Harris Tweed Guest Bedroom, Scotland

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Sent by Retrouvius to cover the walls and ceiling of a small guest bedroom at Rodel House, situated on a long archipelago on the far northwest tip of Europe on the Isle of Harris. The furthest journey yet undertaken by The Textile Wall Company and with projects further afield on the cards it was a great logistical test for us and something I have also felt confident we could easily achieve. With all our tools shipped over to the site, we left from London arriving on the Isle of Harris a day prior to our installation, giving us enough time to explore on the 1.5 hour journey from Stornaway down to Rodel.

On the way down we visited Luskentyre Beach for spot of wild swimming….

Harris is the home to every weaver, dyer, blender, carder, spinner, warper, finisher and inspector of Harris Tweed cloth. No part of the process takes place elsewhere. All Harris Tweed is woven on a treadle loom at an islander’s home, not at a mill.

The warp and weft yarns arrive from the mill directly to the weavers own home studio. Then the weaver sets to work, hand tying the new yarns to the tail-ends of the previous weave, to make it easier to thread onto the loom. Weaving the cloth can now begin under the careful observation of the weaver.

Lara and I were extremely lucky that our accommodation host Stevie was a weaver. Whilst we were staying with him and his wife, he gave us a wonderful demonstration to how the cloth is made at his home studio in Rodel.

The guest bedroom we have traveled half a day from London to begin working on is inside Rodel House, c.1785 on one of the island's most historic houses. It has functioned as an inn, tacksman/factor's residence, shooting lodge and hotel. Loving restored with guidance from Retrouvius, our brief was to cover all the walls and the ceiling in the islands Harris Tweed. Whilst Lara made a visit to the Harris Tweed HQ to collect the bolt made especially for the project I began lining the room with our battens and wadding.

Below is the result…..

If you have a fabric walling project in mind get in touch…