From Types to Weight and Care: Your Guide On Wool Fabrics

Wool is a natural fabric that’s been valued for centuries for its resilience and warmth. With cold days ahead, it’s perfect for bracing the weather while still looking stylish. What’s so advantageous about this type of fabric is that it gives you the chance to weave both heavy and lightweight items. 

As such, it’s great for various projects and creating different clothing pieces you can wear year-round. In the chilly autumn and winter months, wool provides optimal thermal insulation, helping you maintain body heat in the cold. In spring and summer, it allows for perspiration while naturally absorbing and locking odour. 

Additionally, it’s got elasticity, which is why it can recover its shape without any signs of wrinkles. When properly taken care of, it can last for decades, so this and the fact that it’s a sustainable, renewable and biodegradable fabric is enough to understand how it’s a slow fashion solution to the fast fashion problem. 

As there are many options of wool fabrics online UK retailers provide; however, it’s necessary to delve into some technicalities to make the selection and shopping easier. This includes aspects like:

Wool Type

As it’s a natural fabric that comes from the fleece of animals, among which sheep, goats, rabbits and camelids, there are different types of wool you can find at specialist shops. Here are some of the most popular ones: 

Tweed

A rough woven fabric in plain or twill weaves, it’s a very hard-wearing choice with a distinct, robust texture and appearance with speckles. As it’s very strong and durable, it’s perfect for outerwear like jackets and coats. Considering that it’s dyed while it’s raw before being spun, it’s known as fibre-dyed. With multiple colours and shades, it’s a versatile choice

Cashmere

Coming from cashmere goats, it’s the “soft gold” for a reason – it’s softer, warmer, lighter, finer and stronger than most wools. Due to this quality, it’s among the more expensive wool fabrics online UK retailers offer and is used for the creation of luxurious sweaters, coats and scarves.

Melton

Durable and wind-resistant, the melton wool is usually woven in twill. Made with processes of heavy milling and napping, it’s got a finish that conceals the twill pattern. As it’s also moisture-wicking, it’s an ideal option for outerwear like overcoats.

Merino

A beloved and well-known variety coming from the Merino sheep from Spain, Australia and New Zealand, it’s one of the preferred choices for its softness. If you can’t stand the itchiness you get from other wools, opt for merino wool. It’s light in weight with thermo-regulating properties, so it’s no surprise it’s used for everyday wear, underwear and lightweight tops.

Mohair

Made from the Angora goat, this is a durable type of wool you can find at a trusted online fabric store. Much like the merino alternative, it’s soft and lightweight, and serves well for creating baby clothing, sweaters, scarves and dresses. It’s great at retaining heat, and with the shiny and silky appearance it gives off a luxurious aesthetic. 

Shetland 

Made from the undercoat of Scotland’s Shetland Islands sheep, it’s a durable type of wool with soft and warm properties. With many varieties of natural colours and a lightweight characteristic, you can use it for sweaters as well as accessories like hats and shawls.

Alpaca

Originating from the Andes’ alpacas, camelids, this too is a wool you can swear by for its softness. Warmer yet at the same time lighter than traditional wool, it’s great for making sweaters, scarves and even blankets. Breathable, stretchy, as well as hypoallergenic, it makes for a great baby clothing fabric also. As it’s grown in popularity over the years, it’s easy to find this fabric online and use it in your projects.

Angora

Made from the Angora rabbit, this wool has a soft and fluffy fibre with moisture-wicking properties. As it’s more delicate, it’s often more expensive than the rest, and blended with other fibres to add more strength.  

Camel

Made from camel hair, it’s a type of wool that’s also luxurious and expensive. Usually, it’s combined with other fibres to make it less expensive and softer. If you’re up for making coats and outerwear or other garments, look for the soft undercoat variant, whereas for carpets the outer hair is the go-to choice.

Worsted

When it comes to suits and tailored garments, buy a fabric like worsted wool. As it’s high-quality, fine and smooth, made from long-staple fibres, it’s a perfect solution for year-round clothing, working great in the sun, wind, as well as rain. 

Boiled

Made with a process called fulling, the boiled wool is a dense and soft fabric created by using hot water when felting a knitted wool fabric. It’s perfect for outerwear like jackets and coats, vests and cardigans, and accessories in the likes of berets and scarves.

Felt

As a non-woven material made by compressing and bonding wool fibres, felt is very versatile and easy to work with. From clothing and accessories to home décor, you can use it in many ways without worrying about fraying or stretching. 

Lambswool

Coming from a lamb’s first shearing, it’s one of the softest, smoothest and hypoallergenic options there are. Due to these properties, it’s got various uses, from making clothing and accessories to home goods like carpets and bedding. Keep in mind, though, it’s also one of the more expensive types.

Blends

What are the benefits of wool blends? Often, there are wool blends because of the additional properties the other fabrics provide, such as lower risk of shrinkage, affordability and easier cleaning and maintenance. You can find blends with natural fabrics like cashmere, cotton and silk, as well as synthetics like viscose. Opting to get this kind of yarn online or in-store also provides you with more durability and a reduction in pilling. 

Wool Weight 

Depending on the project you intend to use the fabric online shopping for, you’ve got: 

• Lightweight fabric – Sold in grams per square metre (GSM), this option ranges from 150 to 200 GSM, fit for warm-weather apparel.  
• Medium-weight fabric – Available in 200 to 350 GSM, it’s an ideal choice for suits, blazers and trousers.
• Heavyweight fabric – With more than 350 GSM, this is for cold-weather outerwear.

Wool Care

Considering this is a rather delicate fabric despite the exceptional properties like durability, it’s got special care requirements you’d need to keep in mind. It’s essential to check the manufacturer’s instructions to know exactly what you’d have to do, whether handwashing or dry-cleaning only, which is indicated by fabric care labels. Usually, the combination of cold or lukewarm water with a wool-specific detergent is the key to freshening it up. This ensures the fabric stays intact.