A compiled set of writings by Nancy M. McKenna on Nellie Sargent Johnson (1887-1951), Detroit weaver, teacher and editor of the newsletter Handweaving News (1933-1951). It includes a short biography covering her education, teaching at Wayne University, her 1939 Peruvian textile collecting, and her design of the Sears Hearthside loom. A history of the Sears Hearthside looms (2-, 4- and 6-shaft models, 1940s-1950s catalogs, and the question of who manufactured them) follows, with a reproduced Sears Hearthside loom and accessories catalog section. The document ends with an index of Handweaving News issues by month from 1933 to 1951, listing topics, and of Johnson's self-published monographs.

A short 1936 instructional piece by Nellie S. Johnson on simple laid-in (supplementary weft) decoration woven on a plain weave ground. It explains the hit-and-miss method step by step, with suggested yarns and sett for towels, luncheon sets, rugs and a table runner. Diagrams show hit-and-miss, open-warp, diagonal, circle and square inlay, and a sheet of simple border designs (trees, diagonals, squares) for towels.

An April 1940 Handweaving News article by Nellie Sargent Johnson explaining the Swedish "Flossa" pile rug knot. It covers design planning, warp and yarn choices, the gauge bar and pile knife, step-by-step knotting and edge build-up, and ways to finish the rug. It ends with a rug design grid by Elizabeth Bates and a supplier for yarns and tools.

An April 1942 article from Handweaving News by Nellie Sargent Johnson offering projects for two-harness and heddle looms, drawn from work by her students at Wayne University. It gives directions for a striped blue rug, brocaded (pick-up) rug borders on graph paper, heavy curtain fabrics in carpet warp, a tufted loop technique, spaced colored warps, and luncheon sets woven with corn shucks, cut percale, or silk stocking strips. Yarns are Maysville carpet warp, rug filler, and Home-craft Soft Cotton.

A two-page article from Handweaving News (April 1943) by Nellie Sargent Johnson offering a new crackle weave border draft, with a drawdown and a photograph of four woven borders. It gives treadling sequences for five borders, written in Structo loom lever notation, and describes five methods of weaving crackle drafts: overshot-style with tabby, summer-and-winter-style alternation, three colors without tabby, weaving on opposites, and stripes from single sheds.

An April 1944 issue of Nellie Sargent Johnson's Handweaving News showing brocade technique used to decorate garments, including a white angora jacket woven by Edythe Cusick and Shetland wool caps woven square. It gives suggestions for vests, bags, hats and scarves, and describes how to pick up brocade rows, weave separate figures in different colors, and break up long weft skips. Page 2 has many charted brocade designs, and page 3 has four simple 4-harness threading drafts (twill, herringbone, rosepath, diamond) for borders, followed by announcements of two small books on vegetable dyes and Pennsylvania Dutch weaving patterns.

A two-page article from Handweaving News (April 1945) by Nellie S. Johnson presenting four-harness Colonial coverlet patterns adapted as overshot rugs. It centers on Sample No.20, "Reflections," and gives key drafts and threading drafts (Figures 2-5) with star, diamond and table figures. Instructions cover warp and sett for a coverlet and a rug, thread counts, treadling sequences for each figure, and how to adjust for rising-harness looms. It ends with an announcement of a summer weaving class at Wayne University.

A two-page instructional issue of Handweaving News by Nellie Sargent Johnson, continuing the March issue, on how to take a threading draft and thread it into a four-harness loom. It explains writing out the threading arrangement for 240 warps, counting heddles per harness by groups, and moving heddles between harnesses. It then describes threading in looped groups to avoid mistakes, sleying the reed, and tying on to the cloth beam with even tension. Illustrated with sample photographs, a key draft, a threading draft and four figures.

A two-page April 1947 issue of Handweaving News by Nellie Sargent Johnson on weaving double cloth in the manner of ancient Peruvian pieces, using a four-harness twill threading. It gives directions for a carpet-warp sampler with a two-color warp, treadling for double plain cloth, and a pickup-stick method for weaving a pattern from cross-section paper designs. Page 2 has pattern grids (Figures 1-3) and a side-view diagram of the shed with pickup stick (Figure 4). Photos show an ancient Peruvian piece from the author's collection and a modern piece woven by Mrs. Helen Hill.

