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Interview with the Fermière Johanne Désormeaux

Two women are standing on either side of a wooden loom. They are in the process of setting up the loom with white threads. Another loom can be seen in the background.

Well, Lisette was there as my mentor, as we were saying earlier. And… She showed me how… the pedaling worked. She got me to try out all the looms. She said, “You’re going to make a small piece of a place mat.” So I made a small piece. So, OK, that’s good, OK, I’m gonna show you how to do the little stitches, because that secures it, at the end, for the fringes. It’s not always necessary but… You know, when you want a fringe, it has to be secured in a special way. And she showed me how that worked. Then she said to me, “Alright, OK… You’re going to make a little rug.” So I… I switched to another loom, and I sat down at the loom and started weaving. At one point, whoops! the shuttle fell on the floor. She looked at me and said, “Well I’m not gonna pick it up for you! You pick it up!” So there I was, “OK…” [laughter] And the other women working on their looms laughed. But you know. So I said, “OK.” So I kind of choked. I was a bit uncomfortable because, you know, when you don’t know people… And… I still remember… I had the measuring tape around my neck, and she said, “OK, you’ve got to do it like this because… after you’ve done a bit, you’ve got to measure. Check to see if your measurement is still right, so that it will stay even. If it’s 20 inches, it’s got to be 20 inches the whole time, not 20 and then 18, you know. It really has to be even.”