Fleece to Yarn: Introduction to Fiber Milling and Drop Spinning

Nobletown Fiber Works

Experience the process of fiber milling and learn how to spin your own yarn in this 3-hour workshop led by textile artist Margot Becker.

This workshop is perfect for anyone who is interested in learning more about how a sheep’s fleece becomes a textile. We will start with a tour of Nobletown Fiber Works, a full-process, artisan fiber mill in Hillsdale NY, and introduce you to a variety of beautiful fibers grown and spun right here in the Hudson Valley. With the help of the Nobletown owner Lewis Cleale and one of the Belfast Mill carding machines, each student will create their own unique blend of roving, a fluffy bundle of wool, which they will learn how to spin into yarn on their new drop spindles. Over 10 different types of natural fibers ranging from wools (fine, medium, long) and alpaca to mohair and silk will be on hand for students to choose from for their custom roving.

Margot Becker is a Hudson-based artist, weaver, and educator. Her work explores sense of place, the natural environment and the connection between the individual and the communal subconscious. Through tactile processes, she questions our understanding of sustainability, the value of labor and the role of handcraft in late capitalism. Her weaving practice originated from a deep desire to understand the origins and lives affected by the production of the cloths that surround us in our day to day. In 2010, Margot embarked on an independent study to understand the process of creating textiles from start to finish. Following the belief that to know your production line, you must be your production line, this project became an all-encompassing life practice- incorporating animal husbandry, yarn spinning technologies and fine hand weaving. The resulting line of vertically integrated textiles, Margot Handwoven, is now shown nationwide and in Japan. Margot Becker received a BA from Bard College in 2009 and an MFA with California College of Art in 2020.

Lewis Cleale is the proprietor of the Hudson Valley’s newest artisan fiber-processing mill, <a href="https://nobletownfiberworks.com/" title="https://nobletownfiberworks.com/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Nobletown Fiber Works</a>, producing yarn and fiber products for farmers in the greater tri-state fibershed. For more than 30 years, he has worked on and off Broadway as a professional actor and singer. A country boy from Maine, Lewis has called Hillsdale home since 1998 when he purchased and restored his 1825 Federal home in the hamlet. Presently, Nobletown Fiber Works provides woolgrowers custom processing capabilities but looks forward to opening a retail shop, offering classes in the fiber arts, as well as raising a small flock of the world’s tiniest sheep breed, Ouessant.

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Fleece to Yarn: Introduction to Fiber Milling and Drop Spinning

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Fleece to Yarn: Introduction to Fiber Milling and Drop Spinning

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Location

Nobletown Fiber Works

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