FROM Farm
to FASHION
Come and enjoy a unique fibre workshop and farm experience! Meet our Icelandic sheep and learn about these amazing animals and their incredible wool.
Whether you're new to fibre art or are looking to expand your skill set, we have a variety of Workshops available for you. Hear about the full lifecycle of fibre and how it is slowly transformed from Farm to Fashion. Spend time with our flock and learn about our livestock guardian animals. Bring your camera and take lots of pics! Workshops will take place on the farm in the sheep barn, weather permitting. Meet the makers behind our beautiful wool. Truly connect with your project as you meet the sheep that your fibre comes from. They may even keep you company while you create with their wool! Includes light refreshments and all tools, supplies and fibre necessary to complete your project, unless otherwise indicated. We offer both public and private workshops throughout the year.
Interested in a Private Custom Workshop for you and your peeps?
Celebrating a birthday, bachelorette party or other special event? Looking for a unique idea for a get together with your family or friends? Or how about a corporate team building event? Consider booking a private custom workshop. We’d love to help you put together a one of a kind workshop and farm experience! Please contact us for more information and ideas and we’ll work with you to make it happen! (Minimum of 4-6 people, depending on type of workshop.)
Here are a few of our workshop options:
Learn to Spin on a Spinning Wheel 4 hours
This class is perfect for those with no previous spinning experience. You will learn about the structure of wool and the workings of a spinning wheel as you combine them to spin yarn. Julia—an experienced and encouraging spinning teacher—will provide spinning wheels to use and fibre is provided by our sheep!
The class will include no more than 4 participants to ensure that everyone gets lots of personal instruction. By the end of the class, expect to have a unique skein of 2-ply yarn to take home!
Learn to Spin With Drop Spindle 4 hours
Drop Spindles were one of the earliest forms of creating threads and yarns for making cloth and clothing. Spinning wheels can be expensive. Using a drop spindle to start is a less expensive way enter the craft.
Each student in the class will be given a beginner drop spindle to take home, 100g of Icelandic roving, and spinning instruction. Learn how to create the yarn, drafting the yarn, the park and draft method of winding yarn on the spindle. You'll also get some quality time with our Icelandic sheep!
Spinning an Icelandic Yarn 4 hours
We'll explore creating Icelandic yarns on your own spinning wheel. Some previous experience required.
Using the lovely soft roving from our Icelandic sheep, you’ll learn to control the twist and create an even soft lofty yarn. These yarns will have a softness to them not seen in the mass-produced commercial Icelandic style yarns due to the wonderful fibre made by our sheep!
Weave an Icelandic Wool Shawl / Scarf 7 hours
Come learn to weave with Instructor, Cheryl Sheridan of The Barn Studio. Each student will explore the techniques to weave a beautiful one-of-a-kind wool shawl/scarf, on a 4-shaft table loom, using our Icelandic wool. Choose your own colourway for this 2-colour twill piece with a hand-twisted fringe.
Natural Dyeing - Yarn & Roving 10 hours 30 min
Join us for a weekend of fun, learning, creating and dyeing! This is a 2-day workshop. Saturday we'll explore the farm foraging for dye materials like buckthorn, goldenrod or jewelweed and others. Then we'll create our dyes, build our dye baths and get them cooking for Sunday. We'll also prep our fibre for dyeing.
Artistic Hot Tub / Sauna Hat 6 hours
This class is an intro to using a resist in wet felting to form a 3-dimentional object. You will learn how to layer your fibre evenly to allow uniform shrinkage in your project to create a hot tub / sauna hat. Learn when you have reached a “felt stage” and when to shrink. Surface design and structure of finishing your felt will also be taught. Participants will each create their own unique hat to take home.
Decorative Centre Piece / Wall Hanging - Wet Felting 4 hours
This class is an intro to wet felting. You will learn about wool fibre and how to form a piece of felt fabric through a combination of applying water and agitation. You will also learn how to layer fibre and to add design elements to form a decorative centre piece or wall hanging to take home.
