Spinning and Weaving Tuition in South Derbyshire

I was re-evaluating my life recently and realised I'd been teaching spinning, weaving and dyeing for 30 years this year!

My first class was in Hatton, South Derbyshire, for our local Adult Education Centre (it was Community Education then!) and was really in the right place at the right time, as they say.

I'd offered my services as a qualified keep fit instructor to a new Summer Play Scheme that was being organised and arrived at the office for an informal interview.  The Programe Manager for Community Education at the centre was on the telephone, so I sat quietly in the corner.  She came off the phone and said that she was trying to find a spinning and weaving tutor and I, casually, said that I was a weaver and a spinner.
"You've got the job!"  She replied.
"But you don't know anything about my work."  I said.
"You're qualified to teach, I'll send you a contract."  Was her reply.

And here I am 30 years later, still loving every minute if it!   The original class moved to Willington and has been running on a Monday evening at The Old School, Castleway, for over 15 years.

The success and reputation of the Willington Class has meant I now have a spinning and weaving class on a Wednesday in Heage, Amber Valley, Derbyshire and a weaving class on a Thursday evening in Leek in the Stafordshire Moirlands.  I've been running workshops in spinning, weaving and dyeing all over the UK, to Europe and have recently been asked if I'd consider teaching in Ireand and The United States of America.

One of my hand dyed, hand spun and hand woven tapestries.

The Hallamshire Guild getting to grips with "Colour and Weave".

"Creative Spinning" at Alston Hall.

Students Work

I started teaching a new evening class last November and a number of my students learnt to weave with riged heddle looms.  This afternoon I had an email from one of them with an image if three lovely cushion covers she has woven.  She said, "I used my own textured hand spun, my Mum's left over scraps of plied home spun and some strands of colinette yarns. So 'dry clean only' . . . "

I'm sure you will agree how lovely they all are.

Three beautiful cushions designed and handwoven by Tyra Till

So What's Been Going On!

Well, there's been lots of changes here in the world of Alison Yule Textiles, one of the biggest being another house and studio move!

I now have a small studio in South Derbyshire, just north of the village of Suton-on-the-Hill were I've masses of inspiration on the door step, so I usually start the day with a walk along the lanes and now Spring as sprung and better weather is on the horizon I hope to venture across the fields before I settle down to work.

A colourful corner of the studio!

Teaching has also been featuring heavily and now have three, yes, three evening classes!  Spinning and Weaving on Mondays in Willington, Spinning and Weaving onWednesdays in Heage and Weaving on Thursdays in Leek, at the Foxlowe Arts Centre.

I'm starting to get bookings for 2014, too, which is really good, but the really, really exciting news is that I've been invited to step in and tutor Anne Fields course, Spinning Beyond the Basics at The National Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers Summer School.  Sadly Anne is unable to travel from New Zealand and I was recommended by several people, so I will be joining Jane Deane, Amanda Hannaford and others in Carmarthen in August.

Featured Designer

In February I caught up with Shiela Dixon of Handspinner and spent a lovely morning cheating over coffee and the result was a feature in her monthly newsletter.
 http://hand-spinning-news.com/march_2013.html#sponsored

It's always a joy when the Handspinner's newsletter pops into my inbox and usually signals that it's time to stop for a coffee.  It's packed full of interesting spinning snippets, useful information and spinning, weaving and knitting fun!  If you're a spinner and haven't discovered Shiela's website follow the link above and take a look, or subscribe to her newsletter (scroll to the bottom right of Shiela's homepage.

Alison Yule Textiles Video

Tip of the Month - May!

This month I've got a tip for spinners!

I've been teaching for a very long time, as some of you know, since the early 80's actually, and over that time new spinners have brought second hand wheels into the class that they haven't been able to get to work.  All that needs doing to the vast majority is:

A little oiling on most of the moving parts.

Most modern wheels don't need oiling, but old models do!

To remove the old nylon fishing line Scotch Tension band, which has set in position and won't allow adjustment, to a long length of linen buttonhole thread. (Yes, this will fray, but cut off the frayed bit and re-tie to the spring/elastic band and it's as good as new!)  This tip was given to me in the early 80's by Sue Hailey Harris at one of her silk spinning workshops and has been the best thing I've done on all my old wheels!

The linen comes in brown.....

...and white.

A change of a worn drive band, correctly set so that it can be used with all ratios.  (If you have a stretchy nylon one, don't forget to remove it when the wheel is not being used otherwise it will stretch too much and you'll have to take a chunk out!)

Hay presto!  The wheel works again!

My Studio and Loom Shed!

We moved in August last year and I've been moving both my studio and loom shed around a bit!  It always seems to take a bit of time to get settled in a new space, but I really wasn't happy with the studio space.

So over the last couple of weeks, when I had time, I began to re-organise my space.  I use a laptop computer and my chiropractor had told me to raise it so that I would get less neck pain and have spent a week or two using an old bed table, the ones that can be used in bed, raised and lowered and adjusted to an angle.  This was so useful that I realised that my studio table needed some adjustment.

I took one of the leaves off my table and positioned it so that it could be at one of two angles, depending if I want to stand or sit to work.   I also took some useful advise from the Craft Corner Blog.  It's aimed at the sewing community, but never the less, it's got some great tips to keep your space nice and neat and I hope you find it useful, too!

I've still some refinements to the table, but I'm pleased with it so far.

My library!

Just a small part of my yarn store!





I'll show you my "loom shed" in another post.

Deborah Allen - feltmaker

I want to introduce you to Deborah Allen, a very talented felt maker.

I met Deborah via the internet when she joined the Weavers-Spinners-UK group on Yahoo and last year she popped into the Pure Tinctoria stand at Wonderwool Wales to say hello.  She purchased the last of a lovely wool boucle yarn I was selling off because I couldn't get anymore.  At the time Deborah was going to crochet a jacket with this naturally dyed chunky wool yarn.

Deborah ended up unpicking the jacket, but has used it to great effect in some lovely Hundertwasser inspired wet felted bags that she's been developing. They are so beautiful, I couldn't resist showing them to you.

Her blog is full of wonderful felt inspiration and you can find her work for sale on Etsy.  If I had more time, I'd be back felting again!