This loving gift.

One of the best things about being a maker is being able to create special gifts for the people in your life. I don’t think it matters what your area of making expertise is, but the ability to create and gift something to someone is a special one, in my view.

When I discovered weaving, I was 19. I got my first full sized 48” wide floor loom at the earliest opportunity. I wanted to make floor rugs, so needed a loom with timbers heavy enough to handle the heavy beating that would be required. My mother had her 40th birthday coming up not long after I got that loom so I planned to make my very first rug as her birthday gift.

I planned the design, a fairly simple tapestry with blocks of colour that stepped up and across each band, and dyed the wool for the wefts. I set up the loom and got stuck in. I spent all my free time after work and over several weekends on that rug, loving every minute. I was so very proud of my work and couldn’t wait to gift it to my mother! It was well received and lived on my parent’s bedroom floor for many years. It eventually faded and became pretty worn over the decades and to be honest, I’m not even sure where it is now, or if it is even still around (I have asked my father to see if he can find it and send me a photo if he can). If it is, it is more than 30 years old now. 

Over time I have designed and woven special baby blankets for various family members as well as fine shawls and throws. I like to show my love by making and gifting things to the people I care about, and one of the greatest buzzes I can get is the reaction to someone opening the gift of something I have made and seeing their reaction: priceless!

The tweed on the loom in progress.

More recently, I decided to make my husband some fabric suitable for a new jacket. He has favoured tweed in the past and I mentioned in passing one day that I could weave him some fabric suitable for a jacket to be tailored, if he would like me to. He was very excited at the idea, so I did. We chose the yarn together and I got weaving. The fabric was made from a black and white flecked wool warp with a dark charcoal weft and it was woven in a simple 2/2 twill. I felt the wool we had selected was a little coarse, but it was the best we could find at the time, and I was worried the resulting fabric may be a bit thick for the jacket design we had in mind. However, once the fabric was washed and pressed, when I expressed my concerns to the designer, the talented Kim from Kimberley Day Designs, she reassured me it would be fine. And it was. The resulting fitted, tailored jacket looked great and my husband was thrilled. He describes it as “the most loving gift anyone has ever given me”, which, as a weaver who likes to gift was music to my ears.

Finished fabric, ready for the dressmaker.