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Pictures of the Complex Weavers Awards 2009

Click on the thumbnail to see a larger version. Or, right-click and and choose "Save Target As..." or "Save Link As...". to download a WIF if available. Pictures are listed in page number order. Note that only those drafts which are marked WIF have a wif available.

Click on the caption to see a reference to the CW Journal. These awards were shown in the February 2010 CW Journal

Award Gallery:  [ 2010 CW Awards] [2009 CW  Awards] [2008 CW Awards] [2006 CW Awards] [2005 CW Awards] [2004 CW Awards] [2003 CW Awards]
[1]  [2]  [3]  [4]  [5]  [6]  [7]  [8] 

Source of Pictures

Listed Alphabetically

• Ann Edington Adams, Hardware Triptych at Celebrating Fiber Arts: From the Past to the Present Mary Meigs Atwater Weavers' Guild of Utah, Page 3
  When I came to weave this piece, my loom was already threaded with a straight draw twill. For this project I took the draft on p.59 of Mastering Weave Structures by Sharon Alderman, tied on a dummy warp, and turned the draft so that I treadled the threading. The warp is the remainder of a 5/2 cotton painted warp left over from another project. The colors were so pretty that I just needed to use it. The weft is also 5/2 cotton. When I was done I still had no specific use for it. After much time and thought I came up with the idea to hang it from pipe and put hardware nuts on the fringe. I used steel cable and a large washer to hang the piece from. The contrast between the softness of the fiber and cold, hardness of the hardware makes an interesting contrast.
• Charlotte Lindsay Allison, Shibori on the Drawloom at Facets of Fiber - Naturally Contemporary Handweavers of Texas , Page 4
  I designed a Celtic pattern on my computer. Given the title of the exhibit, I wanted facets in the cloth and that was what prompted the Celtic design. The ground shafts (1 - 4) were threaded in a straight draw in 20/2 cotton sett at 40 epi. The 20 pattern shafts were threaded in a point twill, and the selvages for basket weave. The main weft was 60/2 silk, and the shibori weft a heavy crochet cotton.
• Peggy Baldwin, Dress Bag at Heart in Hand Members' Exhibit Midwest Weavers Conference , Page 9
  The bag which received the award was constructed from a portion of a very complex linen warp which combined Bronson lace, supplemental warp, and Theo Moorman inlay. The draft was based on Barbara Walker, Handwoven #102, pp 80 - 83, and Handwoven #130, pp 64 - 66. The draft requires eight shafts, although I wove it on a ten-shaft Macomber with two back beams. There are two blocks of tabby and Bronson lace on four shafts, the supplemental warp threads on two shafts, and the tie-down threads for the Theo Moorman inlay on two shafts. I did not design this cloth using a computer so it is difficult to re-create it on a computer draft, but Sue Mansfield has done a super job using Fiberworks-PCW. The warp was 8/1 linen in yellow and yellow-green and 25/2 linen in natural, wound one on one, for the tabby and Bronson lace, 16/2 linen in purples and magenta for the supplemental warp, and 40/3 cotton in gold for the Moorman inlay tiedowns.
• Virginia Coolidge, Steep Twill Top at Fashion Exhibit New England Weavers Seminar , Page 11
  I was having fun with handweaving.net when I found this tie-up for a steep twill. It comes from "A Manual of Weave Construction" by Ivo Kastanek, draft #52532, and was more interesting than some I had created myself. I modified the draft to use straight and point twill threadings, and four shafts were used for basket weave selvages following instructions in an article by Alice Schlein in CW Journal of January 1991. I wove this on a 24 shaft Leclerc Weavebird using 10/2 cotton from UKI Supreme. The warp was sett at 24 epi, with the white point twill in the center and a band of peach straight twill on each edge. The weft was also 10/2 cotton in poplin (light blue). Shrinkage was about 5%. I made a pattern from a top that ft, and then the fabric dictated the placement of the colors. The wide peach stripes in the center are balanced by the narrower peach stripes on the sleeve edges. I trimmed the top with vintage pearl buttons that I had on hand. The basket weave selvages don't show on the finished garment.
• Sarah Fortin, Sweetgrass at Celebrating the Loom New Hampshire Weavers Guild , Page 9
