About

For quite some time I have been very concerned about our earth and what we seem to be doing to it, as though its resources and self-cleansing, self-correcting, self-healing abilities were infinite.  We have used and abused our planet to the point of adversely affecting life on earth!  Our consumerism affects not only the earth, but animals, and people too. Although we can be very thoughtless and unconcerned in our dash to have more and more stuff, we humans can also be intelligent, compassionate, tender, gentle people. I have come to know many of these wonderful people in the past few years.  They continually surprise me with their altruism, trust and optimism.  So I believe there is hope!  I know that as humans, we are not perfect.  I also know that many of us try our hardest to make up for those who aren't thinking about their footprint.  I hope we can at least find a balance, so our species can survive, and our earth can thrive.

For the past few years, I have been working on a specific project of my own.  I am a hand-weaver, weaving cloth from linen yarn.  I love linen with all its positive and functional qualities!  It performs much better than 'corporate' cotton in its strength, long life, and low impact on the earth.  When I first decided that linen was what I wanted to weave back in 2000, I searched all over the US to find a flax processing and spinning mill.  I found NONE.  I looked north to Canada, but there were no mills for the flax fiber.  There was NO linen yarn to be found in the western hemisphere!! I researched and found that most of the better quality linen yarn is found in or near Belgium.  I had no choice but to import.  But it set me on a mission.  I wanted to find and support any sort of local textile production.

I eventually became involved with www.Fibershed.com, a non-profit group hoping to establish a new attitude in textile production . . . a regional approach rather than a corporate approach.  An approach where there can be transparency from ‘Dirt to Shirt’ with all vendors contributing a safe and low impact product to be used/utilized by the next vendor in the chain, from fiber, to cloth, to dying, to construction of each piece, to selling, to consuming.  This 'fibershed' approach encourages keeping the whole operation within a 150 mile radius.  Conversely, the way things are produced today, it could be grown in Texas, shipped to China to be processed, dyed and woven, then shipped to India for construction, and shipped back to the US to be sold.  All this is done because cheaper labor is found overseas, translating to bigger profits for the big clothing brands.  But the negative impact on the earth and subsequently on all living things on the earth is huge!

Fibershed's concept of keeping things local/regional would re-establish our lost textile industry, provide much needed jobs across the country, provide living wages locally rather than demanding that children in third world countries work in unsafe factories for wages that cannot provide enough to even eat, reduce carbon footprints by avoiding costly shipping (fuel), establish localized production (decreasing the large corporate holdings that seem to control rather than serve us, increasing local involvement, and establishing pride in one's work once again!)  All of this was just what I had been looking to do!  Fibershed has been working primarily with those fibers already currently established in the US.  This includes animal fiber, cotton, hemp (experimentally),and other experimental fibers being developed.  Flax and linen are way down the list. This is because because when the Textile Industry started going off-shore to produce and manufacture textiles beginning in the 70’s , we ultimately lost the whole entire flax and linen industry, and it has to be built back from the ground up. Flax is now being grown in the US in small experimental projects, working to produce a strong and long flax fiber that can compete with the European flax.  But there are no established mills to process it, there are no mills to weave it.  The whole linen industry was outsourced and we completely lost all the knowledge and experience we had accumulated through years of trial and error. So, it will take lots of work to build it back into a true industry. 

In discovering and coming to understand the Fibershed philosophy, I came to realize I can contribute by doing exactly what I love doing:  Weaving!  In order to contribute to the growth of the Fibershed philosophy I have established the first regional weaving mill in the Midwest which weaves local, natural fibers for the growers of that fiber.  In time, I hope to also weave linen grown and processed in the United States.  And going forward I will weave for the local fiber farmers and growers who are working hard to preserve a local way of life and community!

 Small Dog Weaving Mill can also be found on Instagram (Small Dog Weaving Mill) sharing knowledge and information about weaving local, natural fiber.  It is the next step in our journey of getting to know about natural fibers, where they come from, and coming to understand how natural  fibers can impact our lives and how this small segment in our lives can have a huge impact on the health and welfare of those around us and on our earth.

Your friend in fiber,

Marian Quanbeck Dahlberg