Tuesday 25 November 2014

Fabric Fun...

As you know, I had a fabulous day out at Slaithwaite a couple of weeks ago... we went to a spinning mill, and a weaving company... here are the last few photos from what was a wonderful day!

Our last few stops were to a couple of companies housed on different floors of an old mill... I loved the sign on the front - you wouldn't see that much now!


We visited McNair Shirts to start off with - they are a producer of luxury skiing and snowboarding shirts in Slaithwaite, and all their materials are sourced within the village. I got to see some of the shirts first hand, and they really are quite something. (I've not been given anything to say this - I'm just saying how impressed I was!)
Each shirt has a little bit about the company written in them...


What was really interesting was hearing the design process that went into the shirts, and about the materials that they are made of. Here is a before and after picture of what the fabric looks like to start with (on the left) and after felting (on the right)... This is what creates their unique fabric.


I'm sure their studio space is part of what really makes the shirts too - look at it! It's my dream space to work in! Big windows, wooden floors... One day... :-)


Our very last stop of the day was to visit another part of the Very English Weaving Company... It was dressmaker's heaven, with bolts and bolts of fabric on the shelves...


My last photo is this one - which is simply of a few bolts of fabric, which summed up all the processes I saw during the day. I had seen where the yarn that went into it came from, I had seen how it was made, and there it was, sitting on the shelf, looking very pretty. It was really cool to be able to see those few bolts of fabric, knowing exactly where they came from, and I know it will definitely make me think more about where other things around me come from :-)


Well thank you if you've managed to follow what was a very tiring, but very lovely day! I know many of you are similarly interested in textiles, so I thought I would share! :-)

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