The Weaving Room
In the weaving room we create anything from soft scarfs and curtains to fabric and rugs on our looms.
At the same time we meet people.
You are most welcome to learn this old handicraft tradition called weaving.
There are secret rooms beneath the church. You do not enter those rooms without a purpose. Children come there to learn to play the violin, and some mature men come to play wind instruments. Men and women also come to the well-equipped carpentry workshop. And then there is us – a group of women with a shared passion – we weave in the weaving studio.
“Behind the doors of the weaving studio there is a joy of creation. We may arrive at the looms tired and worn, but as if by magic, bodies and souls are calmed by the steady thud as the reed meets the weft and settles it into place.”
The Weaving Studio
Over the years, the space for the weaving studio has grown. But above all, what exists behind its doors is creative joy. No one weaves because it is dull; everyone weaves because it is a pleasure. We may come to the loom tired and worn, but as if by magic, bodies and souls are soothed by the quiet rhythm as the reed strikes the weft and lays it neatly in place.
What is woven in the church’s underground regions?
Over the years, everything from delicate curtains to sturdy, hard-wearing rugs has been woven here. Almost everything imaginable has been cut down from the looms: Östgötadräll in beautiful colours, cotton and wool in harmonious combination, shawls that become light as clouds after finishing, towels and upholstery fabrics, to name just a few examples.
During the work, we learn a great deal about qualities and weave structures. One rug in a so-called glesrips weave caught our attention when it was used as packaging for a cupboard in the carpentry workshop. We analysed it and have since woven it in various versions – we call it the Immanuel rug.
What truly happens in the weaving studio is something very important: an ancient tradition is passed on and kept alive. Those of us who have the privilege of weaving underground are carrying a cultural heritage forward. In the book För dig (“For You”), published in 2007, there is a short passage about the weaving studio. In a few lines, Ylva Eggehorn captures the very essence of the weaving work:
“The looms, which once offered women the possibility of having time of their own for quiet reflection during autumn and late winter, when harvests and festivities were over, now stand here as well, in the middle of Stockholm, becoming an arena for creation and for encounters between people…”
— Eva Trotzig
Those who are interested can purchase something as unique as a rug woven in the church.