Over the past month, I’ve been spinning along with the #spindlers Ravelry group during the Tour de Fleece (July 4 to July 26). The Tour de Fleece is a nod to the bicyclists in the Tour de France. As they spun their bicycle wheels, fiber spinners around the world spun their wheels, or spindles. It was…
Category: education
Part I: New York Fiberscape Dress
Over the past few weeks I have been hand-spinning with fibers collected during the Washington County Fiber Tour, and fibers in my stash. In total I spun 449 yards of yarn. My goal is to create enough hand-spun yarns for a New York Fiberscape Dress. The Dress is meant to draw attention to the variety of natural…
Curves of Fibers ~ Half Scale Pre Pilot at Cornell University
Over the past few weeks I’ve participated in the Half Scale Pre-Pilot project that aims to stimulate design creativity through experimentation on a half-scale dress form. Working on a half-scale, rather than a full scale dress form reduces fabric usage in the mock-up stage, and speeds up production time with shorter seams. The Halfscale Forum for Creative Patternmaking is led by…
Exploring New York Fiber Farms @ Washington County Fiber Tour 2015
Visiting the sheep, alpaca, and goat fiber farms during the Washington County Fiber Tour in New York was the highlight of my year so far! Each farm had a unique narrative with fiber animals ranging from Merino sheep to Huacaya alpacas and Cashmere goats. This reflects the wide breadth of fibers available in New York. During the Fiber…
Fashion Revolution Day ~ Less than 2 weeks away!
On the 2nd anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, Fashion Revolution Day campaigners are asking brands to #payup and provide compensation to victims and their families. Below are photographs posted on social media to support Fashion Revolution Day efforts. Posted on April 6 to April 12, 2015.
Engagement with Fiber Animals- Connecting to New York City
Animal fibers are “living” extensions of the animals they come from, especially as the animals live long lives on farms. Community members are increasingly being exposed to fiber animals such as sheep, alpacas, and angora goats as farmers bring them to local festivals and provide updates on social media. Farmer’s physical and virtual visibility induces a climate for community and fiber animal…
Vitality of Domestic Fibers
This week was National Agriculture Week, a celebration of our food and fiber systems. With fiber systems always in mind, I took time to learn more about USDA fiber farm statistics. I previously only saw information about wool and mohair, and was excited to find information about alpaca farms. This led me to revisit the Alpaca Owner’s Association where they go into…
Is Selling Sugar to China Really Such a Sweet Deal for El Salvador?
Originally posted on Voices on the Border:
Salvadoran government officials recently announced a deal to export 52,000 tons of sugar (12% of the country’s annual production) to China in a deal worth $15-20 million to local producers. El Salvador has sold sugar to South Korea, Taiwan, the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Indonesia, and the European Union,…
Wool, Angora Fibers, & Natural Dyeing
This is a collection of natural dye samples created in Professor Denise Green’s FSAD 3240: Color and Surface Design of Textiles during January and February 2015. Natural dyes include indigo, henna, cutch, cochineal, madder, and their blends. The fiber samples present rich colorants and the varying absorption qualities of wool and angora. I hand-spun the dyed fibers…
HELEN TREJO 