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November 14, 2009
Morning Presentation:Teaching in
Guatemala
We will begin with a presentation by Tamie Pitman about
her
experience teaching weaving to orphans and single mothers in
Guatemala.
The Vermont Historical Society Project
and Spot Weaves
Four guild members, Kate Smith, Katherine Clark, Trudy Otis
and Julie George, spent one morning a week throughout the
summer and fall 2004 at the Vermont Historical Society (VHS)
documenting the VHS textile collection. Among the coverlets,
blankets and household linens were a number of unusual spot
weaves and blended weave structures. Many of these special
linens have been analyzed. Julie will take you on a tour of
the textiles through photographs, followed by a chance to
look through the fabric analysis notebook and see woven
linen samples of many of the analyzed fabrics and overshot
samples woven from handwritten antique drafts.
Afternoon Work Session:
The UFO
Are there UFOs in your closet, under your bed or in boxes
around your house? No time to do to the finish work on the
fabrics you’ve woven? Are you trying to decide whether to
come to a guild meeting or stay home and finish some of the
gifts you want to give this holiday season? Here’s a chance
to do both. Bring your UFOs (UnFinished Objects) and work on
them while chatting with friends and getting inspiration
from other weavers. Have a question about how to finish your
project or need someone to talk you through cutting your
woven fabric for the first time? Or no space to lay that
blanket out and cut the fringe evenly? There will a sewing
machine, ironing board and iron, fringe twisters and tables
available, so bring those dishtowels, blankets, scarves or
whatever you need to work on and spend the afternoon
finishing up some of those UFOs.
Mayan Hands Sale!
Mayan Hands is a non-profit fair trade organization that
has been working
with Mayan weavers since 1989. We now work with
approximately 200 weavers,
organized in groups of 12 to 50 women, living in eleven
different
communities around the western and northern highlands of
Guatemala.
All over the world, people hail Maya weavers as talented
textile artists,
but most of them live in conditions of extreme poverty,
often making no
more than $3 or $4 monthly, barely surviving. Mayan Hands'
mission is to
assist these women in their quest to raise themselves out of
poverty.
Working with fair trade, the women can count on a modest,
and just as
important, a regular income that enables their families to
eat better,
send their children to school, improve their homes and even
save a little.
Selling their handwoven textiles at a fair price, the women
are gaining
control over their lives. |