The Colors of Nature
BRIGHT. VIBRANT. ALL-NATURAL.
Our premium natural dyes and dye extracts put all the colors of nature at your fingertips. No industrial chemicals and no synthetics: just roots, leaves, flowers, and bark. Check out our detailed guides complete with instructions and color recipes to help you create the palette you’ve been dreaming of. Now with free shipping on all orders of $49 or more.
Nature’s Mordant
For sustainable plant-based dyeing.
NATURE’S MORDANT
The 100% Plant-Based Mordant for Natural Dyes
Are you ready to dye beautiful botanical colors without having to rely on industrial chemicals like aluminum sulfate and stannous chloride to mordant your fiber? Then it’s time to try the natural solution: Nature’s Mordant™.
Nature’s Mordant™ is the 100% plant-based mordant for natural dyes. It contains a special blend of plant extracts that have been selected to work together in perfect harmony as fixatives for natural colors. Check out our Guide to Nature’s Mordant for detailed instructions on applying it to different natural fibers, as well as a selection of useful color recipes.
FOR THE SOAP MAKERS.
The last place you want industrial dyes is on your skin. That’s why we’ve developed the world’s first line of plant-based pigments specifically for use in cold process soap. Made from roots, leaves, bark, and seeds, our soap dyes are powders that can be dispersed directly into the lye solution or blended into the oil base - no more long infusions or scratchy plant bits in your soap.
RARE YARNS AND FIBERS
Shepherd Textiles is a weaving studio, and we make it our mission to source the finest weaving materials in the world. We stock rare finds like lotus silk, vicuna wool, deer yarn, and pashmina. We import many of our products direct from the source, and they are not available anywhere else.
The most luxurious weaving yarn on the market. Spun in Italy from 100% pure wild vicuña fiber, this lace-weight yarn is warm, elegant, and soft as a cloud. It comes from the same Italian mill that supplies the haute couture fashion houses, and this yarn is used by many elite designers for their finest woven goods. Our 2/28 lace-weight vicuña yarn has the warm cinnamon hue of natural vicuña and an unbelievably soft hand. It will produce scarves, shawls, and other fabrics of unparalleled luxury. Excellent as both warp and weft, although we recommend warping under gentle tension. For more information about vicuña fiber and the vicuña trade, please check out the Frequently Asked Questions on our main vicuña page.
Each order is wound by hand onto a 4” styrene bobbin. Available as a one gram sample (14 meters / 15 yards) or as a full bobbin containing 20 grams of yarn (280 meters / 300 yards). The full bobbin size arrives in a handsome black gift box. Each lot is individually numbered and includes a certificate of authenticity.
* All Shepherd Textiles vicuña products are imported under license by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and in accordance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Our vicuña is fully traceable to healthy wild populations listed in Appendix II of the treaty. Please note that all sales of vicuña products are final.
The most luxurious knitting yarn on the market. Spun for us in Italy from 100% pure wild vicuña fiber, this fingering-weight yarn is warm, elegant, and soft as a cloud. It comes from the same Italian mill that supplies the haute couture fashion houses, but this triple-ply, fingering weight yarn is a custom product spun just for us. It is the thickest, fluffiest vicuña yarn available anywhere. It has the warm cinnamon hue of natural vicuña and an unbelievably soft hand. It will produce scarves, hats, gloves, and shawls of unparalleled luxury. The mill recommends a 3 mm needle for knitting; for weaving, we suggest a tabby sett at 15 ends per inch. For more information about vicuña fiber and the vicuña trade, please check out the Frequently Asked Questions on our main vicuña page.
Sold in 25 gram center-pull balls. Each ball is approximately 130 meters (142 yards) long. Arrives in a handsome black gift box. Each skein is individually numbered and includes a certificate of authenticity.
* All Shepherd Textiles vicuña products are imported under license by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and in accordance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Our vicuña is fully traceable to healthy wild populations listed in Appendix II of the treaty. Please note that all sales of vicuña products are final.
One of the world’s most exclusive fibers, lotus silk is produced from the fine threads found inside the stem of the padonma lotus (nelumbo nucifera). According to tradition, lotus silk was invented 100 years ago by Daw Sa U, a master weaver living in Shan State in Myanmar. She discovered how to painstakingly extract the bast fibers by snapping open the stems, twisting out and drying the threads, and spinning them into yarn which she wove into robes for local monks. This process is extremely delicate and slow, and it requires the threads from more than 30,000 lotuses to make enough yarn to weave a single yard of cloth.
Our Lotus Silk Yarn (10/1) is produced according to Daw Sa U’s traditional method. It is handspun on Inle Lake in Myanmar in the workshop of Ms. Kyin Mo Win. It is a single-ply yarn measuring about 1,100 yards/100 g., and appropriate for warp or weft.
