Saori woven scarf to blouse

I am about to to start cutting into my saori woven yardage and make clothing and accessories.
I will take some photos as i do this but first I want to share a past students weaving from scarf to blouse.

 Last fall I had a student who wanted a top and we discussed it then she wove a scarf and we turned it into a top !  So this is a photo journal of most of the steps.

washed  woven scarf 

I start out using a muslin in which i get an idea of the shape and cut and fit , then use the muslin as a pattern.

The weaving needs to to be pieced first then sewn together, then pressed and then using the muslin pattern cut it out then pin and sew it together on the machine.fitting muslin

cutting up scarf and piecing

sewn pieced weaving ready to cut

checking if placement is attractive

cut ready to sew

checking fit

pressing

front finished top

back

short post

One of my sewing students had her basket of pin cushions on her sewing table when I arrived  at her home last week. they looked so sweet.

I am teaching her weaving on a ridged heddle loom as well but did not take photos, yet.

busy filling out applications to open studio's for October, DEADLINE in 4 days.

Elaine and her family learn saori weaving

How special Elaine brought her mother Iris and her son Morgan , 13yrs, to Saori Santa Cruz  Wednesday.

 It was Elaine's choice and she decided to bring many bags of yarns to weave with. This was there first loom weaving experience. Here is iris Elaine's mom who quilts and crochets. choosing some yarns they brought.

there quotes for the weaving session {they were randomly chosen }

Iris picked up weaving very quickly

Elaine chose happy color yarns and did a wonderful fun weaving.

 Iris and Elaine tying off the fringe

morgan's nice weaving

ELAINE'S WEAVING

This is IRIS'S LOVELY WEAVING

Morgan's fun weaving

Elaine brought bags and bags and more bags of some of her "stash" yarns to play with!
 I have weavers choose, with out looking, random  quotes  from a basket of  quote's I love and  I have collected. Weavers  can contemplate them ,if they want, while they weave.
 They had a fun day, even morgan! They drove back home by way of hwy 1, the lovely  costal route.
peaceful weaving!!
jill

Saori studio..... getting ready for warmer weather

I love to have weaving, spinning and dyeing classes out on the deck during the warmer weather so this week end  the weather warmer enough for lee and I to prepared the deck for fiber arts classes. I moved 4 of the 7 looms at saori santa cruz studio around for a group coming on Wednesday. Saori looms are so easy to move out to the deck, and it is  fun to warp and weave while listing to the birds the woodpeckers the creek, and the fragrance of spring in the air! BUT alas showers expected weds. So we will weave inside looking out to the redwoods.

Hand wrought weavery shuttle sign

An extremely talented artist and friend Jon Bailiff designed and made a hand wrought shuttle sign I commissioned him to create for Saori Santa Cruz. I loved it so much I asked him to design and make a spinning wheel sign and a door knocker as well. It is already getting oh's and aha's at the studio! Jon is my former weaving and spinning student, he teaches spinning now along with practicing his drawing, painting, weaving, felting, knitting............

Tina and Maggie weave a saori cowl

Tina's ocean colors warp

Tina's weaving

tmaggie winding her warp

maggie using the saori cross holder to sley the reed with the saori thread holder which allows for threading the heddles as well away from the loom any where.

all done but twisting the fringe and washing

I had two day workshop for a saori cowl scarf which the warp becomes weft . First class 4 hours winding the warp and threading and dressing the loom.
2nd day weaving the cowl.
Tina and Maggie did a fantastic palate of exciting yarn colors and textures for there summer weight neck adornments. They need to twist their fringe and wash them but i think they turned out fabulous .
"That was so so so much fun!" Tina said, as we cut the scarf off the loom.
I had fun too! great students and fun day !

Tina and Maggie's  finished cowls !

Taking Saori looms along ....... A NEW saori book

I have a new to me Subaru forester and here is a photo with just some of my saori looms loaded for a workshop. This shows 4 looms but I can pack 6 in it with room to spare for folding chairs, yarn and other things. There is a piccolo  floor loom loaded horizontal behind the front seats. The loom bags are my design and  they fit the Saori sx60 looms and the  smaller Saori piccolo loom. contact me for additional info (link:)   loom bags   It protects the warps and  the loom  .

my subaru packed with 3 sx60 looms and room for two more!

Two of the practical loom bags . upholstery fabric and a heavy duty full length zipper is  down one side,  some have a outer large pocket with velcro good for books, tools, shuttles bobbins etc..

Also a new Saori book came out this year. It is all in japanese but so wonderful.  The students who bought it are inspired by the beautiful color photos. $ 38 plus postage

 wonderful photos of saori studios in japan the color photos show how to use the saori equipment and looms like the warping frames, cross maker etc. in action . Misao jo's grand son , is the author . photos of unique clothing made from Saori hand woven cloth great photos of weaving techniques too.

   Hear is yet Another  saori book, this one with wonderful clothing design patterns . The studio copy is getting dog eared pages and much interest from students. It is all  in Japanese, however the informative diagrams  are easy to follow. You can plan your next warp and know how much yardage you will  need to weave and sew any one of 50 patterns  BOOK LINK
  The extensive diagrams and measurements are in metric but easy to convert,  for layouts cutting etc are very clear for the sewer with basic sewing skills. $40 plus postage

 more info at     http://www.saorisantacruz.com