Using Handwoven Textiles
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I’ve lots of handwoven fabrics lying around waiting to be re-incarnated into something useful. A new ultra compact camera initiated a little bag project which I’m very happy with. I had a small piece of fabric with some nice pick up design on it. I was unhappy with the cloth when I wove it, but now looking at it..it’s quite beautiful. The fabric has rya knotted ikat dyed thrums within it, which became a lovely long fringe for the bag. It really was worth the effort in making this little bag – It’s just a delight to carry around and handle.
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| The perfect camera bag | |
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wow..that did turn out really nice.
Lovely bag, and a beautiful piece of textile. I’ve also been thinking of making tiny cell-phone purses, but I’ll have to get my sewing machine out from under all the cones and fleeces, so maybe later in the summer.
Bonnie Inouye told us to always be wearing something we wove – or a piece of garment with our handwoven textiles somehow attached/affixed somewhere. Not being great at sewing, this would be a great alternative.
Lovely bag – I can’t believe you didn’t appreciate the fabric before (although given your caliber of weaving, I’m sure your standards for yourself are slightly different than mine).
Anyway, I had a question for you relating to the use of handwoven textiles – its something I’ve been putting to all of the weavers I admire in the past little while. I’m wondering where your balance is between aesthetic appeal and functionality.
Its something I’ve been struggling with as a weaver since I started – I’m concerned about the disparity between hand-woven textiles and the textiles we use every day (and more generally about people’s relationships to all of the things we use everyday).
I’m wondering if this sort of thing has ever come up for you – is there a line for your between being an artist and being an artisan?
Anyway, if its not something that’s interesting to you, then by all means, its your space! but, I would really interested to hear your thoughts about it.
Hi Kelly,
I don’t really feel there is a disparity between hand woven texiles and the textiles we use every day. From a weaver and textile lover’s point of view i can see the work, design and even the history behind the production of all cloth. However the beauty and human connection to cloth is greater in some textiles than others and many of these may be woven by hand or have some type of meaning attached to them. Some have a very high level of skill way beyond a plain cloth woven on an industrial floor – so the aesthetic appeal can be enhanced and if the work is also functional, in my view, it is even better as I can use it in some practical way in my life.
Thanks for everyone’s generous comments.
Kaz
It’s all about balance anyway, the balance between the warp and the weft, between the eye and the hand. A good cloth IS a work of art in the eye of a weaver. I believe a weaver becomes a artisan from the outside in and becomes an artist from the inside out. (two halves of the same line)
I wonder what undiscovered works of art are hiding in my cedar chest?
Thanks for a thought provoking and inspirational post and comments