A two-page instructional leaflet by Nellie Sargent Johnson on weaving gauze or leno, a free pick-up technique done on a plain weave shed. It lists equipment (a small 13-inch heddle loom, netting shuttle, pickup stick) and suitable carpet warp, cotton or linen threads. Step-by-step directions cover the single stitch, single stitch on the top shed only, staggered single leno, and leno combined with Spanish weave, with photographs and a pickup diagram. It also mentions earlier Handweaving News issues on the subject and includes product prices.

An August 1938 Handweaving News article by Nellie Sargent Johnson on designing four-harness threading drafts for two-block patterns from a simple 'key draft' on cross-section paper. It shows how one key draft can be turned into Colonial overshot threadings using only the 1&2 and 3&4 blocks, and into M's and O's threadings, with the Monk's Belt plan as the main example. It covers unit sizes, repeats and centers, tie-up, weaving order, and the origin of the M's and O's name, with eight figures of drafts and drawdowns.

A three-page 1940 Handweaving News article by Nellie Sargent Johnson presenting three four-harness overshot patterns designed by Helen Hill, a student in her Wayne University class. Each pattern has a drawdown and threading draft with key-draft markers, plus warp arrangements for 420 or 600 threads. The text gives the standard four-harness tie-up with tabby treadles and notes on weaving the patterns on a Structo loom.

A three-page article from Handweaving News, August 1941, in which Nellie Sargent Johnson gives practical advice on choosing a handloom. She covers the weaver's needs, school use, cost, space, buying from reputable makers, and construction points such as heddles, warp beams, ratchets, and treadles. She also compares two-harness and four-harness looms, including table, floor, and folding types, and names specific makers and prices of the period.

An August 1942 issue of Handweaving News in which Nellie Sargent Johnson describes four rugs woven by her Wayne University students. They include a thick cotton rag rug, an interlocked-weft tapestry rag rug, a two-harness heddle-loom rug made on a Sears "Hearthside" loom, and a twill-threaded rug with a stripe design by Mrs. Helen Hill. The text gives materials, sett, warp counts, weft sequences and finishing, with a two-harness threading draft for Rug No. 3 and a design grid for Rug No. 4.

A two-page article from Handweaving News (August 1943) by Nellie Sargent Johnson giving four-harness adaptations of overshot tree designs taken from the Speck Book, following up on patterns in the June 1943 issue. It supplies threading key drafts and drawdowns for three threading drafts, with instructions for arranging a 420-thread warp (No. 20/2 cotton at 30 ends per inch), border and repeat thread counts, and treadling orders keyed to the levers of a Structo loom. The designs are suggested for borders, towels, luncheon sets, place mats and runners.

A two-page article from Handweaving News (August 1944) by Nellie Sargent Johnson describing handwoven hats designed and made by Elsa Koskinen, a student in her Wayne University class. It covers the hats' materials (carpet warp, rayon, wool, corn shucks), their construction and millinery finishing, and how to make display head forms from clay, plaster and pasted newspaper. The hats are all woven in simple tabby and can be made on a Hearthside loom.

A 1945 Handweaving News article in which Nellie Sargent Johnson argues that texture, built from the choice and size of threads and yarns, matters more to modern handweaving than traditional patterns. She gives advice on mixing odds and ends in warps and on unusual weft materials such as raffia, hat straw, cellophane, nylon and leather lacing. She then lists nine texture experiments woven by her Wayne University students, with warp and weft sequences for hats, bags and upholstery, and asks readers whether they would like a texture exhibit.

An article by Nellie Sargent Johnson in Handweaving News on weaving rag rugs, covering use of color, colored warps, rag preparation, material estimates, sleying and hem or fringe finishes. It also gives two four-harness rug patterns with threading and treadling directions: a modern four-block overshot rug with rag weft and a crackle weave rug in carpet warp and rug filler. Photographs show three sample rugs, and threading drafts and a drawdown are included.

A two-page August 1947 issue of Handweaving News in which Nellie Sargent Johnson describes laid-in pieces woven by her Wayne University students on the Hearthside table loom and other two-harness looms. It covers a large laid-in bag, a drapery fabric woven from strips of old neckties, and a runner with blue-green laid-in areas and red accent lines, with a diagram of the laid-in technique and a draft of the runner. It also carries news on a lesson with loaned samples, the six-harness folding floor loom, and guild exhibits in Victoria and Detroit.

A January 1939 article from Handweaving News by Nellie Sargent Johnson on using texture as a design element in handweaving. It reviews her earlier yearly design articles (1934-1938), then suggests texture experiments: striped samplers combining different yarns and threads, and weaving one simple abstract motif in techniques such as laid-in, embroidery weave, tufting, Spanish weave and Ghiordes knot rugs. It also explains how to enlarge designs on squared paper and argues for abstract rather than naturalistic design.

