hi Pokey, I spin, I weave, I crochet and have designed my own cloth dolls ( in another life)  and having hit a slump in what I was doing, over the summer I discovered mixed media crafts and then this fabulous site! Its a completely natural progression as what you learn enhances those skills you already have, and gives you another dimension to your craft. It also helps you look at things in a different light and I am going back to my older crafts with renewed enthusiasm, while happily embarking on my new ones. Weaving and quilting  involve making fabric out of the materials at hand, and creating a new and unique piece of cloth, and for me its a perfect fit, and I can happily incorporate all my old and new skills into the one piece.

Although I am awed by Ellen's ability to weave and applaud her creativity, I immediately thought OH NO! when I read about cutting up vintage dress patterns. The sewing community's great interest in vintage clothing and vintage patterns continues to grow. I hope that these were not the increasingly rare designer patterns that many couture sewers regard as treasures and want to preserve. We can learn so much from examining the designs of the past and building upon them.

I have a loom, sadly put away in storage right now.  But seeing this makes me want to get it out and WEAVE!  I have mostly made rag rugs and the one in my kitchen has lasted for years.

Hello SKPOWERS. Thank you for your thoughtful comment! I completely agree with you. I love old dress patterns for making dresses as well and understand your concern. The dress patterns  I used were from a local thrift store. Most were from the 1970s and were already damaged (missing key pieces of the pattern) so it felt like it was a good way to recycle them. I agree that it is important to save rare designer patterns and that their value for inspiration and research cannot be overlooked!

I get tickled when I 'step back' and view myself alone in the room, sitting at my computer reading your article, nodding and smiling as I read! About the third time I nodded I became embarrassingly aware of what I was doing!!! I have plans to weave natural vegetation, as Ellen has done, but what I was nodding about was the 'drift' from craft to craft to art form...I was going to blissfully do counted cross stitch the rest of my life-until quilting! Then through exposure to QA I am being sucked into the art quilt world. And thanks to Interweave, I subscribe to almost all the newsletters, because you never know what might spark another genre might be to your creativity !

Hi Pokey,  I'm also one of those people who work in multiple media, and have not only experienced fiber creep, but also multiple media creep!  I just love to learn, and  along with quilting, my other current favorites weaving, spinning, knitting, and beading / wirework, basketmaking, etc.,  and usually have something in progress in at least several media at the same time.  I've also taken time to venture into dyeing, screen printing, stamping, mixed media, watercolor, lacemaking, and many other things at one tie or another, so much that one of my boys jokes that when someone asks what different things I do,  it would be easier to list the things I don't do.

As far as my weaving and quilting goes, I usually plan to make a longer warp than necessary, not only so that I have space to experiment, but I almost always weave off the remaining warp, just so I can save it for crazy quilting or patchwork.  Some warps that were originally planned to be towels, are now yardage for sewing projects, and the scraps will be saved for patchwork.

I weave, crochet, sew, quilt and do several other crafts that don't use fabric or fiber, but those two elements are definitely my muses.  I have picked up a technique that I am totally obsessed with.  I found bits and pieces about it on the internet beginning with a article at a Threads website and it intrigued me.  Called PIN WEAVING, it is similar to the card board weaving that you did as a child, but done with pins which give one much more control.  I use fabric and fiber  strips, which allow for a great deal of color and expression.  I take my finished "fabric" and then quilt it with batting and free motion to stabilize it.   My husband says I am painting with thread.  I love this weaving technique, and am working to make it my specialty.

I love the term - fiber art creep.  It so perfectly explains how I've traveled thru the fiber arts - I started embroidery when I was 3 or 4 - made all my clothes by fourth grade and started weaving a few years out of college.  I've always considered myself fickle - I started beading in first grade - no macaroni for me - only seed beads!  I combined them with my sewing and weaving and paper arts.  I picked up a torch and fell in love with glass for a while -I absolutely consumed me!! But now it's just one of my many passions.  Some hobbies sit on the back burner for a while - but they are all there - in my repertoire waiting to come back when needed!

Hi Pokey, I was a weaver before I was a quilter, and I still have my Handwoven magazines from over 20 years ago! (I learned so much from them!) Due to space limitations, my floor loom is unfortunately in storage. However, a few months ago, a neighbor surprised me by giving me a vintage, 4 harness, metal Structo Artcraft table-top loom, which is the PERFECT size for weaving small patches and thin bands to add to quilts. I haven't had as much time as I would like to play around with it, but I did weave and incorporate a small twill band into a this little art quilt, which you can see here: www.etsy.com/.../rural-roads-patched-and-stitched-textile

I just had to chime back in! We are all sooo alike, in our approach to what we do. Pin weaving and small loom weaving should be a part of the art quilting movement and I could see a series of articles being well received. They do call the small square and triangle loom patchwork looms, because they make small squares and triangles, but think of the possibilities that pin-weaving introduces!  You can use all sorts of techniques there, including chain /crochet stitch, some of the 3D embroidery stitches,  the more traditional rug weaving stitches as well as regular weaving - its a real free form technique because its easy enough to pick up knitting stitches as well. There are a lot of us out there doing this and turning up on mixed media, stitching and similar sites; there is no one category into which we comfortably fit because of our multi-skilling. I'm only just starting out on my adventure, but I know there are artists out there who work across different media like this regularly, and others who would love to try, if they could find out how.

So how about it Interweave? Its not traditional weaving or crochet, or beading or knitting, but would fit quite comfortably into the QA  area. Its where I am finding most of my inspiration, and I don't quilt - well not yet, lol!