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A free kids craft to celebrate Griz Days - try your hand at loom weaving!
SECOND SKIN - Saving the Planet One Garment at a Time
Exhibit on display until March 5th, 2023
In the Fernie Museum’s winter exhibit, the Fernie Spinners and Weavers Guild looks at fashion through the lens of sustainability and showcases how the natural fibre arts have a direct role to play in the growing Slow Fashion movement. Content encourages viewers to explore ways we can help make a shift away from the many negative impacts of Fast Fashion systems.
Every Sunday from January 15th to March 5th, Guild members will be in the gallery to demonstrate their skills and host workshops in a variety of subject.
Visible mending is mending a garment in such a way that the mending is visible, but also beautiful. In this workshop participants will learn the techniques required to visible mend. All tools required will be supplied along with scraps of fabric to practice on. Students are encouraged to bring their own items that require mending.
Duration: 3 hours; Reservation required
Instructors: Hilary Deluca & Laura Loewen
Participants: Maximum 6
Cost: $20.00; Book at the Fernie Museum
See how wool straight from the sheep is washed and prepared for spinning. Fleeces from a variety of sheep breeds will be laid out and labelled for examination and comparison. A number of carding devices and a variety of spinning tools including spindles and wheels will be demonstrated.
Admission: Drop In; Included in Museum admission
Instructor: Gayle Vallance
Tablet weaving is a method of weaving strong, narrow, decorative bands. The equipment required is very cheap and simple, yet the range of possible patterns is immense. Uses of tablet-woven bands included the decoration of clothing and use as belts and straps.
Inkle weaving is a type of warp-faced weaving where the shed is created by manually raising or lowering the warp yarns. some of which are held in place by fixed heddles on a loom known as an inkle loom.
Admission: Drop In; Included in Museum admission
Instructors: Elin Holvik and Mary Cosman
Sunday, February 5th | DEMONSTRATION: SPINNING FIBRES
Members of the Fernie Spinners and Weavers Guild will demonstrate various methods of spinning fibre into yarn. This will include spinning with a spinning wheel and a spindle.
Admission: Drop In; Included in Museum admission
Instructors: Hilary Deluca & Laura Loewen
This workshop will show how three primary colours can be produced on wool yarn using dye plants such as indigo leaves (blue), madder root (red) and golden marguerite flowers (yellow). The techniques are quite simple and transferable to many other local and exotic plants. The workshop fee will cover the cost of the natural dye plants, the worsted wool yarn that will be dyed and the mordents (fixers) used to make the dyes washfast and lightfast.
Duration: 3 hours; Reservation required
Instructor: Gayle Vallance
Participants: Maximum 6
Cost: $20.00; Book at the Fernie Museum
NOTE: This workshop will be held in the Museum basement due to the nature of the activity. Stairs are required to access the basement, so this workshop is not handicap/wheelchair accessible.
This workshop will show how loose wool fibers can be felted together to form a solid vessel that can be used as a cup, a luminary or cell phone holder. Instructors will give detailed instructions and guidance as the felting proceeds. The fee will cover the cost of wool in a variety of colours, and embellishments that can give the project your own personal touch.
Duration: 3 hours; Reservation required
Instructor: Gayle Vallance
Participants: Maximum 6
Cost: $20.00; Book at the Fernie Museum
Silk is a natural fiber produced by the Bombyx mori moth and a number of wild Tussah moths. It is sometimes called “worm spit,” because the fibre is excreted from the salivary glands of the moth’s caterpillar, and it is used to build a cocoon inside which the worm gradually changes into the moth. We will demonstrate how silk fibre can be unwound from the cocoon to produce a strong, lustrous strand, and how multiple fibers can be spun into heavier yarns that can be woven into exquisite cloth.
Admission: Drop In; Included in Museum admission
Instructors: Gayle Vallance
Kids are invited to try their hand at weaving on a cardboard loom to celebrate Griz Days. All supplies included, drop-in, no charge. This activity will be held on the main floor of the Museum.
See how yarn is transformed into cloth by weaving on a loom, including a demonstration of a double-woven corduroy rug. Yarns made from a variety of natural fibres will be on display for examination and comparison. There will be a number of different weaving looms on hand, i.e. warp-weighted, tapestry, horizontal 4-shaft. The historical significance of each will be discussed and demonstrated how each is used to make cloth.
Admission: Drop In; Included in Museum admission
Instructors: Gayle Vallance
