The first post of an occasional series about different sheep breeds raised on Vancouver Island and the uses for their fleece. by Heather Cameron Sabine Blackburn keeps three East Friesian sheep for milk on her small farm in Cedar. (They…
A nettle fibre workshop idea was floated, and it all came together rather quickly by contacting artist Sharon Kallis from Vancouver’s EartHand Gleaners and enticing her over to Gabriola for a few days. The Nettle Love event was born; a…
This year, we are hosting a local rug challenge. Our goal is to demonstrate the use of local fibre to produce quality rugs, made using any technique you like. Vancouver Island has many sheep breeds that produce strong or coarse wool, and these fibres are particularly well suited for floor coverings.
Threads of Resistance is a community-led series of workshops on that honours Black History, radical self-care, Rest, and activism through fibre arts.
In many ways, the most sustainable textiles are the ones we already have. Join Bobbie as she begins working through The Sustainable Closet Audit guidebook from Fibershed.org, re-examining the clothing she owns, and planning for future purchases or projects to…
We’ve had a good year at the Vancouver Island Fibreshed. Our small, volunteer-led organization has helped raise the profile of local fibres across our region. We’ve helped make connections, enabling farmers to sell more fleeces and enabling makers to learn…
For one of our Fall Skill-building Challenges, we encouraged you to learn about rare breed sheep. Many sheep producers in our area raise mixed breed sheep, crossing different breeds to encourage different characteristics for meat production or temperament. Some farmers,…
Have you ever wondered about getting a custom yarn made for your textile endeavours? Hand-processing sheep fleece is a lot of work. In fact, as one spinning teacher used to say, “The Industrial Revolution happened for a reason!” Victoria-based weaver…
Continuing on from our Summer 2024 challenges of sewing and working with raw fibre, we now have some final challenges for Fall. We’d love you to take on these challenges to learn new skills and become more comfortable sourcing your…
Courtenay-based fibre artist and mushroom forager Amy Crook brings us another great tutorial on dyeing with materials we can find in our Fibreshed region. This time, she explores lobster mushrooms and generoulsly shares some tips and tricks for getting good…