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Beatrix Experiment!
23. April 2024
The video doesn´t work (at least for me). If I click on "activate" or the play-button it just disapp...
Katrin Spinning Speed Ponderings, Part I.
15. April 2024
As far as I know, some fabrics do get washed before they are sold, and some might not be. But I can'...
Kareina Spinning Speed Ponderings, Part I.
15. April 2024
I have seen you say few times that "no textile ever is finished before it's been wet and dried again...
Katrin How on earth did they do it?
27. März 2024
Ah, that's good to know! I might have a look around just out of curiosity. I've since learned that w...
Heather Athebyne How on earth did they do it?
25. März 2024
...though not entirely easy. I've been able to get my hands on a few strands over the years for Geor...
DEZ.
20
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Workshops Next Year!

I'm utterly delighted that there will be workshops next year - one set at the Nähtreffen Rothenfels, which is running for the 5th time now, and the tablet weaving workshop in Tüchersfeld.

Rothenfels will take place in February, from Friday 3 to Sunday 5. I have a number of workshops on the list, including the sewing introduction and sprang braiding - and there's other workshops as well, plus there will be music, and good company, and lots of fun hanging out with nice people. I'm very much looking forward to it already.

If everything works as it should, you can read more about it in the pdf on the right, which also contains information on how to register for the event.

The tablet weaving workshop is in March in the Fränkische Schweiz-Museum Tüchersfeld, on Friday 3 to Sunday 5. We'll cover tablet weaving from the basics to free pattern weaving with diagonals - and in some cases, participants in this course even proceeded on to the basics of 3:1 broken twill weaving, also without a pattern.  

The workshop can be booked via the museum website; the price includes materials and lunch on Saturday and Sunday.

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SEP.
29
0

Off To Shenanigans!

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that when things come to happen, they do it in masses.

Ahead of me are three-and-a-half very full weeks, where I'm mostly away from home, doing things - giving workshops, holding presentations, doing museum inventory work, and, to balance out the work, having a few days off with the Most Patient of All Husbands inbetween. (I'm quite sure they will be needed...)

It's wonderful and exhilarating to be off and about and among people once more, though I admit I'm also a little anxious about this. There's still a pandemic happening, even though it is getting easier to ignore it all the time. I have masks, though (really well-fitting for a change, I'm quite amazed) and have just tested negative (something the Spinntreffen organisers were asking for, to self-test before going there), and I hope that I will have a sufficiently effective combination of being sensible and being lucky.

At the moment, I'm in the last bits of prep for the Spinntreffen of the Handspinngilde this weekend, and that means packing the car, printing out lists, and finishing putting together the workshop tools and materials. So once this post is done, I will hop out into the garden and cut some willow and hazel rods to serve as bow looms.

If you're interested in my presentation for the Hansemuseum Lübeck and the FGHO, it will be streamed live on YouTube on October 11, starting at 18:00. There's also still tickets available for those of you who prefer to be right in the room with me in Lübeck.

I will be back on the blog on October 24, when all my away missions are done and I'm back home - and I hope you will have a good time until then!

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SEP.
12
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Events (Online and Not)

There's an online symposium about "Thy Father's Instruction: Reading the Nuremberg Miscellany as Jewish Cultural History by Dr. Naomi Feuchtwanger-Sarig", hosted by the Goldstein Centre, on September 14. It's to celebrate a book launch and starts at 18:00 Israel time, so you might want to check your timezone if you'd like to attend; it's free but you will have to register. Read more about this on the Centre's website, where you can also register. 

Not online, and not free, but well worth it if you're in German Living History and interested in the topics covered: the Nobilitas-Akademie. Nobilitas is a group to preserve old crafts - which means they also organise crafter's markets, or events at museums that involve historical crafts. They also try to spread knowledge, and help people exchange knowledge and network, and one of the possibilities to do that is their Akademie. 

