In our family garden in Clevedon, North Somerset, we grow not only a load of wonderful veggies, but also a rainbow of colour from our dye plants. So far, we grow Madder for its roots that give the most glorious reds! We grow Marigold, Coreopsis, Dahlia, Calendula, Cosmos, Scabiosa and Dyer’s Chamomile flowers. We also have a small patch of Japanese Indigo plants; they are the ultimate source of natural blue colour and come the end of the summer you will see us extracting blue pigment from the plants and walking around with blue hands from dyeing with the fresh indigo leaves.
Woolmatters is very much a family affair, where small hands love picking Marigolds and grown ups wrap up yarn bundles with said flowers. These flower printed yarns are our specialty and often look like a bouquet of flowers in a skein of yarn.Creating strong and vibrant colours with plant dyes – from our garden or foraged for in the wild – on our yarns is at the very heart of Woolmatters Fibre Co, but the locally sourced wool fibres are what give us our name! We create yarns, that work inside a bio-regional textile system. We want to make a stand for our local fibres and craftsmanship.
Together with Jen from Fernhill Farm we have created a Natural Sock yarn that strives to show everyone, that plastic/nylon free wool socks are so much stronger and better, not at least for our mother earth, than anything the plastic revolution could ever have produced and made us believe!
We are starting the conversation about how the South West can produce more home-grown textiles and garments in a more healthy, resilient and regenerative textile ecosystem.
Become a member of South West England Fibreshed for community support, industry introductions, collaboration opportunities, and the ability to apply for a micro-grant of up to £2,500.
We plan to launch a Supporter membership soon. Sign up here to receive updates and news.
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We will be launching a Supporter membership shortly. If you are interested in receiving more information on this and other news from our fibreshed, please sign up here.