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Middle schoolers: come on over to BARN after school on early release days for our Maker Monday sessions! We're kicking off the series this fall with a Sewing Lab. You'll start by getting oriented to the BARN Fiber Studio and then you can let your imagination run wild! BARN will provide basic fabric and ideas such as pencil pouches, purses, and bags, but you are also welcome to bring your own fabric and patterns to stitch up what you dream up! We'll provide some guidance, but this session is designed for self-directed exploration and creative experimentation. Sign up with friends or on your own and bring along your favorite Spotify playlist!. Snacks and drinks provided.
Materials: Studio supplies and donated materials are included in this process. If you want to work on your own special project, you will need to bring your own fabric and pattern.
Skill Level: All sewing levels are welcome.
Ages: Current 7th and 8th graders
Facilitators: Catherine Camp and Fran Fuller
Questions? Email: ccamp@bainbridgebarn.org
Participate in our Project Bag “Sew-Along.” What is a Sew-Along? It is kind of like a sewing bee where a group of sewing enthusiasts get together and work on the same kind of project.
This October -- come join fellow sewing enthusiasts and make a knitting project bag to house your current work in progress. You don't knit? This project bag is great for any fiber handwork activity.
Stitch Mischief is the designer of the popular Finch Bucket (and Little Finch Bucket) pattern which includes the instructions for both versions.
This pattern is easy to read and follow with detailed cutting instructions and lots of graphics. It comes with a customizable patchwork option as well.
Check out #littlefinchbucket or #finchbucket on Instagram for inspiration, gather your supplies and come join us to make your very own.
Below is the link to purchase the pattern (downloadable PDF file). All supplies needed to complete the project bag are given in detail with the pattern.
Finch Bucket Pattern
Details:
Weaving combines color, fiber, & patterns in endless unique options to create cloth.
Learn how to do all the steps in weaving: setting up and using a floor loom, project planning, weave structure and pattern, and many tricks of the trade.
This 5-session class is hands’ on using floor looms and other equipment. The class will emphasis learning how to weave, how to set up a floor loom, how to plan projects, and how to read a weaving draft. During the class you will weave samples with the emphasis on learning how to weave and plan.
Students will use BARN floor looms and equipment.
There is a $20 materials fee included in the class price.
What to Bring: Students should bring their own scissors.
Instructor: Deb Sweet Deb Sweet is a long-time weaver and teacher at BARN. Deb has taught at BARN for the past several years and has love for weaving that is infectious.
Sign up to use the BARN Fiber Arts Studio Sailrite Industrial Machine. BARN members who are certified to use the Sailrite Industrial Sewing Machine can sign up for those open studio times when a Sailrite safety monitor is hosting the open studio.
PLEASE NOTE: Only some of the BARN Fiber Arts open studio times have the safety monitors trained to supervise any use of the Sailrite Industrial Sewing Machine.
Skill Level: BARN Member who has taken the Sailrite Industrial Machine Certification class and been certified to use the machine.
Ages: Ages 18+
Safety Monitor:
Dale Walker
Safety Monitor: Sybil Carrere
Learn how to coil and machine sew a decorative fabric platter using cotton fabric strips that are wound around cording and sewn into a dimensional shape using the Brother sewing machines in the Fiber Arts Studio.
A kit of needed supplies will be provided (for a kit fee) in a variety of color ways for students to choose from.
Each student will take home a completed decorative platter that is at least 11” in diameter.
Instructor Artist Statement: Dawna Ellis --
My love of textiles is rooted in the endless possibilities that can become of them and have been a part of my creative outlet as well as a core player in my 30 year career as a costume designer and fabricator. I have been making textile platters and vessels for about nine years and am drawn to the rhythmic process of wrapping fabric strips around cording, transforming it into a new fiber. As this newly created fiber is coiled and sewn into shape, a more complex pattern of color and texture emerges as the fabrics interact with each other and create their own harmony. In 2015, I was honored as a winner in the professional division for the 2015 NICHE Awards in the Recycled category for the entry of my coiled vessel, Morning Song.
