A visit to Harris Tweed Hebrides

From Wool to Cloth

We travelled to the Isle of Lewis to visit Harris Tweed Hebrides and follow the making of Harris Tweed® for A Day’s March.

Our short film traces the cloth from raw wool to finished fabric – through a process rooted in the Outer Hebrides and carried out between Shawbost Mill and the homes of island weavers.

1. Dyeing
The process begins with pure new wool, dyed as loose fibres before being blended and spun. Dyeing the wool at this early stage creates deep, lasting colour and makes it possible to build more nuanced shades later in the process.

2. Blending
The dyed fibres are combined in carefully chosen proportions to create each shade. Blending different colours gives the finished cloth its characteristic depth and variation – often revealing more colours up close than it does from a distance.

3. Carding
The blended wool is disentangled and the fibres are aligned to prepare them for spinning. This stage helps create an even yarn and plays an important part in determining the quality and feel of the finished cloth.

4. Spinning
The carded fibres are drawn out and twisted into yarn, then wound onto bobbins. What began as loose wool is now strong enough to move into the weaving process.

5. Warping
The yarn is arranged into long, parallel threads that will run lengthwise through the cloth. These warp threads form the foundation of the weave. Once prepared, the yarn leaves Shawbost Mill and is delivered to an island weaver.

6. Weaving
Every length of Harris Tweed is handwoven by an islander at their home in the Outer Hebrides. Using a traditional, pedal-powered loom, the weaver passes the horizontal weft through the prepared warp, gradually bringing the pattern and cloth together.

7. Finishing and authenticating
After weaving, the cloth returns to Shawbost Mill to be finished and carefully checked by eye. It is then independently inspected by the Harris Tweed Authority. Cloth that meets the legal definition of Harris Tweed receives the Orb Certification Mark – the final step in a process protected by its own Act of Parliament.

From cloth to clothing

For our capsule, we used the finished cloth for a men’s overshirt, a women’s jacket and two caps – bringing a centuries-old material into the everyday wardrobe.

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