HighlandColours

My name is Sarah Matthess and my work focuses entirely upon natural fibres and natural colours. Nothing in my shop will be dyed with chemical dyes and all my fibre is all natural and bio degradable. For that reason I do not sell any super-wash products. I grow, harvest and collect dye plants from the land where possible. All my fleeces are sourced from Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. I purchase my fleeces from small flocks and I like to focus on rare breeds. Packaging is entirely bio-degradable, even the cello-bags that I package the locks in can be popped on the compost heap afterwards because they are made from plant based materials. I wash my fleeces in natural soap and recycle the water into a grey-water-butt outside my back door, for the plants. Spent dye-baths are also recycled in the same way.

My first exposure to the hand spinning process was aged 4 at a recreation day. Many years and many spinning wheels and weaving looms later, I find that the raw beauty of the wool and plant dyes is what makes me tick. Plant dyeing is a more time consuming process and can be quite unpredictable. There is a lot to learn about natural dyeing, but it is rewarding.

When I take posession of a new greasy fleece, I will spread it out on the floor and get my inspiration on how to process it right from that point. I will evaluate the softness, the staple length, colour and texture of the fibre, and make a decision on how best to use it. But the goal with coloured fleeces is always to preserve as much of the natural raw wool in the look of the yarn, as I can.

I have now relocated with my business back to where my family originated from and I work from my workshop & home, in the medieval village of Ixworth, Suffolk. 600 years ago this area led the whole of the UK in wool production, and was a major export. The village was an important Roman junction with a fort and road network. There have also been anglo saxon finds within the village and the land adjacent to my workshop. Not so far away is Lavenham which was a major hub for cloth during the Tudor times, and the fabulous medieval Guildhall is a big tourist attraction. Lavenham and surrounding areas became extremely wealthy on their wool exports. 'Lavenham Blue' was a blue cloth dyed with the local plant of woad, and was exported from the town, to as far away as Russia.

I have been hand- spinning, knitting, crocheting, weaving, and dyeing for over 40 years whilst raising a large family, so my work started with making our own clothes. The fibre journey began with some angora rabbits and harvesting their wool. I have kept sheep and spun dog hair, grown flax and dabbled in all-things-fibre. Over the years I have also taught hand-spinning and dyeing at a local college and worked on commissions. But now with new opportunities online, I'm thrilled to be able to market my craft from home, to a wider audience.

For more on my work please visit my youtube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9IPQQ_1mAGXfPWL1z5e2PA

Also my website https://www.highlandcolours.com/

Or Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest!

Thank you for looking, and to all my customers who have given valuable feed-back over the years.