Introduction - Using a local British fleece to create a indigo dyed handwoven scarf
In my opinion, there is something really special about using local fleeces and I have been fortunate to have been given a number of beautiful fleeces over the last year. Often people with small numbers of animals don't want to use the fleeces and I have been told that were I not to have taken their fleeces they would have been burnt! This is perhaps not surprising, processing, washing, spinning, dyeing and hand weaving are all very time consuming and arguable a labor of love. This blog details the steps from fleece to fibre using an alpaca fleece to create a beautiful handwoven scarf.
Step 1 - washing the fleece
The fleece needs to be washed/scoured. This step involves lots of changes of water, a large bucket with several cold water washes before moving on to using detergent. It is important not to felt the fleece and agitation and changes of temperature are more likely to do this
Step 2 - Dying the fleece
The fleece is dried on a sheet ideally outside but inside if the weather is not ideal
Step 3 Woolpicking
This step involves removing the be vegetable matter and loosing the fibres prior to carding.
Step 4 - Carding the fibres
Carding aligns the fibres prior to spinning. This can be done with a carding machine or hand carders.
Step 5 - Spinning the yarn
I use either a traditional spinning wheel or an e-spinner to spin the yarn.
Step 6 - Dyeing the yarn with indigo dye
Step 7 - Weaving the scarf on a rigid heddle loom
I used a small TabbyandTweed scarf weaving loom to weave the scarf at a sett of 8epi.
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