dgguildswd Dyeing, Other woolly crafts, Spinning, Weaving

November 2019

D&G-SWD Gathering 2019Saturday 9th November was our Annual Gathering. Here’s a rundown of what went on:

  • Busy Mrs B Pottery – Gene’s daughter Sarah brought her beautiful hand crafted pottery
  • Crazy Daisy Crafts from Lockerbie with yarn, knitting supplies and general haberdashery
  • Fiona Moir – Guild Member – with hand dyed spinning fibre, hand dyed yarns, hand dyed threads and fabric and finished items
  • Gene Howe – Guild Member – hand and machine knitted items
  • Happy Knitter Yarns from Dumfries with yarns and general haberdashery supplies
  • Jane Rutherford – Guild Member – fleeces and needle felted items
  • Liz Booth – Guild Member – hand crafted semi precious stone jewellery and felted items
  • Low Auldgirth Steading – Ruth brought a selection of lovely fleeces
  • Roz Plant – Guild Member – with Guild Member – hand dyed spinning fibre, hand dyed yarns and batik finished items
  • Solway Woolscapes – Guild Member – needle felted pictures and cards, needle felting kits and kits for various crafts
  • Sue MacNiven – Guild Member – hand crafted buttons, hand spun yarns and finished items
  • The Threshing Barn from Reeth, Yorkshire Dales, with spinning, weaving equipment, sinning fibre, yarns,dyes etc.

We also displayed our members’ exhibition with the theme of Ethnicity which, from a textile perspective, provided an exciting creative challenge:

dgguildswd Dyeing

October 2019

7Our multi-talented member Roz gave a talk about the history and methodology of batik dyeing. With over 30 years experience of batik, she considers it “messy mindfulness”.  This was followed by a very hands-on workshop for members to put the techniques into practice.

dgguildswd Dyeing

April 2019

1Fiona Moir led a full day workshop, aimed at dyeing yarns using a variety of different methods. The main fibres used were commercial and handspun protein bases (wool, alpaca, mohair, silk). Members brought design sources, pictures, colour schemes, and pics of yarn they liked the look of, and explored different techniques.

dgguildswd Dyeing, Spinning, Weaving

December 2018

Dec 18To close off our meetings for the year we had our Christmas Party. In addition to tables laden with food, members bring in a selection of work completed over the year giving, everyone a chance to look at things closely and also to discuss the work with the creator for advice, technique guidance and inspiration.

We also use this day as an opportunity to give something back to the local community by providing some crafted items to a suitable cause. This year members knit Teddies (aka Trauma Teddies) which are available for the emergency services to distributed to children in traumatic situations, in the hopes of enabling communication and clamming the child down. It was wonderful to see such a range of teddies and PC Jen Wilson was grateful for the contribution and confirmed that they would be put to good use.

dgguildswd Dyeing, Spinning, Weaving

October 2018

Gathering 2018 (1)Our 10th annual gathering took place in a new venue which allowed for more vendors and more space to break out and provide demonstrations to visitors.

Vendors included Weft Blown, The Sleekit Hare (“fledgling” but already very talented dyer), Queen of Purls, (another wonderful dyer and proponent of ethical sourcing of wool), Flora Fibres (all vegan options and incredible colours from natural dyes), local Low Auldgirth Steading (if you’re seeking fleece from beautifully looked-after, naturally-happy and cheeky sheep), Fellview Fibres (some of the most stunningly prepared rolags we’ve ever seen), The Wheel Ewe and others.