A one-woman workshop where old wool finds new purpose.
Repurposed Wool Studio grew out of a simple habit: rescuing cashmere sweaters from thrift-store bins. What began as a mending project in 2018 quickly turned into a full creative practice. I started felting scraps into small animal figures for friends, and word traveled fast.
By 2020, the kitchen table wasn't big enough. I cleared out the garage, lined the walls with pegboard, and filled every shelf with sorted wool in colors ranging from pale oatmeal to deep charcoal.
Every piece in the studio starts with reclaimed fiber. I pull apart old knits, wash the yarn, and card it back into roving by hand. Mill ends come from a small spinning operation in Oregon that would otherwise send offcuts to landfill.
Nothing is dyed unless a customer requests a specific color match. Most of my palette comes straight from the source: the natural grays, creams, and browns of undyed sheep's wool, plus the occasional pop of color from a deconstructed argyle sock.
Needle felting is deceptively simple. A barbed needle punches through layers of loose wool, tangling the fibers until they lock into a dense, sculptural form. There's no glue, no heat, no sewing involved in the core shaping.
A small figure might take four or five hours. A larger wall piece can stretch across two weeks. I work without patterns, building up shapes the way a potter adds clay, testing proportions as I go.
I take a limited number of custom orders each quarter. Past commissions include pet portraits, memorial pieces, and seasonal window displays for local shops. If you have something in mind, drop me a line and we can talk about timelines and materials.