September 2026

Reflections on Belonging

As I begin my second term as TWG President, I find myself reflecting on what the guild—and the world of textiles—have meant to me over the years. My connection to weaving began long before I joined TWG.  I took my first weaving class when we lived in San Diego.

I joined the guild in 1981, shortly after moving to the area. My textile journey also has roots in my childhood, when my family moved to New Delhi while my father worked for the Ford Foundation. Because my parents valued the textiles they collected, I began to see fabric, pattern, and craft as meaningful ways to connect with people and places. I look forward to sharing some of those stories in this monthly column.

Looking Ahead

I will miss this month’s meeting because we will be traveling to Italy on a tour. While we are in Rome and visit the Vatican Museum, I will be thinking of Lauren Lee and the special visit she made to see the Vatican textile collection up close. Lauren will share her story in May. Her experience is a reminder that doors can open when we ask the right people

The Value of Community

Belonging to the guild has given me a lasting sense of community. After nearly 45 years as a member, TWG has become an important part of my sense of being and belonging. I recently read that one factor associated with well-being in Blue Zones is strong social connection and community engagement, which can reduce stress and support mental health. I have heard many guild members express that TWG offers exactly that, along with opportunities to learn more about our craft.

Our shared curiosity about weaving, dyeing, and spinning keeps us learning and growing. The guild inspires us to explore our passions more deeply—and keeps our minds active and engaged.

Recently, two of our members passed away.  Jo Hasse and Marilyn Crosetto.  Both of them were passionate about weaving and our guild.  This week, we are missing Marilyn especially since she headed up the Sheep to Shawl committee.  We will be passing the hat in their memory to raise some money for a scholarship to next year’s ANWG conference in Portland.  

This Month’s Program

Betty Bell and the Program Committee have arranged an engaging slate of programs for the year. This month, Pam Gassman from Browns Point will share Wagon Wheel Rag Weaving and Triangle Weaving. Perhaps she will inspire you to try something new.

Until next time, keep weaving and exploring new threads of inspiration.

Ciao,
Barbara

June — well, here it is. My final President Message to you. It is a
been pleasure to have been “at the helm” for TWG these past two
years. We have accomplished some goals, and been joyfully and
colorfully enriched about weaving and fiber techniques. It has been
satisfying to accept new members into our guild, and grow our fiber
community.
This month we install our new officers and set up the Standing Board
and committee chairs for the coming year. Thank you to all those who
have stepped up, and re-upped. Barbara, our new President, will call
a board meeting over the summer.
Applications for Tacoma Open Studio Days (October 17, 18) and Arts
at the Armory in November are made, and hopefully we will be
accepted into both events. Be sure to add extra to your warps for
items to sell at our fundraiser sale.
The June picnic, will be held at the home of Nancy Olson’s daughter.
Full directions are included in the newsletter. Dog Daze and Potluck,
Show and Tell which is always inspirational. It’s the heART of our
guild! Hope you can come. I am sad I will miss it. I will be in Denver
at Complex Weavers Seminars.
I want to thank all of the guild members who have worked with me the
past two years. I could not have done this without your support.

Happy weaving,
Mimi

May is such a lovely month. Especially here where we live — we are lucky. Sun is warming the earth bringing colorful blooms and greenery to our gardens. It’s inspiring and tempting me to wind some warp yarns for dyeing. We have enjoyed presentations this year with color themes and colorful images. We have a color challenge – have you finished yours? We hope to see it at our meeting!

This month we will hold elections. Thank you to all those who have stepped up to help administer the guild’s activities. We all benefit. We also will be talking about the future activities, including Tacoma Open Studio Days (October 17, 18) – shall we participate again? And the potential of another Arts Sale through the City which is planned for dates in November. We look forward to planning our year and the ongoing promise of inspiration through our programs, workshops and study groups.

At our meeting, our member Debbie Waite will share with us her experiences as a beginning weaver. We’ll also have more information and examples of the double weave project. We’ll hear about some of our study groups endeavors. We will talk about the June picnic, graciously held at the home of Nancy Olson’s daughter. Full details will be sent on directions etc. And —- the color challenge!

Whether you are a weaver of many years, or just beginning, our Show and Tell is always inspirational. It’s the heART of our guild! Come join us.

April 2026

Hello Weavers!

