A luxurious blend of fine British wools, natural grey Merino and Mulberry Silk
Lustre Blend is our first custom fibre blend, created from carefully chosen luxurious fibres that embody the qualities we love: softness, warmth, bounce, texture and colour brilliance.
British Bluefaced Leicester wool (known as BFL) is a favourite native British sheep breed due to the fineness of its fibres, and was a natural choice for our first fibre blend. The fleece has a subtle lustre, unique to the breed, which gives it a beautiful depth of colour when dyed, and its long staple-length of around 90mm makes it a dream to spin and resistant to pilling. Our Bluefaced Leicester has been superwash treated for added resilience and softness.
British Wensleydale lustre wool, another traditional British breed, has a drape and glossy sheen quite unlike any other wool, often likened to mohair. We added a touch to our blend because of the incredible shine and intensity of colour of the fleece when dyed, thanks to Wensleydale sheep's distinctive curly, lustrous locks.
Natural grey merino – Merino is a firm favourite with spinners and knitters for its fine fibres. By adding this unusual untreated grey merino, we've given Lustre Blend not just warmth, softness and crimp, but a hint of tweedy texture. Our grey Merino is non-mulesed, and sustainably farmed in South America. The fleece is then milled in the UK.
Grade A Mulberry Silk is the final ingredient in Lustre Blend, chosen for its luxurious softness, drape and shine – but not just any silk. Mulberry silk is a cultivated silk made by Bombyx Mori moth, which has a diet of Mulberry leaves! It is finer and brighter white than more common Tussah silk.