Weaving A Life

Our weaving group is fortunate--we have many talented sharing weavers in our area. Scharine is such a person. She is always willing to share her heritage and did so at one of our recent gatherings.

If you have March-April issue of Handwoven, you can read all about Scharine and her journey to weaver her life.

She shares the lessons learned from her grandmother, who lived and wove in -Okinawa.

Scharine weaves her soul into her fabric.

bashofu, a banana fiber is spun to make light, stiff cloth that is perfect for wearing in a hot climate.

The leaves are split into strips and then each piece is separated into thin slivers of thread, which are then tied and spun together

This spinning process is very time consuming but worthy of the fabric woven

a weaving shuttle

Silk and hemp fabric with natural dyes for color

Scharine models a traditional kimono

It boggles the mind to think of the processes used to achieve such lively colors and perfect patterns

Silk woven sash

natural dyes bring out the ikat pattern in this garment

Many tiny knots were tied to achieve this delicate pattern

spinning wheel made personally for Scharine from bamboo

Stencil!  Yes, a stencil cut to be used as a resist

This is sample of process of stencil that is used to create the pattern

Scharine's stencil cut and dyed in John Marshall workshop.  Yes, our group is very fortunate to have talented weavers in our midst--very sharing weavers!