Handwoven wensleydale wool cushions on an Ercol chair in a wheat field. Natural ecru and black wool yarn is woven in the shadow weave technique on an 8-shaft Ashford table loom. Textiles and homewares handwoven by Sarah Affleck in Edinburgh, UK.

A close-up of a handwoven lambswool cushion. The yellow, pink, purple and peach wool is woven into an alternating block weave technique, floats enhance the textural quality of the fabric. All woven on a twenty-four shaft Compu-Dobby AVL studio loom. Textiles and homewares handwoven by Stephanie Pfister in Wiltshire, UK.

SEVEN SISTERS HANDWEAVERS

Seven Sisters Handweavers is a network of handweavers who are all graduates of the Diploma in Handweaving at the Handweavers Studio and Gallery, London.

Seven Sisters Handweavers formed in 2022 and currently represent three cohorts of graduates from 2017, 2019 and 2021. Working primarily as a group to support each others’ growth as handweavers, we organise workshops and meetings in creative spaces, and curate exhibitions seeking to share our weaving expertise within our local communities.

Our individual work represents the diversity and creative breadth of contemporary handweaving, from designing and making furnishing and interior fabrics, weaving apparel, including scarves and clothing, making accessories from woven fabrics and art weaving.

In 2022 and 2024 we all worked together to organise and hold two successful exhibitions of our work, the first in London which subsequently toured to Denmark, and in 2024 at The Whitchurch Silk Museum, Hampshire.

We aim to develop new partnerships with gallery directors and curators of creative and exhibition spaces, looking to design innovative projects, exhibitions and workshops. We are actively seeking engaging and interesting opportunities to share our weaving with new audiences and communities.

SEVEN SISTERS HANDWEAVERS:

Sarah Affleck, Sandra Gruescu, Sue Hopkinson, Sandra Hunter, Sue Malvern, Kirsty Odds, Stephanie Pfister.

Stephanie Pfister - handweaver - Textile collection

RECENT PROJECTS

CROSSING THE WARP - THREAD BY THREAD

Whitchurch Silk Mill

13 January - 17 March 2024

Our most recent exhibition celebrated hand weaving as a complement to the power looms at Whitchurch Silk Mill. We organised it as an exhibition that showcased the distinctiveness of each individual weaver. It included both useful and decorative items including furnishings, clothing and art weaving. Our work involved different yarns including silk and cotton recycled from surplus industrial waste, along with linen and wool. Using industry waste silk yarn in colours drawn from the mill site, some works wove a pattern called plaited twill to embody the rhythm, technique and artistry of machine-woven silk cloth. Other weavings explored travelling home and landscape, showing the shifting colours and shades of boundaries and crossings. Elsewhere, patterns typical for 18th century cotton hand weaving, and using surplus yarn from the Lancashire cotton industry, were superimposed with modern designs in bright colours. A collection of textiles, woven in double weave from merino and lambswool, was designed for contemporary interiors, including soft furnishing fabrics and decorative accessories which drew inspiration from geometric and architectural forms. Together our exhibition embraced the diversity and richness of hand weaving, and its continuing relevance to contemporary culture.

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Sandra Gruescu – Handweaver – Woven Roses I

Sue Hopkinson - Handweaver - Handwoven Merino Lambswool Throw

Three handwoven lambswool throws from the Mellow yellow collection. On display at Whitchurch Silk Mi

Handwoven wall panel in cream cotton, with extra weft-patterning in red cotton. The patterning slant

Kirsty Odds - Whitchurch - collection of 3 fabrics in merino wool and chenille

Sarah Affleck – Handweaver – Rhythms in Silk Scarf