A December 1936 Handweaving News issue by Nellie Sargent Johnson presenting three antique Colonial coverlets and a fourth owned by a student. It covers a four-harness Sunrise and table figure coverlet with a modern adaptation, and double-woven snowball and roses coverlets with pine-tree borders in summer and winter weave on seven harnesses. Drafts, tie-up, block treadling orders and weaving directions are given for four drafts.

A December 1938 issue of Handweaving News by Nellie Sargent Johnson on warp-pattern belts woven on a simple slotted-and-holed heddle belt loom, where the warp covers the weft. It lists equipment and materials, gives four color-threading plans for simple belts, and explains a second method of planning designs on cross-section paper and weaving them with two pick-up sticks. A diagram page shows the design grids and the two sheds. The issue also carries a subscription renewal notice for 1939.

A December 1939 Handweaving News article by Nellie Sargent Johnson describing several ways to weave overshot threading drafts beyond using written treadling directions. It explains weaving "as drawn in", striped pattern-block exercises for beginners, "rose" fashion, "on opposites" with two colors, tabby-free weaving on twill-based patterns, and honeycomb (Halkrus/Spetsväv) treadling. Page 1 includes a key draft and a threading draft, and the text gives Structo loom lever instructions.

A December 1940 article by Nellie Sargent Johnson offering practical advice to weavers who want to sell their work. It covers the difference between amateur and professional weavers, the need for originality, choosing a specialty such as handwoven bags, costing and pricing, equipping a workroom, buying materials, valuing time, and selling outright versus on consignment. It includes pricing examples and a simple formula of materials plus labor plus about 50% overhead.

A December 1941 issue of Nellie Sargent Johnson's Handweaving News describing texture experiments woven by her students at Wayne University. It gives three simple threading drafts, two taken from Eva Odlund's Vavbok, with numbered samples that vary reed sleying, weft materials and lever or treadle orders on a 4-shaft Structo loom. Fabrics are suggested for drapery, upholstery and place mats. The issue ends with a year-end greeting to subscribers.

A short article by Nellie Sargent Johnson in Handweaving News (December 1942) presenting old drafts of Bronson weave. It begins with pattern No. 25 "Rose and Compass" Diaper from J. & R. Bronson's 1817 "Domestic Manufacturer's Assistant" and explains the book's nomenclature (harnesses as "wings", tie-up as "cording"). It then gives modern tie-ups, threadings and weaving directions for 4-, 5- and 6-harness Bronson weave patterns taken from old linen samples, with notes on warp and weft sizes and setts for fine linens.

A short article from Handweaving News (December 1944) by Nellie Sargent Johnson describing a third form of Bronson weave, a two-block threading for four harnesses that gives an open, lace-like fabric suited to luncheon sets, place mats and thin curtains. It explains the 5-and-1, 3-and-1 and 7-and-1 threading units, the tie-up and the treadling order, including the plain weave shots between pattern shots. Page 2 gives key and threading drafts for a curtain border and an unbalanced place mat pattern.

A two-page instructional article from Handweaving News (December 1947) by Nellie Sargent Johnson on designing original four-harness threading drafts by combining twill, herringbone and rose-path units. It explains how to write a draft up to a center and reverse it, how to treadle on the standard tie-up, and how pattern blocks overlap. The second page gives step-by-step instructions for drawing the woven effect (draw-down) of a threading on paper.

A short article from Handweaving News (February 1939) by Nellie Sargent Johnson on deriving a two-block pattern from an old Swedish red and white table cloth woven on an 8-harness twill threading. She converts the block key draft into a four-thread "3 and 1" threading that weaves Summer and Winter texture, or Russian embroidery weave, on a regular four-harness tie-up. The article gives threading units, treadle sequences (one and one, in pairs, single treadle), and a full 359-thread draft. It closes with a plan for glass curtains in mercerized cotton with picked-up squares and heavy weft accents.

A three-page instructional article from February 1940 by Nellie Sargent Johnson on designing crackle weave threadings for four harnesses. It explains the weave's Scandinavian (Jamtlandsvav) origins, the four overlapping pattern blocks (1&2, 2&3, 3&4, 1&4) built from three- and four-thread units, and how to draw down and key-draft them. It also covers building twill, herringbone and rose-path orders, repeating unit blocks, and the tie-up, including the Structo loom, with threading drafts, drawdowns and key drafts.