Weaving on a Rigid Heddle Loom is fun and easy. The looms are small and portable and your weaving can be as simple or as complex as you like. This class is for those new to weaving or established weavers looking for a way to make quick projects.
Class participants will learn how to direct warp the loom, how to do simple balanced weaving, how to identify and fix simple mistakes, and how to remove the finished project from the loom. Rigid Heddle Looms are perfect for weaving with hand-knitting yarns. Participants will bring a variety of their leftover yarns that will be used to make a scarf that they will finish by the end of the class and take home with them.
(We encourage students to go to Churchmouse, our local Bainbridge Island yarn store, for material supplies.) Materials Fee: None.
Skill Level: Universal - Beginners to advanced weavers
Ages: Ages 14+ Welcome. Bring a bag lunch. We have a refrigerator for people to store their lunches and drinks!
Instructor Bio: Terry Winer is a long-time knitter, spinner, weaver, dyer, and sewist who enjoys creating a community of fiber artists who get together work on their fiber projects. She can be found most Wednesdays, mid-day, weaving, spinning or knitting with her fellow BARN members in the Fiber Arts Studio.
Join your fellow Fiber Arts enthusiasts at the October Fiber Connections event on Tuesday, October 29 at 7:00 PM. If you have never visited BARN or the Fiber Arts Studio -- this is a great chance to come and see the Studio, take part in a creative activity, and meet the community.
This months' event:
Firwood Farm Alpacas with Leanna
Leanna will present “Alpacas 101 and Alpaca Rescue at Firwood Farm Alpacas”
We have owned alpacas for 13 years. In 2010, I took in our first two rescues and made the decision to no longer breed alpacas but to save pasture space in case there were ones needing homes. Our current herd consists of 27 (21 of which are rescues or re-homes). We could have taken in an additional 46 alpacas in 2018 from requests via phone calls and emails.
Additional information about the Firwood Farm can be found at: www.FirwoodFarmAlpacas.com
If you have never visited BARN or the BARN Fiber Arts Studio, this is a great chance to come and see the Studio, take part in a creative activity, and meet the community.
Samples of different weaving projects will be shared to discuss how different “beats” will create different effects. The Fiber Studio’s Weaving Labs are facilitated short workshops (1- 1.5 hours) on a topic, technique, or idea for weavers of all types of looms. These workshops are during Weaving Wednesdays, so you are welcome to bring a weaving project to work on too.
Safety Monitor: Carol Latham
Participants in this workshop will complete a reference notebook of samples of a wide range of printing onto fabric and a series of contemporary methods of using embroidery as surface design.
The printing techniques will include mono printing, making various types of stamps, making and using stencils, sun printing, foam stamps, and a number of additional methods to make fabric unique.
The samples of embroidery will include feather stitch, French knots, bullion knot, variations of the chain stitch, raised chain band, kantha stitch, Chinese knot and more.
The instructor will provide all supplies for printing along with fabrics, needles and threads for the embroidery. This workshop is to explore some of the simple but creative methods to change the surface of fabric.
Students need to bring the following materials to class:
Anita Luvera Mayer was introduced to looms and weaving by her mother-in-law, a well-known Seattle weaving instructor. Clothing designed and worn by Anita always relates to ethnic garments with the finishes and embellishments done by hand. Her work has been included in national and international shows and one-woman retrospectives.
This class has prerequisites. Please see below.
Learn the basic safety principles for using the Fiber Arts Studio Sailrite Industrial Sewing Machine and make a canvas tote bag as a project.
This class is required to be certified to use the Sailrite Industrial Sewing Machine during Open Industrial Sewing Machine Studio sessions.
Students will:
Instructor Bio:
Susan Morton creates iconic canvas tote bags, backpacks and other durable and superbly made canvas products. Susan is a longtime Bainbridge Islander who can be found at the Bainbridge Farmers Market selling her hand sewn products. She receives rave reviews for her teaching style. She has been instrumental in helping the BARN Fiber Arts Studio industrial sewing program get off the ground and we feel very lucky to have her teaching this industrial sewing machine certification program for us.
