Special Education teacher Marie Porteous: weaving

What got you into weaving?

“My husband’s grandmother did a lot of weaving and she did it in Farmers’ Museum up in Cooperstown, New York.  I was always interested in what she did, and when she passed away, all her weaving stuff and spinning stuff came to us.”

How long does it usually take you to weave something?

“It probably takes half a day [in total] because you have to measure it out, put it through the pieces of the loom in the right order, and once you’re done with that, the weaving piece is fairly straightforward. You can just sit and do it in front of the TV. It might be a couple hours for something simple to several days if you’re following a complicated pattern.”

What are your favorite things to weave?

“Another big piece of why I got into weaving is because I did a lot of sewing…I wanted to make really interesting fabrics that I couldn’t necessarily buy…I really like [a] jacket I made cause I made the fabric and it was a lot harder than normal fabric you buy because you had to really block it and make it work. And then I can just wear it because it’s fun and hip and nobody has it.”

Do you often find yourself weaving in certain circumstances?

“When it gets really crazy and you need therapy time…A lot of the time I get a lot of stuff done in the summer because there is more quiet time. I have two small looms I use during vacations to do some more cool stuff.”