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Handweavers’ Guild of Connecticut

WEAVING RATINGS REQUIREMENTS 

(Revised 2006) (A copy of the ratings is available to download.)

The purpose of these ratings is to offer formal Guild recognition to members who are interested in expanding their knowledge and skills, and are willing to expose their work to a formal critiquing process. Ratings work is an exercise; it is not necessarily an example of your particular style. 

Every article must be handwoven by the applicant. Workmanship, function, design, and originality must be acceptable to the judges. An applicant must satisfy the requirements for Apprentice and Journeyman prior to applying for Master Weaver rating. Each guild member may apply for only one rating level per year. Ratings will take place every other year, opposite the CT Biennial Show. 

A network of mentors, knowledgeable to the process (at least holding the journeyman ratings or the equivalent) will be available to lead and help when there are questions about understanding directions or checking finished pieces. The mentors will give suggestions to the best of their ability. Contact the Ratings chair to get the name of the mentor for your Area. 

The Ratings Chairperson shall select two judges, one of which shall be a Master Weaver or the equivalent. Submissions are due at the March meeting, every other year, with awards presented at the May meeting. Work submitted for one rating may not be resubmitted for a higher rating. Submitted work should be carefully boxed. The weaver should not be identified by name on any article or notebook. A candidate whose work has not met the requirements may reapply within two years, with new pieces replacing the rejected ones.

 Entry Fees will be collected by the chairperson at the time of submission: 

            Apprentice        $15.00
            Journeyman      $40.00
            Master weaver  $50.00

The following book list and glossary may be helpful in your work:

Booklist
Atwater, Mary                   The Shuttle-Craft Book of American Hand Weaving
Black, Mary                      New Key to Weaving
Bress, Helene                  The Weaving Book
Chandler, Deborah          Learning to Weave
Collingwood, Peter          Techniques of Rug Weaving
Frey, Berta                        Designing and Drafting for Handweavers
Harvey, Nancy                  Tapestry Weaving
Jerstrop & Kohlmark        The Textile Design Book
Lambert, Staepelaere, & Fry Color and Fiber
Kurtz, Carol                       Designing for Weaving
Tidball, Harriet                  The Weaver’s Book
van der Hoogt, Madelyn   The Complete Book of Drafting
Weavers’ Guild of Boston Processing and Finishing Handwoven Textiles
West, Virginia                    Finishing Touches for the Handweaver

GLOSSARY

• Article: a usable, finished item

• Cartoon: a design on paper that can be placed under the web

• Damask: a patterned satin weave structure which combines weft-faced satin and  warp-faced satin in block form, requiring a minimum of 10 shafts

• Draft: a graphic representation of threading, tie-up, and treadling. X’s indicate a sinking shed; O’s indicate a rising shed

• Drawdown: a picture of the cloth on graph paper, showing at least 1 1/2 repeats of the weave structure

• Finishing: the fulling or washing of an article, as well as its pressing, hemming, and/or fringing

• Originality: the quality of freshness and uniqueness

• Profile Draft: a shorthand method for writing a threading draft

• Satin: a weave structure based on a unit of 5 or more ends, with binding points set over two or more ends on successive picks distributed in an unobtrusive manner

• Tabby (plain weave): A simple over and under interlacement of warp and weft

• Twill: a weave structure characterized by the formation of diagonal lines

• Weave structure: refers to the interlacement of threads
  Loom-controlled weaves include:

  • a. Plain Weave (Balance, Basket, Rep, etc.
  • Twill (2/2, Warp-faced, Weft-face, etc.)
  • Satin (Damask, etc.)
  Weaver-controlled weaves include:
  • Inlay
  • Leno
  • Danish Medallion, etc
  • For further definitions of terms, see the booklist.

1. Sizes listed are for finished articles and are minimum sizes. You are permitted to make larger pieces.
2. Articles should be properly finished.
3. All visible stitching should be done by hand.
4. Pillows should be left unstuffed so that selvages may be judged. Pillow seams may be machine-stitched on three sides, leaving the fourth side unstitched to facilitate inspection.
5. Wall hangings must be ready to hang.
6. A notebook must accompany each rating application.
   For each submitted article include:
   • a. a draft sheet (drafts may be computer generated)
   • samples of warp and weft yarns
   • a drawdown where required (drawdowns may be computer generated)
7. Number pages of the notebook consecutively.
8. Use Handweavers’ Guild of Connecticut official draft sheets or create your own. Besides showing threading, tie-up, and treadling, the draft sheet must list the following:
   • loom: rising, sinking, or countermarch   ends/repeat
   • design software (if applicable) ends to balance
   • weave structure/technique picks per inch
   • pattern and source finishing details
   • warp: size, fiber, color, source shrinkage
   • weft: size, fiber, color, source comments of interest
   • reed, sett (epi), sley (epd) personal design inspiration
9.  Written work should be neat and legible (may be computer generated).
10. All articles must be labeled with appropriate letter(s) and/or number(s) to correspond with notebook pages. Include cartoons where necessary.
11. Use any type of loom, from backstrap to compu-dobby, unless otherwise noted.
 

APPRENTICE RATING

The purpose of the Apprentice exercise is to show you can weave with a variety of fibers, and that you have:

• even beating pleasing effect
• even edges error-free weaving
• proper finishing

• Each article submitted should be different. For example:
  a placemat, a table runner,a pillow cover, a dish towel, a stole, a guest towel, etc.
• Each article should be woven on a warp of a different fiber.
  Yarns of the following fibers must be used:
  all wool
  all cotton
  linen or cottolin
  your choice (but none of the above), such as silk, rayon chenille, polyester, mixed fiber yarns, etc.
• The weft material is your choice. It must be compatible with and appropriate for the warp size and sett.
• Use at least four different weave structures.
• Each finished article should be no smaller than 8” in width (the warp in the reed must be sufficient to produce a finished width of at least 8”) and 15” in length, excluding fringe. It may be woven larger.
• Selvages must be visible on each article
• At least one article must be finished with hem stitching.

