Liz Spear

A friend once gave me the pieces of a bowl he’d turned of rhododendron wood gathered from his land.  I made buttons of those beautiful bits of wood, then wove some cloth and made the garments to carry those buttons.

I follow this pattern of experience to make one-of-a-kind, comfortable garments with my handwoven cloth:  shirts and jackets designed to wear to the office or with your favorite pair of jeans, plus regular vests, several styles of hats, and the exhibition-oriented Celebration Coat.

All are handwoven, cut and sewn by me, by myself, with the exception of special collaborations with other fiber artists. Several years ago, I decided that it was more important to me to work alone, than to expand my business (i.e: take on more shows, more shops, etc.), to the point where I couldn’t do it all.  I like to make this work, and need to work with my hands, and it pleases me immensely that every single inch of all of those warp and weft threads goes through my hands, that I get to design and weave lots of fabrics, and then, that I get to make clothes with handwoven cloth.

My fabrics begin with twelve cones of cotton and rayon yarns, inspired by the colors in a neighbor’s faded red barn, a single variegated thread or, perhaps, a wooden button.

I firmly believe that you need to feel the fabrics, mostly handwoven of cotton and rayon yarns, and try them on. I make a range of five sizes, with my medium roughly correlating to a size 12. However, each size has a fair amount of ease built in, to fit a range of different bodies, and there’s a bit of overlap between the sizes.

When we meet at shows, I encourage all to try the garments on, because your idea of the perfect garment is likely to depend on how you like to wear clothes. Simple alterations are possible, but I don’t do major overhauls, nor special sizes: I simply haven’t the skills, nor the time to acquire them. For this reason, at this time, I’m making only women’s garments.

Should you be interested in seeing my work, come to a show, or one of the shops, or an exhibition. If you’ve already seen the work, and wish to entertain placing an order, write or email me for a copy of my line drawing sheets, and appropriate fabric samples, which will be sent by snail mail, my preferred communication venue.