Vävstuga Textiles – A Nordic Journey
with Becky Ashenden
Thursday, March 18, 2021
About the Presentation
Indulge in a mini trip to Sweden and beyond, visiting a world of rich and varied textile traditions. Becky Ashenden will discuss the multitude of structures and materials used, including linens, rugs, bands, draw loom weaving, sheepskin-backed coverlets, and more. She’ll present many examples and show us the inside of the Vävstuga studios, housing Swedish looms and draw looms, as well as flax processing equipment.
About Becky
Well known as a musician in a variety of folk music traditions from Swedish to Balkan to Cape Breton including with her great Balkan band Orkestar Banitsa, Becky grew up in western Massachusetts learning sewing, carving, block-printing, and weaving, while also learning folk dancing from age 7. She began contra dancing and playing piano at dances as a teenager, and has added accordion, bass, and other instruments as part of her love of Bulgarian music.
Becky's 1981 introduction to the wealth of the Swedish textile world at Sätergläntan Institutet för Slöjd och Hantverk, a school renowned for weaving and other traditional crafts since 1922, motivated her to pursue weaving as a life passion as well as a career. Since 1991, Becky has been teaching techniques and on equipment that have withstood the test of time at Vävstuga Weaving School in Shelburne MA.