It takes place in a castle-turned-youth-hostel, and this year's academy is on November 11 to 13. There's talks about medieval cooking, fighting, Cisterciensians, technical knowledge of the Middle Ages, and more. Apart from the presentations, there's time to talk and network with the other participants, and the last time I've attended, there was also some medieval gaming. Check out their programme on the Nobilitas website, where you'll also find their registration form.

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AUG.
09
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Weaving Workshop for Complex Weaves

If you're interested in the complex weaves Taqueté and samite, there's a workshop at the Haus der Seidenkultur in Krefeld coming up in September. It's held by a lovely colleague of mine, Barbara Thomas, and she's doing it once in German and once in English.

The project "Ancient Silk Splendour – recreated" led to the development of a weaving class, designed by experts from the German Textile Museum and the House of Silk Culture from Krefeld. The class teaches the theoretical basics of ancient patterned weaves, but also how to practically recreate them.

The dates are 19.–23. September 2022 (for the class in german) and 26.–30. September 2022 (for the class in english). The fee is 635,- € per participant, with a maximum of 8 participants per class.

If this sounds interesting for you, you can find out more about the workshop and how to register at the Haus of Seidenkultur website

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MäRZ
09
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CfP, CTR events, free access to literature

It's time for something like a link roundup again - textile conference related, this time.

The CTR has their programme online for 2022, and there's a number of meetings and lectures that everybody can attend. Every second wednesday there is a meeting from 14:00 to 15:00 followed by a presentation with discussion starting at around 15:00. The next one is on March 16, about modeling public buyer behaviour towards circular textile products and services. Learn more about the lectures on the CTR page (click the lectures link to download the current pdf programme).

EuroWeb has a Call for Papers out for a seminar which will take place in Portugal, June 29 to July 1st. The seminar is titled "What's in a name? Toponyms and loan words as textile labels across time.". The CfP is open until April 15, and you can learn more about the seminar and find out how to take part here.

Springer is granting free access to some of their programme until March 31st - including some archaeology things. Find out more here.

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JULI
26
0

The Labels Came!

I'm very much looking forward to Sunday - which is when I will do the first online version of my workshop about medieval seams and stitches. It is an intro workshop resulting in a nice little sampler cloth, showing the most usual stitches and some seam and hem variations. It can serve, later, as a help to decide which seam to use, or which kind of hem or neatening will work best.

In the previous courses, I always brought along a few write-on-cloth pens and some extra linen fabric or bands for labels with the stitch names. But since that is not an option for an online class, there's been an upgrade:



Properly woven, nice neat labels for the stitch types.

These were done in a German manufacture on band looms, and they are in organic cotton. If you are looking for labels for something - maybe "handmade by ..." or with your name woven in, or with whatever other text, I can absolutely recommend Bandetikettenweberei Max Windrath, with their absolutely fabulous customer service. (Some of my labels got lost in the post, and the replacement arrived here lightning-fast.)
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JULI
12
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Workshop Prep.

Today was prep for the online workshop on medieval seams and stitches - cutting pieces of cloth for the material kits. Of course I was supervised by Madam the Cat while doing this, before she hopped up onto the sofa, there to nap, followed by some light snoozing and some dozing. Ah, the life of a cat...

I have tweaked the place where the individual bits will go in comparison to my first sampler, which was made just to show the different stitches to people, and got some additions over time.



So it's more orderly now, and a bit better structured, and covers the usual suspects regarding stitches and seams and hems.

The kit will also include labels with the stitch names, which are currently being woven - to my great delight, I was able to find a small bandweaving company who does offer bands in organic cotton in addition to the regular ones. Since I vowed years ago to not support the conventional cotton industry, with its enormous use of water and pesticides, with the accompanying harm to the environment and the workers, that made me very happy.

As soon as the labels arrive, the kits will be finished, packed up and sent off to the workshop participants. And then I'm really looking forward to teaching the seams and stitches again, it's been way too long!
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