Please note that real lotus silk is not as soft as mulberry silk, nor does it have a high luster. This is, in fact, a very rustic yarn that is celebrated in Myanmar not because of its softness but because of its spiritual connotations. In Theravada Buddhism, a lotus flower growing up and blossoming on top of muddy water symbolizes the pure mind attaining self-awareness in the midst of worldly illusion (samsara). Spinning and weaving robes from lotus silk is an act of merit-making, and garments made of lotus silk are especially appropriate for monks, nuns, and all those who aim not to harm sentient beings. On the bobbin you may feel that the raw yarn feels a bit like cardboard, however, when it is woven and broken in it becomes much softer and develops a hand similar to fine linen.
Product of Myanmar. Hand wash in cold water; lay flat to dry.
One of the rarest and most exclusive of the natural fibers, Cervelt® is spun from the winter coat of the Scottish red deer (cervus elaphus scoticus). The deer's downy fibers are remarkably warm and fine, with an average fiber diameter (AFD) of only 13 or 14 microns. It is an excellent textile fiber, but its production is limited by nature: a full-grown red deer produces only about 20 grams of usable down fiber each year. Our 100% Cervelt Yarn, Lace Weight (2/28) is a pure Cervelt yarn intended for weaving or machine-knitting. This is the same Cervelt yarn used by Savile Row tailors and Italian fashion designers, perhaps most famously to knit a $1,500 pair of Cervelt socks. The yarn is excellent as either weft or warp, although as a short staple fiber (~1") it can snap if warped under too much tension. It is also sensitive to moisture and performs best on the loom when the relative humidity is between 50% and 70%. Like many short-staple fibers, Cervelt has to be spun with a high twist, so the yarn will feel crisp (not fluffy or soft) on the bobbin. However, the yarn will relax after wet finishing and the true softness wil develop. An excellent choice for weaving warm, elegant garments with beautiful luster and drape.
Approximately 14,000 meters per kilogram. Available as a 1-gram sample on a bobbin (14 meters), a full bobbin containing 20 grams of yarn (280 meters), or a 100-gram spindle (1,400 meters). Product of New Zealand. Cervelt® is a registered trademark of Douglas Creek Limited.
This is it: the finest and most luxurious fiber in the whole world. Vicuña are the wild ancestors of domesticated alpaca, and their wool is the finest natural fiber in existence. The Average Fiber Diameter (AFD) is only 12 or 13 microns, and many fibers measure only 7, 8, or 9 microns. Touching vicuña fiber is like touching a cloud. We source this unique wool from a mill in South America, and the supply is extremely limited. Most of the annual harvest is bought up by the elite Italian fashion designers, who turn this same fiber into luxurious yarns, scarves, suits, and jackets. We are making raw vicuña fiber available for the very first time for hand-spinners and fiber artists. Please note that wild vicuña fiber has a short staple length; the individual fibers measure between 1 inch and 1.5 inches long, so extra care is required when spinning.
To learn more about vicuña fiber and the vicuña trade, please check out the Frequently Asked Questions on our main vicuña page.
* All Shepherd Textiles vicuña products are imported under license by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and in accordance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Our vicuña is fully traceable to healthy wild populations listed in Appendix II of the treaty. Please note that all sales of vicuña products are final. Also, note that vicuna products cannot be shipped internationally, neither by us nor by third-party shipping consolidators.
We import this wild-gathered tussah silk from a village of weavers in Odisha. More than 95% of the tussah silk on the market right now is commercially-produced Chinese tussah silk (antherea pernyi). Although it is inevitably described as “wild silk,” Chinese tussah silk is cultivated just like mulberry silk. The silkworms are raised on farms in growing frames, and after they spin their cocoon inside the frame, the cocoons are harvested and boiled with the silkworm still inside. This prevents the adult moth from chewing its way out, which would cut the silk threads and make it impossible to unreel the cocoon as one long silk filament, which is required for making high-tensile strength silk warp yarn. The boiled larvae are then removed manually and sold as a snack or ground into livestock feed.
Our Cruelty-Free Jungle Tussah Silk is produced from antherea paphia, the wild Indian tussar moth. A. paphia is not grown in frames; the moths still grow wild, and attach their cocoons to tree branches with a strong black stem called a peduncle. The cocoons are harvested after the adult moth has already exited and flown away, so no silkworms are harmed during production. Unlike commercial tussah silk, this silk is not bleached, and no antibiotics are required to keep the worms healthy in crowded growing frames. This wild silk is much coarser than cultivated tussah silk, but it has a beautiful golden glow. It is also packed full of the silk peptides and proteins that are desirable for making soap: to use, pull out a pinch a bit smaller than a cotton ball, cut into small pieces, and soak in distilled water before dissolving with lye.
Product of India.
