The Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden Society invited the Sunshine Coast Spinners and Weavers Guild to participate in their September 1 Harvest Festival which celebrated the last days of summer.  The Guild welcomed this opportunity to share their traditional skills of weaving, spinning and dyeing with natural materials.

One of our members built and warped a loom between two trees.

Garden and Guild members brought a wonderful diversity of plant materials to use for weaving.

All day visitors and Guild members added their contributions to the weaving.

The final masterpiece.

The Guild’s spinners were well represented with everything from traditional drop spindles to the latest model of battery/electricity driven spinning wheels.

There was great interest among some children and maybe some future spinners!

There’s a growing interest in dyeing with natural materials as an environmentally safe alternative to chemical dyes.  The Guild had a display of plant materials for dyeing and naturally dyed fibres and fabrics.

There was also the opportunity for visitors to try out colouring fabric with plant materials by pounding flowers and leaves into the fabric.  It was a great hit particularly with the younger visitors.

It was a wonderful day of sharing traditional skills that are environmentally sustainable and can enrich our lives.

Heather Apple    http://rubyslipperscreations.typepad.com/ruby-slippers/
Photos by Heather Apple and Deanna Pilling