When I started my fibre journey, I began looking for the relevant books. I like to look through reference books before committing to buy, to check that the information is useful, but as fibre books are quite niche, they aren’t often found in local libraries (although guilds are sometimes happy to loan books) and some craft shops won’t stock them if there isn’t much demand. There are lots of fibre books out there, so I thought I would share some of the books on my shelf and give a very brief rundown of what content they include, should it be useful to anyone else.
Fibre Library Part 2 will be coming later in Wovember.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of the publishers, authors etc. in any books mentioned in this post. All books mentioned are my personal copies which have been purchased either new or second hand. This list is not exhaustive, so if a book isn’t listed here it doesn’t mean it’s bad – I probably just haven’t discovered it yet.
The Field Guide to Fleece
Author/s: Deborah Robson & Carol Ekarius
ISBN: 9781612121789
This is my go to book when I’m choosing which raw fleece to work with next (please ignore my pink paper bookmarks in the photo!). Its small (designed to be taken to wool fairs for reference) and has two pages on each breed. It gives a short background and snippets of information on each breed from best fibre prep, to staple length and best uses (although it is not a ‘how to’ guide). Each breed is arranged alphabetically, so it’s very easy to navigate.
Hand Spinning
Author/s: Pam Austin
ISBN: 9781785003738
This book has lots of information and goes from beginner to advanced. It’s written in a chatty style, so it has the feel of a supportive spinning teacher guiding you. It has information on using both spindles & wheels, tensioning, troubleshooting, carding, choosing fleece, fibre prep, art yarn, dyeing (natural & synthetic) and working with other plant fibres i.e. flax & silk. It also has very clear diagrams and photos to support the text, so is good for ‘book learning’.
Spinning & Dyeing Yarn
Author/s: Ashley Martineau
ISBN: 9781909342460
The main focus of this book is art yarn, so it has lots of information about blending fibres on hackles and carders and lots of art yarn techniques, both on the wheel and the spindle. It has sections teaching you how to DIY equipment (including how to make a spinning wheel from pipe and a bicycle wheel) and lots of different techniques for dyeing with commercial dyes. It has a short fibre prep section along with some basic skills and also contains pages written by professional fibre artists giving several perspectives.
A Dyer’s Garden
Author/s: Rita Buchanan
ISBN: 9781883010072
This book is a short but detailed text that explores natural dyeing. Although I have read this book, I haven’t had a chance to try natural dyeing yet, so cannot vouch for how the methods turn out (and results would undoubtedly be reliant on skill). It contains sections on the basics of natural dyeing, alongside dye garden layouts and page edges showing photos of the colours produced from plants on different fibres and the effect of mordants and modifiers on these. It is an American book however, so although most plants could probably be grown in similar climates, it may not be relevant to every geographical area.
The Modern Natural Dyer
Author/s: Kristine Vejar
ISBN: 9781617691751
Again, I cannot vouch for how the methods in this book work, but it contains lots of information on dyeing both wool and non-wool fibres. It also has sections on record keeping and the book is set out with the basic method first followed by several project ideas including knitting and sewing patterns that incorporate the dyeing skills learnt on the pages before, which, as the title suggests, helps explore how natural dyes can be used in modern life.
I would love to know if there are any fibre books that should be on my reading list, please leave me any suggestions in the comments below.
If you are looking to purchase a fibre book, then please do consider supporting an independent bookshop or craft store. I’ve recently heard of a website called Bookshop (I’m not affiliated – this isn’t an ad) that lets you order books online, but supports the indie bookshop of your choice.
Happy Crafting!
Loose Ends 