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Wool sewing fabrics

 
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I'd love to find some good sources for sustainable, high quality, animal fiber garment fabrics. Often, the clothing items I'm looking for are just not being made, because the mainstream market just isn't there. But, buying good quality fibers, online can be dubious, at best. So, for the sewists, out there, care to share your sources?
 
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I also find it difficult to find natural fabrics online. There is a little store near me called Billie's Designer Fabrics that has mostly synthetic blends but I have found beautiful wool fabric there. Very expensive! But lovely stuff. Here's a question I have always had. If sheep stand out in the rain all day, why is wool clothing slways marked dry clean only. Wouldn't  a cold water wash work?
 
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Barbara Kerschner wrote: Here's a question I have always had. If sheep stand out in the rain all day, why is wool clothing slways marked dry clean only. Wouldn't  a cold water wash work?




The wool itself would be fine, but the stitching, shaping, or dyes might not be.

I have several items marked "dry clean only" that I washed anyway, using the "no spin" setting on my washer. Fortunately I'm not too picky about my appearance, because the collars all lost their shapes. And when I did that with something red, it turned the whole load pink. But as long as there was no agitation at all, the clothes survived. If I was still working in that office, I'd probably try to rescue those blazers by learning how to starch a collar.

Washing dry-clean stuff can be done, but the results won't be the same as with real dry cleaning. Worth a try if you need it, though. I just wouldn't want to try it on anything expensive.
 
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Barbara Kerschner wrote:... Here's a question I have always had. If sheep stand out in the rain all day, why is wool clothing always marked dry clean only. Wouldn't  a cold water wash work?


I don't know why it's labeled 'dry clean only'. I don't want it to be 'dry cleaned', because of the use of chemicals I don't like. I wash my wool items by hand and never had problems doing so.
 
Carla Burke
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Standard detergents and soap also promote felting, so even without heat, you'll experience a change in texture, likely a change in shape (though 'blocking' the items may help), and possible shrinkage. I'm not big on dry cleaning, anyway, so I generally try to spot-clean, and 'air-wash' or 'freezer-wash', and only hand wash in cold, and dry flat, if all else fails.
 
Inge Leonora-den Ouden
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I hope to find real natural fiber sewing fabrics too, so I follow this topic. Not only 100 % natural fiber, but I'd like it to be organic too. Not wool from mistreated sheep, or treated with poison, nor cotton from large scale monocultures with pesticides.
 
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Etsy is a good place for fabric. I've seen wool suiting fabric for sale on there as well as European linen and lots of other beautiful fabrics that I can't find locally. There's lots of different sellers so lots of variety and stuff that's hard to find in fabric shops.

I've never sewn with wool fabric before -  does it respond ok to zig zag stitch on the edges or does it really need overlocking?
 
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Kate, I'd be worried about woven wool. Have you considered flat-felled seams? I think they look classical.
 
Inge Leonora-den Ouden
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Kate Downham wrote: ...
I've never sewn with wool fabric before -  does it respond ok to zig zag stitch on the edges or does it really need overlocking?


Kate, that depends on the fabric. Myself I never overlock (I do not have such a machine), but in some cases I zigzag twice.
I don't know which wool fabrics are still available. It was many years ago I ordered wool fabrics. There were tricots and jerseys (different kind of knitted fabrics) and there were woven fabrics, varying from very fine wool muslin to course fabric for furniture. Some fabrics are made of smooth wool fibers, others of more 'hairy' wool. A course woven or knitted fabric made of smooth wool can unravel easier then a finer or hairier wool fabric.
 
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I have bought woven wool fabric off ebay before.
 
Joylynn Hardesty
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For truly luxuriant wool, B. Black and Sons is the fabric company to buy from. It is lovely. It comes with a price tag.

They now have buy per yard options!
 
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I found mine on Craigslist. Some folks had some left-over wool after shearing their sheep and were selling it. Mine is a pretty brown. As I'm new to wool processing, I'm watching the Samantha and Opalyn process it. I love all the handmade tools!

 
Inge Leonora-den Ouden
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This thread popped up, so I'll ask a new question about wool fabric.
I know real old-fashioned wool tweed (woven fabric, mostly plaids) still exists. I have seen products (bags) made of it. As far as I know there are at least two kinds: Harris tweed (Scottish) and Donegal tweed (Irish). And I think it's woven from the wool of local sheep ...

