The Woodland Haberdasher

The Woodland Haberdasher Wild crafts and workshops https://wakelyns.co.uk/haberdashery/

July Workshops -Been a mixed bag with the Woad growing this year, some of the seedlings don't seem to like where they we...
19/06/2026

July Workshops -

Been a mixed bag with the Woad growing this year, some of the seedlings don't seem to like where they were planted, and some of them look like this!

Taken all my will power to not use them before my workshop on 4th July!

Garden Nettles also looking bountiful. Incase you ever needed to know, these are boy Nettles, the flowers are spreading, rather than the pendulous ones of the females!

And Hare of the Day from Wednesday ❤️

Upcoming workshops for July -

- 4th July morning - Nettle fibre processing and cordage making at Starston, Norfolk, £35 pp

- 4th July afternoon - Woad dyeing at Startson, Norfolk £45

Tickets via my website

- 18th July - Hedgerow Dyeing at Bradfield Woods, Suffolk, 10-4, £80.
Tickets via Suffolk Wildlife Trust

- 25th July Woad Dyeing at Cambridge Art Makers, Linton, Cambs, 10-4, £100

-26th July - Nettle and Lime fibres at Cambridge Art Makers, Linton, Cambs, 10-4, £80

Tickets for those direct through Cambridge Art Makers website :)

Giving the iron a rest for a bit so thought you might like to see some of the interesting and pretty notes from the Dye ...
16/06/2026

Giving the iron a rest for a bit so thought you might like to see some of the interesting and pretty notes from the Dye works over the last week -

- All cotton boucle in Weld, vintage cotton lace in Apple and Silver Birch

- A whole basket of sinamay. I would never of believed by looking at it that it is a natural fibre! Thanks for the introduction !

- All that's left of 2 Clips of Steve! Coat was hot off the sewing machine yesterday but I think I will need some assistance to photograph it so will wait til I'm up North. Lining still to go but all the stressful parts done 😁

- Blackthorn and Field Maple on 3 different materials, 2 kinds of cotton, love the marbling on the middle 2.

- Pure silk threads which have taken the colour so well. So shiny!

- Blackthorn on L-R - pure silk, silk/cotton blend, cotton/linen blend and pure wool. Amazing the difference in uptake.

- Cotton/silk blend threads. More subdued palette than the pure silks. The far left 3 are all Ash bark so I think I will keep them as a set.

- The cotton/silk blend makes for an interesting natural dye as the 2 fibres take up the dye differently - very clear here on one of the Alder skeins.

- New lucettes in Blaclkthorn, Sweet Chestnut and Hazel. Brading wheels in pear shaped Holly, Damson with the bark on, Damson with the bark off. The very last of the Damson that I made my best bullroarer from. Tough as heck.

- Damson close up, you could almost confuse it for Oak at this angle with the medullary rays.

Will also have a whole sack of Manx Loaghtan fleeces from the Norfolk Broads coming north to from this years clip, so if you fancy ago at spinning your own lovely rare breed yarn, you can! Maaaa 🤎

Edit: Van all sorted. Mechanic on the ground very good. Still 32 hrs though! Talk is go! And you'll have to come and see...
14/06/2026

Edit: Van all sorted. Mechanic on the ground very good. Still 32 hrs though! Talk is go! And you'll have to come and see me at Strumpshaw Tree Fair in July instead :D

I spent today sanding a heroic number of braiding wheels, show you tomorrow :)

Earlier - As some of you have noticed, and kindly messaged me, I am not at Woolly Weekend as I had originally planned. I am both furious and very heartbroken to miss the event.

Van was dead as a dodo yesterday morning at 7.15am and as of 11.30am today the RAC have not been out help.

While I understand I am not broken down at the side of a motorway, and a home assistance is not a top priority, I have taken a big financial hit with loss of earnings and pitch fee to attend the event. I am supposed to be giving a talk in Chelmsford tomorrow evening, I am not filled with hope :/ It has been nearly 30 hours since the initial call.

Not sure what the point of paying for a service is if it is not provided? Went from a 11am expected time yesterday, dragged out to 10pm, then a text saying it would be this morning and then no further communication, whilst there automated service said they provide regular text updates (none so far today) and had I thought about using the app 😡 (no smart phone, no apps!).

The only plus yesterday was that my replacement camera turned up so at least you can now see the new sheep banners and weaving leaflet!

Hopefully it all gets sorted before heading north of Thursday for The Cumbrian Wool Gathering!

Slight technical difficulty here at Haberdasher HQ in that I have dropped my camera in a dye bath . . . while maybe not ...
12/06/2026

Slight technical difficulty here at Haberdasher HQ in that I have dropped my camera in a dye bath . . . while maybe not terminal, it will need to go away for a sort out.