Trees in blossom, tulips budding, and sprouts popping everywhere, – even bunnies on the lawn!  We have heard of snow in the month of April here in Tacoma, but after our surprise Snow Day last month, let’s hope we won’t have another.  The early morning decision to hold our meeting 100% virtually proved to be optimal, with everyone being able to see our speaker, Kathrin Weber, on their own screen.   I certainly enjoyed it and look forward to playing around with dye techniques.

I have finished the weaving my 3 shaft rug, but now must do the braided finishing – still slow!  I’m planning on dyeing a warp to go onto that loom next, probably for towels.  I am also finally weaving on my new AVL loom, still with some problems, but I will have those resolved soon.  

We hope to see everyone at our April 10th meeting to enjoy even MORE color inspiration from Beverly Ash Gilbert, “ Dancing With Color”.  Beverly has an awesome website:  beverlyashgilbert.com

See you soon –

Weave away!

Mimi

Mimi Anderson, President

Tacoma Weavers Guild

TWG President Message

October 2025

Hello Weavers!

Fall is such a busy time for us all. Home life, work life, weaving life – each aspect of our days is filled. This is the time of beginnings — weavers guilds meetings— and, with sadness, the lazy (?) days of summer are gone. September saw us begin again with the FAIR activities and Fiber Fling at the Job Carr Museum Park. Showing the visitors what we do and how we do it!

October brings another opportunity to share our love of fiber craft as we open the Studio (our meeting place at Saint Andrews) to the public for the Open Arts Studio Tour, on Saturday October 11th as we participate in Tacoma Arts Month. You can find out more hereour members will dress up our meeting room, bringing table looms, spinning wheels, and many examples of what we make. We will not be selling, but rather promoting our SALE coming up in November during Arts at the Armory. Be sure to check that out here

For weaving inspirations, I’m feeling lured by more thoughts of Optical Hues, and by October colors – turning leaves, pumpkins everywhere, rain, fir needles, and by October scents – pumpkin spice lattes and all goodies with that wonderful smell. It feels warm.

I hope you will be able to join us in October for “Much from Little” – utilizing your handwoven leftovers.

Reminder, if you have ideas for Study Groups, contact Kitty to connect with others who also want to focus on a technique or study.

See you soon –

Weave away!

Mimi

Mimi Anderson, President

Tacoma Weavers Guild

Hello Weavers!

I am filled with anticipation of another great guild year for Tacoma weavers.  This year, our theme is “Optical Hues” specifically, of course, color options in weaving.  

AI says, optical color mixing is a perceptual phenomenon where two or more colors placed close together are seen by the brain as a single, new color.  Our brains and our eyes do have a symbiotic relationship and function, but when the brain is encouraged to think what the eye is seeing, that double curved line in the middle of a blue background becomes a seagull flying in the blue sky.  When the brain sees little blue dots and little yellow dots close together, it sees green. 

I remember back in a high school art class, our teacher was teaching about pointillism, and we were required to choose two colors, opposite on the color wheel, and use only those two in small dots, to create a portrait.  Perhaps it was of a specific famous artist, because I remember mine was Van Gogh.  I chose blue-violet and orange, and I can almost remember the painting.  It was amazing to see how just the use of dots could make shapes and shadows, and definitely a portrait of Van Gogh.

A similar concept is simultaneous contrast:  Two colors, side by side, interact with one another and change our perception accordingly. The effect of this interaction is called simultaneous contrast. Since we rarely see colors in isolation, simultaneous contrast affects our sense of the color that we see. For example, red and blue flowerbeds in a garden are modified where they border each other: the blue appears green and the red, orange.

Our weaving is like little pixels or dots, one up one down, so it’s the perfect medium for optical mixing.  In weaving, we can achieve totally different colors from what color each yarn color is, by using yarns in combination.  I was just looking at my sampler from our workshop with Jennifer Moore, Double Rainbow.  The places where two yarns are used form another color.

At our first meeting, we’ll have an activity.  If you choose, you can select some colorful paint chips to get you started thinking about how colors might interact and combine to create optical mixes.  We’ll proceed through the year, and as our May Challenge see results that we all have created using this concept.

I hope you all have had an amazing summer break, filled with weaving and ice dyeing, and you are back at the loom, or the wheel, or your favorite textile techniques.  We hope you are creating items to offer for sale at our Arts at the Armory event in mid November, and that many of you will participate in the Open Studio Day, October 11th.  

Weave away!

Mimi

Mimi Anderson, President