November’s program includes a lecture on Shibori by Kathleen Huntington Waln, as well as a program later in the month at Margaret S’s house.

Shibori: a Journey with Cloth

We all have a story about how we started weaving. Some of us began our journey with fabric as a child, others have waited until retirement from our work-a-day lives to find the time to weave cloth. But no doubt, we all have a specific “something” that guided us to create textiles.

For me, shibori played a large part in my journey as a weaver/dyer/creator.

Shibori roughly translates “to wring, squeeze or press” – an aesthetic tie dye. When you create with shibori, you end up with fabric with a dyed resist of your woven or stitched pattern. I’ve always been interested in the Japanese domestic cloth called “noren” which are fabric dividers hung in doorways, across windows, on walls or between rooms. They take many shapes and sizes and are made using a multitude of different colors, shibori patterns and materials.

Although I’ve discussed traditional and woven shibori in guild programs of the past, I’ll focus this talk with stories of shibori: a little history; a little about noren; and a bit more about my experiences with this intriguing decorative technique.

About Kathleen Huntington Waln

Kathleen has been working with fiber & fabric for over forty years, first as a theatre educator and costume designer and more recently as a fabric designer. She has been dyeing, spinning, and weaving for over twenty-five years. Her passions include Shibori, Ikat and researching the history of the fabric arts. She enjoys making connections between her field and larger cultural patterns, an

interest that dates back to her years as a university professor and costume historian. She now teaches at the Charter Oak Weaving and Spinning class in Covina, which is famous for it’s 100 looms in one large room! She also harvests her own wild, organic cotton trees and loves to dye and spin their yield. Kathleen holds a MFA in Theatrical Design from the University of Texas at Austin where her love of weaving began.