  Sweetgrass was designed as a piece for the yardage exhibit at the Tampa Convergence. A sweetgrass basket from South Carolina was the color inspiration, with the 3D structure depicting the ridges of the basket. I plan to use the yardage for Roman shades for two glass doors. This structure requires two warp beams with separate braking systems. After weaving the two layers separately but simultaneously, one must weave the top layer ahead of the fell of the bottom (ground) layer, release the tension on the top (design) layer, and pull the fell of the design layer to meet the fell of the bottom layer with the reed and beater. The gathers are created by threading ends from the ground warp on to the shafts of the design layer. When the tension is released the gathering ends are static on the ground warp beam, allowing the design warp to gather on them. Spacing for the shirred or gathered areas is optional for each piece.
• Marguerite Gingras, Four-Color Prints at Association des Tisserands du Québec Conference , Page 7
  This scarf has four textures coming from differential shrinkage, corresponding to the four colors in the four-color double weave structure: red/copper Lyocell puffs with gray/ green wool recesses, and intermediate Lyocell and wool textures in red/green and copper/gray. This tie-up was first used in 2004 for textured samples, another design becoming a vest. To leave more space for the wool threads to move and shrink, I had on that occasion doubled the Lyocell threads, repeating the same shaft or pick, so the Lyocell interlacements were basket or half-basket weave. This time, following Bonnie Inouye's advice, I used two different shafts and treadles for the paired threads. All the interlacements being now plain weave, the Lyocell areas are more tightly woven and thinner, and can puff more. Also, the overall fabric is thinner, better for a scarf. The structure is 32 shaft textured four-color double- weave. The warp is red 10/2 Lyocell, alternated in a 2:1 ratio with gray 22/2 merino wool. The overall sett is 36 epi. The weft is copper 8/2 Lyocell, alternated in a 2:1 ratio with green 32/2 merino wool. The total ppi is about 36.5.
• Barbara Herbster, Two Sides to the Story at Fiber Celebrated Intermountain Weavers Conference , Page 3
  I have been experimenting with collapse weave fabrics, weaving scarves to test technique. By adding lycra to a mid-portion of a scarf I could make it conform to the neck and splay at the ends. It occurred to me that lycra might be used to further draw in fabric to conform to other parts of the body. I wove with the Bambu 16 GG for the desired length below the bust, wove lycra from the bust to the mid back, and finished the back with Bambu 16 GG for the same length as below the bust in the front. I wove two of these rectangles, placed them side by side after finishing and sewed side and center seams. The seams overlapped in such a way to be able to wear the garment on either side. The warp is composed of narrow stripes of red and purple, each stripe being an 8 shaft twill block. The same blocks were treadled throughout. The structure's rippling formed a red side and a purple side to the fabric. Thus the piece is named "Two Sides to the Story", a reversible top.
• Jean Korus, Color Waves at Waves of Color Association of Northwest Weavers Guilds , Page 5
  The scarf was designed with the theme of the conference in mind, "Weaving Waves of Color". The colors of silk yarn were chosen to use up the rest of skeins I had used for the three scarves that were exhibited in the Complex Weavers show in Florida in the summer of 2008 For this scarf I used each color until it ran out, when I changed to the next color. The draft is a modification of one I found on handweaving.net. The original draft was a circle, which I cut in half to make a wave and then cleaned up a bit. The warp was 20/2 silk, threaded in a 24 shaft point twill. The weft was also 20/2 silk.
• Trudy McBride, Night Flare at Windows on Weaving Vermont Weavers Guild , Page 11
  This scarf was inspired by Just Our Yarn's variegated Tencel. The draft is based on a dimity threading from a workshop by Kate Smith, Eaton Hill Textile Works but I adapted the treadling. The warp is 8/2 Tencel from Webs in a variety of reds, amethyst, and purples, sett at 27 epi. The weft is the 10/2 variegated Tencel in reds and purples from Just Our Yarns. Dimity threading is a basis for my scarves, and I added a treadling that produced small twill blocks to enhance the yarns. I twisted the fringe and hot mangled the scarf to bring out the sheen of the yarns.
• Marti McIntyre, White-on-White Shawl at Golden Reflections Conference Michigan League of Handweavers , Page 8
  The draft is taken from Handwoven's Design Collection 19, p28, although I used 8/2 white Tencel for both warp and weft instead of the 10/2 Tencel in two colors, and with 22 pattern repeats making the shawl longer than described in the draft. The warp is sett at 20 epi and the shawl is woven at 20 ppi. Weave structures include straight, point and broken twill, and plain weave. I had wanted to try weaving with Tencel, and I love the elegance of white on white. I used monofilament fishing line for floating selvedges to help me maintain a good edge. I had to be careful with my beat to make sure the plain weave on the edges and between the pattern motifs remained even.
