By Acorn Staff | on March 05, 2022

LOOMING LARGE—Above, student-woven clothing and household goods are on display and for sale Feb. 17 at Threadbender Textiles in Camarillo. Below, Sky Ross uses a large loom to weave yarn into fabric at the warehouse. SUSAN WEININGER/Acorn Newspapers

The rhythmic clacking of wooden loom pedals and the hum of quiet conversation filled a Camarillo warehouse as agile hands turned threads into fabric.

Sitting at a large floor loom at the front of the warehouse, Rachel Rinaldi used a tool called a shuttle to pass thread back and forth through the loom.

Her movements were fluid but fast as she slid the crosswise threads, known as the weft, between two sets of lengthwise threads, known as the warp, then used her foot pedals to alternate the warp between top and bottom, securing the weft in place.

The 28-year-old Oxnard resident said the repetitive motions to build fabric row by row, warp by weft, were meditative “once you get into the zone.”

“It’s peaceful and repetitive,” she said. “You don’t notice any background noise. You’re just focused on the piece at hand.”

Rinaldi is known as “the speedy one” at Threadbender Textiles in Camarillo, a nonprofit day program that teaches adults with special needs how to weave and to sew by hand and machine.

The retail-quality wares, including scarves, towels, shawls and rugs, are sold in the nonprofit’s boutique. Each item is affixed with a label bearing the weavers’ signature.

“Weaving is so unknown, it’s sort of mystified,” said Threadbender co-founder Monica Spooner. “People ask, ‘You mean you do this one thread at a time?’ Well, that’s what weaving is. This gives (our clients) a skill others don’t know anything about. And people are willing to pay money for it.”

Spooner founded Threadbender with her husband, Ron, to fill a need they saw in the adult disability community. It was a need that hit close to home.

Spooner was 46 when she became pregnant with her sixth child, Abby. When Abby, who has Down syndrome, approached adulthood, her parents wondered what they could do to make sure she had a busy, productive and meaningful vocation.

Monica Spooner, a hobbyist weaver, read in a textile magazine about Mountain Valley Weavers, a group in Colorado dedicated to teaching a vocation to clients with special needs. Spooner said it was an epiphany.

“As a parent, your biggest worry is . . . when they age out of school and they have to find the life they were designed for,” she said. “It’s difficult enough with your typical children, but for your children with challenges in life—physical, mental challenges— to find a place for them that is safe and happy and productive and has community, that’s what you want for all of your kids. It’s just harder to find. In many ways, this is a dream come true.”

Threadbender is also a dream come true for Caroline Ross and her 28-year-old son, Sky.

Sky Ross, who at 6-foot-3 towers over his fellow weavers, worked at University Village in Thousand Oaks until COVID restrictions shut down his job. He started attending Threadbender instead. Last month, he was working on a large piece of fabric that would later become a poncho.

“It gives me something to do and it helps get me busy,” Ross said. “I kind of struggle with setting myself a schedule. This helps it somewhat. And I kind of do like using my hands.”

Threadbender was a lifeline for Ross, his mother said, because “it provided the structure to learn a new skill.”

Caroline Ross said juggling the needs of an adult with special needs and abilities is a challenge.

“You’re wanting to respect them and wanting them to do something that’s meaningful and productive. How much can they do and how much do I push? It’s a lifelong balance,” she said.

For Sky Ross, the balance means he lives in his own apartment in Thousand Oaks and takes public transportation to Threadbender as well as a new job at a gas station in Camarillo.

Threadbender is a place that makes the weavers feel welcome.

Julia Moore, a 25-year-old Simi Valley resident, wove towels as she spent time with her best friend, 27-year-old Natalie Charionnat, at a neighboring loom.

Nearby, Daria Davis wove a scarf on a tabletop loom while Amber Zavala worked on a floor loom to weave a chenille table runner in blue and earth tones, mimicking the colors of sand and sky. Zavala has use of one hand, so Threadbender has modified a loom so she can weave singlehandedly, and they are in the process of modifying a second loom for her.

“I like coming here and seeing my friends,” Moore said.

As the weavers worked, Ron Spooner, a retired business owner who calls himself “the loom mechanic,” monitored progress and waited for his services to be needed.

“I’m a farm boy. I can fix anything,” he said.

Spooner said his family got involved in weaving while on a family vacation to the Midwest, where he and his wife discovered a handmade loom, which they bought and brought home. That purchase on vacation later turned into a vocation for their special needs daughter.

As his voice caught with emotion, he cleared his throat, then quoted Mother Teresa: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

Threadbender will hold a sale and fashion show with music and weaving demonstrations from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sat., March 19 at 4023 Camino Ranchero, Unit C, Camarillo. Weavers will model their creations at 11 a.m.

For more information, go to threadbendertextiles.org.

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