Processing Nettle & Other Foraged Fibre
with Simone Leblanc

Date: Saturday, February 8, 2025
Time: 1:30 - 3:30pm
Cost: $45
Location: Riverview Community Centre (90 Ashland ave, Winipeg)

Summary: Learn the techniques to process stinging nettle and other foraged fibre into spinable fibre. In this workshop you will be introduced to the skills needed to process locally sourced bast fibres foraged from nature. Together we will discuss and practice the steps in processing stinging nettle, dogbane, milkweed, fireweed as well as flax and turning it into usable fibre for spinning or other fibre crafts.

Through a combination of lecture, demonstrations and hands-on activities, each participant will have the opportunity to experience taking a retted nettle stock to ready to spin fibre.

Materials Provided

• retted nettle stocks (1-2 per participant) as well as samples of dogbane, milkweed and fireweed

• Information booklet for each participant

Option tools for participants to bring:

• Hand carders

• Drop spindle  

Simone LeBlanc is a fibre artist living in Northwestern Ontario. Simone has an interest in natural and locally sourced fibres in her exploration of various fibre crafts. Inspired by the Fibreshed and Slow Fashion movements, Simone strives to use natural, biodegradable, sustainable materials in her fibre arts projects. Simone enjoys sharing heritage techniques and skills of fibre processing with others through workshops and demonstrations, to help keep this knowledge alive. These practices of processing and using materials sourced locally, ethically and sustainably are important lessons in today's world.