Who We Are
About Us
We are a group of hand weavers in a cabin near Franklin N.C. and we are dedicated to continuing the rich tradition of weaving in southern Appalachia. We weave traditional styles of weaving and enjoy modern hand weaving projects as well. Anything and everything that we want to weave goes on these looms! We have all of the necessary tools for every step of the weaving process. Occasionally we have workshops with a guest instructor. In 2024 we were fortunate and happy to have a workshop on Mexican Tapestry taught by Joanne Arvidson Hall. In 2025, some of us requested and enjoyed a workshop on inkle weaving at the Cowee School near Franklin NC with Theresa Bouchonnet.
We weave together on Tuesdays, and invite weavers to contact us to request more information. Our focus is both traditional and modern weaving. Anything we want to weave goes on these looms! We have an extensive collection of books available to check out for members. We also would like to find out more about you and your weaving experiences.
Nextdoor to us is the Nonah Craft Cabin, where you can sometimes find Kathy Tinsley, granddaughter of Louise Slagle, and Krista Skrede. Sometimes Kathy is preparing rags or weaving a commissioned rag rug At their craft cabin they offer workshops on arts and crafts such as needle felting, eco-printing, wreath making, and other pursuits.
Our History
In the early 1900's many Settlement Schools were founded in this region as a part of a broad social experiment to provide both academic education for students, and for the teaching of skills such as woodcarving, hand weaving on looms, agriculture, and homemaking, to name a few examples of the students' curriculum.
The Penland School, founded by Lucy Morgan, is the school that had the most influence in the formation of Nonah Crafts and Nonah Weaving. In the 1930s, Louise Slagle, a cousin of Lucy Morgan, attended Penland School, learned weaving, and returned to the Cartoogechaye community, near Franklin, in western North Carolina, to share her skills with the residents of the mountains. She invited women of the community to come to the farm where looms had been set up in a building called the "rock house". Many weavers from that era were able to use their newly acquired skills to have income for their families through sales of the textiles they wove by hand.
In the late 1940s the looms were moved to their present location and over the years were replaced by more modern ones, and crafts and weaving were taught to community children by Frances Cargill, a niece of Lucy Morgan, at The Frances Cargill and Louise Slagle Craft Center.
Fran Cargill (1920-2017) spent her childhood summers at Penland School of Crafts as a student learning from her aunt "Miss" Lucy Morgan. In 1934, with the encouragement of Miss Lucy's brother Rev. A. Rufus Morgan, Fran Cargill and Louise Slagle (1887-1961) developed Nonah Craft Center, a craft instruction facility in Cartoogechaye, near the town of Franklin N.C. Many craftspeople, especially weavers, developed their skills at Nonah Craft Center. This legacy continues today on Carl Slagle Rd. in Franklin N.C.
Some of us sell our work while others work on projects as gifts for family and friends and weave items for our own homes. Weaving is the interlocking of warp and weft, and ancient skill. Here in the Southern Appalachians many homesteads had large "barn-frame looms (barn looms) used for making clothing, often "linsey-woolsey" for garments. Rag rugs could be found on the floors of homes and beautiful coverlets. The patterns, called drafts for those came from early settlers and were passed down through generations. Currently, woven goods by hobbyists and craft professionals are endless in style and color, and may be traditional or contemporary.
Our Place In The Community
Nonah Crafts Handweavers of Franklin has been a member of the Southern Highlands Handicraft Guild for many years. We demonstrate our hand loom craft at community events, sell handwoven items, and teach. Our organization is unique in that most hand weaving guilds meet for workshops, and show and tell, whereas we also have the opportunity to weave together at our cabin each week on Tuesdays. Other days and times to visit and see our studio can be requested by appointment.
