The Center - Weavers' Guild of Rochester

Welcome to the Weaving and Fiber Arts Center!

To see an overview click Courses. To see specific listings of current offerings CLICK HERE.
Download a Registration Form.

Stop in at our OPEN HOUSE on Jan 11th from 2:00 to 6:00.
Demonstrations, samples and instructors will be on site
to answer your questions and pique your interest.

Since 2002, we have offered courses at all skill levels for youth and adults year round, days, evenings and weekends. Contact Us to receive a course listing brochure by mail, ask a question, or learn more about teaching at the Center. Information on Registration and directions to our Location is here on our website. Come take a course at our new location in Piano Works Mall, East Rochester.

The Center at Piano Works Mall--studio 1940

Let us introduce you to our Instructors who make the Center a wonderful learning place. To know more about our non-profit, volunteer-run organization, its history and mission, read on.

The Weaving and Fiber Arts Center is the primary outreach activity of the Weavers’ Guild of Rochester, a non-profit organization that has been part of Rochester’s arts and craft community since 1946. Managed entirely by volunteer guild members, The Center is supported financially by class tuition and tax-exempt gifts from individual Guild members and community supporters. With the continued support of our many contributors, we are able to provide a learning center for youth and adults living in Rochester and the surrounding area.

Keeping the Craft Alive: For many years, classes in weaving and other textile arts were offered at The Rochester Museum and Science Center. In 2001, the museum shifted its focus and closed the weaving facility to use the space for other purposes. The Guild acted promptly to arrange a long-term loan agreement with the museum to use the looms, spinning wheels, and related equipment to offer learning opportunities for its membership and the community at large. The Center informs the public that weaving is a living craft. It is a resource to those interested in fiber arts and is an important portal for new Guild members. The Weaving and Fiber Arts Center opened its doors in January 2002 and continues to be an active and inspiring place to learn.

Our Studio: The Weaving and Fiber Arts Center is a fully equipped classroom studio in the Piano Works Mall. We have a weaving room with looms, related equipment, and spinning wheels for student use. There is access to weaving software and the internet for project planning. The fiber room is used for other fiber media, including wet facilities for dyeing and felting. It is an active, comfortable place to learn from enthusiastic and talented instructors.

Courses Offered: In keeping with our weaving heritage, we offer many weaving classes: working on a traditional shaft loom, tapestry weaving, and learning to master “simple” equipment such as inkle looms, triangular looms and tablet/card weaving. Some classes emphasize hand manipulated fibers with virtually no extra equipment: triaxial weaving, wheat weaving, and basketry. Other topics offered include: felting, spinning, knitting, kumihimo, crochet, beading, wire work, Precious Metal Clay jewelry, Poly-Clay, dyeing and surface design, shibori techniques, marbling, quilting, tatting, dragon boats, temari balls, coiling, tassel making, paper making, book making, silk fusion, color exploration, sewing with handwovens, fabric and finishing for garments, and learning how to use computer weaving software. These various weaving and fiber arts classes are offered at different times of the year.

Courses suitable for beginners to experts are scheduled in the mornings, afternoons, and evenings, seven days a week, throughout the year, and are offered in differing formats such as full-day and sequential-day workshops, half-day classes, and once-a-week classes. We encourage individuals to organize groups of four or more participants, and The Center will schedule a course by special request. Our instructors include Guild members and textile artists from Rochester and beyond. For detailed class listings, click on COURSES.

The Center is a learning place for weaving and the related fiber arts. Learning is the heart and soul of the Guild, and The Center is the best articulation of our mission.