February 15 - Weaving Community

A Presbyterian Homes resident works on a runner she has been weaving for about a year.

By Magdalena I. García

Today I finally did something that had been on my “want-to-do” list for a while: I visited the weaving class at the Presbyterian Homes in Evanston. It turns out that L., a member of my church, is a weaver, and she and her husband B. volunteer at the arts and crafts center on Mondays. L. does a little weaving there, but mostly she teaches and assists senior residents who want to try their hand at this ancient art form.

There are about five looms in the room, and L. let me try one. I quickly acquired some new vocabulary: like the shaft, the shuttle, and the beater. And I also acquired a new sense of appreciation for hand-woven textiles. It takes a long time to weave a garment, which means that there are countless hours behind even a small placemat. So remember that the next time you visit a fair trade shop and think the prices seem too high (or especially when you come across bargains that surely were produced in sweat shops overseas or across the border!).

The center includes two large rooms and, in addition to weaving, residents can do sewing, jewelry making, silk scarf dying, sculpting, and crocheting, among other art forms. Today, for example, there was a circle of women cutting recycled plastic bags into strips and tying them together, to be able to crochet them into mats for the homeless. And in the middle of all that there is yet another project: a tall table with an electric train set, complete with a landscape that includes a mountain, parks, and a city with its little people, small cars, and a tiny First Presbyterian Church (the door was closed, because most Presbyterians don’t go to church on Mondays, so I can’t tell you a thing about the sanctuary).

So why do they do all this, you might ask? Clearly, these are creative pastimes for a worthy cause. A lot of the items made by Presbyterian Homes residents are either donated to mission (like the mats for the homeless) or sold at the annual fundraising Christmas Bazaar. But above and beyond that, these folks are doing something much more important: as they pull the threads and load the yarn on the shuttles, they are weaving community.