In Elizabeth Springett’s hands, the shuttle glides back and forth in practiced, rhythmic motions, creating about a quarter inch of finished fabric in a matter of minutes.

She’s been doing this much of her life — chances are it will take you a bit longer.

“I just got here in November,” said the new Warren resident who has set up WovenSeas, a weaving studio, in the former Handkerchief Factory in the same town. She admits her timing was a little unfortunate — particularly since one of her favorite aspects of practicing her craft is sharing it with others, and new students have been few and far between during the pandemic.

Ironically, weaving could be the perfect new skill to pick up these days — Elizabeth prefers one-on-one instruction with new students, and even in her more experienced group classes (which she had run for several years in her Norwood, Mass. studio) looms, and therefore students, are naturally distanced in a way that would please even Dr. Fauci.

What’s more, as you are creating something beautiful and functional, you’re doing it in an almost meditative state. “It’s really therapeutic,” said Elizabeth. “You get into a flow and keep going.”

That’s not to say that you don’t have to pay attention; particularly with more intricate patterns that may call for lots of color and design changes throughout. For those more complex patterns, Elizabeth writes instructions for every move, every time that she needs to depress a treadle, the pedal that moves the structure holding the fiber that has been wound on the loom. “Dressing the loom” or winding the warp properly according to the desired design is critical to the execution of the final product, and detailed in instructions that look a lot like sheet music. Preparation is key. “There are patterns for everything” said Elizabeth. “You definitely need to have a bit of a math mind.”

Of course, at its core, weaving is an art form, discovered by Elizabeth while she was an art student at the former Southeastern Massachusetts University. From there, she worked for Quaker Fabrics in Fall River for a time before taking her talents to the New York fashion industry and eventually opening her own studio in 2016. She was drawn to Warren after remembering it as a “cool little town” when passing through on many occasions during her high school years in Newport.

Weaving by hand is one of those things that changes little with time, and Elizabeth’s studio, dominated by her collection of 1950’s era Dorset looms and colorful spools of thread, has a decidedly low-tech feel to it. The Dorset looms have only 4 shafts, but while Elizabeth’s studio holds other looms with 8 and 10 shafts, and even one 24-shaft behemoth with a computerized brain to keep the pattern organized, she prefers working on the simple Dorset. It’s a process at once slow and impressively fast — like counting exits on I-95 in Connecticut, it may seem like you’re getting nowhere if you count each row of added fiber, but if you don’t look for a while, a pattern soon emerges. Even a beginner can create a small hand towel in one of Elizabeth’s 3-hour classes.

In addition to classes, Elizabeth, a member of both the Rhode Island and Boston Weavers Guilds, offers small birthday parties and other events for children over age 8; and wile she does have some scarves and towels available in her studio, most of her work is done on commission. For more information, visit her online at www.wovenseas.com.