The Best-Selling Weaving eBooks of All Time

New and experienced weavers alike are always on the lookout for new weave-structure patterns. The Weaver's Idea Book presents a wide variety of patterns for the simple rigid-heddle loom, accompanied by harness drafts for multishaft looms. The techniques include leno, Brooks bouquet, soumak, and embroidery on fabric. Each chapter contains weaving patterns along with swatches illustrating the techniques, accompanied by step-by-step photography. The book is arranged by structure or type of weave, from variations on plain weave to doubleweave.

With traditional patterns from around the world, bands, and fabrics woven on two double heddles, The Weaver's Idea Book brings together a variety of ways to create exquisite cloth. Weaving tips and tricks help weavers at all levels achieve their textile dreams. In addition to pattern drafts, Jane offers project ideas that guide the reader through creating functional woven projects, from wearables to home decor. Weaving, especially on rigid-heddle looms, is enjoying a resurgence, and contemporary weavers are in need of a book to bridge the divide between basic books and complex text designed for advanced weavers with sophisticated tools. Celebrating the immense potential for creativity possible with the simplest of tools, The Weaver's Idea Book opens new avenues for exploration on both the rigid-heddle and multishaft looms.

According to the Navajos, the holy people Spider Man and Spider Woman first brought the tools for weaving to the People. Over the centuries Navajo artists have used those tools to weave a web of beauty—a rich tradition that continues to the present day. In testimony to this living art form, this book presents 74 dazzling color plates of Navajo rugs and wall hangings woven between 1971 and 1996. Drawn from a private southwestern collection, they represent the work of sixty of the finest native weavers in the American Southwest.

The creations depicted here reflect a number of styles—revival, sandpainting, pictorial, miniature, sampler—and a number of major regional variations, from Ganado to Teec Nos Pos. Textile authority Ann Hedlund provides an introductory narrative about the development of Navajo textile collecting—including the shift of attention from artifacts to art—and a brief review of the history of Navajo weaving. She then comments on the shaping of the particular collection represented in the book, offering a rich source of knowledge and insight for other collectors. Explaining themes in Navajo weaving over the quarter-century represented by the Santa Fe Collection, Hedlund focuses on the development of modern rug designs and the influence on weavers of family, community, artistic identity, and the marketplace. She also introduces each section of plates with a description of the representative style, its significance, and the weavers who perpetuate and deviate from it. In addition to the textile plates, Hedlund’s color photographs show the families, landscapes, livestock, hogans, and looms that surround today’s Navajo weavers. Navajo Weaving in the Late Twentieth Century explores many of the important connections that exist today among weavers through their families and neighbors, and the significant role that collectors play in perpetuating this dynamic art form. For all who appreciate American Indian art and culture, this book provides invaluable guidance to the fine points of collecting and a rich visual feast.

Although less well known than its much-admired counterparts in Peru and Bolivia, highland Ecuadorian weaving is an Andean tradition that has relationships with these more southern areas. A world away from the industrialized textile manufacturing of Euro-American society, these handmade pieces reflect the history and artistry of an ancient culture.

This comprehensive study, edited by Ann Pollard Rowe, is unrivaled in its detail and includes not only descriptions of the indigenous weaving and dyeing technology, but also an interpretation of its historical significance, as well as hundreds of photographs, drawings, and maps that inform the understanding of the process. The principal focus is on backstrap-loom weaving, a major pre-Hispanic technology. Ecuadorian backstrap looms, which differ in various ways from those found elsewhere in the Andes, have previously only been treated in general terms. Here, the basic operation of this style of loom is covered, as are a variety of patterning techniques including warp-resist (ikat) dyeing, weaving belts with twill, and supplementary- and complementary-warp patterning. Spanish colonial treadle-loom weaving is also covered. The weaving techniques are explained in detail, so the reader can replicate them if desired. Textiles have been an important art form among Andean peoples from remote prehistory up to the present. A greater understanding of their creation process can yield a more meaningful appreciation of the art itself.