This book offers a glimpse into the fibre-producing fields and gardens of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands areas. Through farm visits and telephone interviews with the textile producers, the author captures the hardships of the industry and the difficulties in locally producing fibres such as yarns and fleece. The farmers struggle with the cost and time needed to send their raw materials to processing mills in Ontario and overseas. Sometimes it could take up to a year to complete the process and have materials ready for the hands of artists and crafters. The text skillfully blends personal stories of the farms and farmers with stunning photographs of fibre-producing animals including alpaca, angora rabbits, goats, llamas, and sheep.

This is a timely resource as secondary art and textile classes find themselves moving towards using local land-based, less-processed materials. As well, this book can act as an inspiration for students to discover their own local fibre farms and farmers.

Other End Matter: Resource list of networks, guilds, clubs, associations, festivals
Images: Colour photographs, map
Bibliography: Yes
Index: No

Evaluator: Lisa S., High School Librarian, BC Books for Schools

Francine McCabe is a mixed-blood Anishinaabe writer, fibre artist, and organic master gardener from Batchewana First Nation, living on the unceded traditional territory of the Stz'uminus First Nation with her partner and two sons. She holds a degree in Creative Writing from Vancouver Island University. She is a board member of the Vancouver Island Fibreshed network and is passionate about Vancouver Island grown fibres and nurturing the connections and transparency needed to grow a regional textile economy. She is the past recipient of the Mary Garland Coleman Prize in Lyrical Poetry and was awarded the 2014 Pat Bevan Scholarship for Creative Writing. Her writing has appeared in Portal Magazine and CV Collective.

Francine McCabe's profile page

“This book is highly recommended for people wanting to learn more about the farming and land-based community of this region through the lens of fibre. Also recommended for those considering how to journey into their own home regions and meet the fibre farming community of their distinct regions.”
—Rebecca Burgess, founder of the Fibershed movement and author of Fibershed: Growing a Movement of Farmers, Fashion Activists, and Makers for a New Textile Economy

“Fleece & Fibre is a beautiful and rigorous resource of the regional fibres in coastal BC. A guidebook like this should exist in every fibreshed across the country as a call to action for consumers, fibre artists and textile producers to work together to build up local textile economies.”
—Anna Hunter, author of Sheep, Shepherd & Land: Stories of Sheep Farmers Reinvigorating Canadian Wool

“It is difficult to localize our wardrobes when regional materials are hard to find. Fleece & Fibre is a linchpin that solves this problem, showing readers why materials matter and where, how, and with whom to find the best of them.”
—Stephany Wilkes, author of Raw Material: Working Wool in the West

“Fleece & Fibre offers an inspiring peek into the fields and gardens of the islands, sharing the possibilities borne out of cultivating independent, hyper-local fibre economies.”
—Leanne Prain, author of The Creative Instigator’s Handbook and Strange Material: Storytelling Through Textiles

“An intimate portrait of the fibreshed of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. McCabe’s book provides much valuable information on breeds, wools, and fibres, but it is also a testament to the beauty and integrity of rural life. Anyone who works with fibre should have this book.”
—Charllotte Kwon, founder of Maiwa

“Visit the farms, people, plants, and animals of the Vancouver Island Fibreshed. More than an inventory, Fleece & Fibre is a snapshot of history and a call to action for local fibre ecosystems around the world.”
—Raven Ranson, Fibre farmer and author of Homegrown Linen: Transforming flaxseed to linen

“Wool enthusiasts and armchair travellers alike will be inspired by the world revealed within these pages. Beyond a resource book of regional fibre farmers, animals, and the plant possibilities for cloth, McCabe has gifted us with an important and beautiful book that documents the growing revolution underway: reconnecting our clothing to farming.”
—Sharon Kallis, author of Common Threads and director of EartHand Gleaners Society

“Fleece & Fibre is a valuable resource for folks living on the West Coast and beyond. This delightful book will spark your interest in the farming, production, and the magic of locally sourced fibre.”
—Caitlin ffrench, artist and author of Gathering Colour