Harmony Weavers Guild

Thursday, April 14, 2022 @ 10:00 a.m.

Justin Squizzero describes his work as weaving “cloth that honors the integrity of its material and traditional technique.” His family was involved in historical re-enactments, so developing expertise in historic crafts was not far afield for him. In his early teens, Squizzero learned from his grandmother how to spin, knit, sew, and dye yarn. She taught him how to card a fleece of raw sheep’s wool and use the threads to weave fabric on a loom.

Justin interned and then worked at the Marshfield School of Weaving in central Vermont. From there, he worked at museums and as a historical re-enactor at Plimoth Patuxet Museums and Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. He is now living in rural Newbury, Vermont, in an 1810 farmhouse he is restoring called The Burroughs Garret after the original builder. He works on historically accurate reproductions, on 18th and 19th century equipment, and has an appreciation for the handmade tools and the quality of workmanship prevalent at that time. Squizzero knits together a living creating high-end fabrics for museums, galleries, collectors and historical sites such as Mount Vernon and Colonial Williamsburg.

In this program, Justin will give a brief overview of how he came to handweaving and then details the history of his Jacquard equipment, how the loom works, and the entire process of recreating a coverlet woven in 1830. For a preview of his work, go to his website: www.theburroughsgarret.com There you will find videos, photos of Justin, his equipment and some of his creations.

March Hybrid Zoom Program
March, 10 @ 10:00 a.m.

Deborah Jarchow is a weaver and artist who teaches and lectures on fiber arts. In this program, Deborah will teach us about the characteristics of rayon chenille and how understanding its structure makes weaving with chenille easier.

She found weaving as a way to bring together her love of fiber, texture and color. Since the late 1990’s she has taught and created art and wearable art, giving lectures, and showing in local, regional, and national exhibits. Her work has been exhibited at many galleries and museums across the country.

The meeting will be in person at Red Clay Presbyterian Church and also presented via Zoom.

February’s Zoom Program
February, 10 @ 10:00 a.m.
The Weaving Culture of Sweden
We are thrilled to have Sally Orgren at our February guild meeting!
Sally is the editor of the Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot, the magazine produced by the Handweavers Guild of America, Inc. (HGA). Sally has exhibited, won awards, and written about weaving and related topics throughout her more than thirty years of producing fiber art.
She will be presenting “The Weaving Culture of Sweden.” Enjoy behind the scenes tours of Ostergotlands Ullspinneri (a wool spinning operation pictured in the photo), Klassbols Linnevaveri (four generation linen factory), Almgrens Sidenvaveria (Stockholm silk museum), and some of the student textile work exhibited at the University of Boras in this presentation.
Tag along virtually as Sally visits weaver Kerstin Froberg, the 14th Century Bockstern Man (with his clothing mostly intact!) and nearly 400-year-old textiles recovered from the Vasa, a famous Swedish ship that sank in 1628.
You will experience a true textile adventure!

January, 13 @ 10:00 a.m.
Sue Balascio
Sue loves textiles. For many years she was a seamstress/dressmaker. And then she wanted to create the fabric as well as sew with it. Since 2013, weaving has added to her passion for working with textiles.
Sue has not only focused on weaving and the fiber arts, she has also worked in jewelry design, painting, stained glass, collage and ceramics. But throughout her career color has tied it all together.
Her emphasis lately has been fine threads and woven wall art with traditional and non traditional materials. She will share her journey as well as an overview of her techniques and process.
Join us on Zoom to hear more from a very talented weaver, artist, and best of all, a fellow member of Harmony Weavers Guild.
Please send photos of your Show & Tell weavings for the January meeting to Sue Balascio before the day of the meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://udel.zoom.us/j/7526617738
Password: weave

Sally Orgren has been an active member of the weaving community since before I met her in 2004 at Convergence in Denver. My experience is that she is continually trying new techniques and materials to see what happens — and it’s usually a pretty good outcome. I have found her to be energetic and willing to share her tips and knowledge of the craft — even following up to unanswered questions. (Yes, she did that for me.)
Sally will be presenting a talk at our April meeting about stripes – “Putting the Pizzazz! into your Stripes”. This virtual, interactive program will discuss various ways to enliven and energize stripes in your warp patterns by using examples of handwoven samples. Among the topics will be planning and envisioning your stripe patterns (especially if you don’t have access to weaving software) and how-to tips for winding on a multicolored warp.
Participants will be invited to share photos or projects with stripe patterns they find inspiring and the group will analyze how these sequences might be created and if they are more or less successful, attractive, or produce surprising results.

March Zoom Program
March 11 @ 10:00 a.m.
This month’s program will be presented by Robyn Spady, who is well known to us because she has previously presented a workshop to our guild and many of us have taken her workshops at MAFA Conferences over the years.
The title of her program is “The Devil’s in the Details.” Robyn will present “a variety of fiber techniques for adding a little detail to create exceptional results. Sometimes adding the most understated detail or accent can make the difference between something ordinary and something extraordinary.”
When planning a project, we spend a lot of time and effort picking out that special yarn and weave structure. Aren’t we always looking for a way to make our project unique? With that in mind, I am sure that we are all looking forward to hearing Robyn’s ideas.
“Robyn was introduced to handweaving as a baby with her handwoven baby blanket woven by her great-grandmother. Inspired by her blankie, she learned to weave at a young age and has been weaving for over 50 years. She completed HGA’s Certificate of Excellence in Handweaving (COE-W) in 2004 with the specialized study, Loom-controlled Stitched Double Cloth. Robyn is fascinated by the infinite possibilities of crossing threads and loves coming up with new ideas to create fabric and transform it into something new and exciting. She is committed to turning the weaving world on to double-faced fabrics, four-shaft weaves, uncommon and advanced weave structures, and passementerie techniques. She is the founder and editor of Heddlecraft® magazine.”
The Program Committee

Our program this month will be presented by Daryl Lancaster, who is well known to us having presented several programs and workshops to our guild and at MAFA conferences over the years.
We will “explore and experience creative ways to use every precious bit of hand-woven scrap. Some techniques require sewing, some a hot glue gun. Some ideas become great garments; some can be sent through the mail! We will learn how to use some of the fusibles and stabilizers available and learn to look at everything from old work, to the smallest scrap as an exciting new raw material.” This is a regularly discussed issue for many hand weavers and I know that we are looking forward to seeing what Daryl suggests.
Daryl is a hand-weaver and fiber artist known for her award-winning hand-woven fabric and garments, has been constructing garments for more than half a century. She gives lectures and workshops to guilds, conferences, and craft centers all over the United States. The former Features Editor for Handwoven Magazine, she has written more than 100 articles and digital content. She frequently contributes to various weaving and sewing publications including Threads Magazine. She now has a YouTube Channel, The Weaver Sews, where she shares her extensive experience sewing handwoven garments. Daryl maintains a
blog at www.weaversew.com/wordblog. You can also find her atwww.Daryllancaster.com.