Fibershed

Unexpected  and extraordinary treasures can come in the form of human beings, and sometimes we are fortunate enough to have these individuals as our neighbors.

Preparing for the drop in temperatures, cold weather attire was on my mind… and so was the idea of inviting another knitter into the project.  As the concept of winter-weather garments began to develop… there was Allison Reilly–a recent high school graduate, on her way to London, to study at Central St. Martins College of Art and Design.

Our lives intersected at the most opportune moment… within several days of our first meeting, we had agreed on a project– local yarns were put into her hands, and we were off to the farm to visit the source.  Our interview and documentation of Reilly’s life began early one morning at her home just before our trip north.

Reilly casts-on with Napa Valley yarns, her art adorns the walls behind her

Reilly began her knitting life at age nine, she taught herself  from internet sites, ‘my mom and grandma didn’t know how,.. I taught them to knit last year.‘  She was employed by the local knitting atelier by age 15, and soon after was teaching classes to women twice and three times her age.  She is a prodigy–as everyone who sees her work can agree; the patterns and forms that emerge from her adept, and incredibly quick hands and needles are created by inspiration and memory.  She keeps meticulous notes of her favorite pieces, and has a collection of patterns filed away for a future book on the subject, ( we are all looking forward to that book!)

While still in high school, Reilly designed and knit the above dress, and a plethora of other projects.  ‘I love pushing the boundary of traditional knitwear design to make it something exciting and fashion-forward, but while also maintaining the art of it being a handicraft.

I’m interested in modern, well-fitting pieces, that really explore pattern… I’ve done everything by hand, we’ll see how it goes when I get onto the knitting machine.’ Reilly’s four year program is focused in fashion with an emphasis on knitwear design, and she’ll be learning a variety of techniques to take her handwork to a larger scale.

Reilly’s inspiration towards life and knitting is evident from her book collection– the Sticth ‘N Bitch series is piled amongst Don Miguel Ruez’s Four Agreements and  books on Buddhist philosophy.  It’s not simple to assign an age to Reilly–from her taste in literature to the fine art on her walls– (all of which she painted or drew herself)–her accumulation of talents and her innate wisdom reminisce of an older lot.

The older lot is very supportive of Reilly– all the grown-up folks who come into contact with her see the passion and skill that she brings to her work, and are often asking her to do the troubleshooting on their own knitwear pieces.  In preparation for her college sojourn, Reilly’s knitting circle friends created squares, each representative of their own personal style.  The pieces were then sewn together into a memory quilt to adorn Reilly’s college dorm.  ‘I’ve spent a lot of time with my knitting community, I’m the youngest one in the group… I like spending time with people that are older than I am.’  Her natural proclivity to transcend age is an inspiring and grounding element of our relationship–spending time with her is like hanging out with a girlfriend you’ve known forever.

Our trip northeast, brought us deeper into the Fibershed designation– within 45 miles of my front door, we had made our way to Mary Pettis-Sarley’s 2,ooo acre ranch in the Napa Valley.  When Reilly was asked what inspired her about the Fibershed project, her response was, ‘I wanted to make a garment from sheep to final product. I love feeling connected to the original source of something, whether that be with a sweater I knit or a pie made of berries I picked. I love tradition too, carrying out practices that people did hundreds of years before me.’

Reilly’s early years were filled with direct experience of the natural world, ‘my brother and I were lucky enough to grow up in Fairfax and we spent the majority of our time outside and up on our hill, building forts and pretending to live off the land. I read “My Side of the Mountain” when I was in third grade and was determined to live completely independently from society or anyone else, all by myself in nature with the animals and plants.’

‘I saw Fibershed as a chance to fulfill some of those childhood dreams, and also as an incredible way for us to meditate on how we care for our environment, our bodies, and the people around us. The processes of fibershed are steeped in traditions from around the world and I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of a movement to preserve them and share them with others.‘

Reilly has blessed the project with an incredible visual palate… her first pieces are the most delicious legwarmers!

Reilly created a double cable filled-in with a pattern she calls ‘moss’.  The back of the leg design took inspiration from the scotch fisherman sweater patterns… (each family had patterns that would help identify the men at sea, especially in the case of fatal accidents).

The legwarmers are a beautiful symbol of Reilly’s passions, talents, and commitment.  She has graced this project with several other garments since this first creation.. and we look forward to sharing those with you very soon!

Reilly sits and knits in her mother's art studio; a painting of her grandfather rests behind her

As Reilly herself has described her path merging her love of art and nature… she exists as living proof that young people, are, in fact keeping the ancient traditions alive, with a sensibility and desire to merge their creative and modern aesthetic with the good old ways.

Her final comments on the project: I can’t wait to watch it take on a life of its own (which it already has with Dr. Sara Gottfried’s organic experiment and all of the students you have taught in your workshops) and help spread it myself. I still plan on basing my BA final project around the fibershed of England at the end of my three year course.’

