The Weavers’ Workshop have been busy during lockdown.
Here is a gallery of some of their creations.
Big thanks to the Weavers who sent in pics of their amazing creations:
Anne-Marie: rag rugs and waistcoat, Merino/cotton woven tunic with knitted rolled collar.
Ingrid: basket, open air rug weaving on twining frame, finished rug with Harris Tweed selvedges, red shawl woven in cotton yarn on rigid heddle loom.
Beryl: Rainbow
2017 was a massively successful and memorable year at The Weaver’s House, so without ado, here’s a whistle-stop tour of the highlights. From a sunny start in April with a day of fun and Tudor Games we enjoyed consistently good visitor numbers and fantastic feedback. The ‘Old May Day and Crafts’ Open Day featured guest stalls throughout the house and garden, welcoming craftspeople from Warwickshire Craft Circle, Quite Contrary Baskets and Byatt’s Brewery. The June Open Day coincided with World Wide Knit in Public Day, so knitters convened in the garden for sociable crafting.
July was non-stop, with stalls at both Godiva Festival and Lunt Roman Festival. Plus not one, but two open days, including our big celebration of ten years of the house being open to the public and a well-earned party for volunteers.
Heritage Open Days in September is always a big weekend for us and on the Sunday we had the finale of our tenth anniversary weaving project Coventry Blue. Throughout this year, visitors to The Weaver’s House contributed to this hands-on project, run by the Weavers’ Workshop and on the Sunday it was finally finished. Coventry Blue then took second prize on the Spon Spun Art Trail, even though it wasn’t on the official voting list!
What a fantastic year! Last night we convened on a misty and mysterious looking evening to discuss plans for the upcoming year… there are a few plans in the works that we will be revealing soon!
This year sees us offering some Sunday dates in response to demand from people who would like to visit but work or have other commitments on a Saturday. We do hope that if this is you, you will be able to join us this year, whether it’s for a tour or tea and cake!
Dates for the 2018 Open Days are: Saturday 14 April, Sunday 6 May Heritage Crafts Day, Saturday 16 June, Sunday 22 July Tudor Games Day, Saturday 18 August (all 11am – 4pm) and Heritage Open Days, provisionally scheduled for Saturday 15 September and Sunday 16 September.
Our June Open Day coincided with World Wide Knit in Public Day, so we invited knitters to come along and take part alongside our usual activities. It was a warm day, but it was pretty windy, so we tethered the gazebo securely and ensconced the knitters and their handiwork inside.
The knitters brought plenty of examples of their wonderful work, (and yes, there was also some crochet).
After the success of our previous open day it was really lovely to again share the space with more creative crafters.
We had a fantastic day with enthusiastic visitors leaving fabulous feedback:
“Had a great time worth a visit. Lovely people beautiful building and gardens”
“Fascinating 15th century medieval terrace house in Spon End. The staff are welcoming, friendly and informative. A lovely garden with weavers and knitters showing you how to make craft work. The tea room again has friendly staff selling a lovely selection of cakes and hot / cold beverages. We had a tour of the house which was informative and fascinating. Well worth a visit.”
“Had an absolutely wonderful time, interesting conversation & demonstration of spinning and very informative & lively talk by Tina in the Weavers House itself. Great time in the garden too ?”
“Fantastic see you all soon, and thank you again for giving me a new place of interest and new interests ??”
The garden is certainly looking full of life at the moment. Plenty of time to see it in full bloom over the course of our next few Open Days, including our Tenth Anniversary celebrations – details soon!
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Our June 10 Open Day coincides with World Wide Knit in Public Day. Enjoy sitting in our lovely Tudor garden and join in with the time-honoured practice of sociable crafting.
We will also have our usual weaving activities so there’s also a chance for knitters to down needles and have a go at weaving as well. We will have a covered space in case it is wet or hot.
All this alongside the usual tours of the house, a children’s trail and of course our delicious homemade cake. As usual we’re open 11am – 4pm.
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The Weavers’ Workshop have been busy creating blankets made from knitted bunting.
The knitted triangles were originally made for a world-record attempt for the longest line of knitted bunting. The event was organised by National Trust property Upton House and yes, they broke the world record with an astonishing 7.55km of bunting!
Making the blankets was a way of using the triangles for something useful. The charity Crisis Skylight Coventry & Warwickshire are coordinating this part of the project to take the blankets to the homeless. So far the Weavers have transformed 200 triangles into two blankets. With many more people involved in the project by the 19th December it is hoped that 30000 triangles will have been stitched into blankets for the Christmas handout.
Would you like to help Crisis this Christmas? Find out about how you can volunteer here.