Weft's festival exhibition 'A Sea Change' drew many interested visitors to the studio this year. The exhibition focused on visual research, including photography, sketchbooks and textile experiments alongside Jan Shelley's beautifully textured woven fabrics. Jan and the Weft team of textile artists and designers were on hand to explain how the harbour environment can be an inspiration for creative work.

Also featured in the studio were works by textile artist Linda Green, whose exhibition 'From Straw to Gold' can be seen at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh. Sue Heathcote Design and Mitchell & Black showed their latest collection of knitted fashion accessories with textile jewellery by Syrah Jay and Sarah MacLeod and woven silk scarves by Dorothy Stewart.

We were pleased to have artist and photographer Marysia Lachovicz weaving in the studio this week. Her tapestry, which incorporates photographic imagery, is part of Marysia's current project TRACES.

TRACES, uses archive and other photography to recall the bravery and commitment of the Polish Army in Fife during World War 2.

For more information go to http://www.marysia.co.uk/PERSONAL/PolishArmy3.pdf

Linda Green's inspiring master class in mixed-media tapestry was held on Saturday and Sunday 23rd and 24th June. Experimental weaving on the high-warp loom was underpinned by informative visual presentations on contemporary tapestry and the development of Linda's own work and ideas.

Linda also runs creative textile workshops from her stunning Edinburgh studio and her work can be seen at Weft during the Pittenweem Arts Festival and at the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens in July.

For more information, see: http://www.studiogreen.me

Weft's latest traditional Gobelin tapestry course focused on the art of colour mixing and hatching.
With Rebecca Black's expert guidance, weavers mastered the art of blending yarns to interpret the subtle colours and textures of landscape and natural form.

On Saturday April 21st Jan Shelley held a short intensive workshop on the basic techniques of rug weaving.

Weavers explored a wide variety of colour and weave designs, from four-shaft twills to the unpronounceable three-shaft Norwegian Krokbragd!

An inspirational day for Fife's future rug weavers!

Designer and lecturer Sarah Dearlove spent two days weaving with Jan Shelley at Weft Studio, as part of her AHRC funded PhD at Heriot Watt University.

Sarah's practice-based research into historic Shetland tweed, also involves working alongside the Ann Sutton Foundation on Yell, designing and producing contemporary woven fabrics inspired by traditional textiles.

Linda Green's second textile design workshop was held at Weft studio on February 11th and 12th. Once again, with Linda's subtle guidance and encouragement, some highly accomplished work was produced for portfolios and sketchbooks.
The sun came out for a harbour photographic project and there was time at the end of the day to introduce some practical weaving with paper, using four shaft looms. An inspiring weekend!

Linda returns to Weft on the weekend of 26th/27th May, with her intriguing new course 'Creative Paper Engineering'. For further information and booking, contact Jan Shelley by email or telephone or simply download the booking form from this site and send to Weft studio Pittenweem.

A new short course on Theo Moorman inlay weaving was held at Weft Studio on Saturday and Sunday, 28th and 29th January. Hand-weavers from Edinburgh, Fife and Dundee enjoyed the creative challenge of exploring this demanding technique.

Inlay is time consuming but basically simple, combining the textural possibilities of woven cloth with the colour and image potential of tapestry. It is always good to have time to focus on the loom. In the words of Theo Moorman, "We are aware of the deep and intimate appreciation of fibres, textures and colours and the unique interplay between these elements..."

Jan will be offering another course in inlay technique later in the year, as the results of this weaving weekend were stunning! Contact or visit Weft Studio for more information. Theo Moorman believed that all of us have hidden, subconscious creative springs and are capable of surprising ourselves, given the right stimulus. Join the next Weft course and surprise yourself!

Ship's rope, driftwood and paper were some of the materials used to weave miniature artworks at Weft's Textile Art weekend on 22nd and 23rd October.

Tutor Linda Green, whose work can be seen at Edinburgh City Art Centre, from November to January, gave an illustrated talk on contemporary tapestry and made the weekend a thoroughly enjoyable creative experience.

Linda will be back at Weft on February 11th and 12th 2012. You can book a place on her next course, 'Developing Ideas for Textiles 2' by emailing studio@janshelley.com or downloading a booking form from this site.

Rebecca Black held another introductory tapestry course at Weft on Saturday and Sunday, 1st and 2nd of October.

Interest in this historic textile art form continues to grow, inspired by the success of the Dovecot Tapestry exhibition at Pittenweem Festival in 2010 and the completion of four stunning Unicorn Tapestries in the Queen's Chamber at Stirling Castle.

Rebecca's next tapestry course at Weft is 'The Woven Image' on November 5th and 6th.

Linda Green's course 'Developing Ideas for Textiles' is an exciting addition to the autumn/winter programme at Weft. The two-day course makes a bold and colourful statement about the importance of the 'seeing eye' in the textile design process.

Activities this weekend included photography in Pittenweem harbour and the development of small sketchbooks and portfolios of mixed media works on paper.

Linda's next course at Weft, 'Small Textile Artworks', is on 22nd/23rd October. 'Developing Ideas for Textiles' will be repeated on 11th/12th February 2012.

To book a place on either course, contact Jan Shelley by phone or email or download a booking form and return to Weft Studio.

The autumn programme got off to a flying start this weekend with Jan Shelley's course 'An Introduction to Cloth Weaving'. Participants had a most enjoyable and productive two days, weaving on four-shaft hand looms for the first time and creating their own individual textiles.

If you’ve never woven on a loom before, you could try a one-to-one taster session or book a two-day introductory course for yourself and friends. All classes and courses are suitable for beginners, unless otherwise stated, and all materials are provided.

Weft offers a range of textile design courses, from cloth weaving to high-warp tapestry. New autumn courses include ‘Developing ideas for Textiles’ with artist Linda Green and ‘Upcycling Knitted Garments’ with knitwear designer Sue Heathcote. The tapestry weaver Rebecca Black will again run her popular weekend courses in Gobelin tapestry and Jan Shelley will be providing some intriguing new insights into the potential of the four shaft loom.

All courses are held at Weft studio in the picturesque harbour at Pittenweem.

You may download a full programme and booking form from this website. Book in person at the studio, by post or email.

Textile artist Linda Green gave an inspiring talk about her recent research project, funded by Creative Scotland and The Theo Moorman Trust for Weavers. Linda's talk was attended by artists, historians and trustees of Dr Neil's Garden in Edinburgh.

Weft Textile Studio launched Linda Green's textile research exhibition, 'From Straw to Gold', at the Pittenweem Arts Festival on Friday 5th August. The exhibition continues until Sunday 14th.