Many many years ago I was in Ireland, in Donegal, and bought a few different small pieces of Donegal tweed in a shop. I used those to dress some dolls I made. But now I don't know where that shop was, or where else I can still buy Donegal tweed.

I would like to buy real wool tweed fabric to make me a pair of pants (trousers). If possible I want to order it from Ireland, because that's part of the EU. Ordering from the UK is more problematic nowadays, for someone living in a EU country. Can someone here give me information?
 
Carla Burke
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That would be great,  Inge! I'm also beginning to weave. So far, I've only really been working with a 6" square loom, in continuous strand/bias weave. But I've made enough squares at this point, that I've begun dashing a hooded, pull-over style, longer sweater dress. That was the one wardrobe thing I craved most, this winter.

So, it's woven - but in tiny squares, and to make a loose, comfy, longer dress, it's taking a LOT of those squares. And hand-stitching them all together is taking a long time. Add in the fact that there's no pre-made pattern - I'm figuring it out, as I go (is anyone seeing a 'pattern' in this behavior, for me?), it's something I'll wear, even if I end up hating the final product.
 
Inge Leonora-den Ouden
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Carla Burke wrote:That would be great,  Inge! I'm also beginning to weave. So far, I've only really been working with a 6" square loom, in continuous strand/bias weave. But I've made enough squares at this point, that I've begun dashing a hooded, pull-over style, longer sweater dress. That was the one wardrobe thing I craved most, this winter.

So, it's woven - but in tiny squares, and to make a loose, comfy, longer dress, it's taking a LOT of those squares. And hand-stitching them all together is taking a long time. Add in the fact that there's no pre-made pattern - I'm figuring it out, as I go (is anyone seeing a 'pattern' in this behavior, for me?), it's something I'll wear, even if I end up hating the final product.


Interesting Carla! Please could you share a photo of that small square loom (halfway the weaving?)? And of you hooded sweater dress?
 
Carla Burke
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Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Interesting Carla! Please could you share a photo of that small square loom (halfway the weaving?)? And of you hooded sweater dress?



Ask, and ye shall receive! I have this square loom, purchased from this company, who are vendors, every year, at the big, weekend-long fiber arts conference, about an hour away from me (so, I save up my$$ to purchase everything there, instead of paying shipping😁): https://hillcreekyarn.com/product/spriggs-mini-module-looms/

My hands cramp up, and go numb after 1 or 2 squares and if I so 3, they're useless for the rest of the day. I'm not in a hurry with this, so I was doing 1 square per day. The squares are about 5.5 - 6" square, coming off the loom, and they're 78%acryllic/22%wool (of some sort), so I'm expecting a little bit of shrinkage, and making the hoodie dress a bit bigger than necessary - plus I am looking for something very loose & comfy. I bought this yarn a long time ago, on a steep savings, so it's not all wool, which I'd prefer (&demand) now, of any yarn I buy.

So far, the hoodie dress looks more like a hooded poncho. I'm currently at the point of deciding how I want the sleeves to be shaped. I'm leaning toward something close enough to a batwing to accommodate warmer clothes underneath it (because the older I get, the less cold my body tolerates), but not a full-on batwing, and with wrists that can be either snugs around my wrist or pushed up to my elbow, out of the way, for working.

Edited to add; these colors are not showing up well, at all. The cushion it's all resting on is a medium charcoal grey, the wood is a true oak, and the yarn is a long-variegation between a deep eggplant and a grayish mauve.
20250410_114508.jpg
Continuos strand/bias Loom
Continuos strand/bias Loom
20250410_114625.jpg
1 square (unblocked) straight off the loom
1 square (unblocked) straight off the loom
20250410_114853.jpg
Front of yarn label
Front of yarn label
20250410_114907.jpg
Back of yarn label
Back of yarn label
20250410_115002.jpg
Front of hoodie dress progress
Front of hoodie dress progress
 
Carla Burke
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A few minutes after that post, I started working on the sleeves. I decided that with all the contours involved, starting at the hood, working my way down would be the easiest way to shape it the way I wanted. Then, it occurred to me that if I got fed up with working on it, or ran out of the yarn, starting at the top also gave me options of stopping after it reached the point of hooded cowl, hooded poncho, hooded sweater, or hooded tunic, too! I'll soon be at short sweater stage, once the sleeve bottoms are done, so I'm pretty sure I'll *at least* get to the tunic stage, now.
 
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