Handwoven Textiles, Maine

Having a conversation with Lynne Chick, the energetic, easy going owner of Weave Works in Monmouth, Maine is as comfortable as the beautiful soft hand woven fabrics she creates. She’s a self taught fabric artist and former interior decorator who transitioned into weaving after a sequence of events involving her son with Down Syndrome.

When Lynne isn’t behind one of her nine treasured looms, you might find this busy wife, mother of five, and grandmother of eight, noting ideas for bold color combinations from Mother Nature as she cruises around town on her scooter and Harley Davidson.

“The textures, the patterns, the colors,” Lynne recollects, “everything and anything about fabric has always fascinated me.”

Prior to learning how to weave, Lynne was an interior designer who had an eye for transforming furniture into works of art. But in 1999, little did she realize that a Christmas gift for her son with Down Syndrome, would actually have a profound impact on her life. She initially bought “the loom” for David, who had been weaving for many years, but changed her mind and chose instead to give him a portable loom to make it easy for him to transport when he visited.

As she reflects back, she realizes it was at that moment when she chose to keep the first loom for herself, that “the student was ready” and she was on a path she subconsciously wanted to be on for years. “I guess you could say weaving has always been on my mind,” Lynne shared. “When I was 10 years old, my uncle had a loom in the garage and it was suppose to be mine, but for some reason, I never ended up with it.” The book, Learning to Weave by Deborah Chandler, which sat on her bookshelf, unread for years, ended up being a prelude to the work that she now finds so gratifying.

Although this weaving maven wonders what it would be like if she attended college, she never let the fact that she didn’t go interfere with following her passion. She remembers the first time she set up her loom. “It took me 16 hours,” she recalls, “and it was midnight when I was done, but I was so excited that I stayed up until 4 am weaving.”

Weaving Simplified

To a non-weaver, setting up a loom can be intimidating. “It only looks complicated,” Lynne modestly says. ” It’s easy when you take it one step at a time. At the most basic level, woven fabric is made by first setting up the warp (the lengthwise threads) and then passing a thread over and under the warp. That’s essentially where all the patterns come from and how; as she phrases it, the fabric grows.

Since 2000, she has honed her skills from simple twills to complicated techniques. The first couple of years Lynne taught herself the art of weaving by using pattern books until she was ready to go to the next level and come up with her own designs. “My friend showed me first and within fifteen minutes I knew exactly what to do,” Lynne said. Out of her nine looms, her favorite is close to 90 years old, but she also enjoys the complex patterns that transform on her computerized loom. Her favorite are her lighthouse and pine tree designs. She also enjoys the challenge of making hand woven items to match a customer’s specific decor. “Weaving is only limited by what you can think up,” she enthusiastically says.

Gratitude for the people who buy local products

Lynne is proud to say that she works with 90% repurposed materials purchased from thrift shops, yard sales, and donated by friends and family. She even recycles fabric from old blue jeans for some of her rugs. Most of the yarn she uses was purchased from an old weaving mill that went out of business. In addition,, the majority of her products are cotton and are machine washable. Lynne says she is both amazed and thankful that in this economy people are supporting local artisans and interested in learning about the person behind the product.

Please visit our on-line store to see Lynne Chick’s local hand woven products.