A couple of months ago (or maybe even late last year- time goes so quickly!) our national radio re-played an interview with two New Zealanders who were weaving short runs of traditionally-made fabric down here in the South Island of New Zealand under the name McLean & Co. Woven on a ‘Hattersley Domestic Weaving System’ from 1918, you can see some pictures of the weaving process here.
It seems they’ve recently woven some new fabric, which is now available online to purchase, and I’ve never wanted a particular fabric more in my life!
Woven using NZ yarn, down in Oamaru (the steampunk capital of NZ), this fabric is made a little over 3 hours away from where I live and I’m not certain that I could get fabric that was woven any closer (thanks to the terrible state of industry here).
Isn’t this the most glorious thing you’ve ever seen? I’d love to get my hands on enough to make a coat from, but I know I’d never be able to settle on a pattern that wasn’t zero-waste!
While I start saving for making some of this fabric mine, I’ll also be keeping my eye out for fabric & scarves made using the un-dyed wool of different sheep to create patterns- Imagine a tweed jacket made from white, brown and black sheep. I’d be in eco-fabric heaven!
