Courses

Have you made felt before and found yourself frustrated with the design?  The colors became muted and soft, the easily identifiable bird became a cloud?  This is a class for those who have worked with felt and want to focus on the details of design.  First, we will examine the…

Discover the magic of “painting with beads” through your choice of seven different signature beaded lapel pin projects. In a reflection of the art and craft of bead embroidery, artist Jo Wood will lead you through your choice of one or two bead-embroidered projects, time permitting. The birch tree pin…

Try your hand at a simple bead weaving project in this introductory course that teaches two distinct skills: bead weaving and leather sewing. This project is based on a traditional amulet-style bag design Marcie learned from her grandmother, intended to be worn as a necklace. Students will complete and embellish…

Brightly-colored seed beads have been used to embellish and brighten clothing and homegoods for centuries. Learn to make a beaded doily in this short class and experiment with color and pattern repetition to create a unique piece. Beadwork artist Marcie McIntire will provide instruction and materials for creating these lovely…

Crocheting, knitting, tatting, and needle lace focus on a single thread to construct lace. Bobbin lace making is one of the traditional forms of making lace and is the only technique to use multiple threads concurrently to create lace. The technique has some similarities to weaving but is made on…

Boro is a Japanese folk textile with an indiscernible eloquence and aesthetic that was originally created out of necessity, in which small scraps of precious fabric are carefully stitched together to create a larger cloth or repair a garment. In this course students will review a brief history of Boro…

Autumn brings a riot of color to the landscape of the North Shore. This workshop is your opportunity to capture a bit of the season with beads. Each participant will bring an autumn image to inspire their design. From your image you will create a unique “bead painting” embroidered on…

Did you know that for spinning some fibers, you have to do a long draw? Did you know that you can’t get a true woolen spun yarn without the long draw? Did you know that, in the end, spinning with a long draw is faster? This class will not only…

The kitchen is a great place for handmade wool items. Potholders, tea cozies, cup cozies, placemats, hotpads, table runners, dish scrubbies, felted soap balls-- all these projects use the basic method of taking wool batting or roving, adding designs with a felting needle (or not), and using water, soap and…

This is a good introduction to felting for those just looking to get started and a fun day for those who have some experience but want to expand their needle-felting and wet-felting skills. We will be making flat items of use or just beauty.  Using a needle-felting tool is a…

Join featured international guest instructor Karin Flatøy Svarstad for an exploration of wool varieties and felting techniques, resulting in a wearable (or not, your choice!) hat. This felting technique is easy to learn, opens the door to innumerable creative possibilities and can be used to make bags, shoes, slippers or…

This course is an intensive introduction to the ancient textile fiber: flax; and the cloth made from flax: linen. Students will explore all aspects of this traditional material, from seed selection, planting and cultivation, through harvesting, retting, hand processing, spinning, and weaving. We discuss flax’s place in traditional hand textile…

Capture summer color onto paper. We will steam a bounty of garden and wild flowers between layers of paper. Explore folding, design, and layering methods, then into the steam box the offering goes. Students will bind a 5"x8" notepad while we wait for the thrill of unwrapping bundles of color.

Bring a favorite North Shore image to class: four-legged, scaled, winged, rooted, or creepy crawler. You’ll use that image as the subject of your bead embroidery and make your own unique beadwork on felted wool (material provided). Your piece can be made into a pin for a wearable work of…

It may never have occurred to you, but puppets and oven mitts are very closely related. They are both made of colorful wool, both are wet felted around a resist, and with a little imagination, they both can talk. Is an oven mitt just a shy puppet or is a…