The Hill-Side - Guatemalan Hand-Wovens

The Hill-Side guys have a really good feel of fabrics. They use nice, crisp chambrays, which made them quite famous at first, but lately they have been adding some beautiful flower prints, camouflage and lots of different interesting weaves.

Their latest offerings of hand-woven, Guatemalan fabrics are no different. They are amazing. The colours, the weave, the fact that they are fair trade and that they are cut and sewn in the US, makes them perfect. Especially if you are feeling a little dandy or feeling, that a bit of colour might do your daily outfit some good.

Available at Unionmade and Hickorees

Fabric Knowledge - Harris Tweed

I would like to make a follow up to the post on Ventile to another legendary British fabric. This is even more legendary, namely Harris Tweed.

Harris Tweed is the only fabric in the world, that has its own legislation (remember this post?) and it is quite easily recognized by the Orb logo. For a tweed cloth to be qualified for the title Harris Tweed it must be made of pure virgin wool, that has been dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides, and it must also be woven by people living in the Outer Hebrides. In their own homes or sheds to be exact.

I won't be going into much more detail, so if you feel a slight lack of information, then please rest assured, that James Taylor AKA Tweedydon will return with more posts on tweed and Harris Tweed in the future. If you have any questions regarding Harris Tweed, let me know, and I'll do my best to answer them myself or forward them to James. He is the expert. But please let me tell you, that if you haven't had the pleasure of touching the heft of a Harris Tweed, then start hitting your local thrift stores - or high street shops, as a lot of modern brands are using Harris Tweed in special make-ups.

When I first saw this book available for pre-order, I added it to my basket and ordered it along with some other books, which I had been meaning to order for quite some time. Well, I forgot, I actually e-mailed James about the book, as the very first thing. But then I ordered it. And I'm glad I did.

"Harris Tweed - From Land to Street" by Lara Platman is a nice book, that covers the subject of Harris Tweed. If you already know some, you will probably not learn anything, substantially new, however the pictures of the home-weavers and their looms are, what makes this book worth anything. To me at least. They are small portraits of true artisans, which have a craft, that can't be replicated anywhere in the world and it shows, that you don't need much room - or light - to create some magnificent patterns and textures within the boundaries of tweed.

Here are some pics, that I took from the book.

When mentioning Harris Tweed, I think we should also pay attention to the blog, The Croft, which is about a man, who has returned to the Outer Hebrides to take up weaving himself after having spent some time in the city. The blog has all the links and information, you need on Harris Tweed and finally it is quite good a keeping somewhat updated on all the "new" products, that are being launched using Harris Tweed.

I found these pictures on The Croft, and I couldn't help but share them. They are taken by the photographer Ian Lawson and apparently they haven't been manipulated in any way. They will be published in a book with the title "From the Land", which will be released within a year or so.

On the Topic of Camouflage - Camopedia.org

I know, that you see a bit too much camo around these days, but I still love it. When I was a kid I used to collect militaria and I have spent hours and hours in surplus stores and militaria shops. So much that I think the later part of my childhood was spent there entirely. Mom and dad would even leave me there on my own and I would entertain the owners with talk about the crazy bajonet I found on a trip to Holland, the old riffle that my uncle gave me, the complete collection of Danish insignias and the World War I helmet I found at a flea market. Yep, I was a strange kid, now that I think of it.
This thing ended when I sold of my entire collection to buy a pair of new jeans.

Lately I have been doing a lot of research on camouflage because I want to make some small accessories using camouflage, which is why I have been paying Camopedia a daily visit - or actually a couple of daily visits.

My research led me to purchase 10 yards of this fabric - also known as Tiger camo, that I found through an American source. This camo was used by the US in the Vietnam war - and of course used a lot of other places.

I would like to add other camo types to my assortment, and I would also like to add other fabric types like Cordura and rip-stop for instance.

- I will of course let you in on, how the collection continues to increase...

Here are some, that I like - and some of them I'm even actively looking for, so if you have a roll of fabric lying around, let me know.

I like this in a way, but it was mainly included because it is Danish