Last week I traveled to Vancouver to attend an ‘Invented Fabric’ workshop led by Jean Cacicedo. This workshop was presented by Maiwa Handprints as part of their annual Textile Symposium. I usually try to attend one of these workshops every Fall because Maiwa brings in instructors from all over the world to teach a variety of fibre arts techniques including traditional and cutting edge innovations.

This scarf was completed by me during the workshop and is made of 100% wool from Japan and textured using a variety of techniques shared by Jean Cacicedo. The concept of the patterning and texturing of this fabric is based on the shrink ratio of the wool and can be applied to other fabrics as well. We used stitching, darting, applique, laminating, slashing, binding, to mention a few methods, of creating texture on cloth. Once the wool was ‘fulled’ or shrunk amazing things happened to the fabric: patterns and textures were revealed through the shrinkage of the cloth. As well, some felting occured and could be encouraged to varying degrees.

The following photos show some of the samples produced by the class: