Woven Textile Designer, Handweaver
I will be at the Open Day with a loom or two, to give visitors a taste of the courses I teach for The Kings Foundation at Barley Court, the home of Highgrove Traditional Crafts.
The courses teach the traditional hand craft skills of weaving, giving students the opportunity to work with a diverse range of British Wools and plant dyed colour.
This clip comes from Escape to the Farm with Kate Humble, Series 3 Episode 3 which aired on Channel 5 on 20th January.
Yes… It’s me Rhian is referring to when she says “my lovely Designer” and nice that Kate thinks “the design is beautiful” .
The next course I am teaching for The Prince’s Foundation at Highgrove, Tetbury, Gloucestershire in October 2023, is now available for booking via the Highgrove Traditional Crafts Eventbrite page.
Gather Wool based in Somerset, UK have recently launched their first range of British Wool textiles for the home. I created four designs for them, all using the two natural colours of the breed without the need for dyed colour.
We collaborated on the first project of this newly established business, which was to use the wool from their own Pedigree Ryeland sheep to produce premium blankets with provenance.
To be able to process their wool cost effectively in bigger batches, they offered to purchase wool of the same breed and quality from other local farms. The wool was processed into yarn by an Artisan Spinning Mill in Cornwall, then handed to me to develop designs for blankets using extensive hand-woven sampling.
Two Yorkshire mills were commissioned to weave the fabric to my specifications in the quantity required for each design, then complete the transition from woven cloth to blankets by specialist ‘finishing’.
The Gather Wool blankets are available directly via their website and through their carefully chosen outlets.
As a member of Southwest England Fibreshed I have collaborated with the curation team at New Brewery Arts in Cirencester, on their Exhibition to show the circular journey of locally produced natural fibres – from regeneratively farmed sheep’s wool to woven cloth (in my case) via sustainable plant dyes. I’ve provided a weaving loom, a spinning wheel and woven samples to help illustrate the story.
I returned to West Dean College nr Chichester, last week to teach a 2 day course ‘Weaving on a Body-tensioned Loom’. The 8 students wove on two prepared warps- the first all white wool to master the basic techniques and the second Black Welsh Mountain and White Ryeland wools to start their experimentations with pattern and colour. For their third warp, students chose yarns and colours then wound their own warps and threaded their looms. The diverse outcomes from these beginner weavers was amazing – some wove in just one yarn and colour, others incorporated material they had brought with them.
Members of Stroudwater Textiles Trust will be exhibiting their work during Wool Week Stroud, to include my woven textiles. There will be an opportunity to ‘Meet the Maker’ on Wednesday 28th September from 2pm to 4pm.
Booking for my course is available via Highgrove Traditional Crafts’ Eventbrite page here.
rebecca connolly design 