About Hudson Valley Handweaving
When I was 8 years old my parents took me to a State Fair in Danbury, CT. Soon after we arrived we came upon a woman weaving at a large floor loom. After awhile my parents suggested we move on, but I was transfixed. I urged them to allow me to stay and promised not to move from that spot. They checked in with me many times throughout the day but I never moved. The weaver let me try a few passes of the shuttle, but mostly I just watched for hours. At that young age I was entranced by handwoven cloth, and that fascination moves me whenever I create cloth on the loom.
Ever since that day I have wanted to weave. For many years the prospect of obtaining a floor loom felt daunting. In its absence, I learned to knit, and developed techniques that sometimes mimicked weaving.
One day I found myself out of a job and uncertain about my future.
At that point I heard a small inner voice say: maybe it is time to learn to weave? I found a preowned four harness jack loom that had never actually been used. The owner was willing to sell it for a few hundred dollars simply to get it out of her living room. I bought a copy of the standard text, Deborah Chandler’s “Learning to Weave”, and I worked my way through it. It was the realization of my childhood dream. At some point it occurred to me that weaving filled me with joy. My worries and concerns about the future had disappeared.
When I sit at my loom, I feel connected to hundreds of generations of weavers from a wide array of cultures.
I am endlessly fascinated by the process of interlocking threads to produce a fabric, and the dizzyingly varied ways those threads can be interlocked. Nothing makes me happier than playing with color and pattern in a handwoven piece of fabric on the loom.
I create shawls, scarves, ponchos, blankets, baby blankets, table linens [napkins, placemats, table runners, and table cloths], upholstery fabric, clothing fabric, to name a few. I love working with clients to create fabric that precisely meets your color ideas and needs. Browse through the gallery and feel free to contact me: [email protected].