Jackie Sylvester, the catalogne project, and the 100" loom

Jackie Sylvester, the catalogne project, and the 100" loom

July 08, 2021

© Kingston Handloom Weavers and Spinners

Shaelagh Cull

Jackie Sylvester

Zoom

So, one of our members Josee Menard with her French Canadian heritage and background, she got really interested in that it would be lovely to make catalogne, and she grew up sleeping under a catalogne blanket. She suggested after we had finished our last round of wool blankets, of which she was one of the members, she suggested, why don't we try doing catalognes for a change. She found out information from some of her relatives and we formed a group, five people, five members originally. And three of us decided to do two, and two people wanted to do one each. So we set the loom up for eight catalogne blankets. And similarly to the past, we all took turns at helping put the warp on, it takes about 100 hours to set a warp up on a loom like that, we very seldom set it up for one project, we always set it up for multiple units, or multiple uses of the same warp because of the amount of time that that takes. And we've always had lovely cooperative groups. So we pair off, usually the 100 inch loom requires two people to weave at the same time and so, for one person, we will have them decide what they're going to use for weft and they acquire their own weft, which are the threads that go across the loom. We will help one other person weave and then commonly they will help us weave one. Generally we try to change around partners, if we can, it's a great way to learn more about weaving and get involved, get to know another person well. So that's one of the joys of weaving on the 100 inch loom. And I also find it a great project for weavers shortly after they've started their journey into weaving because the weaving itself is actually quite simple. But you learn a lot of hints and techniques and other things from your partner. And you gain a lot of confidence just in working on a large project, rather than always working just on a scarf, or, you know, something small. So yes, there's a lot of time commitment, but a lot of us have really enjoyed the friendships and the time that we've spent over the years doing this. I mean, we still have members that often join in at Open Studio, and particularly this last year during the Zoom meetings, partly because of their association with the 100 inch loom and the friendships that were formed.