Fruit of the Loom

I think you know by now that my extended family is very musical! We've come by it naturally through my mom who lived and breathed music her entire life as a pianist, composer and choir director.


Both sister Ruth and I have posted about her son, Peter, who is an accomplished guitarist. But this post is not about music or about Peter but about his 18-month-older sister, Lesley, Ruth's daughter, who is an accomplished fabrics maker and designer. Just take a look at this shawl that Lesley made for her mom, hanging on the living room chair at The Farm. When I found out Lesley had actually made it, I had two responses: "But of course!" and [no words, jaw dropped on the floor]. Now take a look at it up close and personal. I didn't have the foresight to take this close-up while we were at The Farm in Michigan last month so I asked Ruth to please take a pic for me. Here it is:

Ruth's photo, by request.

Now here's the artist, Lesley, herself, telling us about the 100% rayon shawl! It took her 20-25 hours to make, 10-15 of which were in threading the loom itself. Once the loom was strung (the warp), it took her another 10 hours to weave the woof/weft of the scarf. She says the pattern of the scarf is called "Color and Weave," which means that the warp and the weft are equally threaded. She told me she used 3 different patterns divided equally throughout the scarf and then alternated patterns to see what the different patterns would do in the different areas. Because each pattern is different, it required different pedal combinations. Ruth has a post with a pic of the loom as well as a post about Lesley herself, one talented woman!

Lesley now lives in NYC after graduating from Detroit's College for Creative Studies. After 3 months of interning, she became a salaried employee at a company that designs and builds tension-fabric structures. In fact, she's already one of their creative designers! Eventually, she'd like to have her own studio and make creative items like this shawl full-time.

The cousins were trying to quesstimate how much that shawl would cost in a NYC specialty store. They came up with $200. Hands down, she's worth every cent and more!

Lesley, we're proud of you!