An especially rare and exquisite fiber harvested by hand from the downy undercoat of wild guanaco. Guanaco are the ancestors of domesticated llama, and they still thrive in the high deserts and altiplano of the Andes mountains. They have an extremely warm and soft down coat that helps them survive cold nights in the mountains—at 15μm, guanaco has a similar handle (feel) to pashmina or vicuña. Guanaco fiber is still harvested according to the age-old chaccu tradition: once a year, Indigenous villages build temporary paddocks out of nets, drive the local guanaco into them, shear them, and then release them back into the wild. Our guanaco combed top is the highest quality fiber intended for the Italian fashion market. It naturally has a beautiful creamy latte color, in contrast to the darker cinnamon of vicuña. It has an average staple length of between 1” and 1.5”, and will produce buttery-soft yarn. An excellent gift for fiber artists when only the best will do.
Product of Argentina. Imported by Shepherd Textiles LLC under license by the USFWS. Fully traceable through CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) to healthy wild populations listed in Appendix II of the treaty.
The fluffiest, whitest, warmest fiber we’ve ever seen. Shepherd Textiles French Angora Roving is the soft down brushed from French angora rabbits. It makes exceptionally warm yarns—the fibers are hollow, which helps trap heat—and they have a beautiful, fluffy halo. With a staple length of 3” and measuring approximately 15 microns, it is as soft as cashmere, although it has a very different, wispy texture. This is a luxurious fiber meant for very special projects. Our angora roving comes from France, and only from farms that are registered and inspected by the Ministère de l'agriculture to confirm that the bunnies are raised and brushed humanely, and never painfully plucked. An excellent choice for projects that require maximum warmth while still being as soft as possible on the skin.
WOVEN BY HAND
Shepherd Textiles is a weaving studio committed to keeping old traditions alive. We spin fiber into yarn, dye it with natural colors, and weave it on our collection of traditional wooden looms. We offer a changing selection of handwoven gifts, and we are always happy to discuss commissions for custom designs.
Luxurious and sophisticated, this classic houndstooth scarf was woven by hand on a Glimåkra wooden loom. We made this from some of the finest weaving yarns available today. The dark brown yarn is 100% premium Italian merino, and the cinnamon-colored yarn is a blend of 85% merino and 15% baby alpaca for extra luster. Each scarf is 7 inches wide and a generous 6.5 feet (78 inches) long, plus a short quarter-inch eyelash fringe. Lightweight but warm, soft yet lustrous, this is a scarf of understated elegance. An excellent complement to any man’s formal or casual wardrobe.
78” by 7”, 3.5 ounces (100 grams). Hand wash in cold water; lay flat to dry. Handwoven in our studio in Washington from imported Italian yarns.
Handwoven on a Macomber wooden loom, these scarves are made from our line of super-soft Baby Alpaca Yarn. Baby alpaca has absolutely no prickle, and is perfect for sensitive skin. Alpaca is warmer than sheep’s wool and hypoallergenic. Woven with a medium set, these scarves have excellent drape, and the thick 4/8 yarn makes them perfect for bundling up on a cold day. These are large, heavy-duty scarves, measuring 72” by 11.5”, with an extra 4” twisted fringe on each side. Each scarf weighs approximately 11 oz/320 g. Hand wash only, hang up to dry.
Handwoven on a Glimakra wooden loom. This beautiful, soft, 100% wool blanket was made using sport-weight 3/8 yarn sourced from a mill in Maine. The colors were inspired by the wild berries on my family’s old property in Freeport, where blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries grow abundantly every spring. The color-block design was woven in twill to create an elegant plaid pattern. This wool blanket is the perfect size for wrapping up on the sofa while you read a book or watch TV, and it will keep you warm on cool nights. 5’ wide by 6’ long—the fringes add another 6” on each side. Weighs 3 lb, 2 oz. Machine wash on delicate (cold water, low spin) and hang up to dry.
Handwoven on a Glimakra wooden loom, this lusciously soft throw or small blanket is based on a classic American Coverlet pattern from the early 1800s. Before mass-produced blankets became widely available, many American farm families would spin their own yarn and weave it into one of these traditional patterns on an old barn loom. This is an “overshot” design that has a darker side that was supposed to show in the winter, when it was too cold to wash your blankets, and a lighter side that was meant to show in the summer after a good washing.
At Shepherd Textiles, we’ve updated the traditional American Coverlet by incorporating one of the finest, softest wools in the world: baby alpaca. This coverlet was woven entirely from our 100% Baby Alpaca Yarn that we import from the highlands of Peru. This yarn is as soft as a cloud, hypo-allergenic, and prickle-free. It produces a blanket that is warm, heavy, and soft, perfect for snuggling up with a book on a cold evening. Keeping with tradition, we have added long fringe on the bottom and hand-hemmed the head for a clean and comfortable finish. This is a one-of-a-kind product that combines historical weaving methods with the finest modern materials, and nothing like it can be found anywhere else.
4.4 lbs., 79”x51.5” (79”x59” including the bottom fringe). It will just about cover a full-size mattress, although it will not quite touch the sides; it is also the perfect size for a large sofa throw. Hand wash in cool water using mild detergent; lay flat on towels to dry.