The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Food & crafts => Crafts => Topic started by: Clarebelle on January 19, 2018, 09:23:13 pm
-
I've only been spinning for about 6 months, carding fleece from my own sheep. The fleeces I have are pretty rough and ready and for various reasons (slightly felted, no staple, dye from markings etc.) there is quite a bit that isn't good enough quality for spinning but I don't want to waste it.
I was wondering anyone had any ideas for how to use this excess fleece. I know people use it for toy stuffing but I really have too much for that. I have seen patterns for making quilts with feathers by making small pockets, stuffing them with the feathers and then sewing the pockets together to make a duvet. Could I use fleece instead of feathers? Would it clump up over time like microfiber does? :spin: :spin:
-
I would use it in the garden.
-
My favourite use for otherwise unusable fleece is for stabilising potholes. If you have an earthen track which has potholes in, clear out the loose stones and give the hole some depth, fill with fleece, then backfill with sharp stones. Driving over it will cause the fleece to felt around the stones and hold them in place much better than just refilling the holes with stone.
-
Fill bean trenches with it then put the soil on top. I add mine to the manure heap although I always put a bit out for the birds to line their nests in spring.
-
Needle felting uses up quite a lot of leftovers - I filled on old tea mug with needle felted wool, covered the top with a piece if fabric tucked in round the felted wad and use it as my pin cushion on my sewing table. I also made some needle felted dryer balls to go in the tumble drier. I'm not sure how effective they are, but they seem to help soften towels that have spent too long on the clothes rack!
-
Thank you for the ideas so far! :spin:
-
Peg loom tuffets, cat/dog beds, etc
You can certainly card wool and use it layered as padding for quilting - [member=26833]quiltycats[/member] does that. It’d need to be not felted for
carding, of course.
-
Someone asked me if they could have all the daggings. She was so pleased when I presented her with a black bag full (Funny woman I thought)
Apparently the fleece keeps the slugs a bay while the dirty bits are good for fertiliser. Win win
-
The slugs round here love fleece - it keeps them nice and cosy ::) :rant:
-
Put the daggings in water, makes a great garden fertiliser. Also line hanging baskets with it.
-
hang it out for the nesting birds in spring
-
I used some for lining our hanging baskets.
-
great ideas, I have loads of waste fleece so I'll probably try everything! Except the hanging baskets maybe, it's a bit of a risk having hanging baskets here!
-
Hi I have just joined the accidental small holder and I would suggest trying the not so good fleece through a swing picker , we have just purchased a minty model and it is very aggressive with the fleece so what would have been impossible by hand is truly easy . It also removes an incredible amount of VM .
-
Hi I have just joined the accidental small holder and I would suggest trying the not so good fleece through a swing picker , we have just purchased a minty model and it is very aggressive with the fleece so what would have been impossible by hand is truly easy . It also removes an incredible amount of VM .
I think at nearly 400 quid to rescue substandard fleece.... I pass....
-
Hi I have just joined the accidental small holder and I would suggest trying the not so good fleece through a swing picker , we have just purchased a minty model and it is very aggressive with the fleece so what would have been impossible by hand is truly easy . It also removes an incredible amount of VM .
I think at nearly 400 quid to rescue substandard fleece.... I pass....
But if you already have one then yes, ideal. I would use it on my white Shetland fleeces as my 2 wethers are so popular with the tups they share a field with, that their fleeces are often muddy and a bit matted, but still lovely.
I've found it on Fibre Hut https://www.fibrehut.co.uk/products/wool-picker. (https://www.fibrehut.co.uk/products/wool-picker.) It looks petrifying but very useful. Have you used yours much yet [member=175850]simonoakley[/member]? Hello and welcome by the way :)
-
as anke pointed out they are expensive (£299 if you go direct to minty products) and it wasn't purchased to save sub standard fleece it was a suggestion that it may make more of the wool usable that would have been thrown away . It may also be worth speaking to your local weaving spinning and dyeing guild as they may have one to borrow . Fleecewife i have so far put 3 jacobs , 1 mohair goat and 2 south down through and have another 7 south down and am working towards quite a large amount more jacobs . Thank you for the warm welcome to the forum i will hopefully post some useful information as we (Mrs O) learn the end to end process of wool preparation .
-
I have a friend who made a fleece picker. She got a wooden wine box and fixed some savage looking nails on the inside of the lid. Slide the lid backwards and forwards and you have a picker if sorts
-
There are plans on the internet , if anyone is interested I can dig the link out . I costed it at about £35 to build from plywood. Or if you have a local import company the pallet topers are free .