Change the shed
Change the Shed is a video livestream on YouTube where I bring you into the studio while I weave on my latest tapestry, you work on your projects and we chat together.
The program started with the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, and continues today twice a month. Change the Shed is a place to find support for your weaving and connect with other tapestry artists right on YouTube. Rebecca will always be working on a project while she discusses the choices she is making in real time. You can bring your weaving and settle in for 45 minutes of tapestry talk!
Use the hashtag #changetheshed to share. Let’s see what you’re making!
You can go straight to the Change the Shed page HERE on YouTube
The next broadcast should be listed as an upcoming stream. The full playlist is also there.
Schedule
Find the schedule for the live broadcasts on my Calendar page HERE.
There are so many episodes of Change the Shed now that I’ve divided them onto separate pages which are linked below. Notes about each episode are right under the link. I’ve included screen shots so you can quickly see what I was working on that day.
Group 1: March 27, 2020 through April 17, 2020
Group 2: April 20, 2020 through May 27, 2020
Group 3: June through September, 2020
Group 4: October through December, 2020
Group 5: January through June, 2021
Group 6: July through December, 2021
Group 7: January through June, 2022
Group 8: July through December, 2022
Group 9: January through June, 2023
Group 10: July through December, 2023
Group 11: January through June, 2024
If you’d like to make a donation to support this free program, more details are below under FAQ. Use the button below.
“First time here! Read your book, LOVED IT, just finished my first 3”x3” tapestry piece and dying to start more.”
I started Change the Shed in March 2020 when the first lockdown happened in my state of Colorado in the USA. It was a way to gather informally, talk about tapestry, and remind ourselves that making things can help process difficult things. At the beginning I did the program every day and then switched to weekdays, then twice a week, and as of 2021 have been doing it about twice a month.
If you use Instagram or Twitter, here is your hashtag! Let’s see what you’re making.
#changetheshed
The video below is one I made for the 100th episode on December 14, 2022.
Need some help learning the basics of tapestry weaving?
I have three introductory tapestry techniques classes: Warp and Weft: Learning the Structure of Tapestry, Weaving Tapestry on Little Looms, and Introduction to Tapestry Weaving.
My book, The Art of Tapestry Weaving, was published in November of 2020. It is a comprehensive tapestry techniques book that has gotten great reviews and is already in its second printing. More information is HERE. You can purchase it HERE. So if an online course isn’t for you, this book might well be the way to learn tapestry weaving basics!
“I love #changetheshed. It is what I’ve needed all these years - the opportunity to watch someone who knows what they’re doing. I love it that Rebecca is so good at sharing her thought process with us. I’ve always thought I was doing something wrong because I have to make so many decisions on nearly every pass…and here is Rebecca, making decisions and telling us how she solving them. This is the best weaving thing I’ve ever encountered.”
The video below is a short example of the kinds of information I share on Change the Shed. This clip is from the January 5, 2022 episode.
FAQs
I want to ask a question during a live broadcast but YouTube wants me to make a channel
Yes, this is true. A YouTube account is called a channel whether or not you ever upload videos. Having a channel just means you have a YouTube account and that allows you to comment on live videos. YouTube is owned by Google so if you have a Google account because you use any of their other services such as Gmail, Google Docs, or Google Translate, it is easy to make a YouTube channel.
This help page shows you how to do that.
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1646861?hl=en
I’d like to make a donation to help support this program
Many of you have asked if you can help with a monetary donation to support the Change the Shed program. I will accept donations to help with paying for the technology to make the broadcasts run. There is a button at the top of the page that allows you to do that.
Can I ask you questions during the broadcast?
Of course! You’ll need to use the chat feature and you do need a YouTube account (see above) to do that, but feel free to ask! I can’t guarantee I’ll answer any specific question. My main objective is to do some weaving and encourage all of you to do the same. If I miss your question it may also be that I just didn’t see it! There are a lot of my students in the class and their answers are likely pretty accurate if you don’t hear the answer out of my mouth during the broadcast. And of course I have many online courses you can explore for all the details.
Finding replays
The Playlist for Change the Shed is HERE.
Further resources
If I mention something specific during an episode, chances are good I’ll link to it on the episode pages.
With thanks to all of you…
I have gotten so many messages on so many channels like the ones below. Thank you for letting me know that it is helpful. It helps me too. May we all have the courage to experiment, to find joy in making, and to support each other when things get tough.
I also want to thank all of you who have donated to help support this free program. Those funds help me pay for the technology to run the program as well as some of my time. It also allows this program to keep running for people who aren’t able to donate extra funds and it keeps it free! Thank you!
“Change the shed has been extremely helpful to me. Watching you work, make decisions, change your mind, and make corrections. All of that has helped me to realize those things are a part of tapestry weaving. Somehow I had it in my head that I should be able to just proceed up the warp in a manner similar to throwing the shuttle and beating when weaving yardage. Now I know that the stops, starts, decisions, and unweaving are part of the process. Thank you.”
“I find Change the Shed educational as well as soothing. I often have it playing when I do the practice for the Warp & Weft course. Thank you so much for your generosity!”
“Separately, I think in addition to some of what you stated at the beginning of the video about what Change the Shed is all about… making your intention to weave every day public, and encouraging us to weave every day, you are a good example to us all in other ways – to take care of ourselves, in particular our creative weaver-selves; to help us through the ups and downs emotionally of this time by coming together on a regular basis; to bring us together across the world in community – we’re not alone and that’s important. The examples you share, as well as the tips and ‘teaching’ that takes place both from you and from those participating live on Youtube, are part of the motivation to put ourselves (or maybe I should just speak for me – put myself) in front of the loom and ‘go for it.’ You care and you are sharing it, and I can’t tell you how very important that is (to me). Thank you very much.”
“Watching you weave (while talking about it) in the Changing the Shed videos has totally changed the way I feel about my own tapestry weaving. I’m so much more relaxed with it and more comfortable with my process of thinking, making decisions, and changing my mind about placement of the yarn as I go. Thank you sooooo much for giving your time during this stressful time to do Changing the Shed!!!!!!!!! It has been a highlight of my isolation days!!! And.... the Design Class too!”
“ I want you to know how very much I appreciate your daily on-line times. First of all, I find seeing your problem solving really helpful. And second, it has motivated me to weave. I took a small Fringeless piece off my loom, but I
don’t really like it. However, thanks to you I warped up the Mirrix and I’m ready to go once again.
My gratitude to you for your generosity.”
“Thank you for doing this, it really gives structure to my day and keeps me weaving even for just a little bit. Thanks for sharing yourself with all of us it means a lot.”
“ I’m learning a lot, from the courses, and I’m also watching the “change-the-shed” moments as well. I particularly like what you are working on now because each step along the way teaches me something or reinforces what I’m learning in the courses.”
“Thank you for doing Change the Shed. I am enjoying it and it is nice to hear your chat and feel like there is another person in my studio—one who actually talks tapestry and weaving! My cat, Hamilton, often visits me and my husband comes in and out periodically but no one talks tapestry! This type of interaction is especially important in these strange, stressful times.”
“I’m really loving this morning meetup, even when I don’t get there, like this week. Just knowing there are a bunch of tapestry weavers hanging out is a good way to start my day. Thank you for doing this, Rebecca.”
“I can’t tell you how valuable all of your videos, posts are to me as a new tapestry weaver! Loving watching you weave on Change the Shed. ”
“You have reignited my interest in tapestry with these videos, and your other instructional ones, and of course your blog. I’m loving your posts and learning all sorts, thank you for this gift. But don’t ask me how long those “tropical moments” last 🥵 😆”