Come join us in the BARN Fiber Arts Studio and Churchmouse for a sponsored charity knitting circle. Just bring your knitting needles. Everyone welcome!
Free to Members and Non-Members. Registration is not required. Held every month on the first Wednesday of the month from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.
This class has prerequisites. Please see description below.
This is not a normal duffel bag class. In this class, not only will you make a rugged duffel bag, but you will learn techniques on the industrial sewing machine that you can apply to other sewing projects like, boat covers, upholstery, sail covers, etc.
This workshop also serves as a certification class for using the Fiber Arts Studio Sailrite sewing machine.
In this class you will learn:
Instructor Bio: Inger Rankins and her husband Sean, run the Northwest Sails and Canvas Loft in Port Hadlock. Their work loft is located on the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building and is a full service, custom, sail, marine canvas, and rigging business. For over 25 years, Inger has been teaching classes to help people learn to create, design, and repair marine canvas, including boat and sail covers, marine upholstery, dodgers, biminis and more.
Learn the traditional Japanese technique for embellishing textiles -- Sashiko. Sashiko was used by the Japanese working class to extend the life of the fabric that they used for clothing and household textiles. Traditionally, even white stitches were sewn on dark blue cotton fabric to mend, strengthen and quilt the fiber. Over time, Sashiko evolved to become a beautiful fabric embellishment with striking patterns and figures using the same, simple technique of running stitches on textiles.
In this workshop, students will make the simple lined cotton drawstring bag that is used for a variety of occasions in Japan. You can use your bag to carry your sewing or Sashiko supplies.
Students will learn how to:
For inspiration, the instructor will bring Sashiko samples from her collection and share a slideshow of Sashiko and other Japanese stitching techniques.
Student Should Bring:
Artist's Statement by Becky Scellato: "My love for Japanese textiles and crafts began in the 1960’s when my father was stationed in the Air Force in Okinawa. I learned Sashiko from a Japanese woman over 25 years ago and fell in love with the craft. It quickly became an all-consuming passion. Sashiko, an easy embroidery technique using a running stitch, is relaxing and fun, and creates a sense of peace while stitching.
Sashiko is elegance in simplicity. Since 2002, my husband and I have owned Shibori Dragon in University Place, which specializes in Asian fabrics, Japanese textiles, and Sashiko. I have been teaching and collecting historical Sashiko textiles for the past 20 years and have samples dating from the 1800s to modern day. I have designed Sashiko bags, table runners, Boro-inspired textiles, Block of the Month quilts, and wall hangings, many of which are featured in the classes that I teach."
Join Master Basket Weaver, Kathey Ervin to make your own woven contemporary hat from red cedar bark.
Each student's hat will have his or her unique flare. Chose from a variety of hat styles including cowboy, cloche, dome top, and flat top. Each of these hat styles can have varying rim widths to suit your one-of-a-kind hat.
The hats are woven over commercially manufactured molds. The hat molds come in a variety of sizes to ensure your hat fits perfectly.
This a workshop for both the novice as well as more advanced basket weavers. Various techniques offered will be for the novice learning basic weaves as well as the more advanced weaver using twill patterns throughout.
The only warning about taking this workshop will be that everywhere you go wearing your creation, people will be stopping you to find out where you got your hat and you will get to proudly say: “I made it!”
A materials fee of $250 included in the total class price is for Western red and Alaskan yellow cedar bark, use of molds, and a full set of written directions.
Instructor will provide all materials and tools required. If student has a favorite pocket knife – please bring.
Instructor Bio: Kathey Ervin lives in Sequim, Washington. After a career as a maker in clay creating mostly dinnerware, twenty years ago Kathey pivoted and began a new career in basketry. She has gone through various phases of learning, embracing everything from fairly high volume production work, to pursuing her own award winning artistic aesthetic. Kathey says: “Every professor and teacher I have ever worked with has talked about learning and ‘passing it on’. I am passionate about this point, and love the experience of seeing a student begin to pick up a technique, develop it, and then ‘pass it on.”
