Member Since: 2007 City: State Road State: North Carolina County: Surry County, NC Bio: Mentor in weaving Ruth Hutton is a New Jersey native but a long-time North Carolina resident. She received a BS in Textile Design from The Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science (now known as Philadelphia University). After graduation in 1981, she moved to Spindale, NC where she worked for 19 years at Mastercraft Fabrics. She designed Jacquard fabrics for home use, such as furniture upholstery. In 2000, she began working for Chatham Fabrics of Elkin, designing fabrics for the contract market, such as high traffic public areas in hotels, offices and restaurants. She has always had an interest in the fiber arts. When an opportunity to buy Circle of Friends Yarn Shop became available, she did just that and added FiberArt Studio to its name. On April 15, 2007, she took ownership and expanded the shop’s offerings to include weaving, spinning, felting and embroidery. The shop displays a wonderful collection of yarns and tools for knitting and crochet, and offers classes in many of the fiber arts. Ruth has enhanced her knowledge of textile design over the years through workshops. She attended the Handweaver’s Guild of America conference (Convergence), the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair, the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and several Color Marketing Group conferences. She has taken classes in color blending on the hand carder, knitting techniques, needle felting , silk hanky making, drafting weaves, spinning novelty yarn on the spinning wheel, Nuno felting (wet felting on cloth) and more. One of her most memorable experiences took place in Donegal at Tapis Gael, a tapestry weaving studio on the coast of northwestern Ireland that is rich in culture and history. The instructors were local folks working to keep alive the traditional arts of weaving, felting and hand-spinning. She says, “I’ve been getting ready for this part of my life for a long time. I’m enjoying life as a shopkeeper here on West Main Street in Elkin. It offers me the opportunity to meet and mentor a person such as Pat Bertke. Pat is building upon a natural talent. I appreciate her good eye for texture and color.” Ruth lives in State Road with her mom, too many cats, two dogs, two little goats and two not-very-mini horses. Her daughter Katie and her husband live nearby and have a beautiful little girl named Ellie. Homepage: http://circleoffriendsnc.com This Member's Galleries: This bio page has been viewed 720 times.
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