Living Cloth…and unexpected joys
I’ve been with my husband, Dave, for over 45 years. Yes, a long time. A bit of luck superior planning. As the years move on, and I’m a slow learner, I realise that we loose friends, family, health, jobs and things over and over again. I’m not too good at losing things.
Loss is the one aspect of living we can’t avoid, but the joy can sneak in there too. Often in unexpected moments. Very unexpected moments. Unexpected actions. Like your husband weaving.
I’ve just made up another top from cloth that Dave wove in Japan. In a previous trip he wove up a red cloth for a top which I love and this top had even more emotional rewards for me. After our time together it’s so great that he was willing to partake of what is so much a part of my life’s art in this way. He has always made weaving equipment for me but not cloth itself. He doesn’t love weaving but enjoys doing it at Saori no Mori in Japan. Maybe I should learn to ride a kneeboard to complete the exchange…nah – I’ll keep to the one sided relationship approach.
He started with the beach idea and then went off in a striping continuum. I used a tunic pattern from the Fuku book which went just as good for a top. A very easy make with only about 1 metre of fabric which was 37cms wide – so woven at 40cms (200 thread) in the reed. I like the 200 thread warps for clothing, as you can cut it up everywhere getting different looks. The thing with Saori cloth is that all the clothing looks and drapes very differently because every woven cloth is so immediately unique to the weaver. So there are no recommended fabrics for the garments like there are with conventional patterns to achieve the ‘look’.