Our answers to your questions

Question:
A couple of years ago, we visited Burford in the Cotswolds - are you near there?
Jenny Sterlin, NY

CWW answer:
Yes - you were only about 5 miles from us! If you had taken the A361 towards Lechlade (which marks the highest navigable point on the River Thames, by the way) you would have come to Filkins, and us.

CWW answer:
The number of Cotswold sheep dropped to around 100 in the 1960s, but there are now 1000+ spread across the Cotswolds. Of course this is nothing like the thousands and thousands that there used to be (look at our home page to find out why), but the breed is now safe. This is partly the result of the fine work of the Cotswold sheep Society - of which CWW are members. This society does a lot of work to promote the breed, and we can provide details of it on request.

So the answer is that you will be able to see some Cotswold sheep in the Cotswolds - and very impressive they are too. Cotswold Farm Park - nr Stow-on-the-wold - has a particularly fine flock.

Of course, there are millions of sheep of other breeds in the UK, and Cotswold Woollen Weavers uses the fleeces of many breeds besides the Cotswold breed.

CWW answer:
I'm afraid not - the problem is that we rarely make the same cloth twice. We generally make between 100 and 150 yards of a particular pattern, and when it's all gone... that's it. However we will very happily send goods by post: many times visitors to our mill-shop have contacted us afterwards to buy a jacket, or whatever else they saw, and we have mailed it direct to them. We accept Visa and mastercharge for this purpose.

CWW answer:
Now that seems to be a perennial question! We sell a lot of yarn to hand-weavers who visit us here at the mill, and most of them talk about "strong warp yarns". The fact is that for most woollen apparel cloth there is no difference between warp and weft yarns. For instance we weave saxonies - both warp and weft - out of identical 35ysw (9000 yards/pound) woollen yarn. The old adage "if its got two ends - you can weave it" is more or less true.

Perhaps the "strong warp yarn" business is a relic of early industrialisation. In the early 19th century it was common to make union cloths, with strong cotton warps and woollen wefts because in those days the spinning machines could not weave a "good" yarn out of difficult woollen fibre.

What do others think?

Here's a handweaver's view from Marta Sullivan in California:
I would like to comment on the question regarding "strong warp yarn." I am a handweaver and weave with softly spun singles from my Perendale sheep. The yarn has to be sized prior to putting it on the loom. I found that double strength gelatin makes a good coating for the yarn. It has to be washed out when the weaving is complete, but completed weaving should be washed anyway to finish it. A "strong warp" would be important for tapestry and rugs. Wool, linen, and cotton, are all made in tightly twisted and plied yarns suitable for warp. They are not very soft for clothing, however.

CWW answer:
Yes, our machinery is very old. One of our hand-looms which we use for sampling is 18th century, and our power-looms, on which we weave our production cloth, are about 80 years old! They are 4x4 drop-box Dobcross looms, and they weigh about 2.5 tons each. The point is that these old machines are very versatile - we can more or less weave anything on them, from shawls to floor-rugs, so they are ideal for our sort of short-run manufacture. If someone only wants 50 yards of a cloth, this is the only viable way to produce it.

Also, I have to admit - I like old machines. There are no black boxes - everything is there to be tinkered with ("tuned" is the word used in the textile industry), and there are an infinite number of tricks and dodges to allow even the most difficult weaving-job to run more smoothly.

CWW answer:
Good question! I have had a cursory seach for designing and weaving control software before, but have not found any. There is a public domain programme called Weave written by Brad Keister (Email: p150bk19@vb.cc.cmu.edu) which you can buy through any shareware company. This is an uncomplicated programme for working out patterns for eight-shaft looms. I have used it from time to time, and found that it can cut out some of the tedium of blocking out patterns.

And if anyone knows of any interesting software, particularly programmes downloadable from the net - do let me know, and I will post the findings here...

... and here are some reports...

From Peter Staus of AVL:

In regard to free downloadable weaving software, the AVL looms Web Site has three free downloadable demos.

