Last week I had a chance to chat with a younger weaver who is researching Allen Fannin. During the course of the conversation they mentioned that they were having a lot of trouble finding archival records – written or woven – and they were discouraged there is so little information available about the studio operations or the work that he did in weaving.
It occurred to me that I had something from his studio and offered to give it to them to add to what they had found.
It is a scarf that I purchased sometime in the late 1990s and have routinely worn in the winter because it is made from 100% cashmere and it is very warm. It also feels wonderful against the skin. But I hadn’t washed it in a while so I figured before I sent it to them, I’d better send it clean!
Part of what they were interested in was the labels. In this case the scarf has a label with the Fannin Studio logo, and one for fibre content: 100% cashmere.
I’ve marked the selvedge with a yellow line because it is nearly invisible in the photo, but it is a technique that he described where the loom is set up to produce multiple items, side by side in the loom, and a line of leno along each edge. The ‘selvedge’ is not a woven edge, but a tiny ‘fringe’ with the leno structure holding the textile stable. During wet finishing a bit of fulling had been applied and the weft threads slightly fulled to further hold the leno threads in place. The beginning and the end, if I am remembering correctly, had been woven with a few picks of a dissolving thread, and during wet finishing and the light fulling, the thread would dissolve into the water and the warp and weft would full slightly to secure the threads and make a stable beginning and end.
After all the times I have worn this scarf, there is no deterioration of the sides or ends. This scarf can easily be worn for another few decades (with a bit of care, it *is* cashmere, after all) and I was happy to pass it along to a younger weaver, who is working to preserve a part of our history.
If we forget our history, we forget our craft. It is as much a part of our story as the technical parts, learning the mechanics, the physics, the ergonomics.
If anyone has anything pertaining to the Allen Fannin studio, woven or written that you are willing to share, email me and I can pass your contact info on. They have collected some photographs, but would like more.
Email is laura at laurafry dot com
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