Winter is the perfect time of year to warp up a loom and begin working with fibers. Rich in colors and variety, the weft-faced pattern weaves, or boundweaves, can be woven on two or more harnesses and provide many design possibilities for the hand weaver. Woven on either cotton or linen warp that is completely covered by a tightly packed wool weft, boundweaves result in colorful, sturdy textiles suitable for rugs, coverlets, and wall hangings. Students will learn three types—krokbragd, a three-shaft point twill; dansk brogd, an in-lay technique; and rosebragd, a boundweave on a four-harness rosepath threading. There will be a materials fee.

Level of instruction: For anyone who is comfortable reading weaving drafts and working at a floor loom.

Laura Demuth has been a weaver for over 30 years and enjoys all aspects of fiber production, from raising the sheep to taking a finished piece off the loom. Because she lives on a small acreage just seven miles northeast of Decorah, Vesterheim has been a continual source of education and inspiration throughout her weaving career. Laura has focused on traditional weaving structures and techniques, and is a Vesterheim
Gold Medal winner.

Level of instruction: All levels. Must bring your own sewing machine.

Carol Colburn has studied Norwegian and Norwegian-American clothing at Vesterheim since 1974. She is co-author of the Vesterheim publication Handweaving in the Norwegian Tradition and has contributed chapters on Norwegian-American clothing to Marion Nelson’s books Norwegian Folk Art: The Migration of a Tradition and Material Culture and People’s Art Among the Norwegians in America. Carol is Professor Emerita of Theater and Costume History and Design at the University of Northern Iowa.

Level of instruction: All levels.

Sharon Norem Knudsen has been working in the conservation field for over 25 years. She is now a freelance conservator and does projects in her home for non-profit agencies. Sharon studied at Iowa State University and the University of Akron in Ohio. She has directed the conservation, stabilization, and restoration of many historical textiles, like the American flag that draped the coffin of America’s 25th President William McKinley and the Civil War Battle Flag Project at the State Historical Society of Iowa. She feels it is an honor to help preserve textiles for future generations.

Level of instruction: All levels. Must bring your own sewing machine.

Sue Sutherland studied apparel and textile design manufacturing and learned to make bunads from Thorbjorg Ugland and Molle Horn, both from Heimen Husflid in Oslo. For many years she embroidered bunads for Odden’s Norsk Husflid in Wisconsin, until she purchased the bunad part of their business in the mid 1990s. Since then she has been making bunads, teaching bunad courses, and offering authentic materials and accessories through her store, Bunad Butikken in Ely, Minnesota.

Level of instruction: Requires a basic understanding of weaving.

Marta Kløve Juuhl grew up in Voss, Norway, and now lives in Indre Arna, near Bergen. She attended Statens Lærskole i Forming in Oslo and taught weaving for over 20 years. Since 2007 she has been working at Osterøy Museum with textiles and looms. She has been active in the registration and reproduction of old textiles, particularly in Voss and Arna. Marta is one of very few Norwegian weavers who teaches weaving on a warp-weighted loom. She taught at Vesterheim in 2005 and 2007.

Level of instruction: All levels. Youth ages 16 and 17 signed up with a participating adult receive a 25% discount.

Kate Martinson is Associate Professor of Art at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, where she teaches art education and fiber arts classes. Kate is very active in professional and artistic endeavors at the local, state, and national levels. She began studying nålbinding in 1974, after she became fascinated with the technique on a trip to Scandinavia. She has introduced nålbinding to many American fiber artists and has taught numerous textile-related classes throughout the United States, and in Norway at Rauland Academy.

Level of instruction: Requires a basic understanding of weaving.

Marta Kløve Juuhl grew up in Voss, Norway, and now lives in Indre Arna, near Bergen. She attended Statens Lærskole i Forming in Oslo and taught weaving for over 20 years. Since 2007 she has been working at Osterøy Museum with textiles and looms. She has been active in the registration and reproduction of old textiles, particularly in Voss and Arna. Marta is one of very few Norwegian weavers who teaches weaving on a warp-weighted loom. She taught at Vesterheim in 2005 and 2007.

Level of instruction: Any weaver who has experience working on a floor loom and who is comfortable reading weaving drafts.

Jan Mostrom, from Chanhassen, Minnesota, earned her Vesterheim Gold Medal in 1999. She learned to weave from Lila Nelson while at Luther College and since then has been weaving in the Nordic tradition. She has taken weaving instruction from many Norwegian teachers here and in Norway. She teaches weaving and rug hooking in the Midwest. Her work was included in Norwegian Folk Art: The Migration of a Tradition, the traveling exhibition curated by Marion Nelson, former Vesterheim Executive Director.

Level of instruction: All levels. Youth ages 15-17 signed up with a participating adult receive a 25% discount.

Jean Schutte has been teaching basket weaving since 1986. She is mostly self-taught, but has studied with teachers in the Amana Colonies, Iowa; Winona, Minnesota; and Faribault, Minnesota. Jean has worked in many different media, including pine needles, red cedar bark, oak, birch, ash, and willow. For the past 19 years, Jean has been teaching classes at Vesterheim, Northeast Iowa Community College, public schools, 4-H groups, and her studio.