About The Loom Shed
A place for people who love textiles
The Loom Shed is a place to learn, experiment, be inspired and spend time with people who share your love of textiles.
Based in Devon and online, we bring together workshops, courses, study groups and events across weaving, spinning, natural dyeing and all sorts of other things you can do with fibre.
Come to learn something completely new. Deepen a craft you already love. Meet an exceptional visiting tutor. Ask questions. Experiment. Chat. Drink tea. Get completely absorbed in making something.
Kick off your shoes and feel at home.
I love teaching weaving, just as much as I enjoy weaving itself. It’s a craft that keeps you asking ‘what happens if?”. I enjoy provoking that question – “have you tried blue with that?”, “how about trying this weave structure”, “what do you think about that yarn?”.
Introducing the craft to new weavers is a joy, once you get past the amount of time it takes to set up a 4 shaft loom, the possibilities open up before you and you realise the wealth of possibilities that weaving brings. It’s a perfect combination of the creative and the logical sides of your brain.
Weaving also has a meditative quality, like many crafts, it requires focus, concentration and patience and you fall into the ‘flow’ of passing the shuttle to and fro, lifting and lowering shafts, beating the weft into place. Time often flies by, but you feel in ‘the moment’. The joy of cutting off a piece of fabric is wonderful too. Suddenly you realise that you’ve woven 2 metres and it’s actually pretty good! It’s a huge morale boost.
I graduated with my BA(hons) in woven textiles from the then, Surrey Institute of Art and Design, (now UCA Farnham) in 1997. Then to support my interest in teaching, I graduated with a Cert. Ed in 2002. I worked initially for Coldharbour Mill, then Devon Adult Education before setting up my own weaving course in 2009.
My weaving life has taken me through design jobs, interesting commissions and creating my own collections of scarves, wraps and blankets. Whilst motherhood has slowed my weaving production rate, you will be able to find my work at contemporary craft fairs around the country in due course.
Creating The Loom Shed started as a wish for a workshop, where people could come to learn, share and think about not just weaving, but all fibrecrafts. It’s a place where you can create, but also share that experience, whether you are new to your craft or a practicing professional. I will be eternally grateful to Liz Croft who helped to make The Loom Shed what it is today.
Meet Louise
Weaver, tutor and the person behind The Loom Shed.
Why The Loom Shed Exists
The Loom Shed began with a simple idea: to create a home for textile craft in all its forms, and for the people who love it. Because one craft so often leads to another.
Weavers become curious about spinning. Spinners want to make something with the yarn they've created. Knitters start wondering about natural dyes. One question leads to another technique, another material, another wonderfully consuming project. The Loom Shed is a place to follow that curiosity.
Alongside Louise's weaving teaching, we invite wonderful makers and tutors to share their own knowledge through workshops, talks and longer study groups – giving you opportunities to learn from people who really know and love their craft.
There is something here for complete beginners and experienced makers alike. Most importantly, there is room to play, experiment and ask, “what happens if?”
Making matters
We believe the world needs more weavers. More knitters, spinners, dyers and makers, too. In a fast-moving world, there is something deeply nourishing about sitting down and making with our hands. Craft asks us to slow down, concentrate and give our attention to one thing.
And when we do it together, something else happens too. We talk. We share knowledge. We learn from one another. We become absorbed in what we're doing. We make connections – with materials, with traditions, with our own creativity and with the people sitting beside us.
The Loom Shed is a place to make time for that. We hope you'll come and join us.
