The Shetland Tweed Company

Kirsty is busy warping up her loom in the studio with the next collection for The Shetland Tweed Company. 

So far we have over seventy different cloths, ranging in pattern and colour from the subdued to the very bright. We have named all our cloths using evocative Shetland dialect words like "Veev" which means bright and vibrant, and "Aert" which means direction, like "a wind from all earths". When this new cloth is off the loom we will cut it up and choose which samples we want to keep. Then we will be ready to show off our cloths.

It is very interesting, this sampling business. The warps go on and then the weaving is done. The cloth is taken off the loom and washed, then cut into the squares that represent each change of colour. In this warp we have five colours and we will have five wefts across. This means we will end up with twenty five cloths, and some will be more successful than others. Any that we do not want to use in this collection will be archived ready for the future when tastes change or when we want something a little bit different.

Who knew that we would be doing this in Yell. Ten years ago when we started out this was but a bit of a dream. Now it is reality and all the more exciting for that! Do pop in along when you go past. We will be very happy to show you our fabrics. You can also view them on our website.