II. Color and design exercises

• Using yarn, present a twelve-hue color wheel of your own making.
• Make three different color wrappings by winding yarn on heavy cardboard.
  Illustrate the following in your wrappings:
  1. use of proportion in a black and white sequence
  2. use of proportion in an analogous color sequence
  3. use of textures in a color composition.

III. Technical requirements

• For any one of your finished articles estimate the amount of yarn needed. Submit your calculations for this and include sample of the yarn.
• Make a drawdown of each of the following:

1. Broken Twill
2. Overshot (do not include tabby)

Show at least 1 1/2 repeats of the pattern. State whether it is a warp or weft drawdown.

• Submit a notebook containing information about each article. See General Information.

• Submit the following articles:
  • One finished color blanket with 3 primary and 3 secondary colors, plus black, white, and gray. Minimum size is to be 12” by 12” in balanced plain weave. Warp colors are to be repeated in the weft in the same proportions, at least 1 1/2” per color. Show the yarn colors by finishing with fringe.
  • One sampler of 6 treadling variations on one Overshot pattern. Use at least 3 repeats of the pattern. One variation will be treadled as-drawn-in and one rose fashion; others are your choice. Possibilities include polychrome, opposites, inlay on pattern, and swivel. (See Bress: The Weaving Book or other reference). Show the complete threading, tie-up, and treadling.
  • One sampler showing different twill weaves and variations. Include at least 5 different threadings and separate them by warp ends in contrasting color. Treadle as-drawn-in, squaring each pattern and dividing by contrasting weft colors. Minimum size: 15” by 15”. Include complete draft for each “as-drawn-in” pattern (total of 5).
  • One length of an all-wool fabric, at least 24” wide and 36” long.
  • One length of an all-wool fabric, at least 24” wide and 36” long.
  • Finished articles in 2 hand-manipulated lace weaves, as follows:

    • One finished article of an in-laid technique, such as plain laid-in, Italian laid-in, Dukagang or Half Dukagang, or Brocade
    • 2. One finished article of a finger-manipulated lace weave, such as Leno, Danish Medallion, Brooks Bouquet, or Spanish Lace

  •  An article in linen with a loom-controlled lace effect from one of the following weaves, using enough of the lace weave to make an attractive piece:

    1. Swedish Lace
    2. Atwater Bronson Lace
    3. Huck Lace

  • One article with a loom-controlled border on four sides.
  • Eight articles from the following weave structures, using traditional threading and treadling. Each article should incorporate one weave structure. More than one color must be used in at least six of these articles. At least 75% of the article should be in the chosen weave structure.

     1. Warp-faced (no damask)
     2. Weft-faced (no damask)
     3. Spot Bronson
     4. Summer and Winter
     5. Point Twill or Turned Twill
     6. Honeycomb
     7. Overshot
     8. Swivel
     9. Shadow
    10. Crackle
    11. Satin
    12. M’s and O’s
    13. Monks Belt
    14. Waffle

• Using any one of your finished articles, design a profile draft. Make a drawdown from this profile. Interpret the profile in Summer and Winter and Lace Bronson by giving complete threading drafts for these two weaves.
• Submit a notebook containing information about each article. See General Information.

• Weave a sample blanket of Color and Weave effects showing patterns based on interlacement of dark and light threads. Thread 5 variations side by side, using contrasting threads to separate them. Weave “as drawn in.” Give a complete color and weave draft for one of the treadlings.
  • 1. Weave a finished article using one of these Color and Weave patterns.
• Design and weave a two or three panel finished article. The minimum size is 40” by 40”. Examples include a tablecloth, a coverlet and a blanket.
  • The weave structure of this article must be either Overshot or Summer and Winter.
  • The panels are to be sewn together by hand, matching blocks.
• Design on paper a Damask table runner.
  • 1. Show the draft and drawdown. Also include a profile draft and its drawdown.
  • 2. Weave a finished article, minimum width 12”, using the draft you have developed on paper.
• Weave 6 different rug samples on one or more warps. Samples should be no less than 10” in width and approximately 10” in length. Include both flat and pile weaves. Use at least two different fringe finishes.
• Weave three finished articles of Double Weave, each surface to be no less than 15” by 15”, as follows:
  • 1. Double-width fabric in any color or texture
  • An original design in Finn Weave
  • Stitched Double Weave
• Weave a tapestry from an original design using curves, diagonals, and straight lines. Minimum size is 100 square inches. The tapestry should be ready for hanging. Include cartoon or design in notebook.
• Weave a finished article using a supplementary warp.

• All wool
• All singles linen
• All plied linen
• All cotton
• All silk
• A combination of any yarns

• Textile analysis
• Submit complete draft sheets for the two 8-shaft samples given to you for analysis. Determine fiber content. Write to Ratings Chairperson requesting samples.
• Color exercise
  • Using an article from nature and information on color you have learned in the ratings, interpret the object using at least 6 hues, shades, or tints. Weave a finished article of your choice in a weave structure of your choice. Include the object from nature or a colored print of it in your notebook.
  • Present a short explanation of the following color harmonies and assemble two examples of each, using fabric or yarn, one example using pure hues and the other example using combinations of tints and shades:
  • Monochromatic
  • Analogous
  • Complementary
  • Split complementary
  • Triad
• Submit a notebook containing information about each article. See General Information.