This year’s LA County Fair was themed “Art Unleashed.” Several fiber and textiles activities showcased intersections between fashion and agriculture during May 2025. A hand-woven community-based textile was created based on the leadership of apparel student Angela Becerril. The textile was exhibited at the annual Home Arts exhibit and showcased a variety of students’ hand-spinning…
Tag: education
Engaging in Fiber Arts: U.S. Wool Spinning & Weaving
By Isabella Andrade, Apparel Merchandising and Management Undergraduate Student and Research Assistant Working with Wool Fibers For the past year of my undergraduate college experience, I had the opportunity to work with different types of wool materials from U.S. sheep farms as part of Cal Poly Pomona’s USDA Education research project. My first task as…
Exploring Wildlife Habitat and Family-Friendly Activities at Sarvodaya Farms
This past week, I visited the CA Native Garden Grand Opening at Sarvodaya Farms in Pomona CA. It was interesting to see it is certified as a wildlife habitat for “its commitment to sustainability” providing vital elements to the habitat, including “food, water, cover and places to raise young.” Activities In this context, there was…
US Wool Outreach with Yarn Spinning & Textile Weaving
By Sharon Jane Wong, Apparel Merchandising and Management Undergraduate Student and Research Assistant At this year’s LA County Fair – Cal Poly Pomona faculty and students gathered to demonstrate as part of the annual fair’s Schools’ Agriculture and Nutrition Program exhibit through Cal Poly Pomona Agriscapes. I had the opportunity to work as an Undergraduate…
Sharing Wool Research @ the International Textile & Apparel Association Conference
By Malia Chang, Apparel Merchandising & Management Undergraduate student Towards the end of October, I had the opportunity as a Student Research Assistant to attend the International Textile and Apparel Association 2022 Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado. I was able to attend several sessions that were offered at the conference. Throughout the conference, many gathered…
Community Outreach with US Wool, Textiles & Demonstrations
During the last week of the LA County Fair in May, I shared US wool research project activities along with my Apparel Research Assistant and recent Cal Poly Pomona alumni, Katia Quiroz. Katia was in my AMM 4630: Apparel Research project course in Fall 2021. Student projects focused on exploring US sheep and wool farms…
Volunteering at the Laughing Goat Open Farm Day
This Saturday was an Open Farm day at the Laughing Goat Fiber Farm. It’s an annual event that welcomes the public to see and learn about fiber animals such as angora goats, alpacas, and sheep. It was a great pleasure to attend the Open Farm day as a volunteer with my twin sister, Nidia. When we first got…
New York Lincoln Longwool Sheep! Spinning, Natural Dyeing & Knitting
I recently began to spin and dye with longwool from the Orchard View Lincoln Longwool farm in New York. I love the length and luster of the fibers! Below are some of my knitted natural dye samples. I am currently taking a Natural Dye class and was able to dip my hand-spun yarns into indigo, hopi sunflower,…
Part III: New York Fiberscape Dress Almost Complete!
I previously wrote about my spinning and knitting processes with fibers sourced from the Washington County Fiber Tour. I am happy to say that it is 99% complete! The dress fits my twin sister comfortably. I was worried that it would be too large since my knitting gauge varied based on the yarn. In total…
Season for Fibers – Fingerlakes Fiber Festival!
The Fingerlakes Fiber Festival was my first festival of the fiber season. I got to see a lot of familiar faces and I stocked up on a variety of wools from unique sheep breeds including Hog Island Sheep, Icelandic Sheep, and Blue Face Leicester Sheep. Thanks Fingerlakes Woolen Mill, Trinity Farm, and High Bid Farm! I am…
New York Farm Sanctuary
Today I visited the Farm Sanctuary headquarters in Watkins Glen New York. It rescues and provides a high quality of life for animals that are donated, abandoned or were previously abused in factory farms. On a tour, I got to see, touch the animals, and also hear about their life histories before and after coming to…
Fibers for “Solace”
This fiber flag was made to contribute to India Flint’s open “Solace” artistic project in response to the global and local distresses of the 21st century, including inequality and injustice. “Solace” provides everyone the opportunity to express what gives them comfort, or consolation. My “Clusters of Love” flag is made of local wool and mohair fibers….
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…
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…
HELEN TREJO 