We look forward to an ancient future with Allison, and all of those involved in this blessed project!!

Thank you to the Reilly Family for sharing your home, to Mary Pettis-Sarley for sharing your time-animals and fibers, to Paige and Zoe for your documentation!

It’s time to document the Fibershed wardrobe from the inside-out, and tell the story of the first garments— the ones that create a soft boundary between skin and those exterior clothes that protect us from the elements.  The underwear as it is known, is like the interior of our homes—soft, plush, and comforting.  There was no better seamstress cut-out for the work of creating these undergarments, than Molly de Vries.

On a visit to de Vries’s Mill Valley home and studio— we instantly fell in love with the place–it is a true family den, nurtured by a sensibility of beauty and an aesthetic steeped in ecological awareness.  She grew up just yards away, in a similar size cottage that her mother still resides in to this day.  De Vries’s home was historically utilized as a sleeping lodge– replete with cots and cozy blankets for visiting recreationists from San Francisco. It is now the ultimate enchanted bungalow for de Vries, her husband, three children, chickens, and dog.

Her home reflects her passion for the re-use of materials– from the original Redwood beams (harvested and milled on site at the turn of the last century), to the her eclectic assortment of vintage fabrics—de Vries is highly skilled at perceiving value, and imbuing function into once under appreciated artifacts.

“They don’t make materials like this anymore,’ she says as she picks up a stack of Romanian hemp fabrics.  “These materials can last forever, but would decompose in the compost pile if they were tossed into one.’

She has recently ventured into a new project that weaves together her passion for ecology and the beauty of vintage cloth.  “Our family is on a journey to a non-disposable life!” she said with excitement.  “We are buying food in bulk, and shopping at the farmer’s markets and carrying our food in cloth sacks.” (known in Japan as Furoshiki.)

“The non-disposable life… is a process…. you can’t expect everyone in the family to be able to forgo plastics all at once, but you can make concerted steps in that direction,” de Vries says while modeling how her hand-sewn vintage carrying cloths wrap easily around a stainless steel food container.  These Furoshiki wrapping cloths are designed to supplant the need for plastic bags, and can be used to wrap and carry produce and dry goods bought in bulk.

The Furoshiki tradition began in the 1300’s in Japan, (think origami styled fabric).  The cloths were originally used to carry and contain clothes and material items for Japanese bathers, who made an art out of neatly packing their belongings while they waded in the wood-fire heated waters of the bathhouses.  De Vries has discovered that these cloths are wonderfully useful for contemporary lifestyles, ‘you can make an art of carrying your food.. these cloths are perfect for taking prepared dishes to your friend’s house for dinner.’

De Vries is not only producing beautiful wares… but she produces them with total heart.  Her business, Ambatalia Textiles for a Non-Disposable Life–is teaching women participants of the Canal Alliance to sew.  “As the students learn, I hire them to work as seamstresses… these are very locally produced pieces.”

You can find these gorgeous textiles at the Marin County Farmer’s Market in Larkspur from 9am-2pm every Saturday.  The importance of purchasing local food is a clear message, that is pretty well understood by us all.  De Vries would like to carry the message a step further– and give her customers the ability to buy locally sewn textiles to artfully transport their beautiful food.

De Vries talent with the cloth and the machine is what brought us together.  During our first conversation I was uplifted by her enthusiasm, ‘Fibershed is such a useful term, it’s what we can use to help people understand the importance of local production.’ She has been an ardent supporter of the project since its inception.  Her ardency and commitment are the qualities that support her  life as a mother of three, a business owner, and a seamstress for the Fibershed project.  Some how, she gets it all done.

Underwear takes careful measuring… to do this correctly de Vries was immaculate in her note taking.  We also had some amusing moments figuring out how to make these garments from a fabric that has no synthetic fibers… no lycra, no polyester, no acrylic.  Just 100% color-grown organic cotton from the Capay Valley,  (a one-hour drive).

We used an already constructed sample for the undie bottoms; the design was somewhere between a boy short, and a low-cut traditional women’s design.

We discussed busts… at great length…

It was decided that a tank top would function for both a bra, as well as a warm layer that would come in handy in the months ahead.  (That tank was the best idea ever! As I am now happily wearing it as a base layer each and every day.)

For this photo, I forewent the goosebumps for a few moments so I could share de Vries exquisite handywork.  The tank has hand-stitched details along every seam, and is made to last my lifetime, and then some…

Oh, and… (drum roll goes here)… the total transportation carbon footprint for this set of underwear.. (the tank and the bottoms together)…

.38 kg of C02

The weight of the garments .14 kg

What does this mean??

