Fibre Batts Inspired by Nature - how The Woolstead came to be

The Woolstead grew from a love of spinning and weaving and a habit of noticing the quiet beauty of Britain's coast and countryside.

Hello, welcome to the first Journal entry from The Woolstead, it's lovely to have you here.

I'm Louise, a textile and embroidery artist living and working on the North East Coast of England. For this post I thought it would be good to share how The Woolstead came to be and the inspiration behind it - it definitely wasn't a straightforward journey!

My creative journey began in textiles, creating contemporary, research-based artwork that narrates hidden stories and memories, protecting and honouring them in stitch.

Towards the start of my career I undertook a residency in a Tudor museum, where weaving was central to the history of the museum and the weavers guild came to demonstrate. I was offered the chance to learn basic weaving skills which I very much enjoyed, but didn't pursue at the time as I was really focussing on launching my arts practice.

Fast forward a few years and a change in artwork direction I kept thinking back to the weaving I had done previously and felt it was now time to learn more. I took some weaving lessons and became hooked. However, I then wanted different yarns to weave with than commercially produced ones and so decided I needed to learn to spin my yarn.

Spinning is something I enjoy enormously and I love the social history side of this too. I'll share more on that at a later date. I learnt to spin the yarns I needed to weave, experimenting with different types of fibre, different ways to spin and ply fibres. Once I felt I could spin sufficiently well enough I set about learning how to prepare sheep fleece into fibre so that I could naturally dye it (something that is central to my artwork), spin the fleece into yarn, weave with the yarn and finally embroider on to it. This meant I had made the whole artwork.

As you've probably guessed, after a while the fibre batts I was buying weren't quite what I wanted and so I learnt how to card my own, how to blend the fibres to achieve the colours and blends I wanted. I shared my process on social media and lots of people started asking where the batts had come from and then could they buy them. I sold some at various events and this really was the start of The Woolstead.

After some time it became obvious that the batts didn't really sit well on my artwork website, it was just too confusing. So I decided to separate them and here we are, with The Woolstead. That all sounds very simple, and really there was much more to it than that. Lots of time planning, trying new fibre blends, building a website, doing market research and all of the behind the scenes things that it takes to make a business.

The Woolstead batts are more than just getting fibres and putting them together. Each batt and yarn begins with a moment worth remembering. A walk by the sea, the first signs of spring, a weathered piece of driftwood or the changing colours of the evening sky are thoughtfully interpreted into fibres for spinning or felting and yarns for weaving or knitting. My hope is that they encourage you to slow down, enjoy the making process and create something that will be treasured for years to come.

I live in a beautiful area, one that has many different inspirations - the sea is right there, along with a beautiful valley running down to it, more urban areas further away with gardens and meadows and the moors are a short drive away. They provide endless inspiration and I look forward to sharing them with you.

If you would like to view my artwork you can do so here and also see all of the batts and other fibres here.

I always enjoy reading comments and answering questions so please do leave them below - or you can email me at info@thewoolstead.co.uk.

Whether you're here to choose fibres, find inspiration or simply enjoy a quiet moment, you're very warmly welcome.