New products and services at NFC

The Natural Fibre Company in Launceston, Cornwall has just invested in new equipment to add to the range of services it provides to smallholders and commercial yarn businesses.

The following new services are available:

• Yarn steaming – suitable to reduce kinking in highly twisted commercial yarns used for weaving and sock making. The steamer was acquired second-hand just in time to save it from being scrapped by a London-based business which was closing. In its new life in Cornwall, the steamer can help add quality to yarns which need a high twist to add strength when they are used under tension in weaving looms and sock-knitting machines. These yarns are an increasing part of The Natural Fibre Company’s services to provide specialised British yarns to the textile industry.

• Stuffings – a new garneting card machine has come from The Woolly Shepherd in Devon. This machine will be used to re-cycle waste yarns and materials which would otherwise be sent to land-fill to make fluff suitable for stuffing cushions and upholstery. The natural fire retardance of wool and its physical memory make it ideal as a stuffing material and cushions stuffed with wool revert to their original shape after use. This will enable The Natural Fibre Company to both reduce its waste streams, helping our environment and add value to otherwise unusable wool. A particular immediate use is to make the stuffing for cushions for Olympic athletes for the Woolsack project (see www.woolsack.org for further information). In addition, the machine will be used to de-hair alpaca.

• Felt – the garneting machine has a batt roller, which can also be used to create flat pieces of pre-fabric from wool, which two further machines can then make into felt, using a wet felting machine and a needle felting machine, both again from The Woolly Shepherd. These enable both new wool and wool waste to be made into a wide range of non woven fabrics, from craft materials to quilting wadding to yurt liners or numnahs to ease the fit of a horse saddle. The Natural Fibre Company is able to make samples and standard lengths of felt or can provide facilities for people to use the felting machines to make their own products.