WeavePoint ( for Wintel machines)
Weavemaker ( for Mac)
Swiftweave ( for Mac)

All are welcome at http://www.avlusa.com.

Email: avlusa@avlusa.com

601 Orange St
Chico
CA 95928
USA

From Ravi Nielson comes news of a DOS programme with a $10 demo disk...

Patternland Weave Simulator is a DOS program which has been available in many versions since 1984. I have been working on Weave Simulator for Windows for nearly 4 years. It is 95% done, with the help about 20% done. We have no scheduled release date as yet. Weave Simulator DOS will run in a Windows window, but is not a windows app. We have a free literature and a $10 demo disk available for the DOS program, along with a "probable features" list for the Windows program. Send us your address if you would like more info.

Email: RAVI@earth.goddard.edu
Voice and Fax: (802) 454-7310

Maple Hill Software
RD 2, BOX 1595
Plainfield, VT 05667

CWW answer:
Absolutely! Cotswold Woollen Weavers is open to visitors every day - except Christmas Day to New Year's Eve. See our opening times and "where we are" details on our home page. Visitors will always find the mill, museum, coffee-shop and our Mill Shop open and welcoming whenever you visit us. There is no admission charge.

I would also appreciate knowing how the use of the material reflects on the quality of a garment. You have an interesting home page. I would also be interested in knowing where in the USA I might find samples of your clothing for purchase ? I live near Boston, MA and approx. 4 hours from New York City.
Rick Bingham, MA

CWW answer:
Worsted-spun yarn making involves combing out the shorter fibres (noils - which are generally incorporated into woollen spun blends) and arranging those longer fibres that remain parellel to the length of the yarn. Various systems, involving different machines and processes, achieve the same result in different ways. The resultant yarn is compact and tough, and tends to enhance the lustre of the fibre, because of the way the light is reflected from its surface. Worsted cloth is woven from worsted spun yarn.

Woollen-spun yarn is made from fibres of differing length, and randomly arranged in the yarn, which therefore tends to be loftier and hairier.

To further point up these differences, worsted-spun yarn tends to be made from more lustrous, straighter fibre, and woollen-spun yarn from curlier more characterful fibre. Neither yarn is better than the other - they are simply differently suited to different uses.

Lastly, rather confusingly, the terms worsted-spun and woollen-spun refer to the processes - so both worsted-spun and woollen-yarn can be spun from wool or synthetic fibre!

We do not have stockists of our cloth or garments in the USA, although Kelmscott Farm (see link at foot of our Home Page) carry a throw/rug made from Cotswold wool. For a wider range you will have to make a trip to England - and our mill in Filkins. I guarantee you will enjoy the experience!

Thanks for your kind comment on this page.

CWW answer:
You have hit on a problem that often arises with rare sheep - as with rare anything. The guys that write the books are not able to see enough of the product to judge it for themselves, so they have to get the information from another book! An illustration...

There is a small museum here in Filkins, full of old country things which was maintained by an old fellow called George Swinford. One day he was showing his collection to a woman who was writing a book about Cotswold customs. She saw a perfectly round horseshoe and asked what it was for. George knew well that the shoe had been specially made for a horse with a damaged hoof, which need to be held as rigidly as possible. Maybe the writer was annoying him, maybe he just felt cussed: anyway, George said the shoe had been one of a set worn by a highwayman's horse so that no one could tell which way the highwayman was riding! The upshot was that the story appeared in the book as told... and in many books since, because no one checks their references.

Back to Cotswold fleece: firstly, although its quality varies, it certainly can be finer than carpet quality, and secondly its lustre and colour can make it perfectly acceptable in apparel cloth and knitwear. Go for it, Julie! And have a look at the Kelmscott Page (see links at the foot of our home-page) for what we weave from Cotswold fleece.

CWW answer:
Absolutely! We sell nothing which is not woven right here in our 18th century mill in Filkins. If you can not visit us, buying something off our page is the next best thing.

Please ask your own question if you like

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