Let There Be Wool!

This is a picture of me draped in a medium weight tabby wool.

I am allergic to wool.

OR AM I??

I’ve had a few people tell me over the years that I’m not allergic to wool, but rather to the chemicals used in the commercial processing of wool fabric.  To which my reaction has always been a polite “I’ll have to look into that, thanks for the tip” which really meant, “heck off, don’t gatekeep my allergies."

However, I came across a website a while back that went into the idea a bit more, and suggested a washing method that supposedly worked for the author. It sounded simple, so I wrote it down, thinking I’d try it one day if some random wool ever happened to me.  What's the worst that could happen, right?  It wouldn't work and I'd end up with an itchy rash for a day.

Finally, one day, some wool did happen to me.  The piece I’m wearing in the pic was given to me by a good friend, who had been about to donate it to the local craft resale shop because it had some moth holes in it.  I figured this would be a good piece to try out this washing method.

It’s very simple:

1. Soak the fabric in a sink full of cold water with vinegar (I used 3 cups) for thirty minutes 
2. Press the excess liquid out of the wool gently 
3. Wash in the washing machine (yes!) on delicate cycle in a mesh laundry bag
4. Hang dry 

That’s it.  And you know what?   IT WORKED.  I tested the fabric on my arms and hands before I tried this method, and of course, I reacted to it the way I normally do (rash, itching). After the wash I tested it again several times on my arms and hands, and then wore the fabric around like a scarf all evening with the fabric against my face, neck, and arms - I never had a single problem with the washed fabric, and still haven’t. 

It works!  I’m saved!  Now this is just one piece of fabric - it may or may not work on all wool pieces. But I’m encouraged, and I feel like a whole new world of costuming just opened up before me.  I can’t wait to try it again to see if I can repeat my results.  

Unfortunately, when I tried to dye the fabric, it came out like this.  Gorgeous shade of blue, but patchy and splotchy.  Here it is after re-dyeing with a darker color to cover up the mistake:

(dark photo is dark)

Before I dyed the shawl and hemmed it, I cut off about 14" from one edge, where all the moth holes were.  That was still a pretty large piece of fabric, and I decided to get a hood and a small bag out of it:

Here's the Dublin hood I made out of part of what was left.  It came out a Weird Green, I know - but the dye job is smooth and nice.  (It looks weird in the pic, I know - that's just the light from the window).  In this picture it still needs ties.  I'm on the fence about whether to weave some or just buy some twill tape.

Here's the second thing I got out of the remainder of the fabric:  Yet Another Hedeby Bag.  This actually replaces the green linen bag from this post, which was too flimsy and too small.  This bag is 1" around larger in every direction, and is much sturdier.  This time, I sewed in a box bottom.

Both the hood and the bag, and the edging on the shawl, are sewed entirely by hand, because I was bored and needed something to do. Quarantine makes people do weird stuff, you guys.

So, yay wool!  I'm so excited about this.  Like I said, I want to try again to see if this will work on different fabrics, but at the moment, I'm psyched about the fact that I got three articles of clothing out of one piece that I can wear and not worry about having a reaction to.  Three! I will, of course, update here when I test out this washing method again. 

Adventures In Dyeing: A Dublin Hood

It's days until BAM and I'm spinning my wheels.  I'm out of projects, and I needed something to do.  I thought, I've only got the one Dublin hood, why not make another one?  But the only scraps I had left that were big enough to get a hood out of were white.  There's nothing wrong with  white linen, but I wanted color. Boom:  weekend project.

Looks gross;  smells like SANGRIA mmm

Fortunately, I also had some frozen blueberries, a pomegranate, and a large jar of hibiscus flower tea.  That's right, no RIT dye for me this time - this is my very first foray into dyeing with natural materials.  It's something that's fascinated me for years, but I've never had the time or the space to get into it.  For this hood, though, I didn't need much space - only a pot on my stovetop - and I already had the materials.

I soaked the hood in vinegar, simmered the plant material in water for about 30 minutes, added 1 cup of salt as a fixative, and then simmered the dyebath with the hood in it for about an hour, then left the hood in the dyebath while the water cooled down.

Tada!  I have no idea what color this is.  Light red?  Dark pink?  Almost-magenta?  Does it have purplish areas in it or not?  If the color even? I can't tell - it's even in some lights, and in some others, not so much.  I'm not terribly likely to wear this color, but this was a really fun experiment.  I definitely want to learn more about plant dyeing when I get back from BAM.


AN UPDATE:  I very rarely do this, but this one was weird.  Two years later, in 2022, I pulled this raspberry-colored hood out of storage to get ready to go to an event, and it had faded to nearly white.  I don't know what happened to the color - I didn't store it in sun or heat or any moisture or anything.  It just faded, very badly.  I have no idea why.