The meeting included two workshops and a Weaver Helping Weavers discussing the Ripley Fuller Portfolio and how to use it in the upcoming year's NHWG Challenge.  The highlight of the day was the afternoon talk by Edward Maeder, a renowned dress historian who many of us know from his days as Director of Exhibitions and Curator of Textiles at Historic Deerfield.

His talk, titled "The Rise and Fall of the Female Breast: the Aesthetics of the Bosom in History", included a slideshow of artworks from today back through the earliest known representation of the female figure.  It was amazing to see how fashions, and the placement of the bosom, have changed.  (Think Jane Austen versus Twiggy and you'll get the idea!)

This special speaker was funded by the bequest given in the memory of 

NHWG founder and weaver Harriet Mitiguy.