All Wool is Not Equal
Wool is a general term for the fleece or hair from a number of animals, like Sheep, Lambs, Goats, Llamas, Vicuna, Camels, & Rabbits. Within each type of animal there are many different breeds, especially of sheep, and each has different characteristics. Some sheep are bred for meat, others for fleece, and others for dual purposes. This guide explains several types of wool, their characteristics, and differences.
When selecting wool, either recycled or off-the-bolt yardage, to use for rug hooking or the making of penny rugs and wool appliqu茅, you need to be aware that all wool is not created equally. And, all wool is not suitable to these purposes. Wool yardage can be expensive-- be sure you will be able to use what you purchase. Keep in mind when purchasing wool for rug hooking, thin wool does not always full up well enough for cutting into strips for hooking, and although it is a good quality wool, if too thin, will not work well for either rug hooking or penny rugs. Properly preparing any wool, whether recycled or yardage, is extremely important for using it in rug hooking or penny rugs and appliqu茅 work.
The weight of the wool you use depends upon the width of your rug hooking strips, or the "cut". Most rug hookers and penny rug artists prefer a skirt-weight wool. Regardless of the fabric used, you need a minimum of 4 or 5 threads in a strip in order for the strip to hold together during rug hooking. A very fine/lightweight flannel may have 45 or 50 warp threads to the inch, so you can cut 10 strips from each inch of fabric, while a heavy tweed may have only 15 or less, meaning you can only cut 3 per inch. A light-weight fabric can be cut wider but will tend to collapse when hooked in wider widths; the loops will not stand erect, so it may be better to hook with two strips at once rather than use a strip twice as wide, while a heavy fabric could be frayed out to make lengths of yarn to be used to hook finer details.
Virgin Wool
This means the wool is new & has not been re-processed from old garments. This type of wool is good for rug hooking and penny rugs. Fabric made from re-processed wool is referred to as shoddy, hence the general term meaning of low quality, which is not good for rug hooking.
Wool Flannel
Flannel refers to the weave or type of fabric. Wool flannel is a wool fabric, usually a plain weave, may be a simple check or stripe made using woolen yarn and has a brushed finish. Most wool flannels are good for rug hooking and other fiber arts.
Cashmere Wool
Wool from the Cashmere Goat is highly prized because of its softness and light weight. While this wool fulls sufficiently for rug hooking, it has more of a tendency to flatten when used for floor rugs due its softness.
Merino Wool
Merino is a breed of sheep, which are a breed that is kept because of the length of their fleece and it's fine denier or thickness. Their fleece is often used for Worsted Yarns and Fabrics as the long staple (individual fibers), meaning there are fewer hairs on the finished surface. Most merino wools are good for fiber arts, provided they are not too thick to begin with; after preparing the wool by washing and drying, it becomes fuller and thicker, which is desired and keeps the edges from raveling after being cut.
Tweeds
A Heavier weight wool, traditionally woven in the area across the border between England and Scotland including the banks of the river Tweed. It's made using yarn spun from the fleece of local sheep breeds like Cheviots & Herwicks that have coarse fleeces. Tweed fabric is often woven using a Marled or Heathered yarn, where many colors are spun together to form a muted coloring, and may be woven in a check, plaid or stripe, usually using a Herringbone weave. The cloth is warm, and has a brushed or hairy surface; it may be fine and fashionable or coarse and hard-wearing. Donegal tweed is made in Ireland and is woven using black and white yarns that have knobs or bumps spun into the yarn. Harris tweed is a trademarked product and is made only on the Outer Hebridean Islands. All these woolens are great fabrics for rug hooking and penny rugs, especially for hooking a primitive cuts.
Specialty Weaves
Houndstooth
A weave of fabric which results in a distinctive pattern where two colors of yarn form a check that tessellates or interlocks. Most houndstooth weaves work well for rug hooking (see below.)
Herringbone
A weave of fabric using two colors ( one for warp, one for weft) and a twill weave arranged so that a VVV pattern of stripes is formed. When using this weave for rug hooking, be sure to cut hooking strips along the stripe of the weave and not against it, or the strip will tend to weaken and fall apart as you pull it through the rug backing. Rug hookers love to use herringbone wools for the great texture and movement they create in a rug. But you still want to watch the type of wool (see below.)
Worsted & Gabardines - These Won't Work
Yarn and cloth made from long staple wool, often Merino, that has a high degree of twist, with the fibers all aligned, & a non-hairy surface. Usually woven with a twill weave. This type of weave is not good for rug hooking. Worsted fabrics tend to unravel easily due to the lack of hairs used to interlock when fulled or slightly felted. This also applied to wool marked Gabardine or Tricotine -- they will remain flat and not full sufficiently to be used for rug hooking or penny rugs.
Labeling of Wool
The Wool Mark shown at far left, is an internationally used mark, made up of interlacing lines forming a sort of Shamrock effect, which wool mills are licensed to use if their product is 100% Pure New Wool of high quality. This is the mark to look for when purchasing wool. However, even wool bearing this mark may be unsuitable for rug hooking or penny rugs; worsted as well as gabardine woolen fabrics qualify to use it. Also, some woolen fabrics are treated to make them machine washable, shrink-proof, or are otherwise treated so that they will not Full; fulling is a term for a small amount of shrinkage which is desirable for rug hooking, since it helps lock the individual fibers to each other and make strips less likely to fray during hooking. These fabrics will bear the Woolmark Blend or Wool Blend mark (see the two marks center and right in the photo) -- they will not be suitable for rug hooking or penny rugs.
Most rug hookers find wool with up to 10% nylon content acceptable for hooking. Nylon accepts acid dyes the same as wool and silk, so overdying is not a problem. Many of the finer/softer fibers, especially those made of Lambswool, Cashmere, Camel Hair, Vicuna, and Angora, wear better if made from a 90% wool - 10% nylon blend.
After finding and using the right woolens, you will get to know the good ones by the feel and sight of them -- until then, check the wool content label, look for the wool mark, and know which weaves are best to use.
Orignal From: Buying Wool for Hooked Rugs and Penny Rugs
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