No Silver Bullet

 

Most people have no idea what a cotton fibre looks like.  Or linen, silk, rayon, wool.  They don't know about the properties of the fibre, therefore fail to understand the nature of their materials.

I've been in the position of helping 'new' textile folk, some of whom are so focused on their internal 'dream' they fail to take into consideration reality.  Because when you work with actual materials that have ingrained characteristics, which can be adjusted in the fibre prep and how they are spun, simply saying you want to work with 'cotton' doesn't tell me a lot about what it is you actually *need*.

In my initial weaving class we didn't learn a whole lot about fibres, although we did have to take the spinning class as a prerequisite.  We did come to weaving with at least a rudimentary understanding of how threads are made.  

But there was still a huge 'hole' in my foundation of knowledge.  I came to weaving with a pretty common background for the 1970s - my family worked with yarn in various ways - knitting, rug hooking, embroidery, sewing.  I worked in a custom drapery house, so I got a crash course in window coverings and how the various ways window coverings would behave.

Over the years, I dug and discovered resources, primarily the Guide to Textiles for Interior Designers.  It became my go-to for technical information on fibres and yarns.  I added other textile science texts, and gradually filled in some of the holes in my knowledge.

"When you don't know *what* you don't know, you don't know *that* you don't know it."

As soon as I heard that phrase for the first time, I knew that I needed to get loud about things that *I* felt were necessary for weavers to make the cloth they wanted to make.

A lot of wannabe weavers just want to get some thread and turn it into...something.  Some of them don't really have any idea of what they want, or they have some vague notion and look around for something to manipulate into fabric.

But when you don't know *what* you don't know...

So they make a lot of things that don't turn out the way they want, and eventually they give up.  Or they get frustrated.  Some of them get angry when they ask questions and people like me say 'it depends'.

They don't like being 'interrogated' with 20 questions, they just want to make their dreams come true.  Problem is, dreams are not reality, and when working with threads, there are things like physics that need to be factored into the equation.

They also get defensive when they are asked about the results of their sampling.  I don't know how many people have angrily told me that they 'can't afford to *waste* yarn on making samples'.

There is a reason I included technical information in The Intentional Weaver.  As a craftsperson, no matter the craft, the common thing in making anything by hand is to have knowledge and understanding of your materials.

So, I tell people - don't just jump to the pretty pictures and project notes in a book - read the beginning bits.  I constantly see people asking online what author X means when they say Y.  Pretty sure most authors include an explanation of their terms in the beginning bits that they just skipped over because it was 'boring'.

If someone wants to make 'good' cloth, they need (imho) to understand the materials and equipment they are going to use.  

The Intentional Weaver is the book I wish I'd had when I first learned how to weave.  I consider all of it basic and essential.

If you have the book and you skipped over some of the chapters, maybe go back and read them now?