• John Mullarkey, , Page 2
  The ribbons this year, woven by John Mullarkey, are unusual, as well as being extraordinarily beautiful, in that they are tablet-woven. Materials were blue 10/2 Tencel, silk noil of an unknown count but roughly twice the diameter of the Tencel, and "a hint of glitz". They were tablet-woven in an original design using the Egyptian Diagonals set-up and turning sequence. John has generously provided the draft and turning sequence, which should allow any tablet weaver to reproduce them.
• Mary Pflueger, Flying Shuttles Scarf at 60th Anniversary Show Weavers Guild of Greater Baltimore , Page 10
  ...The previous warp on the drawloom was threaded four ends per heddle on the pattern shafts; the ground shafts were threaded in a straight draw on four shafts and the structure was a cross twill (a treadling variation of twill blocks), so I tied the new warp to the old, sett the warp of off white 60/2 silk (doubled) closer at 40 epi, and wove in the same cross twill. My weft was a fine 140/2 marigold colored silk (quadrupled) which I had purchased last summer. It was on an old large spool that had come from a mill closing in New Jersey and I couldn't resist buying it. The weaving went smoothly. When I removed the piece from the loom, it was stiff and the edges curled in, but, after it was washed, it ironed out beautifully; the sheen and drape of the fine silk always impresses me.
• Christine Stanton, Emerald Falls at Fiber Artistry - Journey of the Imagination Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild , Page 6
  I had decided to use a weave structure I had used before - an eight shaft advancing twill with a wave line in it that would help accentuate the colors, bring out the luster in the silk, and give me the look of water that I was after. I wove the first warp using as weft the same Tencel that I had used for the borders. On the second panel I wanted a different weft color to create a slightly different color effect that was more stormy-looking so used a 10/2 rayon in café color from R&M yarns. I wove the last panel with the same seafoam Tencel weft.
• Janet Stollnitz, Ikat Swirl at 27th Biennial Exhibition Creative Crafts Council , Page 4
  This scarf was woven on a 24-shaft AVL Workshop Dobby Loom. The warp is hand-dyed 10/2 Tencel ® sett at 32 epi. The weft is 10/2 black Tencel ®. Structures are 3/1, 1/3 twills.
• Jannie Taylor, Celtic Knotwork at Color Connects Association of Southern California Handweavers , Page 5
  This silk scarf is in one of my favourite weave structures, double two-tie unit weave, and it also features one of my favourite design inspirations, Celtic knots. This was one of those happy weaving projects where the structure, the colour, and the design all came together in a very satisfying way. The warp is fine silk (exact count unknown, but approximately 8000 yds/lb), in a range of reds, threaded on 24 shafts in a double two-tie unit weave in a point progression, and sett at 32 epi. The tabby weft is the same silk as the warp, in bright orange. The pattern weft is two strands of the same silk, one bright blue, the other dark green, used as one. The piece was woven at 40 ppi.
• Norma Westcott, Set of three tea towels at Discovering Natural Fibres - Doing What Comes Naturally Handweavers, Spinners & Dyers of Alberta, Page 8
  I wove this set of tea towels in an original design using 2/8 cotton, sett at 24 epi and beaten at 24 ppi. The threading is the same for each towel and is actually two interleaved eight-shaft twill threadings, alternating light / dark. Each threading is alternately treadled in plain weave and twill. The result is somewhat like double weave with layer exchanges and value contrast creating pattern. The kaleidoscope inspired the design. The interaction between two independent threadings and treadlings can result in an intriguing complex appearance that is deceptively simple to design. Variations on this may keep me occupied for some time. Many variations of tie-up change the appearance of the cloth while float lengths remain consistent. This structure may be suitable for upholstery fabric.

In addition to the weavers featured here, Complex Weavers awards were also presented to:

• Fran Curran, in the Handweavers Guild of Connecticut's biennial show, "Fabrics Flow at the River"
• Wilson Henderson, in the National Exhibition 2009 of Creative Fibre in New Zealand
• Nathalia Sugden, in the Ontario Weavers and Spinners' exhibit "Fibre Unleashed: Pushing the Limits"

Requests for the award or information about the award should be sent to the CW vice president, vicepres1@complex-weavers.org, preferably by email or with an email contact.

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