Last Sunday, textile expert Leslie Sudock of Ready to Hand: Saori Philadelphia hosted a weaving sampler day at The Resource Exchange.  We spent the day learning different weaving techniques, while focusing on the reuse of fabric scraps and remnants.

Leslie brought two of her wonderful Saori looms into the store and taught us how to use them.  Saori is a Japanese weaving technique that focuses on improvisation and creative expression.  While using the looms we discovered how quick, relaxing, and meditative weaving can be!  This technique lends itself well to the use of those tiny-I-have-no-idea-what-to-do-with-these pieces that we so often get donated her at the re.

Small things that are donated to us are often hard to use fabric remnants, tangles of yarn, and pieces of ribbon.  As the only place in Philadelphia that accepts fabric donations, we were thrilled to be able to learn about this way of reuse that Leslie practices in her own life and business.  She even brought in a fabric shredder, so that we could cut those oddly shaped fabric remnants into suitable strips for weaving. We learned how to incorporate the pieces on her looms and on DIY frame looms!  Anyone whose been in our store knows how many frames we have…what a great reuse for them!

Learning how to weave with scraps gives us hope that even the smallest of materials is worth saving from landfill because it can have a new life in art.  Thanks to Leslie, we were able to spend a lovely Sunday afternoon learning from her wealth of weaving knowledge, and leave with some great ideas!

Want to weave something? Leslie offers classes at her new space in the graduate hospital area of Philadelphia.  Ready to Hand is located at 731 S. 22nd St, so stop in and visit the studio, or Visit RTH’s website and find them on facebook!