We went on a field trip for our fashion project and found a PA hidden gem
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Last week we went on an adventure to Tuscarora Mills in Bedford, PA.
As you know, we are raising Merino sheep as part of our fashion project. To give a quick recap if you are new to our emails. Anne went to fashion school and studied knitwear in Italy. She returned to the US and worked for Hudson's Bay Company as a menswear designer, handling collections for all of their brands including Hudson’s Bay, Saks, Saks Off Fifth and Lord and Taylor. In the midst of 2020 Covid, she was laid off with her whole design department and moved to the farm with David.
In 2023, we started our flock of sheep as part of the greater vision. Working with the living systems of the Earth, the soil, the plants, the sheep- we are creating a line of custom knitwear to continue a project Anne started over a decade ago. You can view some of the designs that she made from that early project here.
Fast forward to present day, we are three years into our shepherding. This is a long term project as we are working with the land. Each year we sheer a few fleeces to build up the inventory. We are learning to prepare the fleece for spinning- this means learning skirting (picking out the soiled unusable wool), combing, and washing. All of this prepares the Merino locks for spinning. At the same time we are sourcing knitting machines, and networking to see if there is a mill that we can also test out to see if we like their spun wool yarns. It is step by step and exciting to be on the journey.
While this is going on, we are preparing for an event we will attend in September for the farm. (Next week will be the big reveal for the event.) We still wanted to bring fashion product to this event and of course make our outfits to wear, and David had an idea. Somehow he stumbled across a Pennsylvania fabric mill that produces organic cotton, hemp and linen woven fabric. Wow!
He showed Anne and her wheels were turning. Anne had seen a friend printing with flowers at her farm the previous year and was amazed at how beautiful it was. This seemed like an amazing way to have fashion products on a quicker timeline and add a wovens component to our fashion project, printed and dyed with plants grown from our farm. Whoo hoo!
In addition, we would make our garments for the September event out of Pennsylvania milled organic fabric.
So we planned a trip to the Tuscarora Mills showroom. You probably know this already- Pennsylvania is quite large and this was a trip. The mill was 3 hours away and we made a day out of it.
Anne had sketches prepared and a list of what she was looking for. The showroom was a dream. This is not a large scale industrial operation, it is artisanal, family owned and operated. Anne wants to share the true appreciation here- Heidi Custer and Dave Cook, who own and operate the mill, design these weaves. They are very special.
We fell in love with a herringbone weave organic cotton and decided Anne’s dress would be out of the ecru/cream color- printed with flowers from the farm. And David’s shirt would be in the same fabric, but light blue and white. We also picked an organic cotton/linen blend for David’s pants. This fabric has another special detail- the selvage or edge of the fabric is beautifully finished with a stripe pattern- something we may incorporate into the design. We promise to share the sketch photos and fabrics in a later email!
In addition to our garment fabrics, we also acquired a couple other fabrics. We are bringing gifts to the September event and decided to bring a few flower printed items. This extra fabric will be for printing tests and eventually actual items.
As the season goes on, we will share updates and photos! This week we are starting to seed! Spring has sprung.
Wishing you a blessed and beautiful April!
