Best Practices / Standards
The Guild no longer has a Standards Committee but members might still find the evaluation criteria useful for their own improvement.
Weaving - evaluation criteria
- Quality of materials used
- Technical execution – for example:
- correctness of threading
- good edges
- even beating
- absence of skips
- no knots in warp
- joins in wefts must be made at the edges and neatly clipped
- handsewing or knotting of fringe should be even taking up a few warp threads at a time and the same number of threads each time
- twisted fringe should be same length and consistent all across
- Suitability of fibre, design and technique
- Effectiveness of colours and colour combinations
- Proportion and over-all design
- Finishes and finishing techniques appropriate to the article
- Items submitted as a set must be designed as such
Spinning - evaluation criteria for skeins:
- Fibre preparation (washing, carding, spinning, plying)
- Spinning technique; woollen, worsted, semi-worsted, novelty
- Uniformity of spinning: consistency, textural control, design fellow-through
- Diameter of yarn(s): singles, plies, textural
- Suitability of chosen fibres to stated end use (e.g. Merino for apparel not upholstery)
- Suitability of mixing, plying or blending of differing fibres to end product usage
- Yarn Finishing: twist set, washing & rinsing, fulling or felting
Evaluation criteria for articles using handspun:
- Suitability of fibre for purpose, eg. coarse, hairy yams generally reserved for outer wear.
- Handspun yarn, especially textured and novelties, should be suited to stitch pattern and needle size used
- Handspun yams must be durable, maintain shape and drape of the article
- When used in combination with commercial yarns, handspun should be compatible and enhance product. When mixing handspun and commercial yarn, handspun should comprise at least 50% of the article
- Commercial findings (buttons, zippers, etc) should be appropriate to product
- Direction of twist should be suited to technique chosen