2023
Janet was proudly able to show her fully traceable zero waste Cheviot wool jacket at the inaugural Regenerative Textiles Symposium at the Dovcote Edinburgh opened by Queen Camilla on the morning of King Charles’ coronation in Scotland on 5th July
This pieces providence :- woven in specially commissioned Cheviot weaving yarn from a single flock reared in the borderlands celebrating the natural “brockie” grey/brown/black fleece as well as the natural white. Dyed with Madder and Marigolds from Janet’s dye garden. The over checking is proportionately based on an ancient Fife tartan and the weave structure itself is based on the Pictish stone carvings found on the east coast of Scotland- the key pattern with its meaning of no beginning or end eternal love. Truly of place piece.
In commercial wool production only white fleece are selected to maintain consistency in colour / dying
It can’t be helped that each year coloured lambs are born
These coloured fleece will contaminate the yarn production process
These fleece are discarded and effectively binned by the farmers
Janet is in the process of getting these beautifully coloured yet waste fleece spun into yarn that she can use in her weaving
Not only have these Black fleece a beautiful colouration ranging from black through greys to browns all in the one fleece which give subtitle variations within the yarn
They are not bleached and synthetically dyed therefore more natural to be worn next to your biggest organ (the skin)
Janet feels strongly that the cloth she puts out into the world is not only sustainable but kind to the user as well as traceable from soil to skin.