MAWS - Montana Association of Weavers and Spinners
Cabin Fever Virtual Workshops
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Register for all four workshops.
Weaving from the Stash: Let Yarn Guide Your Design Decisions
DATE: 1/23/2027
TIME: 10 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. MST
INSTRUCTOR: Karen Donde
Karen Donde weaves wearables and home textiles for exhibit and teaches all levels of weaving, in-person and online. Karen regularly publishes articles in Handwoven, Little Looms, Complex Weavers Journal and Heddlecraft®. Staring at your yarn stash deciding what to weave next, your eyes land on a cone you bought at a fiber fair in 2008. You loved it then, and you love it now, but it remains on the shelf. Or you still have a small quantity of a precious, expensive yarn, but don’t know how to combine it with other yarns so it plays the starring role in the design. Maybe your yarn stash has simply reached critical mass, and you need to use it up so you can order more. This class will help you use the yarn you have as design inspiration. Bring a few “challenge” yarns with you and leave with one or more project ideas.
REGISTRATION: Fee $10 must register before 1/20/2027
Natural dye and plant-based colour
DATE: 3/06/2027
TIME: 10 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. MST
INSTRUCTOR: Zoe Burt
Zoë Burt is a nature-led London artist working across drawing, textiles, eco-printing, plant-based screen printing and cyanotype. Her work explores the meeting point of creativity, ecology and community. From growing a linen garment through her Seeds of Fashion project to cultivating dye plants in London gardens, her practice reconnects making with the living landscape. Through collaborative workshops and public projects, she invites people to rediscover colour, cloth and creativity within the web of life. Zoë's talk will trace her journey into natural dye and plant-based colour — from growing and harvesting dye plants in community gardens across London, to the "seed to garment" process behind her Seeds of Fashion project. She'll share the practicalities of working with garden-grown colour at a domestic and community scale, the seasonal rhythms of dyeing with what's actually available, and how these processes connect people back to the land around them.
REGISTRATION: Fee $10 must register before 3/4/2027
Bandweaving Narrow but not Limited, Creating with Color
DATE: 4/10/2027
TIME: 10 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. MST
INSTRUCTOR: Annie MacHale
Inkle weaving has been Annie’s creative focus since 1976 when she built her first loom with help from her dad. She has learned a lot by choosing to stay within this narrow focus on band weaving. After thousands of bands, she discovered things that can't be learned by just dabbling. Annie is the author of two books “In Celebration of Plain Weave-Color and Design for Inkle Weavers” and “Three-Color Pickup for Inkle Weavers.” Because the inkle loom is a simple device designed to make very narrow, warp-faced pieces, its true potential is often overlooked. People ask “What can you do with an inkle loom, anyway?” Annie will share stories of her inspiration and creation and show a diverse array of items produced on her inkle looms. Weavers often stumble right at the start over the choice of color, often asking how many colors are optimal and how to choose. Annie will show us how select colors and use current tools to help select pleasing color combinations from our environments and examples of how to use them in inkle weaving.
REGISTRATION: Fee $10 must register before 4/8/2027
Love Your Blending Board
DATE: 4/24/2027
TIME: 10 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. MST
INSTRUCTOR: Debbie Held
Debbie is a former business journalist turned wool junkie who now writes exclusively about handspinning and textiles for outlets including Spin Off, PLY, Little Looms, Farm and Fiber Knits, and more. Debbie released her book, The Spinner’s Blending Board Bible: From Woolen to (Nearly!) Worsted in 2025. Debbie is an online spinning instructor for The School of SweetGeorgia and teaches in-person classes globally. This is for anyone interested in amplifying the potential power of their blending board while learning more about fibre preparation and spinning. To work along with Debbie you will need a blending board with dowels and brushes, diz and threader, scissors, paper and pencil.
REGISTRATION: Fee $10 must register before 4/22/2027