Yesterday, we welcomed coverlet weaver, flax and silkworm farmer Cassie Dickson to FEEDBACK FRIDAY.
Cassie says: “A Southern Highland Craft Guild Heritage member, specializing in spinning, traditional weaving, and natural dyeing, I have called western North Carolina my home for over 30 years. As a traditional pattern weaver, I have woven coverlets and linens for over 40 years. I grow flax and use 18th and 19th century tools and process the fiber to weave linen cloth. For the past 33 years, I have also raised silk worms, processing the cocoons to silk fabric and sharing that interesting historical story. Over the years, I have taught and demonstrated my craft for museums, colleges, schools, guilds, and numerous regional fiber events. “
Watch the recording below.
Follow Cassie on Instagram.
Cassie loves The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing by J.N. Liles for a historical dyeing perspective and cited it many times during her presentation.
Handwoven Magazine writes: “Whether it’s growing and processing fiber or embroidering with handspun, hand-dyed linen thread, Cassie has always looked at traditional textiles and said, “I have to learn to do that.” She’s learned to split cane and weave baskets in the Cherokee style, ret flax in dew, and weave an overshot coverlet in two weeks. Having learned the old skills, she gladly teaches anyone who wants to know, just as fiber “grandmothers” did for her.
The preservation of old textile skills runs deep in the Southeast and Appalachian communities where coverlets and silk-raising and natural dyeing took root. Cassie follows in the footsteps of Craft Revival movement, which led to the founding of folk and craft schools in the Southeast, and the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework, which revived interest in colonial needlework of New England.”
Honors:
-Smithsonian National Museum of American History National Woven Coverlet Collection. Interview video on the weaving of a coverlet and the flax plant to linen cloth process.
-The Arlington House, Washington, D.C. Asked to weave a coverlet for a child’s bed.
-Honorary Board Member for the National Museum of the American Coverlet, Bedford, Pennsylvania
-Appalachian Cultural Center, Carson-Newman University – Keeping the Traditions: A Connection with the Appalachian Weavers of the Past, Exhibit September 1- October 1, 2021
FEEDBACK FRIDAY
If you are not familiar with FEEDBACK FRIDAY, every other week, we speak with dyers, artists, scientists and scholars about our favorite topic, natural dyeing and color. Curated by Amy DuFault, Botanical Colors’ Communications Director and co-presented by Botanical Colors’ Founder Kathy Hattori.