Francis Branch Stitch In - Learn about creating with fibers!

Featuring Fiber Artist Melvenea Hodges  

Bring your sewing, knitting, crocheting, weaving, embroidery or any needlework. There will also be a textile fiber tool exchange - bring something, take something along with maker stations

Bring your sewing, knitting, crocheting, weaving, embroidery or any needlework. There will also be a textile fiber tool exchange - brong something, take something. And there will be maker stations including Catnip Carrots, wool flowers, braided accessories, and pom poms. 

Link to Melvenea folder 

Francis Branch Stitch In 2021 Bring your sewing, knitting, crocheting, weaving, embroidery or any needlework.  Stop in or stay all day there will be plenty to learn and do.  Special fiber artist guest presenter Melvenea Hodges will inspire you!  

There will also be a textile fiber tool exchange - brong something, take something. And there will be maker stations including Catnip Carrots, wool flowers, braided accessories, and pom poms. 

Melvenea Hodges from Traditions in Cloth LLC. : Honoring, Practicing, and Preserving our Fiberarts Heritage through Practice Scope and Mission: 

Share and promote traditional textile techniques in the context of creating personal cultural artifacts using displays, demonstration with interactive display, and oral presentation.

Schedule

Demonstration and Display November 6, 2021 11:00am-1:00pm 

Traditions in cloth. Interact with fiber artist, Melvenea Hodges as she demonstrates spinning wool using a drop spindle and spinning wheel. Engage with natural fibers and handmade clothing and accessories at the interactive display (drops spindles, wool, crochet hooks, and knitting needles will be available to try).

 Oral Presentation November 6, 2021 1:00pm-2:00pm 

Black American Fiber Artist and Educator, Melvenea Hodges discusses practicing traditional fiber arts including hand spinning, knitting,crocheting, and weaving in order to honor and preserve our fiberarts heritage. Learn how she came to admire and appreciate traditional textiles, aquired tools and materials, learned traditional skills, and creates cultural artifacts using natural materials as an ongoing commitment to self-expression and cultural identity.

Melevenea Hodges Bio-Melvenea Hodges is a Fiber Artist residing in South Bend, Indiana. She creates clothing and accessories using traditional techniques such as block printing, sewing, weaving, spinning, knitting, crocheting, and embroidery.

In her early days, growing up in Benton Harbor, Michigan, she began learning about fiber arts by experimenting with hair braiding, beading, and loom-free weaving. It was through these experiences that she found joy and realized her talent in creating with her hands. Not long afterward, she learned to crochet and sew through trial and error. 

In 2006 Melvenea earned a bachelor’s in Apparel, Textiles, and Merchandising from Eastern Michigan University.  

While Melvenea works with an array of fibers, cotton is the fiber that has sent her on a  journey of self-discovery as a fiber artist. She was inspired to begin growing, spinning, and weaving cotton as a way to reclaim an undocumented heritage of fiber arts as a Black American maker. Aside from its cultural significance cotton is a remarkable fiber that is a joy to create with. Melvenea finds tremendous joy in helping others learn new skills. In addition to teaching at a primary school, she connects and shares with other textile enthusiasts through social media and at her local weaving guild.

 Melvenea’s mission is to honor and preserve our fiber arts heritage through practice.

She intermittently blogs about her work and traditional textile techniques on her website www.traditionsincloth.com and Instragram as Traditionsincloth where she also offers handcrafted accessories and spinning supplies. She has also published articles with SpinOff magazine on techniques in working with cotton. 

Traditions in ClothHonor, Preserve, and Practice our Fiber Arts Heritage through Spinning, Weaving, Printing, Sewing, Embroidery, Knitting, and Crochet

Ravelry- User: Melveny

YouTube-User: Melveny

Instagram- User: traditionsincloth

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