Customer Feature: Michelle Dixon

Hello, my name is Michele Dixon and I’ve been learning to weave tapestry for the last four years.  I actually remember trying to weave tapestry as far back as 1970 on a cardboard loom I made myself. I still have the Leisure Arts books I used to guide me. I didn’t try again until 1975 when I was home with my infant son. I was interested in learning more about Navajo Weaving then so my husband made me a loom. Again, life has a way of not allowing you the time to pursue all of your dreams, so weaving in general was put on hold.

Skip forward to 2009, yep, that long a stretch of time. My husband and I moved to Texas from So. California in 2007 to be near our new granddaughter. I was very fortunate to find a nice group of people interested in weaving. I started taking lessons and learning how to weave cloth. In 2011, my weaving instructor at the time, Letitia Rogers, gave a two day workshop on Rio Grande Weaving and I was hooked. I continued to hone my skills in that style of weaving, but quickly found I wanted more. In 2014, I was lucky enough to sign up for a 3 month online course given by Rebecca Metzoff in Contemporary Weaving. That course changed my life. I fell in love with weaving the way she teaches it and I plan to take more of her online courses as they come available. As workshops come available in my area, I take them, but they are few and far between. Luckily, my original weaving instructor, Letitia Rogers, gave another two day workshop in February of 2015 on weaving the traditional Aubusson way. I enjoyed that workshop also and learned more about building shapes instead of weaving from selvage to selvage as Rebecca Metzoff teaches. However, Rebecca’s weaving style is my preferred weaving style also.

I purchased my first Mirrix, a Zach, in 2012. I must admit it was not love at first pick. I was not use to the tension or the shed the Mirrix provides. I’d been mostly using my 4 harness floor loom so naturally I was surprised at the difference. Well, I sold my Zach, but later purchased a Big Sister and learned to love the beautiful tension you get with the Mirrix looms. I also purchased a Little Guy in 2013. I love both my Mirrix looms because of the great tension and portability they offer and I use them for sampling, workshops and small tapestries. Then along came the Spencer Electric Treadle and I fell in love all over again.

Below, I posted photos of some of the work I’ve done on my Mirrix looms.

The first one is a group shot of the three samples I wove in Rebecca Metzoff’s online course. One for each month of the course. They were all woven on my Big Sister loom and they measure about 10” x 14” each.