Fiber Friday - Harris Tweed

Wow - it's Fiber Friday again already! I've been so busy traveling around Puget Sound teaching Sew Fun that I'm having a hard time knowing where I am, let alone when!

I've been honored with the task of converting some genuine Harris Tweed belonging to my client Joan into a coat, which of course has me thinking about Harris Tweed.

You can't just call any old handwoven woolen tweed fabric "Harris Tweed". According to the Harris Tweed Authority:

"Harris Tweed is cloth that has been handwoven by the islanders of Lewis, Harris, Uist and Barra in their homes, using pure virgin wool that has been dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides.

This is the definition of Harris Tweed contained in the Harris Tweed Act of 1993 and it ensures that all cloth certified with the Harris Tweed Orb symbol complies with this definition and is genuine Harris Tweed, the world’s only commercially produced handwoven tweed."

Joan traveled to the Outer Hebrides of Scotland to purchase her Harris Tweed in person from the weaver himself! She has great photos of the weaver and his home/studio. Needless to say I am very envious but also glad I have had the opportunity to become acquainted with her beautiful length of cloth. For more information about Harris Tweed, I recommend visiting the website of the Harris Tweed Authority: http://www.harristweed.com/

I'm sure I'll be posting occasionally on this coat project as it progresses. It will be a unique challenge to get a longish coat out of 4.5 yards of 31 inch fabric! Thankfully I am accustomed to squeaking out garments from small amounts of fabric. But it will still be a test of skill and wits. Of course the wool itself will be lovely to work with as wool is such an incredibly forgiving fabric.

Today we shopped for a substitute fabric to make the test garment. I will be cutting the yardage into a 31" wide length in order to have the most accurate 'trial run'.

The next step in the process is to fit the pattern. This is a German pattern that doesn't have a marked seam allowance which helps a lot when tracing. Normally I have to draw in the seam allowances; I like this much better! I'll simply trace the garment piece/stitching line, and then add the allowances I feel are appropriate for that area of the garment. With fabric being tight I will not have the luxury of wide seam allowances to work with so we'll have to get the fit as close as we can while maintaining the silhouette of the design.

The Real Thing!