A creative collaboration between Whitchurch Silk Mill and Jane Austen’s House. With thanks to Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council’s Cultural Compact Funding.

Inspired by the colours and collections of Jane Austen’s House, our team here are weaving something very special, with work starting in November 2023 through to September 2024!

You can also see the full production video here.

November 2023

Our Weaver Tacklers are currently busy winding 1,214 bobbins for the ground warp of our silk ribbons. Each bobbin will contain at least 1,200 yards worth of silk thread. We estimate the winding phase will take around 4 weeks of production time, winding 6 days per week.

The next step is warping. This will begin in January 2024. There will be eleven creel changes during this process, it will take approximately three weeks.

In 2023, Silk Ribbon Weaving was listed as a critically endangered craft and added to the Red List by the Heritage Craft Association. There are currently only four silk ribbon weavers in the UK, with Whitchurch Silk Mill employing one of them.

In the past our silk ribbons have featured in many well known films and television shows including Sense & Sensibility, Titanic and many more.

January 2024

Our Weaver Tacklers are busy winding the ground warp for the silk ribbons. This will take approximately two weeks.

February 2024

The ground warp (pictured below) of the ribbons has now been wound and ‘beamed off’ by our Weaver Tacklers.

The warp for the satin stripes on the ribbons is still to be wound. More bobbins of silk need to be wound before this phase of production takes place. Bobbin winding commences again on Tuesday 13th February in preparation before warping starts again at the end of February. Keep an eye on our Instagram for confirmed dates as these are subject to change – @whitchurchsilkmill

March 2024

The satins’ warp (pictured below) has been wound and ‘beamed off’, ready to go into the loom. This warp will form the satin stripes that you see in the ribbons design above.

Now that warping is complete, any bobbins with silk left on them will be back wound. This is a process used to transfer the silk from several bobbins to one; it frees up our bobbins and avoids any wasted silk.

The next stage of the process will be hand twisting both warps into the loom. Unique to Whitchurch Silk Mill, the only place in the UK still using this traditional silk weaving technique. Our Weaver Tacklers will hand twist 7,732 ends on silk onto a previous warp. Once this is complete, the warps will be pulled through and tied on.

June 2024

Our weavers have been busy putting the final ends into the warp. After the hand twisting is complete, the warp is pulled through into the loom. During this process up to 200 threads may get broken and need to be put back into place. Despite this, it is still considered a quicker process then re-threading the whole warp.

Once this is complete, the weaving can begin. Our weavers will begin ‘settling’ the loom, weaving all the repaired threads in and tweaking until the cloth is weaving perfectly. A colour blanket is now being woven, this is stripes of different colour weft choices. The colour blanket will be reviewed by our Commercial Director and Heritage Weaving Manager before the final colour choices are made.

July – September 2024

Since the preparation of the colour blanket, our weavers have been working hard to create and finish 1,400 yards of ribbons. The ribbons have been woven in mercury and tussah, which have been taken off periodically as they have been woven. To cut off the cloth, our weavers have taken a cut and unravelled what has been woven, ensuring to leave 2 metres on the loom in order to reattach it to the beam and continue weaving.

Once the cloth has been cut, it goes through an inspection process to ensure the quality of the weave and remove any imperfections. Our weavers have carried this out by accurately assessing the cloth and trimming any loose ends. Then, the cloth is put through a measurer.

Once this is complete, each ribbon then has to be hand-cut using specialised scissors. This is a highly technical process, requiring precision and a steady hand. The ribbon must be cut along the gap created between each one – the leno selvedge means that the edge is secure and will not fray. After this, the ribbons are trimmed and tidied along their edges, ready for boxing. In total, our weaving team have trimmed over 2,000 yards of ribbon!

Stay tuned for the final part of the process – the release of the ribbons! These ribbons will be available to purchase from October 2024 – shop the ribbons.

These ribbons, the process and the inspiration behind them will feature as part of our Riches to Ribbons exhibition in Spring 2025.