A February 1941 article by Nellie Sargent Johnson explaining how to write key drafts, check drafts, and actual threading drafts for three-block overshot patterns on four harnesses. It works through five figures, showing how to arrange threadings for a given number of warp threads (for example 600, 240, 420 and 720), including worked arithmetic for selvages and the starting point of the repeat. It also gives rules for writing overshot selvages and for threading blocks "on opposites".

A two-page February 1944 issue of Handweaving News by Nellie Sargent Johnson, devoted to projects for the Hearthside loom, a small heddle-based loom sold through Sears & Roebuck. It gives instructions for wool scarves and belts for servicemen, notes the switch from a plastic to a metal heddle, and explains how to beat the weft close. It also includes a warping order for a striped rug woven with looped stockings and directions for a draw string bag.

A three-page issue of Handweaving News in which Nellie S. Johnson describes Peruvian brocades she collected in Peru. She gives details of warp and weft fibers, thread counts, colors and motifs (interlocked heads, small faces, birds, fish), with pattern-weft drafts on cross-section paper for several pieces. She suggests adapting the designs as borders on a two-harness loom such as the Hearthside loom, with plain weave shots between pattern shots.

A two-page issue of Handweaving News (February 1946) by Nellie Sargent Johnson of Detroit, with project ideas for the Hearthside loom. It gives instructions for a brocaded rug with a pick-up border in blue and white, a belt woven with black leather lacing, and place mats woven with wheat straw or raffia. It closes with an announcement of the formation of the Detroit Handweaver's Guild and its membership terms.

A two-page instruction sheet by Nellie Sargent Johnson on weaving tufted rugs, a plain-weave technique in which loops of double weft are picked up over a metal rod. It covers materials (rug filler and soft cotton), the picking-up method, edge treatment, and tips for threading. Three grid-style rug pattern designs are given for the table model Hearthside loom (214 warp threads), with yarn quantities and measurements.

January 1938 issue of Nellie Sargent Johnson's Handweaving News, devoted to one article on designing handwoven textiles for present-day use rather than copying past periods. It covers choosing materials and color, matching design to technique, planning proportions with outlines and cut-paper squares, and sources of design inspiration. It then outlines free-woven techniques (laid-in, pick-up or brocade, tapestry, pile and knotted) with book references, and closes with subscriber notes and a planned traveling exhibit.

A January 1942 Handweaving News feature by Nellie Sargent Johnson explaining how to turn a name into a four-block overshot pattern using an alphabet code. Letters are assigned to the four pattern blocks, a balanced key draft is written, the pattern effect is drawn down, and a threading draft with check draft is derived. Examples are worked for 'Francis Scott Key' and 'Nellie Sargent Johnson' in three different codes, with tie-up instructions for a four-harness loom and Structo loom.

A January 1943 Handweaving News article by Nellie Sargent Johnson continuing her method of designing four-harness patterns from letter codes based on names. It gives seven threading drafts, including ones from the names of Felix Mendelssohn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the towns Louisiana, Mississippi and Winchendon Springs, Massachusetts. Each draft comes with repeat counts, warp arrangements for 240 to 600 threads, and treadling instructions for the levers of a Structo loom.

A January 1944 Handweaving News article by Nellie S. Johnson on designing original four-harness overshot drafts from a code that assigns the letters of a name or phrase to the four pattern blocks. It defines key draft, pattern effect, threading draft and check draft, and gives three letter codes with worked threadings for the phrases "Johnny Got a Zero" and "Their Either Too Young or Too Old." Treadling sequences are given, with instructions for converting them for sinking-harness and rising-harness looms.

A January 1945 Handweaving News article by Nellie S. Johnson on designing four-harness threadings by combining twill, herringbone, and rosepath units. It explains how to vary centers, repeat twills in groups, enlarge pattern blocks, and draw down threadings to see the woven effect. The final page shows key drafts with threadings named Butterflies, Electric Lights, Water Lilies, Totem Poles, and Maple Leaf, by her students Marie Copeland and Laura Spalding.

A January 1946 Handweaving News article by Nellie Sargent Johnson on a four-block, eight-harness double weave. It repeats Cornelia Stone's pattern from The Weaver (August 1941), which she traced to Absalom Hecht's 1849 Baltimore weaving instruction book. It gives threading drafts, tie-ups, warp and weft suggestions, and sett information for linen, mercerized cotton and carpet warp, plus four-harness adaptations. The last page lists four weft experiments by Beatrice Carrothers, including rug filler, raffia and heavy doubled weft variations.