Kick the night off with wine and non-alcoholic beverages, plentiful appetizers, and live music in our beautiful commons area, and the rest of the evening will be spent learning new skills alongside old and new friends in our artisan studios. When you arrive, you'll be able to sign up for two of the three activities offered: Gemstone Bracelets in our Jewelry Studio, Japanese Sashiko Stitching in our Fiber Arts Studio, and Entertaining with Fall Bruschettas in our Kitchen Arts Studio.
Go ahead - treat yourself! You deserve it.
The Magic of Gemstone Bracelets
More than just a piece of jewelry, these are bracelets with meaning that have the potential to transform your life by manifesting miracles! Want to know which stones are best for new beginnings, focus, positive energy, confidence, or attracting wealth? We will discuss the healing properties of popular gemstones and choosing stones that combine the energy and intention to help you achieve your desired outcome. Each person will make one personalized bracelet during this session to keep for themselves or to give as a handmade gift. Additional kits will be available to purchase at the event.
Japanese Sashiko Stitching
“Sashiko” is Japanese embroidery that uses little running stitches (“Sashiko” literally means “little stabs”) to create designs from nature and rhythmic geometric patterns. You'll take home a simple 4” x 4” pattern in white thread on gold, red, or purple fabric and then put it in a small frame. You’ll end up with a small work of art for your home or give as a gift!
This is a 21+ only event.
All materials, food and beverages are included in the registration fee.
BARN will be closed and the front and back doors locked down to both Members and Non-Members beginning at 7:00 PM on Friday night as we begin preparations for the Bazaar at BARN.
Doors will reopen to all on Saturday, at 8:00 AM.
If you have questions, please contact Carla our Membership Coordinator at Membership@bainbridgebarn.org.
BARN members wishing to participate in this event must be a member for a minimum of 3 months (must join by August 31st) to participate. You can contact Carla Mackey at membership@bainbridgebarn.org for an application which will be available Monday, October 21.
Join your fellow Fiber Arts enthusiasts at the November Fiber Connections event on Tuesday, November 26 at 7:00 PM. If you have never visited BARN or the Fiber Arts Studio -- this is a great chance to come and see the Studio, take part in a creative activity, and meet the community.
Bobbin Lace Demo
Details to be posted soon.
This is a staff holiday.
The class consists of three half-day sessions.
What Students Need to Bring to Class (Instructions from Barbara Ramsey):
Instructor Bio: Barbara Ramsey is a fabric artist who sews original abstract art works using traditional quilting techniques. Employing her own designs, she pieces together fabric shapes with a sewing machine and by hand. Her main materials are commercially printed fabric as well as fabric she has dyed and manipulated herself.
Her work expresses her fascination with light, color, texture, materials, and process. She love the ritual of taking fabric of one color and changing it into another color with dye or bleach. She is completely absorbed by the simple acts of washing, rinsing, drying, sewing, and ironing as she pull scores of separate colors together into a single piece. Like many traditional quilters, She is devoted to precise construction. She differ from many traditional quilters in that she design and cut fabric in an effort to distort geometry. She works to create irregularity, using various shapes to impel the viewer’s eye to roam over the entire surface of the quilt, seeking the harmonies in the middle of contrast. She create her work in order to disappear into its making.
Barbara loves to teach quilting and helping other quilt artists as they move from traditional designs to more free-form creations. She feel energized as she watches her students learn to improvise with shape and line, create more surprising color combinations, and gain the confidence required to do original work.
Fringe twisting? Hem stitching? Look at samples, play with techniques. Let’s get those projects done! The Fiber Studio’s Weaving Labs are facilitated short workshops (1- 1.5 hours) on a topic, technique, or idea for weavers on all types of looms. These workshops are during Weaving Wednesdays, so you are welcome to bring a weaving project to work on too.
