BUILDING A FARM TO FASHION SCHOOL PIPELINE
Funded with grants from the New York State Fashion Innovation Center, and the Center for Teaching Innovation at Cornell University, this project brings together players from across the New York State (NYS) wool supply chain to develop yarn suitable for knitting on industrial machines available at NYS fashion schools beginning with the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University where I teach. Students will explore the design potential of NYS yarn, following the process from animal husbandry to scouring, combing, and spinning yarn via a series of site visits in which we will get to know all of the stakeholders along the New York state fiber pipeline. After developing an understanding of the process, we will develop fabric and knitwear products with the yarn coming from a variety of sheep breeds.
PhD candidate, Paige Thomforde is my project partner at Cornell. Here we brought examples of swatches knit with NYS yarn to the Hudson Valley Textile Project yearly symposium.
At Battenkill Fibers Spinning mill with founder Mary Jeanne Packer discussing the dyeing process.
Ram at partner farm, Crooked Creek in Brooktondale, NY.
Knitting at Cornell's industrial Shima Seiki SRY 123 12 gg knitting machine. The fine gauge of this machine makes yarn production with NYS wool a challenge.