In someways I am surprised it has taken me this long to do that, and the fact that I have failed to run it over, drop it in the sea or just leave it in the middle of a heath somewhere over the course of 3 years was pleasing. The same can't be said for my keys though!

Not ideal though with Woolly Weekend at the Worstead Guild of Dyers Weaver and Spinners this weekend, or Cumbria Wool gathering next weekend!

There are new spoons, the woolly bit of 2CofS coat is a gnats whisker of being done and my new banners and leaflets have turned up.

This afternoon is getting lots of new things out of various dyebaths (Oh the burgundy! 💜

A heroic amount of labeling to do on Monday, and happily that's when the new camera should be here so prepare for ALL the photos next week!

You can come and see banners, newly dyed things and all the new wood work this weekend at Woolly Weekend, 10-4 each day at NR28 9PT.
More details here -->https://www.worsteadweavers.org.uk/woolly-weekend

Until that point enjoy Hare of the Day from a couple of days ago, getting annoyed by a couple of rabbits. A good comparison photo if you've never seen them together. Remember that if it's small enough to put it in your pocket it's a rabbit . . .

Any my first Strawberry. The subsequent Strawberries have been lost to Muntjac invasion but at least the first one was mine ❤️

Been having lots of fun with as part of Suffolk Open studios this weekend.Nice to have a little time out from the texti...
07/06/2026

Been having lots of fun with as part of Suffolk Open studios this weekend.

Nice to have a little time out from the textile things to get the last little bit of lake pigment work done, whilst enjoying watching everyone else getting on with their projects too.

Think I've now got it cracked with the right consistency for water colour paints. Got about half of my samples ground up. Pleased to report that the Lime did come out pinker this time then it did last week.

It was a tad damp yesterday so lucky there was lots going on in the visitor centre too with ceramics, prints and jewellery.

- First grind. Of course it was Purging Buckthorn.

- Will turning on the lathe

- Simon on his lathe

- The new pigments apprentice is going to need a bit more practice though!

- Also but some of the ground paints on these flowers made by Alan at the ball. The gum arabic mixture seemed more receptive on the wood then when I did it with just oil.
Woad, Purging Buckthorn, Pear, Holly and Silver Birch here.

Everyone is there again next weekend, each day 11-5 if you want to drop in. I didn't get any group shots of today but there really was more wonderful wooden things than you could shake a stick at, which at Bradfield is really saying something. Lots of cool projects and excellent crafts people who like to chat!

I am at Woolly Weekend in the Broads but will back at Bradfield Woods for a dyeing workshop on 18th July (tickets here https://www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/events/2026-07-18-workshop-natural-dyes-summer )

Suffolk Twill in 3 sheepsNatural colours of Ryeland (4ply), Hebridean (4ply), and pale Manx Loaghtan (DK), from Wetherde...
03/06/2026

Suffolk Twill in 3 sheeps

Natural colours of Ryeland (4ply), Hebridean (4ply), and pale Manx Loaghtan (DK), from Wetherden and Bury St Edmunds.

Weaving learning 90 degree angle aside, I am very pleased with the texture, colour combos and weave pattern. The Manx and Ryeland are very lofty and this is the perfect summer blanket weight. Also good to see how all the colours interact with each other as warp and weft. Blocks of 30 threads in the warp, and I eyeballed the weft but its around 30-40.

On the 2nd piece there was a starting width of about 75cm and it tapered alot over 3m to about 55cm 😮
So I decided to cut it up so it is in more regular/functional sized bits.

There is one lovely large panel that would make a great giant cushion cover or bag panel, a smaller panel and a continual length on 1.35m that you could do anything with 😁

I have kept the whole original panel that got cut off. Partly for the Big Book of Weaves, to have as a reference for these yarns and colours (also see at the bottom did a cheeky plain weave tester).
The second bit I decided to boil wash to see what happened. All my weaving, including the handspun is machine washed at 40, but with minimal agitation. This was a whites wash with MAXIMUM spin.
It shrunk about 15cm in width (and I forgot to measure the length). Surprisingly the Ryeland felted the least, the Manx and Hebridean were absolutely, and quite literally solid. It’s been quite the challenge to not immediately felt all the other pieces ahaha.
I think I like the same colour on the same colour, particularly the white twill. Lucky I have enough yarn to do a big piece later in the year. These were 2025 Manx/Heb from Nowton, and there is no more mill spun of these, just some roving and a raw fleece for hand spinning later on. There is more Manx and Heb from different flocks that came back in the 2026 batch, and I am looking forward to doing some big twills and plain with them in the winter.
Right now I’m toile-ing away (haha, ) for the 2 Clips of Steve coat, and I am slightly suspicious how ok everything is going . . .

