The Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinner and Dyers Biennial Summer School was held from August 3-10 this year in Scotland at Queen Margaret University just a 10 minute train ride from Edinburgh. 246 students participated in 18 courses in weaving, spinning, dyeing and felting.
My course this year was Weaving on a Warp Weighted Loom with Dr. Carey Fleiner.
This course is an introduction to and working with a warp-weighted loom. We will talk about the history of these looms. Students will learn basic techniques to produce a woven project – from dressing the loom, planning/designing, and weaving a small project.
One of the workshops I took at the 2018 Michigan Fiber Festival was building a warp weighted loom. [see August 2018 blog Big Looms..little looms and a bit of color] Here was a chance to have a better understanding how to warp this type of loom and learn how to include a tablet woven header.
Sunday evening was an orientation meeting held in the large lecture hall
then to our classrooms to meet with our tutors for a brief introduction to the week.
Monday – a VERY busy day!
1. Assemble our looms.
2. Weave a tablet boarder and wind out the warp. We used cotton yarns for this first project as cotton is less ‘sticky’ to work with than wool.
3. Lash the tablet woven header to the cloth beam and separate the front and back warp yarns.
4. Fill small bags with stones to be our warp weights.
5. Last task of the day was chain stitching the warp ends to separate them. This did not come easily for me – took me 2 tries to get front done and 4 tries to get the back done. Good news is by the end of the day I understood why I was missing some of the warp yarns.
Our instructor, Dr. Carey Fleiner, gave the evening lecture about her work at Campus Galli an experimental archaeology project near Messkirch, in Baden-Wurttenberg in southern Germany, near the Swiss border.
Tuesday –
6. Knitting the heddles in the morning and now ready to start weaving!
Weaving on a warp weighted loom is different from any other loom. On most looms you beat the yarns down or toward you but a WW-Loom you beat upward using a wooden sword.
7. Finally weaving all afternoon and the first project completed!
Tuesday evening was the Silent Auction. One item caught my eye – a vintage hand-turn Singer sewing machine with its case (similar to the image below) but it was heavy and not going to fit in my suitcase! Oh well…
Wednesday- Half day in the workroom
Start Project #2 – using wool yarns. Before coming over I had worked out a pattern to weave.
The free afternoon brought a trip to the Penicuik Papermaking Museum. At one point there were 5 paper mills on the River Esk. We were able to make some paper!
Susan Crawford gave the evening lecture – The Vintage Shetland Project – a celebration of the patterns, colors, and rich heritage of Shetland knitwear, and in particular the pieces held in the Shetland Museum archive.
Thursday-
Finish warping project #2 and weaving! Yes… working with wool yarns is very different than working with cotton yarns.
Figuring out the best position for working on the looms continues to be an adventure with:
**loom on the table and stand…
**loom on the table and sit…
**loom on the table and stand on a chair…
**loom on the floor and sit…
**loom on the floor and sit on the floor.
Plus experimenting with different ways to warp the loom.
The evening event was the Fashion Show- weaving our way through the cafeteria showing off our wears. I brought one of my reversible felt ponchos and matching hat for the show.
Friday-
Morning – finish weaving my ‘2025 Summer School Unofficial Plaid’ and adding wool locks as a fringe at the bottom.
In the afternoon – Back to using cotton yarn to repeat one more time all the steps for warping the loom.
Saturday – Final morning in the workroom and Visitor Open Day.
Weaving in the morning – just playing with color combinations, weaving with 2 shuttles and trying out a twill pattern.
Visitor Open Day in the afternoon – time to wrap up our weaving and chat with folks as they stopped in.
The afternoon Walk-About showcases the 18 courses plus Tutor & Graduate Student Showcase and final presentations for those applying for Certificates of Achievement.
The final event of Summer School is the Gala Dinner Saturday evening with the presentation of Certificates of Achievemnents and I told a Scottish version of the folktale ‘The Three Spinners/Three Aunts’.
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And another GREAT Summer School came to an end.
2027 will be “somewhere in SW England…“
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I have attended 14 of the AGWSD Summer Schools with courses in a wide range of topics:
Weaving w/Bulrushes, Tablet/Card Weaving, Willow Weaving, Narrow Bands, Soft Basketry, Ply Split Braiding, Warp Weighted Loom Weaving, 4 Felting and 3 Tapestry – all taught by fabulous instructors.
AGWSD Summer School Fiber Blog Posts List 2013-2025
September 2023 – August Adventures Abroad
September 2021 – AGWSD Summer School: The Covid Edition
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3
August 2019 – AGWSD Summer School – York
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3
August 2017 – AGWSD Summer School ‘Simply Special’
The beginning – Day 1 and 2 – Day 3 and 4 – Day 5 and 6
September 2015 – On the Road and Across the Sea
September 2013 – Weaving in Wales
The adventure begins
Moving into mid week
Off the floor and onto the bench
Summer School winds down
Summer school comes to an end
Barbara Schutzgruber - Storyteller & Weaver 
[…] ribbon and map weaving **Weaving on a Warp Weight Loom at the AGWSD Summer School **Creating woven and felt pieces for AAFG exhibits & sales**Weaving a rag rug for historic […]
By: Looking Back at 2025 | Barbara Schutzgruber - Storyteller & Weaver on December 28, 2025
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