Bring your Mug; warm up with Fiber Arts

Beat the cold weather and warm up the New Year with the Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild!

To kick off 2011, we’ll be serving hot beverages at the January 8 guild meeting. We invite you to bring along your favorite coffee mug and we’ll fill it with something warm and comforting… or maybe something hot and spicy! Either way, bring your mug (and your mug) and join us!

Our guild members enjoy a variety of fiber and needle art disciplines such as knitting, crochet, quilting, weaving, felting, spinning and dyeing.

Guild Membership for a year of creative and interesting fiber art activities includes:
:: monthly meetings and programs
:: inspiring Show and Tell
:: invitations to special guild activities
:: participation in regional fiber art events
:: members-only discounts for workshops, and
:: the camaraderie and support of like-minded fiber arts enthusiasts.

Be inspired... learn a new craft... make cool fiber art... and meet new friends. Our door is always open to new members.

Thailand Fashion School student work is on display at Tennessee Presents Textiles

Student work
Thailand Fashion School

Student work from the Thailand Fashion School will be part of the wearable art fashion show, Tennessee Presents Textiles,  Saturday, November 13. These innovative, show-stopping garments were created by fourth-year students from Thailand's premiere design school.

Fiber art garments from the Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild 2010 Guild Challenge will also be on display in a special exhibit and competition entitled "The Power of the Pocket."  

Tennessee Presents Textiles is a unique wearable art runway show and sale. The artwear is elegantly presented by professional models giving the audience an "up close and personal" experience with the fashions. Contemporary folk artist, Rachel Clark, is the guest speaker at the event and will have over 20 pieces from her collection presented on the runway.

Hope to see you there!

Woven Braided Trim—the perfect complement to your fiber art project

Do you want to finish a garment with a coordinating trim? Do you ever need that extra decorative touch to make a project "complete"? The program on Woven Braided Trims at the Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild November meeting provided solutions to these dilemmas. 

Inspired by Jacqui Carey's book, 200 Braids to Twist, Knot, Loop, or Weave, a demonstration on woven trims provided numerous possibilities for making trims and braids. Starting with as few as three cords or yarns, simple to elaborate trims can be created. By adding additional strands, beads or colors, the trims can become ornate, intricate or more robust.  

To make it easier to thread beads onto the cord or yarn, use a small piece of transparent tape or a dab of Fray-Check seam sealant. Choosing a tight or looser weave will determine a warp- or weft-faced design.

C-clamps mounted on a table edge help to keep even tension while working on multi-thread braids.

By using the same yarn, thread or cord that was used in your knitted, crocheted or woven project, the trim will be a perfect match. Once you get started, you won't want to stop.

The program was accompanied by Show and Tell from guild members and guests.

Left: woven jacket from "stash" yarns. Right: quilt combining vintage Dresden plate pieces and contemporary fabrics.

Left: knitted "Stay on" baby booties. Right: a first-time weaving class project.

Left: hand knit sweater from sugar cane yarn. Right: hand woven shawl.

Knitted sampler afghan using various cable motifs.

Side-to-side knitted baby sweater.

Join us at an upcoming Riverbend Fiber Arts guild meeting and learn some fun and interesting fiber art techniques! New members and visitors are always welcome.

Knitted sampler afghans

Knitting stitch sampler strips was a year-long endeavor for the Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild members. At the October guild meeting, the knitted strips—comprised mostly of reversible stitch patterns—were assembled into lap-size afghans for the guild's community service project.

"This was a great project in which all guild members could participate and contribute to our guild community service project," said Guild President, Veronica Hofman Ortega. "The strips could be knitted or crocheted, and it was great opportunity to learn and practice many of the classic reversible stitch patterns." Regardless of skill level, all guild members could contribute to the guild project by choosing from simple to more complex stitch patterns when creating their strips.

Guild members brought in their completed strips.

The knitted strips were laid out in coordinating color groups.

