Works Created by Her Own Hands
Every year, weaver Lyne Lévesque of Drummond uses about two-million metres of yarn to create, on average, at least 500 items: blankets (from crib to queen-size), place mats, napkins, dish towels, and throws.
As it takes more than a day to prepare and weave a single blanket, “You mustn’t keep track of the time,” emphasizes Lyne, who says she gets satisfaction from creating with her own hands. Weaving allows her to use her imagination to develop patterns and co-ordinate colours so as to better satisfy customers.
She receives customers at home, but she mostly attends markets, especially in Fredericton, Dieppe, and Grand Falls, festivals such as the Foire Brayonne in Edmundston, or the gift shop at the Village Historique Acadien. “It’s important to have close contact with customers, because they can order products in the sizes and colours they choose.” She also takes mail orders.
“People from other places who visit the booths, such as in Fredericton, buy my products as souvenirs to take home. It’s heartwarming!”
Prices for the woollen or cotton blankets vary from $45 (crib-size) to $145 (queen-size). “That’s not expensive when you consider that these creations can last up to 30 years. Usually, people get tired of the colour before the blanket wears out!”
Although she is somewhat nostalgic about the idea that the trade could disappear because of a shortage of younger weavers, she feels great satisfaction at being able to create, produce, and distribute her products herself.
Lyne learned the trade from her mother-in-law, Marie-Paule, to whom she pays tribute with the first two letters of her company name, Magély. The “gé” is for her husband, Gérald, also a weaver, who helps her on her ten looms of various sizes and accompanies her in all her ventures, and the “ly” is for Lyne herself.
LYNE LÉVESQUE
Craftswoman/Weaver
TISSAGE MAGELY WEAVING
167 Drummond Station St.
Drummond
506-473-6485
E-mail: magely@nb.sympatico.ca