Bring your finished projects for a show, share and celebration of a year of weaving. This is a great time to celebrate your year's projects or be inspired by other weavers. The Fiber Studio’s Weaving Labs are facilitated short workshops (1- 1.5 hours) on a topic, technique, or idea for weavers on all types of looms. These workshops are during Weaving Wednesdays, so you are welcome to bring a weaving project to work on too.
Let’s kick off the New Year with a new project. This will be a planning meeting for the Weaving Weekend Retreat on January 18,19 and 20th. We can help each other figure out our projects so we can be ready to roll (or weave!). The Fiber Studio’s Weaving Labs are facilitated short workshops (1- 1.5 hours) on a topic, technique, or idea for weavers on all types of looms. These workshops are during Weaving Wednesdays, so you are welcome to bring a weaving project to work on too.
Making a custom size pair of slippers is a great opportunity to learn how to make a 3-D object starting with a 2-D resist pattern. In this workshop participants will develop confidence in planning the project, estimating the shrinkage and enlarging the pattern. They will learn about the different qualities of different types of sheep’s wool and how to choose and mix the right wools to get a strongly felted durable pair of slippers. At the end of the day, they will go home with a pair of custom made felted slippers.
This would be a great holiday gift for family and friends of all ages! Give a gift certificate and have the recipient take the workshop in January.
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Skill Level: Universal. All skill levels are welcome
Instructor Bio: Flóra Carlile- Kovács is an award winner of several wearable art shows. She is a professional felt artist born in Szeged, Hungary, now living and working in Seattle. In her work, she incorporates two bodies of knowledge, the nomadic traditions and the urban, modern style of feltmaking. Coming from the European tradition of craftsmanship and quality, she is constantly experimenting with ways to improve not only the visual artistic aspect of her work, but also its physical integrity as a functional object appropriate for everyday use.
Tapestry is one of the oldest forms of weaving, blending art and design with the practical need of adding warmth to chilly stone castles. Today's tapestry weavers focus on art and design to create a wide variety of fiber masterpieces.
In this class, students will learn the fundamental first steps in how to weave tapestry. It will cover weaving techniques, including warping, tensioning, and basic tapestry skills.
The class will also include how to most effectively design a tapestry and complete a cartoon, color-blending, and other color effects to enhance the design.
The class will be taught on hand-held small frame looms.
Instructor Bio: BARN is fortunate to have Nancy Klos Smith, a Portland-based fiber artist, painter and designer, teach this class. She has taught in many regional workshops, exhibits her work in galleries and shows, and has been commissioned to weave tapestries for organizations and individuals. Her tapestries are pictorial, and are described as organic and sensual. She emphasizes design elements in her teaching, particularly the key role color and color blending plays.
Two days, six sheep breeds, twelve preparations, all local: Here’s a spinning workshop about the woolly wonders to be found nearby.
Our part of the Pacific Northwest suits a wide range of sheep types, so the fibers will be diverse and appealing—and a number of them will be rare breeds. Within a context of hands-on experience, participants will learn about the historical and cultural backgrounds of the featured sheep, as well as their present-day situations.
Fully rooted in place, this workshop comes about as a collaboration between Twisted Strait Fibers, a local community organizing a cooperatively-owned fiber processing mill on the North Olympic Peninsula, and Bainbridge Artistan Resource Network (BARN), the non-profit community arts organization in Winslow. It will be facilitated by Deborah Robson, fiber author of The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook and The Field Guide to Fleece (and UW graduate).
Students Should Bring to Class
Instructor Bio: Deborah Robson is a fiber generalist who specializes in spinning, knitting, and weaving, although she experiments with all aspects of textiles. She is the fiber author of The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebookand of The Field Guide to Fleece, in collaboration with livestock expert Carol Ekarius. For fourteen years she served as an editor at Interweave Press, including twelve years as editor-in-chief of Spin-Off: The Magazine for Handspinners. At Interweave she initiated the Save the Sheep project and the book Handspun Treasures from Rare Wools. She also edited Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot, has worked in trade, literary, and scholarly publishing, and has written for many publications, including PieceWork, Interweave Knits, Spin-Off,and The Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, as well as several fiber-related anthologies. Her textile designs have appeared in several magazines and collections. She is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and of the Colorado Authors’ League, and served two terms on the board of directors of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (now The Livestock Conservancy). Her current research focuses on the millennia of alliances between sheep and humans, emphasizing the fiber perspective and using Shetland sheep as an example of how the relationships have evolved, and she is publishing monographs on fiber-related topics. Websites related to her work are at independentstitch.com, www.DreamingofShetland.com (a site maintained by friends), www.DRobson.info, and www.Fleeceand Fiber.com.