 

Long tails of yarn were left at the beginning or end of each strip for easy seaming. Teams of members sewed the strips together using a ladder stitch. The various lengths of the strips provided an asymmetrical finished edge to these lovingly-made sampler lap blankets.

Show and Tell

The guild members brought in their latest accomplishments for Show and Tell: hand woven shawls in a plain weave pattern; hand spun and hand dyed alpaca yarn; teddy bears made of hand woven fabric made from thread from Scotland; and a Halloween Baltimore album quilt top using a fusible applique method.

Discovering Fiber Arts at the Chattanooga Creative Discovery Museum

The Chattanooga Creative Discovery Museum hosted demonstrations on textile arts this past Saturday, September 18. Members of the Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild were on site with fibers, yarn, spindles, felting tools, a spinning wheel and a loom to demonstrate spinning, needle felting and weaving. Children interacted with the textile artists and got first-hand experience working with fibers and using various techniques.

A drop spindle (shown at right) can be made with simple materials such as a CD, a wooden dowel and a small eye hook.

Needle felting with alpaca fibers.

Weaving (above) and spinning (below).

Guild Challenge Artwear Exhibit

Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild President, Veronica Hofman Ortega, emceed the guild's wearable art Challenge exhibit and awards ceremony on Saturday, September 11. This event, called "The Power of the Pocket," was a celebration of the beauty and excellence in fiber arts. The collection of wearable art garments was created by guild members in response to a Guild Challenge.

Ten entries represented a diversity of fiber art techniques, including knitting, crochet, fabric dying, weaving and patchwork and showcased the creativity, craftsmanship and ingenuity of the artists that created them.

Show attendees voted for the Viewers' Choice award and had an opportunity to meet and talk with the artists after the awards presentation. Top awards went to:

Viewers' Choice to Brenda Park
for "Linked Weft Woven Jacket with Purse"

Best of Show to Veronica Hofman Ortega
for "The Power of Panthera Leo"

Best Workmanship to Phyllis Narus
for Chenille Tunic

Best Use of Embellishment to Patricia Keran
for "In Memory of Cookie"

Most Innovative Pocket to Kay Pickrell
for "Plum Happy"

For more photos of the Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild Challenge event, click here.

Many of these garments will be included in the upcoming Tennessee Presents Textiles special exhibit, "The Power of the Pocket." Tennessee Presents Textiles is a wearable art runway show and sale to be held on November 13, 2010. The guest speaker will be contemporary folk artist, Rachel Clark. You won't want to miss this event! It's contemporary fashion entertainment paired with a unique fiber art shopping opportunity for the upcoming holiday season.

"The Power of the Pocket" Guild Challenge exhibit scheduled

The Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild will host a wearable art exhibit on Saturday, September 11, 2010 from 10:30 am. to 1:30 pm. The exhibit, entitled "The Power of the Pocket," is a collection of fiber art garments created by guild members in response to their 2010 Guild Challenge.

Inspired by the theme for Tennessee Presents Textiles, a biennial textile art event, the Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild Challenge was issued to guild members in January of this year. Throughout the year, Challenge participants have tested their fiber arts mettle to design and construct a garment which meets the Challenge requirements and expresses their personal aesthetic.

The exhibit and awards ceremony will be held at Senior Neighbors, 250 E. 10th Street, downtown Chattanooga. The public is invited and light refreshments will be available.

Join us on September 11 and celebrate the diversity, inventiveness and beauty of fiber arts!

Hairpin Lace: fun and versatile

Using today's novelty yarns and a crochet hook, the Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild members learned a Victorian era needleart technique to create fun and frilly neck scarves.

Traditionally, hairpin lace was made using women's hairpins. Today, hairpin lace forks (or looms) are made of various materials and come in a variety of sizes and styles. Or, you can make your own loom using simple, commonplace materials (coat hangers, stitch holders, knitting needles and, yes, even flip-flops).

