Made in Connecticut, News Channel 12

I recently had the opportunity to film a short segment with reporter Rebecca Surran and her producer from News Channel 12. Rebecca runs a weekly spot called Made in Connecticut that features artists, craftsman, makers, and small manufacturers here in the state. When she first reached out to me I was incredibly nervous about the idea of filming, but decided to go for it. Usually for these features folks are filmed in their own work spaces. However, my tiny home studio is pretty tight for one person to move around in, much less three plus lights and filming equipment. I reached out to the director of Brookfield Craft Center where I teach weaving classes and he graciously agreed to let us film the segment in the BCC fiber studio. The studio sits on the banks of the Still River and is flooded with natural light and is way less cluttered and much more photogenic than my daily work space.

A big shout out needs to go to Henny Penny Farm in Ridgefield, CT. The local wools and fibers that were shown and talked about in the piece are from their farm. I had just finished weaving several pieces for them the day before filming that had not yet had a chance to make their way back to the farm. Whitney and her whole staff do a wonderful job and their beautiful farm stand is definitely worth a little day drive. These pieces will eventually be available through the farm.

Thank you to Rebecca and the News Channel 12 crew for regularly spot lighting local craftspeople. And also a big thanks for helping to make this anxious weaver feel surprisingly comfortable throughout the morning filming.

Click here to watch the Heddle Over Heels, Made in Connecticut News Channel 12 segment.

A screen capture of Rebecca Surran and Katie Strano in the Fiber Studio at Brookfield Craft Center filming for News Channel 12.

Vintage Nilus LeClerc Loom For Sale

Edit: Sold | Several years ago I purchased my first floor loom used from a kind woman named Mary. She, like so many weavers before, was downsizing. It was a Nilus LeClerc 45” four harness jack loom that she had purchased new in 1974. She used the loom to weave blankets and items that she would sale at fundraisers for her son’s school. She liked fuzzy, textural yarns and entrusted me with a tub of yarn that came along with the loom. The very first warps that I put on the loom were with yarn from Mary’s stash. It felt like a smooth transition from one weaver’s hands to the next. The loom is marked with notes written in pencil by Mary to herself noting heddle counts. The numbers are no longer correct, but erasing them always felt like tearing up a sweet picture from the past simply for the sake of tidying up. So the notes have stayed. Through the years I have left me own marks on the loom; from experimental warp dying, to switching out the cloth aprons to Texsolv cord. The life of an item that is made to be used shouldn’t stop at a moment in time. To do so would mean that its useful life has come to an end.

I bought this loom with big dreams of weaving yardage for clothing. Looking back it honestly makes me feel really proud to think of how much fabric—at least several hundred yards— actually came into being on this loom. It allowed me to take on my first paid weaving work and I’ll be eternally grateful.

Like Mary I now find myself not using this loom as much as I should. Whereas Mary was downing I have sized up. Through the years my needs have shifted to where I needed a wider width and more harnesses. I’ve kept this loom as long as I could, for both usefulness and sentimental reasons. I love this loom and thoroughly enjoy weaving on it, but am simply out of room. I need space to move, and room to warp my main work loom.

I keep thinking back to the day I picked the loom up from Mary. Her son, the one she wove for his school fundraisers, was there to help move the loom and load it up. He is of course now a grown man. I kept thinking about the childhood memories that he must have of watching his mother weave on this machine that he was now helping to send on it’s way. My son was three when this loom came home and he just turned 9 this week. I’m sure that his childhood memories will now also be peppered with visions of his mother sitting at the loom and the sounds of the shuttle sailing through the shed, the harnesses falling, and beater at work. Shwoop, clank, thwomp. Shwoop, clank, thwomp.

Nilus LeClerc 4H 45" loom with sleepy dog

My first warp on this LeClerc loom with textural mixed fiber yarns

A close up of the first warp I wove on this loom. It is a light green wool warp with black and white looped weft yarn.

Me weaving yardage on the loom.

My husband working as he attaches a custom sectional warp beam to a vintage LeClerc loom

A view of the custom 1" sectional beam on a Nilus LeClerc loom.

The Nilus LeClerc makers logo on the side of the loom

The scratched treadle base on this 4H 6T loom

The replacement apron rod with Texsolv cord, and some discoloration on the breast beam.

A close up of the side on the harnesses showing a little wear to the wood

The recent through bolt replacement made to the tension brake on the Nilus LeClerc Loom

The Nilus LeClerc in its current state warped with a green sample warp.

