Long Thread Podcast: Heather Torgenrud, Pick-Up Bandweaving

Heather Torgenrud has been so immersed in Nordic bandweaving, with three books to her name and collaborations with the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, that one might think she had been born into the tradition of inkle weaving. But although she learned to weave on a table loom in her teens, her interest in bands grew from a gift. Her Norwegian-American husband presented her with an inkle loom, and she discovered that she loved the intimacy of using her hands to create patterns in narrow bands. Her first book focused on the Norwegian tradition of pick-up bandweaving.

Although the style is often called Baltic pick-up, weavers create hand-manipulated patterned bands around the world. Heather’s second book, Pick-Up Bandweaving Designs, focused on the pattern possibilities. The constraints of the form, with a plain-weave background and floats that create the design, offer their own possibilities for creativity. The book constrained itself to patterns of 13 ends, and she found 288 different motifs to include.

As any weaver who has fallen in love with bandweaving can attest, the urge to weave bands is quickly followed by a need to find uses for them. Heather’s upcoming book, The Bandweaver’s Project Book, includes 24 ways to use woven bands for special and everyday applications.

Links

Heather Torgenrud’s website
Norwegian Pick-Up Bandweaving
Pick-Up Bandweaving Designs
The Bandweaver’s Project Book
Heather’s talk on Norwegian bandweaving as part of the Vesterheim Museum’s Cultural Connections series is available on YouTube.
Vesterheim Museum curator Laurann Gilbertson spoke with the Long Thread Podcast in 2021.

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