To begin, the yarn is joined to the loom with a slip knot. The hairpin lace is formed by a series of loops as the yarn or thread is wrapped around the upright prongs of the loom.

A crochet hook is used to connect and secure the loops. The width of the lace strand is determined by the width of the loom. Many hairpin lace looms are adjustable and can accommodate widths from 1/2 inch to 4 inches.

If you can master a single crochet stitch, you are well on your way to a fancy new hairpin lace creation! Give this fun and versatile technique a try. Here are some online patterns and references.

The Guild Show and Tell consisted of hand and machine quilted quilts, knitted garments and scarves, woven towels, and hand-dyed and hand spun yarns.

The friendship quilt, called "Fiber Fiesta," is complete...
including the label.

Pocket Particulars video and Sit-n-Stitch

"Pocket Particulars," with Sandra Betzina, was the feature film at the July Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild meeting. Guild members brought community service projects and other WIPs (works in progress) to work on during the video presentation. The "Pocket Particulars" video provided ideas and sewing tips on various pocket treatments for garments. "The Power of the Pocket" is the theme of this year's Guild Challenge.

Knit and crochet strips are being assembled into lap afghans for the guild's community service project (left). Beautiful silk painted pieces were presented (right). Show and Tell included hand spun beaded yarn and an exquisite needlepoint piece (below).

What fiber art project is on your loom, needles or hooks?

Visit an upcoming meeting of the Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild and tell us all about it. New members are always welcome.

EarthLoom symbolizes life's journey

The EarthLoom—a metaphor for life and community—provided an apropos setting for the annual picnic of the Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild.

Guild members shared an afternoon of fellowship and a pot luck picnic lunch while learning about the Zati approach to the Art of Weaving a Life through a presentation about the EarthLoom and Journey loom.

Zati is a word in the Urdu language that means "from an inner or sacred place." Following the presentation was an opportunity for guild members to weave on the EarthLoom.

Using the smaller, portable, 7-piece "Journey loom" for illustration, the meaning of the loom's structure was described: being, doing, feeling, thinking, creating, and teacher [the batten]. The red warp thread at the center of the loom symbolizes life's core. Surrounding the core are the warp threads which symbolize human values.

Members tagged each part of the Journey loom with a label to document the symbolism.

Traditional weaving materials such as yarn and thread, as well as organic materials such as flowers, plants and twigs were woven into the warp. Guild members could simultaneously interlace various findings into different areas of the weaving. With its symbolic references to various aspects of the human spirit and our daily journey through life, the EarthLoom serves as an artistic illustration in which each one's contribution is vital to the design as a whole.
A colored stick, marked with an individual's name, was inserted beside each person's contribution. The connections to our craft, to art, and to each other is what weaves the fabrics of our lives.

Productive Un-Knitting (just for fun)

Next time you have to un-knit, maybe you'll remember this and it will make you smile. "Frogging" and "tinking"... here's one way to make it a "production."



Here's how they did it. C'est bon!

May Day Alpaca Shearing

The thunderstorms passed north of our area and cool, mild weather prevailed for the annual alpaca shearing. Under slightly overcast skies, Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild members were on hand for demonstrations at the event where 55-60 alpacas were scheduled for their "annual clipping" at My Little Darlings Alpaca Farm in Chickamauga, Georgia.

The animals were quite friendly and not "camera shy" in the least.

When spun into yarn or used in other applications, alpaca fibers are soft and durable with a silky quality. Alpaca is naturally water-repellent and resistant to solar radiation. These characteristics offer protection against fluctuations in temperature for both the animals and for humans wearing clothes made from the fiber. Unlike wool from sheep, alpaca has no lanolin which also makes it hypoallergenic.

Throughout the day, visitors enjoyed demonstrations on needle felting...

while Riverbend Fiber Arts guild members took to their spinning wheels, crochet hooks and knitting needles to demonstrate other fiber and needle arts techniques.

It was a fiber-filled afternoon for one and all!