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Vancouver Island Fibreshed, situated upon unceded traditional Indigenous territories, links farmers, processors, makers, and consumers in creating a local textile economy based on renewable resources and climate beneficial farming methods.
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** Corrected Edition **
Welcome to our VIF Newsletter, Summer Solstice 2023
After what felt like an early summer (though the cool this week has been welcome), the heat is on! Dye gardens are ramping up, flax is flowering, and fibre festivals are in full swing, too.
In this newsletter, you'll find an inspiring report of a local linen project, a report from the 100 Mile Fleece and Fibre fair, a challenge for 2023/2024, and many listings of events and news briefs from around the Island and the world.
Everyone is welcome to submit items for the newsletter, We publish quarterly, with the change in seasons. Please tell us about upcoming events, successful activities, and requests for information and we will fit as many items as we can into the upcoming newsletter.
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Upcoming Events in our Fibreshed
Jul 10, Aug 14, Sept 11 (2nd Monday): Vancouver Island Fibreshed monthly meeting online at 7pm. Contact info@vancouverislandfibreshed.ca for the Zoom link. Join us to discuss upcoming projects.
July 22 (Saturday): Entwined Market 11am to 4pm, 720 Station Ave, Langford, BC. Fibre market day with The Spinnacle Yarns, the "Entwined Market" aims to bring together a diverse community of talented fibre artists, artisans, and vendors from all corners of the fibre arts world. Whether you specialize in knitting, crochet, weaving, spinning, or any other fibre-related craft, we warmly welcome you to join us! 25 vendors.
July 29 (Saturday): Cowichan Valley Art Council Outdoor Market 10 am - 4pm, downtown Duncan, BC. Among many other vendors, VIF member and artisan Dalia Levy will be selling her naturally dyed, felted, and knit wearable art works.
Aug 20 (Sunday): Fibrations 10am to 5pm. Fernwood Community Centre, Victoria, BC. VI Fibreshed will have an information table. Join us for the 12th annual Fibrations! An annual one-of-a-kind public free event and a community celebration of fibre artists for enthusiasts, makers, crafters, the general public and everyone in between!
Sep 8 - 10 (Fri-Sun): Rejuvenating the Sheep Industry Conference, Coombs, BC. Inter Island Sheep Breeders Association, in partnership with BC Sheep Federation, invite you to a weekend of hands-on workshops, vendors, and guest speakers. Featuring Woody Lane, livestock nutritionist and forage specialist. For more details or to register, please email iisbapresident@gmail.com.
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Workshops and Classes
From Fern + Roe:
July 7 - 10: Tanner's Choice Hide Camp: One part retreat. One part skill-building. Full-on immersion on the land with great people as you delve into the craft of natural hide tanning. Sooke.
Upcoming:
October 13-15 Creative Threads Conspiracy workshop weekend. Denman Island.
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Local Linen Journey - Karla Sandwith
Last month I took the final dish cloth off the loom, completing a project I began over two and a half years ago. My aim was to weave something useful with my hand grown, hand spun linen. I started growing flax and spinning it into linen in 2018; by 2021 I felt my yarn had improved enough to begin.
When you look at the pictures, imagine the personal journey they represent. When I inherited my Ashford Traditional wheel in 2017, and bought my first loom the next spring, I didn’t know how to spin or weave but, like most of us who land in the fibre world later in life, I had an abundance of skills and experiences that finally converged in a magical way. Before I could begin my project, I needed to learn how to grow flax and process it into linen. Fortunately for me, my co-conspirator, Jim, was equally curious and enormously supportive and helpful.
Fast forward to the project, when I felt my linen was sufficient in quality and quantity to match my ambitions. Boy, was I wrong. But I was also right. The scope of the project was such that I had to struggle through the lessons the yarn had to teach me. I was hounded with tension problems, mostly due to the irregular grist of the yarn; I was challenged to learn about lace structures and deconstruct the project that inspired me; I was harassed by underspun warp sections that insisted on abrading in front of, between and behind the reed and heddles; I was confounded by uncooperative selvedges; and, through their writing, encouragement and support I learned from Brenda and Raven of the Victoria guild, and my friend Mary from Oregon.
There is WAY more to this story than I have the space for here. Mostyl, I wish to share my thrill of accomplishment with other fibre friends. I hope you indulge me the spirit of companionship and celebration.
Note: after dozens of samples I settled on a sett of 24-epi, spaced and crammed on a 12-dent reed. Structure is canvas weave on 8 shafts so I could add tabby hems and selvedges.
Are you growing flax this year? You may be interested in the BC Flax to Linen Network sponsored by the EartHand Gleaners Society. They are meeting monthly via Zoom to share knowledge. Please let us know if you plant a flax garden this summer. We'd love to feature your projects in our Fall newsletter.
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Garment Challenge 2023/2024
Sponsored by the Victoria Handweavers and Spinners Guild
The Victoria Handweavers and Spinners Guild was formed on March 7, 1934, when a group of ten women met at the Women’s Institute to teach weaving: https://vhwsg.ca/about/guild-history/
In celebration of the Guild’s 90th anniversary, we will be holding a Garment Challenge, Fashion Show and Tea in May 2024. Guild members are encouraged to use their talents for spinning, knitting, weaving, felting, sewing, etc., to create garments. To contact the organizers, send an email to show@vhwsg.ca. For more information, including the long list of challenge categories and the Rules and Regulations, see the 90th Anniversary page.
At the Vancouver Island Fibreshed, we encourage everyone to enter into the Best Use of Local Fibre/Yarn category!
Excerpt from the rules: Items must be finished in 2023/24 – yarns and fabric can have been created prior to this (as in taken from the stash). Descriptions and photos must be submitted on time using provided forms. Descriptions must include fibre content, whether yarn is handspun or commercial, artist(s) who created the item and their roles, when it was created, all techniques used, any commercial fabric included (such as lining, or contrasting or coordinating details), any details that add uniqueness to the item. Entries are limited to VHWS Guild members (Regular, Associate, Life and Student). Submissions can be made by individuals or teams. Limit of 3 submissions in different categories per Guild Member (including team efforts).
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The 100 Mile Fleece and Fibre Fair on Sunday, May 28 was a great success! Thank you to all the organizers. We spoke to many people about what we do as a Fibreshed, encouraged people to sign up for this newsletter (hello, new subscribers!), and explained how wool pellets work! Claire Nixon of Vancouver Island Wool Pellets wasn't able to have a booth this year so we brought her pellets to display. Wool pellets are such a great use for "waste wool" - the wool that's not of sufficient quality for textile use - providing nutrients and water retention in the garden.
The morning was very busy with shoppers. By afternoon, fewer customers were around which left time for networking between vendors. Here are just a few photos from the day, featuring Fiddlehead Farm (Gabriola), Morrison Creek Alpacas (Comox Valley), SSI Wool Co (Salt Spring), Watson Wheels (Duncan), and House Blue Dog (Comox Valley).
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