This week Felicia is joined by Jane Stafford: production weaver, teacher, and business owner behind Jane Stafford Textiles on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia. For over 35 years, Jane has been exploring weaving and has built the most extraordinary career in textiles. Jane is the instructor for Louet dealers in North America and you might recognize her from her teaching on Louet’s instructional DVDs and videos. It’s also no coincidence that Jane shares her name with Louet’s newest table loom. The Jane loom is an acknowledgement of Jane Stafford’s years of contributions towards weaving loom design. Seriously, how many people can say that they have a weaving loom named after them? Jane is also the recipient of teacher of the year award from Handwoven Magazine and now teaches exclusively from her studio on Salt Spring Island and her online weaving guild.
Join Felicia and Jane this week as they discuss Jane’s humble beginnings of weaving her first piece of fabric to creating an online guild so she can reach weavers all over the world!
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On creating her first piece of weaving: “…I started weaving on a Dorthy table loom… wove the ugliest piece of fabric you ever saw but it was magical from the first pick to the last. And I was so proud of myself, I thought I was creating something that had never been created before… I think all new weavers feel that, it’s such a magical thing, those first few picks where you are actually seeing cloth come to being in front of your eyes.” — Jane Stafford
In this episode, we talk about:
- 2:22 Felicia reminisces how she first learned about Jane from a book on a coffee table many years ago
- 3:27 Jane discusses how she first got introduced to weaving
- 9:00 Did Jane ever feel like quitting during the long process to becoming a weaver? Jane also discusses the frustration of having so many teachers with different methods.
- 11:15 Weaving is attractive to many different kinds of people. Some are very exact and precise, some are very free and unstructured. Felicia asks Jane what her personality is when it comes to weaving. Also, the method Jane used to save herself from the tedium of production weaving.
- 20:02 Is Jane still into production weaving?
- 21:32 How Jane started to teach weaving to others
- 25:20 Jane gives advice on how one can start something as seemingly-complex as weaving
- 29:04 Jane and Felicia discuss Jane’s online weaving guild she’s developing
- 34:38 The ladies discuss mistakes and problem solving in weaving and the dangers of perfectionism
- 38:02 Chatting about how weavers can find support when they are learning online
- 40:28 Jane discusses her plans for the guild for 2018
- 44:00 Felicia asks Jane what she considers is good design for weaving and how people can get there
- 47:17 Jane created the online guild so she could reach more people and have more time for her own personal weaving projects. Felicia asks Jane what she is looking forward to making.
- 51:49 Felicia’s final notes and podcast giveaway!
Links and Things
Here’s where to find Jane online:
- Website: www.janestaffordtextiles.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/janestaffordtextiles
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/janestaffordtextiles
- Ravelry Group: www.ravelry.com/groups/browse/show/weave-with-jane-stafford
- Pinterest: www.pinterest.ca/janestaff
Podcast Giveaway!
Win a 1 year membership to Jane’s online guild! You will have access to Jane’s library of educational weaving videos any time you wish and get great support from her online forums. Simply enter your info here and we’ll enter you in the giveaway and also subscribe you to our SweetGeorgia updates, so you won’t miss out on any of our updates!
Introducing the SweetGeorgia Secret Stash!
Although our beloved yarn and fibre club is ending, something new and exciting is beginning! In 2018 we will be introducing limited edition projects called the SweetGeorgia Secret Stash. If you want in on the fun, make sure you sign up for notifications so you can snag something special for yourself.
Thanks for Listening!
Thank you so much for joining me this episode! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with your fellow knitting friends. And if you like what I’m doing here, please leave a rating and review on iTunes for the show. I read each and every email and bit of feedback, whether it’s on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, so I welcome your comments.
Thank you so much to Jane for joining us on the show!
Music Credits:
The Young and Beautiful – by Ivory Hours
Fallin’ – by Jetty Rae (on Noise Trade)
I loved this episode! I’ve been willing to start weaving for a while, but don’t know where to start! I will have a look at Jane’s guild for sure, but one question remains what loom to buy? Jane is so right when she says the amount of information available online is confusing for beginners… Note: there’s something not working with the givaway – it is set up to start & end in 1969 from what I see…
Thank you so much for listening to this episode! I am a huge fan of Jane’s for sure. I hope you enjoy the guild. I’ll see you in there!
And YES, I fixed the giveaway so it should be working now! Thanks again!
Awesome, thank you so much Tammy! Absolutely, you can find the giveaway here: http://woocommerce-414791-4028440.cloudwaysapps.com/giveaways/jane-stafford-online-guild-membership-giveaway/ And I’m about to go check out her latest episode for Colour & Design too! :)