Weaving / Tissage

Language: English or francais

Location: Aleu 09320

Course: An introduction to handweaving.

Duration: 1 day "taster" or 5 days to learn all the stages. Monday to Friday

We teach this course on 8 shaft table looms and it is suitable for both complete novices with no weaving experience at all and people who may have woven before, perhaps on a rigid heddle loom or a loom with fewer shafts. 

The emphasis of the course is practical. In the five days you will learn how to dress your loom and then quickly start weaving. Our course will allow you to immediately start experimenting with different weave structures, colours and patterns. At the end of the course you will have designed and woven a length of fabric that if time allows, can be finished and hemmed to make a scarf or a table runner or napkins or a decorative cushion cover.

To make your first experience as enjoyable and successful as possible you will be using predominantly 8/4 cotton and the warp will be already measured for you. You can choose and change colours of the weft as often as you wish. You will be able to experiment with many weaves - plain weave, twills, crepe, double weave, hucklace, satin, canvas, basketweave, etc. all within you piece. Our emphasis is get you weaving, playing and enjoying making something of you own design. 

The ratio of teacher to students is one to four and each person has their own equipment to weave on for the full duration of the course.  

If you have a group of mixed abilities, a course can be tailored for the more experienced weavers using a 12 contermarch loom, a 16 shaft table loom or even a 32 shaft computer controlled dobby loom; perhaps specializing in a particular weave structure or technique (sectional warping, network drafting, etc).

There are a number of self catering gites within walking distance of the studio/classroom and we can offer a discount in our gite if you are taking a course. The nearest airport is Toulouse served by Easyjet and Ryanair and is about 1hr 40mins drive away.

Cost of course: 4 days tuition with Wednesday to explore the area, take a break or to continue independently in the studio (Monday - Friday) 415 € including materials. With accommodation based on four people sharing 580 €

One day "taster" 85 €

On our one day weaving courses, the looms are set up and ready for you to weave. After a short introduction we get straight to the action! In just a day you can create your own fabric on our 8 shaft looms. We also give a brief history of weaving, information on how looms work, show you many different yarns and discuss their properties and differences, plus a visit to our flock of sheep!

Contact us for more accommodation details and options.

Dates: Courses start from mid May.

The classroom

Morning view from the studio, our gite on the left.

Other courses available: 

Sectional warping: Learn how to plan and warp your loom in sections. Practical lessons using a bobbin rack and tension box and also a warping wheel.

Duration: 1 day

Price: 80 €