The closest comparison we could find in conventional clothing was in using Patagonia’s Carbon Chronicles.  The company charted a pair of mens shorts through their whole carbon life-cycle, and derived that the amount of carbon released is equivalent to the weight of 8 pairs of those shorts.

In comparison..

It would take only 3 sets of our Fibershed undergarments to match the weight of carbon emitted.

This footprint is equivalent to driving your car .8 to 2.5 miles (the variation dependent on the fuel efficiency of your vehicle).

So, yes… these are numbers that make one’s heart sing.  They are improvements on the journey towards a more harmonious wardrobe..

Thank you Molly de Vries for designing and sewing.. thank you Thara Srivinsin for the Carbon Calculations… thank you Sally Fox for the cotton, thank you Paige Green for the pictures… well done team!

Weighing our options.. how do we clothe ourselves sustainably?  Will we see individual communities begin to take more responsibility for their garments? Will large clothing manufacturers heed the call to change their practices?  We will likely see a multiplicity of actions.  To hear more about textiles from a local and global perspective- check out the interview by Jill Cloutier and Sustainable World Radio, on the Fibershed Project.

This is an itunes free download:

[Just as an aside- you might have to turn up the volume to hear the interviewee.. we had a skype meeting, which was so fun- and an eco-friendly way to interview- and the volumes varied a bit]

http://pdcastsusworldradio.libsyn.com/

Calling all those interested in building a better knowledge of who has the potential to sustainably clothe you!

Tomorrow, October 10, 2010 from 10-4pm, Mimi Luebberman will be hosting a Fiber Day at her farm.

{I am currently wearing the most amazing pairs of socks that were hand knit by one of our designers.. Cori Coccia, made of Mimi Luebberman’s corriedale cross knitting yarns.  I couldn’t live a day in the Fibershed project without them.}

If you’d like to be apart of this fantastic day:  The schedule is as follows:

Demonstrations:

10:30  Learning about wool

11:00 Color Carding

11:45 Felting

1:30 Natural Dyeing

2:00 Sheep Walk

3:00 Sheep Walk

Knitting, spinning and weaving demos through the day.

Hand made Brick Oven Pizzas from 11am to 3pm by Arann Harris.

For directions click here. For more information call: 707 775-3390

For those of you fibershed folks wanting to meet some of the ranchers, farmers, fleeces, (and a live sheep or two) from our region– your time has come!  This weekend in the gorgeous Anderson Valley the California Wool and Fiber Festival, will be held.  Last year I came home with a prize winning merino fleece (which is now being knit into a fibershed swim suit for the wardrobe!), bags of cloud-like angora, and pounds of locally raised and milled mohair… I met with some most wonderful fiber farmers who are defining this new land-use designation–of fibershed.

Short of going to the farms.. this is a way to meet many people in our bioregional fiber team.  The individuals who raise the animals, sheer the sheep, and process their fibers will all be present.  Starting tomorrow and going through the weekend, there will be demonstrations, and competitions.  I highly recommend the angora demonstration from 11-1pm on Saturday, and the shearing demonstration from 1-5pm on that same day.  I hope to see you there… Click here for the link: Fiber Festival

The fibershed challenge to resource local organic color and fiber from our bioregion has inspired the cultivation of many favored dye species.  What you see occurring in the picture above is a daily pre-sunrise ritual…. the watering of the Japanese indigo test plots.

There are four sites where we are currently growing the plant– each of them with different micro climates, soils, and watering regimes.  While the one year challenge is on a limited time scale– we intend to use the time wisely– and accrue as much knowledge as we can about the potential for each of these dye plants, fibers, and designs to be scaled upward, so that more individuals can begin to access bio-regional attire.

There remain many questions in regard to how this scaling process might look, in attempting to answer these queries it is time to find those with more experience.  To do this, I will be going to central France to study in the land where dye farms have been in existence for a decade– and where botanic based pigment is being grown for sizable textile applications.  It is thrilling to have the opportunity to learn and explore in a country whose environmental ethic drove them this direction so long ago.. it is comforting to know we are not alone in our mission, and that there are allies and wisdom keepers around to help us on our way.

We will be returning to you soon with more beautiful stories to tell…

Herds of elk, deer, antelope– throngs of rabbits, and many other four-leggeds once roamed the hills, prairies, and river valleys of our ancient fibersheds.  The skins of these animals are the first pre-woven textiles, known to have provided shelter, clothing, and bedding for our ancient ancestors.

Several members of the fibershed community spent a weekend learning to tan goat, deer, and rabbit skins, using traditional Native American techniques.  A couple of our classmates brought their own skins to process (hence the raccoon).  Our teacher Tamara Wilder (seen above and below) is the author, along with her partner Steven Edholm, of Buckskin–the Ancient Art of Braintanning. Wilder facilitated an incredible workshop focused on turning hides into soft and functional leather, by utilizing the brain of the animal as a lubricant.