A two-page January 1947 Handweaving News leaflet by Nellie Sargent Johnson on designing two-block threading drafts for a four-harness table loom, for modern luncheon place mats with no center motif. It explains how to build "5 and 1" and "7 and 1" threading drafts from a key draft, with block-by-block thread counts, tie-up, treadling and plain-weave tabby sequence. It also gives sett and warp suggestions (20/2 cotton, 15-dent reed, 419 threads) and notes on planning block lengths in inches.

A July 1938 installment by Nellie Sargent Johnson in Handweaving News on turning unit-block pattern designs into actual four-harness overshot threading drafts. It explains the four pattern blocks (1&2, 2&3, 3&4, 4&1), how adjacent blocks overlap by one thread, keeping plain-weave alternation correct, and breaking up long skips with single threads or shorter blocks. It also covers weaving as drawn, loom tie-up for treadle and jack looms, weaving on opposites, accidentals, and fitting a draft to a given number of warp threads. A page of figures gives the key draft and threading drafts Nos. 3-9.

A four-page July 1939 issue of Handweaving News by Nellie Sargent Johnson presenting several four-harness threading drafts for small pieces. It gives drafts for a small three-block pattern by Erma Cox, 'Lindy's Invitation' by Ruth Lindeman, and 'The Spider's Web' by Lillian Dowley, with warp counts for different widths, sett, yarn sizes and lever or treadle weaving sequences. Photographs show a place mat border with napkin, a green fabric sample and a silk and gold thread bag, with color and picked-up motif notes.

A July 1940 Handweaving News article by Nellie Sargent Johnson showing how one 8-harness, two-block threading draft can produce different fabrics simply by changing the tie-up. It explains how to draw a key draft on cross-section paper and write the threading in short and long form. It gives tie-ups and treadling orders for double-faced satin, twill variations, double weave on an all-white warp with two weft colors, double-width overshot, and overshot tubing. Warp and weft sizes and sett are noted for the samples, which were woven on a Structo 8-harness loom.

A three-page handweaving pattern leaflet on designing four-block overshot-style coverlet patterns from a key draft the author calls "Twills and Squares," taken from an old coverlet woven in green and henna handspun with a light yellow plain-weave ground. Page 1 analyzes the key draft and threading draft, explaining how twill sections and overlapping alternating blocks form odd-numbered three-thread blocks. Pages 2 and 3 give two variant key drafts, with threading and tie-up drafts and drawdowns, by Mrs. Helen Hill and Mrs. Mary E. Pearson, with suggestions on yarns, uses (drapes, upholstery, table covers, coverlets) and weaving a coverlet in two strips.

A two-page article from Handweaving News by Nellie Sargent Johnson giving instructions for laid-in weaving on the Hearthside Loom, a slit-and-hole heddle loom. It describes a place mat, a runner with lengthwise stripes and small laid-in figures, and a curtain, with warp counts, materials (Maysville carpet warp and Homecraft Soft Spun cotton) and threading notes. A cross-section-paper pattern chart for the curtain is included.

A two-page July 1944 issue of Nellie Sargent Johnson's Handweaving News presenting modern two-block designs woven in overshot, adapted from the work of her student Loretta Loughney. It gives key drafts, threading drafts and thread counts for a place mat on a 420-thread warp (20/2 mercerized cotton at 30 epi), with lever directions for Structo looms and the materials used. It also describes 5-and-1, 7-and-1 and 9-and-1 block threadings and mentions that the designs could be woven in summer and winter, M's and O's, and Bronson weave.

An article from Handweaving News (July 1946) by Nellie Sargent Johnson on choosing yarns and threads for handweaving. It covers fiber classes, matching thread to end use and technique, making and labeling samples, checking color fastness, and sleying with 12, 15 and 20 dent reeds. It also explains warp rep and weft rep, weaving with native materials such as corn shucks and grasses, and how to open and tie a skein, with four line drawings.

A July 1947 Handweaving News article by Nellie Sargent Johnson presenting Ada Dietz's method of generating four-harness threading drafts from algebraic formulas: the square of a binomial, the cube of a binomial, and the square of a polynomial. It gives threading arrangements for a 239/240-thread warp, treadling orders for eight photographed samples, and weft materials used. It also suggests adapting the method to summer and winter and crackle units.