Welcome to Wisconsin Handweavers!

The Weave Wisconsin Conference 2027 Logo

2027 Midwest Weavers Conference

Wisconsin Handweavers is proud to host the 2027 Midwest Weavers Conference. The event coincides with Wisconsin Handweavers’ celebration of our history of 75 years as a guild.

Midwest Weaver’s Conference is a biennial event that welcomes our regional community for a week of classes, speakers, exhibitions, tours and vendors, highlighting handweaving, and related fiber arts including spinning, dyeing, felting and basketry. Each conference offers the opportunity to offer inspiration in the textile field and a chance to meet up with new and old friends.

With an expected attendance of approximately 300 participants, we are assembling an impressive list of classes and teachers and well as vendors who will offer a fiber art marketplace offering the latest in tools, books, materials, yarn and more.

We will be announcing our keynote speaker, a list of classes and teachers and vendors shortly. Look for information here and on our social media locations on Facebook and Instagram.

We serve members throughout Wisconsin and beyond, with the goal of promoting the art of handweaving through education, exhibitions, and building a community of handweavers.

The Wisconsin Federation of Handweavers began in 1950 with a request for charter members and $3.00 annual dues. Five women formed an organizing committee and determined the purposes of the new organization which were:

  • To establish a non-profit organization of Wisconsin hand weavers.

  • To establish standards of Craftsmanship,

  • To conduct or sponsor state and regional shows.

Ten area weavers held the first meeting of the organization in January of 1951, at the Charles Allis Art Library. Meetings were held at the Charles Allis until the group outgrew the space. Meetings are currently held at Gaenslen School, the site of the Alice Bertschy Kadish Memorial Weaving Center. In 1985, the group officially changed its name to Wisconsin Handweavers, Inc. Wisconsin Handweavers was granted 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in 2007.

A weaving loom that is warped

Alice Bertschy Kadish Memorial Weaving Center (ABK)

Wisconsin Handweavers maintains a close relationship with the ABK Weaving Center, located in the lower level of Gaenslen School on East Burleigh in Milwaukee.

ABK houses the WHI Fiber Arts Library (pictured below) and is a fully-equipped weaving studio run almost totally by a staff of volunteers, many of whom are Wisconsin Handweavers members. Classes at ABK are offered through Milwaukee Rec.

More information about ABK is available on their website and Facebook page.