You just bought a raw fleece! Hooray! But now what? With a little intermittent work, you’ll be able to turn that raw fleece into wool ready for your next project all within a weekend. Here are our steps to washing a fleece. There are numerous methods explained online so experiment and see what works best for you.
You’ll need the following:
– 2 or more plastic totes (buckets, coolers, soup pots and even a divided sink will all work too)
– Soap – Regular Dawn is a popular choice but a better alternative is a wool scour like Unicorn Power Scour or Dirty Ewe from Mitten State Sheep & Wool
– Mesh laundry bags
– Water that can be heated to between 150 and 160*f
– (Optional) insulated rubber gloves
The attached photos show our process of cleaning 6# of raw wool. We split this in half to wash in 3# batches. Large laundry bags allowed us to wash the whole fleece at once. I wrote these instructions for processing 1 bag at a time but you can do 2 or more if you’re able (and if your water heater will keep up).
1 – Prepare your fleece: Gently lay your fleece out flat on a table. Fleeces can be quite large so it’s ok with work with smaller chunks at a time. Remove large debris or short locks that weren’t picked out during skirting. Split your fleece into sections that will fit into your laundry bags and totes. No more than 2-3 pounds depending on how much dirt and lanolin are in the fleece.
2 – Cold Soak: Begin the washing with a cold water soak overnight to loosen dirt. Fill your tote with enough water to fully submerge your fleece bag with a few inches of extra water below. Lay a bag of raw fleece on the water and gently press down to submerge.
3 – Scouring: Fill a tote with water between 150 and 160 degrees with enough water to fully submerge your fleece with a few inches of extra water below. Then add a few tablespoons soap and stir. Lift your bagged fleece from the previous tote and allow the excess water to drain. Gently lay the bagged fleece into the new scour bath and lightly press it into the water. Wear insulated rubber gloves if you have them otherwise be careful not to burn your hands. Allow it to soak undisturbed for about 30 minutes. Do not stir as this causes felting. It can soak longer but the water needs to stay above 140 degrees to keep the lanolin melted.
4 – Repeat: Before the 30 minutes have passed, drain the previous tote and fill it with fresh water. You want to keep the fleece hot through the whole process to avoid felting. So, move it from one hot bath to the next prepared hot bath with minimal time between. Repeat steps 3 & 4 a few times until the soaking water is no longer dirty.
5 – Rinse: Once your fleece is clean, fill the tub from step 3 again but don’t add soap. Transfer the fleece to this tote and allow it to soak for 20 minutes. Do another 20 minute rinse soak in the other tote and repeat this hot rinse process until the water remains clear.
6 – Remove Water: Gently squeeze excess water out without wringing. Allow it to drip dry and/or use the spin cycle on a washing machine. Lay out your finished wool to dry outdoors in the shade or in front of a gentle fan. Turn and fluff the wool periodically to make sure all moisture is out of it.
It’s done! Your wool is ready for your next project and to be packed for storage.
—Andy R.
