Kathy Withers

Chesapeake Coat

Stream: Embracing

Wool and llama yarn from several local farms, milled locally. Cotton lining from Cestari Farms, from VA but possibly milled in SC. Pattern from Winter Wear Designs in State College PA.

I love the idea of making my clothing from complete scratch! As a weaver, I was excited to try this challenge and weave my own cloth and make something from it. I found that locally sourced yarn mostly came thicker than Ihad hoped. I used undyed DK and fingering weight yarn from several sources. Since the yarn was thicker, I decided a coat would be the best option for my Fibershed yarn. I used several different natural colors in my original fabric, only to discover I'd miscalculated the yardage needed. Thus, there are two different fabrics included in my coat. I used mostly local cotton fabric as the lining, because it needed a lining that wasn't wool. Cotton fabric is hard to come by in our Fibershed, and though the cotton was grown in the Fibershed, it was milled outside of it. I love how my final product looks, but I learned that weaving wool is different than cotton. My fabric is much more fragile than I expected! I now know I need to finish my fabric differently, that locally grown and milled wool ishard to find, and locally milled cotton impossible at the moment.

Teresa Rosello

Self taught weaver, dyer, knitter, spinner.... if it involves fiber, I want to know more about it. Self taught means I don't know nearly as much as I think I do, but I love trying new things and learning from the experience.