Felted Soap - Wet Felting 2.5 hours
This class is an introduction to wet felting. You will learn how to layer fibre to form an enclosure over a bar of soap. Felted soap is an eco-friendly way to wash and gently exfoliate your skin in the bath or shower. It also helps your soap last longer. Whey your soap runs out, use the wool as a cleaning scrubby or throw in your compost! Participants will each make 2 felted soaps to take home.
Hummingbird Workshop - Needle Felting 2.5 hours
This class is an intro to needle felting. You will learn how to form a basic body, add texture and natural locks to create a hummingbird. Each participant will create one bird to take home.
Gnome Workshop - Needle Felting 3.5 hours
This class is a beginner needle felting level. No experience necessary. A variety of skills will be taught in this session. How to form a core shape, apply even layers of wool, avoid needle marks, form appendages, and attach to create a figure. Also, how to work with and apply natural locks to your art. Each participant will create an adorable, one of a kind gnome to take home. This workshop will take place on the farm in the sheep barn. Meet the makers behind our beautiful wool.
Wool Balls - Wet Felting / Needle Felting 3 hours
This class is an introduction to felting. Learn how to make your own wool dryer balls. This workshop combines needle and wet felting techniques to form a ball shape. You will make two larger dryer balls and as well as some smaller wool beads for other projects.
Landscape - Needle Felting 4 hours
This is a beginner needle felting class on how to create a picture with wool. In this workshop you will learn how to layout a base and blend natural colours using a variety of needle felting techniques. You will take home a small framed original piece of art.
Wacky Bird Workshop - Needle Felting 4 hours
This class is an intro to building a needle felted shape over a wire armature. You will learn how to form a basic wire structure to form a standing bird. Project balance, building a core and surface design will all be taught in this workshop. Each participant will create one standing Wacky Bird to take home. This workshop will take place on the farm in the sheep barn. Meet the makers behind our beautiful wool. Truly connect with your project as you meet the sheep that your fibre comes from.
Sheep Workshop - Needle Felting 4 hours
This class is an intro to needle felting. Previous needle felting experience would be helpful but not a requirement. You will learn how to form a basic structure to form a small sheep. Project balance, building a core and surface design will all be taught in this workshop. You will also learn to needle felt with natural locks. Each participant will create one Icelandic sheep to take home.
Vessel Workshop - Wet Felting 3.5 hours
This class is an intro to using a resist in wet felting to form a 3-dimentional object. You will learn how to layer your fibre evenly to allow uniform shrinkage in your project to create a round vessel. Learn when you have reached a “felt stage” and when to shrink. Surface design and structure of finishing your felt will also be taught. Participants will each create their own unique vessel to take home.
Journal Cover - Wet Felting 5 hours
In this wet felting workshop you will first learn how to layout an even base of wool to form a book cover. Then create your own personal surface design with wool and silks and wet felt the whole piece into a solid piece of fabric to cover your journal. Suitable for any skill level.
Scarf / Table Runner - Wet Felting 6 hours
This class is an intro to applying wool to silk to form one piece called Nuno Felting. Previous wet felting experience will be helpful but not required. We will work with silk hankies, Icelandic wool and locks and other silk threads to form a scarf or table runner. Fine wool layout and surface design are skills you will learn in this workshop to create a wearable piece of art.
Artistically Felted Fleece - Wet Felting 7 hours
In this wet felting workshop you will learn how to create a solid piece of funky art out of a section of raw fleece as you work with Icelandic sheep locks before they have been processed. This is a fun but messy class so please wear clothes you do not mind getting wet. Suitable for all skill levels but please note this wet felting process is very physical for hands, arms, shoulders & backs. Come for the workout and go home with a one-of-a-kind piece of art!