In the process of designing the material foundation for the 150 mile fibershed wardrobe I had some questions as to whether or not to include animal skins.  I had never slaughtered an animal, I don’t currently eat red meat, poultry or pork, and had some initial queries regarding the sustainability of leather– due to the fact that each animal must lose it’s life for us to have access to its skin.

However, I wear leather shoes, and belts.  Skins are a big part of my life, and yet I’d never taken the time to become connected to the animal–or the process necessary to create this functional, and beautiful material.

Wearing leather this year meant committing myself to the process of creating it.  The guiding philosophy of the fibershed project– is to facilitate the connection between ecological systems and the garments we depend upon.

It’s easy to be turned off by the way in which mainstream animal husbandry has become so heavily commodified– and animals so poorly treated for the extraction of their flesh and skins.

Today–the ruminant skins of cattle, goat and sheep are widely utilized for our everyday material culture and most of us don’t give a thought to their source– we generally enjoy their smooth, durable textures and earthy smells without regard for the life and labor involved in their creation.  As one takes the time to process these materials, a relationship with all that is connected to these skins begins to alter and expand the psyche of the participant.  Images of the internal forms of the animals–and images of my own internal form–my own ligaments, muscles, tendons and skin began to pass through my mind.  Instantly bringing me to the realization that my own form is a part of this material culture, and like all things… it too will someday change shape, decompose, and become a part of the greater food cycle for all number of organisms large and small.  In this way, it is clear to me that skins are renewable resources, and are but one element of an ongoing cycle of life and death.

Perhaps it is our likeness to the other animals–that being intimately exposed to their death can bring us into relationship with our own mortality, which invariably brings up a range emotional responses.

The buckskins we tanned were from the deer that had been shot by sport hunters–and the rabbit skins we processed were left-over from a Mendocino farm that raises them for meat.

We made use of skins that would have otherwise been viewed as unusable ‘by-products.’  Our group’s use of these skins was a way of honoring the animal’s life and appreciating the power and beauty of their physical form.

We began with a process known as wet-scraping, whereby the skin is hung upon a diagonal beam, and laid out so that the hair, membrane (hypodermis), and grain (part of the dermis) can be removed.  Traditionally bones would have been used for this process, we instead used recycled dull wood planes with hand-crafted handles.  These edges must be bevelled on one side and perfectly flat on the other to be in good working order for the process.

The skin is strong– and can withstand, and even requires a significant amount of strength to remove the membrane, hair and grain.  The gaining process requires the most careful and consistent attention, with strong overlapping strokes– and is done once the hair and membrane have been removed.  Each of these steps is done with the same tools (scraper and beam), and similar physical motion on the part of the tanner.

One member of our class utilized a traditional tanning technique called dry-scraping.  To do this he strung the goat skin on a wooden frame and used a slightly different shaped tool to remove the layers of membrane and fascia.

The tanner chooses whether or not to leave the hair on the animal.  In the case of the buckskin– we removed all the hair.  In the case of the rabbits– we left the soft fur in place.  Once the scraping had been done (whether wet or dry scraped)– we gently rubbed the brain into all parts of the exposed skin.

Dyan Ashby, on the left is seen here– she is one of the designers, and an integral member of the Fibershed community. Here, we rubbed brain into the flesh of one of the rabbit skins.  There were several quick moments of repulsion that took place before this picture was taken.

Because all of the hair had been removed from the buckskin we immersed the entire skin into a bath of warm water mixed with brain, and egg yolk.  These proteins are essential for softening and lubricating the skin.

Once the buckskin was removed from its bath we used large branches to twist, stretch, and and squeeze the liquid from the skin.  The movements were reminiscent of an ancient martial art. The soaking, squeezing, and stretching process was done over and over again.

The community effort was such an enjoyable aspect of the process.  As a group we moved from skin to skin, sharing in all of the physical movements together.  The tanning process weaves together experiences that are deeply satisfying to our human nature.

Once we had scraped, soaked, and stretched the skin we used pumice stones to remove any remaining parts of the fascia.

Mali Mrozinski (left) is one of the designers involved in the Fibershed project.  She is a fantastic artist–who began a deep relationship with rabbit skins during our weekend workshop.

We were all transformed by the intimate process of working with the skins.  The primordial and ancient processes evoked varied but penetrating responses in each of us–most of them were more complex than words can describe.

The ancient movements, smells, and visuals stimulated latent and dormant aspects of our human nature.  The techniques appear to be new information for the modern mind– yet there is an instantaneous recognition of the process that engenders a sense of deep familiarity.

I give thanks to Tamara Wilder, my teacher, to all of those in our class for creating such a powerful community experience, and mostly to the animals whose lives so generously provided for us.

For brain tanning classes you can check out the website Paleotechnics.