Guest Post: Andrea Hames

Years ago, I reconnected with someone I went to high school with,

and through him, I found Corey

just in time to see the Paris apartment renovation. 

When the apartment was done, my husband and I spent a week there. 

Walking up the stairs and into the space was a bit like finally reaching the Emerald City. 

I’m honored to be a guest blogger and to have the opportunity

to share a bit about my love of weaving and dyeing fabric. 

 

This is my grandson.  

He’s playing an instrument that belonged to my dad

who was a big band musician who played with some of the greatest.

He also did Broadway Theatre so I’m thrilled that Jasper

took his guitars and other string instruments.

 

Like Corey, family and friends are everything to me. 

In addition to my family, the community has always been important to me

and varies with where in my life I am. 

In these days of COVID, I’ve connected through FaceBook, to a community of weavers. 

Weavers are a creative and supportive group, which is important as we find ourselves isolating. 

 

 

 

 

My love for weaving started as a textile design student at F.I.T.,

the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.

Weaving was a required course so I walked in and sat down at a loom. 

Who knew that you could take threads or yarn and arrange them vertically (the warp) and horizontally (the weft),

interlace them, and get fabric?  I was hooked. 

Not only had I found my passion; I found a world of people,

a community in which I finally felt comfortable. 

I’d always loved working with color, but this was a new way to play

with endless possibilities of shades, hues, textures, and weave structures

Some, who were at F.I.T. at the same time, went on to greatness. 

Calvin Klein married a girl in my class. 

Antonio Lopez went on to become one of the most successful illustrators in the business,

hanging out in Paris with Karl Lagerfeld, Jerry Hall, and a host of others. 

I do wish I’d saved the sketches he did of me when

I had a long, thin neck which was the piece of me on which he focused. 

Now I’m 75 and in the Nora Ephron cohort with regard to my neck. 

 

I moved into “the city” as soon as I could convince my parents it was ok,

I’d be fine and not end up on the back pages of a tabloid

which was where you would find all the good girls gone bad stories. 

An apartment in a tenement building in Greenwich Village with a roommate was home. 

My F.I.T. friends had also moved to the area

I was now able to earn a living and enjoy the things I love, the things that make me, me.  

NYC offered me theatre (my Dad was a Broadway musician), opera, ballet, museums, etc. 

I still drive in from Connecticut to enjoy all those things and will again when we’re vaccinated,

though I worry about the survival of the arts.

 

 

My F.I.T. graduation gift was a 45” wide loom which I still have. 

While living in NY, I did freelance work on the loom.   

I’m in Connecticut now, but the loom came with me and now has two sisters. 

My yarn stash is immense, but I never seem to have exactly the color or texture I need,

so it continues to grow. Sometimes, I dye what I need by hand painting or doing Shibori.

 

 

When I arrived in Connecticut, there was no work for a fabric designer.

Changing circumstances demanded I pursue another career to ensure a paycheck. 

With it came another new community, work friends. 

Though it was not a particularly creative endeavor,

I find you can bring creativity to anything.

Though I marked time knowing I’d be back at the loom one day.

For years I was not able to weave and despite encouragement to

“get rid of that thing”,

I held on to my loom. 

Weaving is my Zen and an escape. 

Once you decide what you will create and set it up on the loom,

the rhythm of the weaving has a calming effect. 

It’s physical and good for the brain. 

It had been important to me years ago

and I knew it would again. 

 

 

When I retired, I went for some refresher courses at Wesleyan Potters 

which is an artists’ co-op, gallery, and school. 

We are potters, weavers, and jewelers.

Another community, this one like a family, though right now,

we can’t gather nor do much work together.

 

 

 

Artists are struggling in these times, as are so many others. 

Many who usually teach live workshops are seeking new ways to earn a living. 

I’m participating in a workshop with an international group of weavers,

helping an artist who would usually be teaching in person, to develop an online program. 

The instructor studied at the Rhode Island School of Design. 

My studies at F.I.T. were industry-oriented. 

