loved the flow of the weaving. The more I enjoyed the cloth the more I didn’t want to cut it to pieces and reassemble it into a garment. I liked it just as it was woven and in the order that it had been woven. I made my choice to cut it once only in half. Then I hand stitched it together and made my “Joy Coat”, put it on took photos and sent them to Janet. Thankfully she was pleased with how I had chosen to create the my part. I am filled with the Joy of the Coat, and the joy of the cloth, and the joy of the SAORI Story we share coast to coast across Canada.

 

Thanks to Susan for the great story and to Janet for the photos of the cloth. This story was shared recently at the SAORI Kai in Victoria at Knotty by Nature. Great SAORI Connections!

Happy Weaving,
Terri

My website: www.saorisaltspring.com