FOREWORD A TRUE national popular art-shaped by the necessities and colored by the dreams of a whole people is a deeply touching and a very precious thing. We in America are a young nation, but there have been years enough for a true national popular art to grow up among us, to develop characteristic forms of beauty, to flourish greatly, to languish, and finally to be revived. There is now no danger that it will ever become a lost art. The following pages are dedicated in loving gratitude to the unnamed artists of Americas early day, and are offered to the new craftsmen of Americas great present in the hope of adding a little to the general appreciation of a fine and a beautiful thing.....

This book features the original sample collection and handwritten drafts of the talented, early 20th century weaver, Bertha Gray Hayes of Providence, Rhode Island. She designed and wove miniature overshot patterns for four-harness looms that are creative and unique. The book contains color reproductions of 72 original sample cards and 20 recently discovered patterns, many shown with a picture of the woven sample, and each with computer-generated drawdowns and drafting patterns. Her designs are unique in their asymmetry and personal in her use of name drafting to create the designs. Bertha Hayes attended the first nine National Conferences of American Handweavers (1938-1946). She learned to weave by herself through the Shuttle-Craft home course and was a charter member of the Shuttle-Craft Guild, and authored articles on weaving.

This antiquarian book contains a detailed treatise on American hand-weaving, being an account of the rise, development, eclipse, and modern revival of a national popular art together with information of interest and value to collectors, technical notes for the use of weaver, and a large collection of historical patterns. This comprehensive yet accessible guide will be of considerable value to those with an interest in weaving and its history, and it would make for a great addition to collections of allied literature. The chapters of this book include: Origins and Development, The Scope of this Book, Beginner's Problems, Design of the Fabric, Choice of Pattern and Color, Setting up the Loom, The Tie-Up, Weaving, The Plain Weave, The Twill Weave, etcetera. We are republishing this vintage book now in an affordable, modern edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

Add Shadow Weave to your repertoire with Susan Kesler-Simpson's easy-to-follow instructions. Susan's approach is to first break down the structure of Shadow Weave so that any level weaver can understand how alternating light and dark threads in both warp and weft can present a dominant motif outlined with an identical shadow. She walks you through how the structure builds and weaves, and once you comprehend how the weave structure works, you will be able to weave any of the 25 project patterns in the book. You will also have the knowledge to transform other drafts to Shadow Weave, or to design your own Shadow Weave pattern.

A history and description of southwestern textiles along with a catalog of Pueblo, Navajo, Mexican, and Spanish American blankets, ponchos, and sarapes.