In the Garment District of New York,

I was limited to designing fabrics for apparel that would photograph and sell.   

I’m working through a completely different methodology now,

with no limitations other than my own creativity,

the loom capability, and materials on hand. 

It’s a challenge. 

Old dog, new tricks! 

 

 

 

 

If things go well pandemic-wise,

I’ll be loading my loom into the back of my SUV and heading to Knoxville, Tennessee

in the summer of 2022 for a week of live, intense workshops. 

That was supposed to have happened this past summer. 

It occurs to me that all the rearranging and adjusting

we have done is akin to what the French call le Système D.

The D stands for 'débrouille', meaning to get on with it,

figure it out, use any means available to do something. 

 

 

Here’s to us all managing through

continuing to find ways to do

the things we love.

 

 

Question: Do you sell your items or do commissions?

 

I sell very little.

I sometimes sell scarves, baby blankets, placemats, towels, etc.

in the Gallery Shop at Wesleyan Potters,

but I don’t have a website.

I give my work as gifts because the process is so enjoyable.

I keep a stack of hand towels to take when visiting.

Having worked in the garment district with constraints of what

would sell based on what was in Europe the previous season,

and the price point of the company I worked for,

I love that I can finally do what I love without worrying if it’s perfect.

I also suffer from “Imposter Syndrome”

and never think what I do is good enough.

 

Follow Andrea on Facebook

 

 

Comments

[Jeanne]

Another fabulous post by another guest blogger.
How I enjoy reading about all of you and thank you for sharing
and thank you Corey for introducing us to everyone.
Blessings
Jeanne

[Nancy]

Thank you Andrea, I enjoyed your story and love the beautiful fabrics you weave, also your reference to Nora Ephron!

[RebeccaNYC]

Oh your work is so beautiful! I have always wanted to learn how to weave. I once visited a Castello in Lucca, Italy with my sister which we enjoyed imagining what it was like to live there, but the absolute highlight was in a side wing where a weaving coop had set up about 10 ancient looms, which they were still using. We were the only ones visiting that day, and we got a detailed tour of the looms and their yarn stash. We were in HEAVEN! Thank you for sharing your life with us!

[Penni]

I can't get over the woven fabric you create, they look so soft and luxurious! I had a friend years ago who had an enormous loom in her front room, it was all that could fit in there, anyway she, like you, said it was her happy place to meditate and release the from the world. I have admired this skill for years! Thank you for sharing your with us!!!

[Joan Mall Baral]

Thanks Andrea for sharing your beautiful work and biography. It is always so interesting what serendipitous events steer our passions and influence our creativity. I admire your sense of color and design as well as craftsperson ship.
The variety is dazzling. Congratulations on all of your beautiful creations. XOXO JB/LA

[Ali]

What a fascinating life you have lived and are still living. I could get lost in your beautiful fabrics.
The colours are mesmerizing.
Thank you.
Ali

[Jennifer Phillipps]

Lovely to read about your family and journey to date....the textiles are very beautiful, so you must keep on creating and sharing them around....thanks for letting us share some of your life story...cheers from NZ

[Texas Francophile]

Another creative artist. Your weaving is stunning. If you did sell your work I’d be first in line. Thank you for sharing!

[Judy]

I love your woven pieces. Would you come to visit me so that I can have one of your hand towels?

[Marilyn]

Your work is totally amazing!
I loved that you went to FIT. It was a dream, but I went to a smaller design school close to home. Keep on doing what you do, it is wonderful!

[Sue J.]

your work is so gorgeous!

[Liese]

Wonderful fabrics woven with an interesting life story !

[Momof5]

Another wonderful post by another creative spirit. I love your weavings, such beauty and creativity with your colors. I’m a color person. I sometimes look @ IG and see all those white and grey rooms and think that might be nice. And then I see vibrant textiles like yours and I say no way! Thanks for sharing your art and craft with us and I’m happy your grandson will cherish your fathers instruments! I also enjoyed your memories of. NYC. The village was a different place then. Michelle (aka momof5)