Lime lake 🩷Although, spoiler, 🧡Delicate rosy blush coloured water came through the filter paper though. A dye rich bath ...
01/06/2026

Lime lake 🩷

Although, spoiler, 🧡

Delicate rosy blush coloured water came through the filter paper though. A dye rich bath and murky water as it's precipitating meant it needed a few rinses.

So full of hope as it dried out but alas as I started to grind it made strawberry jam. Nice colour though.

I'm starting to mess about with adding binders and things so will report back to see how this mixture did. What didn't initially get painted is drying on a plate to see how it rehydrates later.

The other lakes and I will be at this weekend for Suffolk Open studios. I'll be grinding and binding with , you can see all sorts of traditional woodwork and crafts as well as the special SSSI woodland.

I was going to get the other lakes on the website but I keep getting distracted by side quests. And I've just sort of noticed how close the Cumbria Wool Gathering is (3 weeks!) and I really need to get some sewing done so currently putting a pin in the online updates.

Quite frankly, just going outside at the moment is a side quest.

Look at the state of the Spoon Room. I spotted all this Weld on the way back from Helmingham last week. A) its a bit early and I wasn't ready only had a knife, and not secateurs 🤣 2) It was a super spicy pick as it was growing in amongst a lot of Hemlock 😮 Hot toxic plant and hot human in a short dress does not make the best combination. Did not get any blisters though, and the hoard was substantial 💛

Stinking Irises in the garden are attracting a lot of bees and you can kill some serious time just watching them wiggle in and out 😍

Also (with further notes to follow), I think it's time to retire the first dye notebook. At a recent event someone said it looked like something Vivian Westwood would make, which is a stellar compliment haha.
I've put in a the last couple of pages and rather than make it more of a fever dream than it already is, I think volume 2 is ready to begin.

Weaving so far . . .Ducking hell hahaha. Weaving is definitely one of those crafts that if you fluff up the prep it wi...
30/05/2026

Weaving so far . . .
Ducking hell hahaha.


Weaving is definitely one of those crafts that if you fluff up the prep it will bite you in the ass later.

Thursday did not go well, I lost a lot of warp threads fairly early on , mostly from the Hebridean side, to the point where the whole right hand block sheared away in about 100 passes of the weft.

Tricky yarn, a new loom to learn and general operator inexperience. What a perfect storm in a tea cup.

A combo of a slack tie on to the front bar (and now I'm a metre or so into the 2nd try its still slack, and also slack on the back beam tie on) and that its much stretchier than the Manx or Ryeland yarn means it is constantly on the wonk on the loom. To some extent it will probably sort itself out in the wash but squiffy tension on the loom makes it harder.

I took the executive decision to cut off the bit on Thursday, re-thread and tie on again. And it went reasonably well, for a bit anyway.

Warps on both sides have started shearing again now so I have given in and its going to come out as it comes out, and I will have learnt ALOT. And hopefully I will have some hair left.

Other notes - misjudged the amount of heddles to leave/pass over and got a clump in the middle. Zero warp fatigue in the middle of the weave but it's feeding through on the huh.

Getting used to a ski shuttle. Threw this one too hard and chipped it!

If you are crap at tying knots then your treadles will drop and your shed will disappear, your shuttle will get stuck and you will twang your already fragile warp threads more than you need to 😭

Only one thread up error though - went 1,2,1 here instead of 1,2,3

Was getting cocky thinking at least I can manage the treadle pattern ok. It's a basic twill, continual diagonal line. Think I clearly zoned out here for a bit!

Last metre to go. It is getting done tonight.

On some plus notes, Teaspoon Club was pretty rad today and when I got home Wren fledging was happening in the garden

A few more finished haberdashery pieces all packed for tomorrow.Peanut butter cookies in the oven, come and say hi tomor...
23/05/2026

A few more finished haberdashery pieces all packed for tomorrow.

Peanut butter cookies in the oven, come and say hi tomorrow and I'll give you one if you ask nicely🤣

Using up all the last teeny tiny bits of the white spalted Alder, want to waste as little as possible. Shuttle and toggle looking very snow tiger stripey. Left the shuttle a little chunkier than I would normally but it feels nice in the hand.

While we wait for the Woad, I have a couple of these lichen dyed skeins. They did not come out as dark as the tester batch last year, probably because I overloaded the dye bath :/ So they are a nice ashy blue rather than a lavender blue like before (see the ties on the bottom skein for a Woad blue comparison).

Dye swatch cards, check!
Some of the new milled yarn as a 100g 4ply selection of Manx, Heb, Portland and Ryeland - check!

Last minute dyeing because it seemed like good idea yesterday - chec, wait, what. Sigh. Looking good, although Lime this time was more in the orange camp, but not as orange as the Cherry at the top of the photo. Am I never to get the hang of this 🙄 Luckily the lake pigment was very pink, tell you next week 🩷

Last but by no means least, the Hare of the Day ❤️

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