Meet SpinGinnie, our fiber obsessed weaver

Hi! My name is Ginnie Killough, and I go by the name of SpinGinnie for my fiber related endeavors.

I am fortunate enough to be the newest member of the Gallery Marquette, having joined this cooperative group of talented and congenial artists a little over six months ago. I am truly enjoying the experience.

I have been fiber obsessed for my entire life. I have knitted and sewn since I was a young child, and I have been spinning, dyeing, and weaving for the past 38 years. However, the isolation of the pandemic gave me the opportunity to focus on my weaving like never before. I read, I studied. With a Zoom group of distant weaver friends, I learned to use an excellent weave design computer program which vastly sped up my design process and expanded my interests and abilities. With these tools, I became productive and excited about new horizons and creativity. When the opportunity came along to join the Gallery, I was eager and ready.

My motivation to weave is to learn new things and give myself, and hopefully others, joy.

Every warp I put on the loom is designed to explore a new area and to teach me something new. Articles that I produce for the Gallery are one of a kind and likely to not ever be repeated in another warp. My goal has also been to weave original designs, not anything that has been published or copyrighted. I love to play with color – I am not afraid of color or conservative in any way when it comes to color. I enjoy incorporating my hand dyed handspun yarn in my weavings and in my hand knit hats. I usually create functional items but also enjoy an occasional exploratory arty wall hanging.

Here is a brief summary of the weaving process:

Inspiration: What weave, what use, what colors, what fibers?
Design and calculation on the computer: do I have enough yarn?
Winding the warp: each thread has to be measured under tension and controlled so that it does not tangle.
Dressing the loom: Each thread has to be added to the loom, spaced out correctly and connected to the correct shaft of the loom to yield the desired weave pattern, then wound onto the loom under even tension.
Weaving the fabric which involves passing one or more shuttles of yarn back and forth across the warp threads.
Cutting off the loom, securing the threads to prevent raveling.
Wet finishing and pressing which allow the yarns to come together as a fabric.
Finishing warps by plying a fringe or sewing a hem.

I try to do a few projects on each warp with variations as much as possible. So far I have made everything from finely woven bookmarks and mug rugs, towels and bread cloths, table runners to wall hangings. I will never run out of ideas.

Each project yields more ideas and questions: what if…?

Stop in to The Gallery Marquette soon and see what’s new!

My goal is to weave a new warp every week!

Ginnie Killough is a spinner and handweaver. A lifelong fiber enthusiast, Ginnie loves exploring traditional weave structures and designing original weaving plans which incorporate vivid color and handspun yarns as much as possible. She enjoys making functional items which bring art and craft into our daily lives.