Stratford-upon-Avon Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers

Mary (seated) is pictured her at our 40th birthday celebrations with two other guild founder members (Chris Suddick, L and Ann Howells, R) Our Honorary President Mary Jeffery died on 20th September. She would have been 98 on 5th November. This guild would not have existed without Mary. In our October newsletter Ann Howells (Chair of the guild) reflected that she first met Mary when enrolled onto her Further Education class in spinning, weaving and dyeing at the College in Stratford. To relieve the pressure on class places this guild was started and membership soon grew to over 90. Mary was always there with ideas for speakers, plans for events, and above all her wide experience and knowledge which she was always ready to share. When the guild was 24 and Mary was 80 we made her Honorary President. She continued to play a leading part in the guild until the last few years when she became less active. We were delighted to see her at our 40th Birthday celebration in 2015. Sever...

The pictured yarns were all dyed in a crock pot using Wilton cake dyes - although we did need a much larger pot for big skeins.   At our meeting on Saturday October 21st at the Methodist Church (our usual venue but on this occasion in the Foyer/Lounge areas), we will be discovering some of the things that members learned at the Association summer school in August. Theresa will talk us through spinning plant fibres (including some unusual ones such as mint). Chris will share some of what she learned about how to prep a range of fleece (from down breeds, to primitives with dual haired fleeces).  In the morning a slightly more formal but definitely experimental session (following the Getting Better At ... format) will explore what you can do with a crock pot/slow cooker and some Wilton food dyes. If you have tried Kool-Aid and microwaves this is a step beyond, but nearly as easy. Think of this as kitchen-friendly low cost dyeing for newbies, with some surprises for the m...