WEAVIN'

This is Barbara Setsu Pickett, the most patient teacher in the world. She is an expert on weaving velvet and has studied in Italy, France, England, Turkey, Japan and China. She is also the curricular coordinator for the Fibers Area and its principal instructor at University of Oregon.

These are some of Barbara's velvet samples from some several Italian and French ateliers. There are less then 30 velvet weavers in the world and having yardage made is pricey. Really, only the very wealthy can afford to commission pieces. Just to give you an idea, some of Barbara's samples were taken from commissions by the pope and prince charles. It is an extremely time consuming and tedious process as velvet is still hand woven to this day. Each row of pile is inserted with a metal rod and hand cut per the design. As our teacher would say "you kind of have to be somewhat of a masochist to be a velvet weaver".

carved velvet sample from japan

carved velvet sample form Japan

ikat velvet from uzbekistan

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So supposedly velvet has one of the most complicated weaving structures and i decided that i would try it as a first time weaver. I'm not sure if that was stupid or smart. Now hopefully, weaving anything else will seem like childs play in comparison.

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ikat dying demonstration (the uzbek way)

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my finished pieces

this is macro velvet


my first scarf ever


my second scarf ever


my third scarf ever
donated to Penland scholarship auction and sold for $70.