Colour Collab // Kathy’s Handwoven Colour Journey
You never quite know when inspiration will strike. For Kathy, it arrived on braids of fibre, and that fibre came from an idea to inspire others…. which it did, but in the most unexpected way! This post is Kathy’s handwoven colour journey.
The Spark
At the start of 2025, we asked our spinning instructors in the School of SweetGeorgia to share what inspires them most during the winter months. They responded with photos and personal reflections that captured what brings them joy, energy, and creativity during the darkest days of the year. From those inspirations, we created the Colour Collab Winter Collection, a seasonal palette dyed to reflect the stories, moods, and beauty our instructors shared.
There are countless ways to spin colour: fractals, gradients, marled yarns, just to name a few. A braid of hand-dyed fibre doesn’t come with rules. It’s simply a canvas of colour, layered, somewhat blended, and beautifully unpredictable. How you spin it is entirely up to you.
But Kathy’s inspiration didn’t start at the wheel.
Following Inspiration
For Kathy, a member of the School of SweetGeorgia, these colourways sparked something new. While she originally planned to spin them, she couldn’t stop seeing weaving possibilities. The combinations lit up her imagination, guiding her into the loom rather than the wheel.
She already had a list of weave structures she wanted to explore, but colour choice had always been a slower part of the process for her. This time, it came to her instantly. With a huge array of 8/2 cotton at her fingertips, Kathy matched the colours from our hand-dyed collection to match her weaving yarn selection. From there, she chose weave structures that would showcase each palette, decided where each colour would shine, and began to weave.
Kathy’s Handwoven Colour
The result is a stunning series: five towels, each inspired by one of the Colour Collab Winter Collection. Kathy shared each towel with the community inside the School of SweetGeorgia as she finished it. We were so inspired by the transformation that we wanted to bring the projects here, to the entire SweetGeorgia community.
Below, you’ll find each original colourway, the towel it inspired, and the weave structure Kathy used. We’ve included links to courses in the School of SweetGeorgia to help you explore colour and weaving. At the bottom of the page, we also included all the ways to join our inspiring, supportive, and vibrant community.
The Towels
River Walk
Kathy began her journey with Kim McKenna’s River Walk colourway, transforming it into a series of striking log cabin towels. While log cabin is a simple, plain weave structure, its beauty lies in the way colour and weave interact, creating complex, eye-catching patterns that look far more intricate than they are.
If you’re curious to explore this technique, our Colour and Weave on the Rigid Heddle Loom course with Amanda Wood is a wonderful place to start. Though designed for rigid heddle weavers, the concepts translate beautifully to multi-shaft looms, opening up endless creative possibilities.
Winter Skies
Next in Kathy’s series is Debbie Held’s Winter Skies colourway, woven in a classic 2/2 twill tartan. This structure brings out the richness of the colourway, creating a beautiful sense of balance and rhythm.
For those looking to explore plaids more deeply, watch Felicia Lo’s Weaving Stripes, Plaids & Tartans course. It offers a thoughtful approach to colour, proportion, and harmony, helping you make confident choices and designs with intention.
Shadows on Snow
Next is Diana Twiss’s Shadows on Snow colourway, where Kathy shifts into blocks of Bronson lace, weaving the colours in a soft, gradient flow. The result is a simply stunning display of texture and tone.
This particular lace pattern is one Kathy has returned to often, My Very Peri Perfect Towels, originally found in Handwoven magazine. It’s a reminder that familiar structures can still hold endless creative potential when paired with fresh colour.
If you’re ready to dive into lace structures, master weaver Laura Fry guides you through the foundations and nuances in our Weaving Lace on Multi-Shaft Looms course, perfect for learning how to bring delicacy and structure together with purpose.
Wesley’s Field
Now we come to Rachel Smith’s Wesley’s Field colourway. Kathy returned to another favourite pattern from Handwoven magazine, this time interpreting the colourway in twill.
Kathy describes the experience using Jane Stafford’s expression: bobbin liberation. Set against a white and brown striped warp, Kathy closed her eyes, reached into her bobbin box and pulled out colours at random. The result is playful, bold, and beautifully unexpected.
The colours bring comfort and memories to Kathy of a well-loved quilt her grandmother owned.
If you’re ready to explore the depth and variety of twills, Felicia Lo’s course Weaving Twills on 4-Shafts is a perfect introduction to the possibilities waiting on your loom, with only four shafts!
Sprinkle of Joy
Last but not least is Katrina Stewart’s Sprinkles of Joy colourway. This colourway posed the biggest challenge for Kathy; every combination felt like Christmas. To shift the mood slightly, she chose to highlight just four colours from the braid and paired them with two calming neutrals. The result still carries a warm, rustic, holiday-cabin feel, but with a more subtle and versatile palette.
She wove the towels in a classic houndstooth pattern, allowing the contrast of colour and design to do the work. The effect is timeless and full of charm.
To explore colour even further, Felicia Lo’s Handwoven Colour course is a deep dive into working with colour and pattern. It includes two, four, and eight-shaft weaving. It’s a wonderful place to begin your own journey into the rich world of colour and cloth.
Kathy’s Handwoven Colour Conclusion
Of course, this isn’t the end. These five towels are just a glimpse into how Kathy has explored colour, structure, and texture in her weaving this year. We can’t wait to see what she creates next!
We hope her journey has sparked something for you, too. Colour is everywhere, in a braid of fibre, in a photo, or even in the quiet corners of your home. Once you begin to see the possibilities, there’s no limit to where colour can take you.
Join Our Community!
- At the School of SweetGeorgia, we’ve built a vibrant and welcoming community of fibre-loving makers, passionate instructors, and dedicated staff. Whether you’re looking for guidance on a new technique or just need a little creative encouragement, we’re here to support you every step of the way.
- Not yet a member of the School? We invite you to come and see what it is all about! Use the code: EXPLORETHESCHOOL to save 15% on an All-Access monthly membership!
- We welcome you to join us in our SweetGeorgia Community. This is where we share projects that inspire, have fibre-filled conversations, host make-alongs, and participate in a variety of virtual meetings! We discuss all things knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving, machine knitting, and more!
- Want to stay in the loop? Subscribe to our newsletter! It’s a simple way to stay updated on what’s new at SweetGeorgia and the School of SweetGeorgia, catch up on the latest articles, watch new SweetGeorgia YouTube videos, and be a part of our community without any pressure to post. We value your presence, no matter how you choose to connect with us!
The post Colour Collab // Kathy’s Handwoven Colour Journey appeared first on SweetGeorgia Yarns.
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