Inspiration from the 1950’s: Handwoven Swatch Periodicals

Inspiration from the 1950s: Handwoven Swatch Periodicals tells the story of four mid-century weaving periodicals that included actual handwoven samples inside each issue. Their editors, along with other master weavers of the time, explored textures, patterns and techniques during a fascinating time period for weaving; when handweavers reacted to the loosening of wartime shortages and the availability of new, colorful, textured, and man-made yarns, as well as the emergence of modernist decor in the rapidly expanding new suburbias. This is not simply a history book with images of 70-year-old samples. Our weavers meant to be an example of how modern handweavers can use historical swatches as inspiration for our own work. For the limited edition, twenty inspired, handwoven swatches – new interpretations of the historical drafts by our weavers – are captured in three booklets that fit in a portfolio with the hand-bound book. Fourteen members of the Weavers and Spinners Society of Austin (WSSA) each selected one or two handwoven samples from the publications in the guild library to study. They then presented their findings at group meetings. This beautiful collection represents the work of many more members of the Weavers and Spinners Society of Austin than just the study group – everyone who researched, wrote, designed, wove, sewed, photographed, cut, assembled, punched, folded, and bound copies of this book. Inspiration from the 1950s is meant for weavers of all skill level, and both casual and professional historians. While it is intended to stimulate creativity, we also want to encourage further research into the mid-twentieth-century weavers and their influence on handweaving today.