Be a Maker for a Day!
Check out our 10 studios, participate in making crafts or generally check out BARN! It's free, and open to all ages.
More information will be posted later in October 2019.
For more information contact: info@BainbridgeBARN.org
The Ring Border Basket is a challenging and rewarding intermediate level basketry workshop.
Students will brush up and sharpen their twining skills during the first day of the workshop while making the basket base. There will be many colors to choose from to create a dynamic combination.
A stunning Ring Border will bring this basket to completion.
Student baskets will measure approximately 6” tall by 18” in diameter.
During all three days we will discuss the importance of tension on the materials, hand/finger placement, shaping and materials selection.
The Ring Border Basket uses multiple diameters of round reed that have been dyed with cellulose fiber dyes. All weaving materials have been selected and prepared for ease and flow during the workshop.
Students should bring:
Instructor Bio: Peeta Tinay grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was born into a family of creatives: her father a chemist by day and a jeweler by night, her mother a painter and weaver. Art work from both parents and their friends filled the house throughout her childhood. Her grandfather was an inventor, keeping a fully functional foundry and pattern shop behind the family home. Roaming through his old work buildings was always an adventure. This early creative environment was fertile ground through which she came of age and discovered her life’s work. From 1990 to 2000 at The Caning Shop in Berkeley California she was introduced to techniques involved in the restoration of wicker furniture. In 2000 a move to Washington gave a fresh start motivating her to branch out. She continued restoration work and also started making wicker pieces from the ground up using 1920's wicker as inspiration.
Artist Statement: I spent the first two decades of my career learning and refining restoration techniques of antique and contemporary wicker furniture. In 2011, at age 43, a cathartic personal discovery about my birth and heritage threw open a door to creativity and set my work on a new and unexpected course. This experience provided the catalyst I needed to start creating my own designs for the baskets I make. I am inspired by techniques from antique wicker furniture, passementerie and anything exceptionally made and beautiful finished. Repeating patterns intentional and unintentional always catch my eye for a second look.
My basketry projects combine a variety of weaving techniques including twining, plaiting and lashing. I now prefer to create large works, moving beyond previously held notions of scale and proportion. Fine detail is achieved by using small-diameter round reed in the beginning stages of weaving which eventually transitions to larger reed. The combination of bold scale and fine detail are, to me, simply sublime. When plaiting with flat reed, I discovered additional interest by using multiple layers - juxtaposing interior and exterior colors that draw the observer deeper into the work. Cellulose fiber dyes are hand-blended creating either natural hues or vibrant colors. Finishing steps include a UV archival varnish and a hand-buffed wax finish.
From weaving techniques using a variety of materials to replicating complex finishes using paints, stains and dyes, my skills are continuously expanding. Reed, the primary material used in antique woven furniture, is the material I have chosen to use in all my projects. Derived from the vine rattan palm, it has been a workhorse in the production of handwoven wicker furniture since the 1880’s which ushered in America’s Golden Age of wicker furniture production. The versatility and resilience of this amazing material gives each new project infinite possibilities.
I feel that my current work captures and showcases all of my skills with reference to design and technique. I will continue to evolve as a craftswoman, seeking excellence in my work and within myself.
We are very excited that Sue Spargo will be spending June 1st - 5th, 2020 with us in the Fiber Arts Studio at BARN.
More information will be released in October.
Please enter your contact information on our RSVP list and we will contact you when details are available.
Click here to get lodging information and directions to BARN.