Felting Workshops
Making felt from wool is considered to be the oldest known textile to man. Picking the wool and textures to layout is as interesting as the process of turning it into a usable piece of art. In the wet felting process, water and soap are applied to layers of wool causing the scales to open, while agitating them causes them to latch onto each other, creating felt. Needle felting produces felt without the use of water, using special barbed or "notched" needles. We offer a variety of both wet and needle felting workshops.
Whether you’re new to felting or you already have some skills, these workshops will be a unique experience for all. Spend time with our sheep and meet the makers of your wool! You will learn the skills that will assist you in making your own one-of-a-kind item to take home and be able to transfer these skills to other felting projects as well. All felting tools and materials will be provided.
Spinning Workshops
Spinning is an ancient textile art in which plant, animal or synthetic fibres are drawn out and twisted together to form yarn. For thousands of years, fibre was spun by hand using simple tools, the spindle and distaff (Wikipedia).
Whether you’re new to spinning or you already have the spinning bug, these workshops will be a unique experience for all. Spend time with our sheep and meet the makers of your wool! You will learn the skills that will assist you in making your own one-of-a-kind skein of yarn to take home and be able to transfer these skills to other spinning projects as well. All tools and materials will be provided, unless otherwise indicated.
Other Workshops…
More workshops coming soon! We are continuing to add to our workshop offering including knitting, natural dyeing, weaving, etc. Please keep an eye on our website to see our current offering. If there’s something that you’re looking for that is not currently scheduled, please contact us.
Looking for a gift idea? Why not send a gift card.
Our workshop facilitators include:
Wendy Fifield is a self-taught fibre artist, living in Thornbury, ON. Since the late 90’s Wendy has been experimenting with different types of fibre and how they mesh together to form a piece. Making felt from wool is considered to be the oldest known textile to man. Picking the wool and textures to layout is as interesting as the process to turn it into a usable piece of art.
In the wet felting process, water and soap are applied to layers of wool causing the scales to open, while agitating them causes them to latch onto each other, creating felt. Needle felting produces felt without the use of water, using special barbed or "notched" needles. Wendy uses both methods depending on the finished piece. Wendy’s art is as much about experiencing the process as it is the end result. Wendy’s talent and passion for creating art through wool will inspire you!
Jane Steeves has been spinning for over 20 years and loves talking, teaching and showing the joy and peace that handspinning yarn can bring. She is a graduate of the Ontario Handspinning program at Haliburton School of the Arts. She brings her enthusiasm for the art of Handspinning and her love of all thing’s fibre and sheep with her to share. Jane lives on Georgian bay and is the owner of 3dogknits Fibre Arts. She lives with 3 lovely rescued Australian shepherds and her husband in a house full of fibre.
Julia Lee washes and dyes wool, spins, knits, weaves, and teaches in Toronto and Haliburton. Julia graduated from the Ontario Handweavers and Spinners’ Spinning Certificate course in 2000, and is now a coordinator and instructor for that program. Founder of Provenance Yarns and Textiles and a member of Upper Canada Fibreshed, she promotes and uses Ontario-grown fibres in her work and in Provenance’s monthly Fibre Club subscription packages. She teaches spinning at her home studio and spins on commission – often turning clients’ pet fur into beautiful yarn to create lasting mementos. To complete the process, she knits or weaves her natural-fibre yarn into elegant or whimsical creations: garments, home textiles, and knitted tapestries. Julia is currently President of Toronto Guild of Spinners and Weavers as well as Spinning Education Chair for Ontario Handweavers and Spinners. www.provenanceyarns.com
Refund Policy - Please note that if you book a workshop and need to cancel, we will gladly reimburse your full workshop fee less any applicable credit card fees or booking fees if done at least one week prior to the workshop. Cancellations less than one week prior, but for which we can fill your spot, will result in a reimbursement of your full workshop fee less applicable admin fees. If cancellation is done less than one week prior to the workshop and we cannot fill your spot, you can choose to have a full credit for future workshops or farm tour OR a reimbursement of 50% of the workshop value.