LeClerc boat shuttles and a Mattson Mora bobbin winder

A recent project woven on this loom with a hand-dyed warp

A resent warp woven on this Nilus LeClerc loom

The current state of my weaving studio. A 16H Ashford Table loom sits in front of the 4H LeClerc, with a 60" 16H AVL crammed in behind.

Below is the text from the FB and Craigslist listings for the loom. Please feel free to reach out here if you are interested in giving this loom a third life. It will need to be picked up in Southbury, CT.

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This is a 4 harness, 6 treadle Nilus LeClerc loom with a 45" weaving width. It currently has a custom made 1 yard sectional warp beam with 1" sections. The warp beam looks a little unconventional, but I have woven several hundred yards on it and it works greats. If desired the sectional beam can easily be removed and replaced with a more conventional apron. I replaced the front cloth apron several years ago with Texsolv and a wooden dowel. I still have the original metal apron rods (minus the cloth aprons that were in very rough shape) that will go with the loom. This loom has been in regular use the whole time I have owned it and currently has a little sample warp on for folks to try out. There are some cosmetic blemishes that can be seen in the pictures. Again, this is nearly a 50 year old loom and has been used regularly by both the original owner and myself. This loom has been an absolute workhorse for me and I'll be sad to see her go. The only reason I am selling is because I have simply run our out space and now use my other looms more. 

I put a new brake coil on a few years ago. I also recently replaced the original screw that held the brake brackets together with the break coil with a long bolt that now goes all of the way through the wood. My understanding is that this is a common weak spot on these older looms and a common way of securing and updating. 

Made in May of 1974, I purchased this loom in the fall of 2016 from the original owner who was downsizing. 

The loom will come with:

• -Three reeds: 12, 10, and 4 epi (These reeds are the ones that came with the loom when I purchased it. They no longer look shiny and new, but are totally functional and are the ones that I have regularly used)

• -Raddle

• -the original LeClerc Warp and Weave manual book that came with this loom. 

• -A small bag of hand tools that came with the loom. 

• -If needed I will also include a set of lease sticks and an old warping board. 

If the buyer needs shuttles and a bobbin winder I can sell a used hand crank metal bobbin winder and two boat shuttles to them as well for an additional fee. These are only being offered if the person buying the loom needs them to set up shop. I don't actually want to sell them otherwise. 

Either a few parts of the sectional beam, or the entire back beam and warp beam section will need to be taken off of the loom in order to get it out of the door. This loom can fit in the back of a pick up truck. The total width of the loom is 56". Open to weave the current depth is 44" and can fold up to about 36". When the sectional beam is not on it can fold up a few additional inches. 

*A note about the sectional beam. This can be warped using a tension box and spool rack, which are not being sold with this loom. However, I also regularly warp this loom in a traditional back to front method first measuring the warp on a warping board. I would be happy to discuss warping methods with whoever buys the loom.

Raffle Benefitting Adopt-A-Native-Elder

EDIT: Raffle now closed. Thank you to all how contributed!

This year I have chosen to go about this season in a different way. Rather than offering a large discount to shoppers I am holding a raffle to benefit Adopt-A-Native-Elder. This is a non-profit organization that works to relieve food and resource insecurities within the elder population of the Navajo Nation. A-A-N-E helps with things from delivering grocery boxes and firewood bundles, to assisting elder artisans with supplies—such as yarn bundles for weavers.

Raffle Details:

The winner of the raffle will receive a custom handwoven throw blanket. They will get to choose the color-scheme that the weft yarn will be hand-dyed, and also the finishing technique. These blankets will be going on the loom the first week of December and will be sent upon completion. For more information on the blanket click here.

To enter:

1. Make a donation of at least $10 to any one of Adopt-A-Native-Elder’s general funds. Each $10 increment will count as one ticket entry.

2. Send me a screen shot of your donation receipt showing the value. You can send it either via email or Instagram DM.

3. Entries must be received by noon EST, Monday, November 29th, 2021.

4. The winner will be chosen at random at 12:01pm EST, Monday, November 29th, 2021. At this time I will contact the winner and discuss the customization options.

5. Open to USA shipping addresses only. I will cover the shipping costs.

Thank you so much for reading and especially for participating!

Handwoven throw blanket with hand-dyed yarn is draped over a rocking chair that sits in front of a sunny window.