Milkweed, Wool, and Ecocentric Design Harnessing the Potential of Local Fibers in New York State
| dc.contributor.author | Stuart, Zada | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-06-02T18:59:43Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-06-02T18:59:43Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025 | |
| dc.description | Undergraduate honors thesis that explores the combination of milkweed floss and local wool in a fashion textile application. An alternative sourcing, production, and design method that relies on localism and ecocentric principles is explored and modeled. The out put of this thesis is a swatchbook of wool and milkweed samples that include methods of wet felting, needle felting, and spinning. This Thesis was primarily advised by Senior lecturer Melissa Conroy, and secondarily by Assistant Professor Larissa Shepherd. | |
| dc.description.abstract | Previous explorations into the use of milkweed floss in textiles have often categorized the fiber as having potential but being unfeasible because of the difficulty of integrating the short-staple fiber that lacks elongation into traditional production methods. Previous studies have explored milkweed fiber in a myriad of processes and applications: as stuffing and nonwoven, spun with cotton into yarn, combined with down feathers as loose fill, and combined with kapok as a nonwoven, but research into the combination of the fiber with wool is lacking. As human-induced climate change threatens the well-being of the earth and its inhabitants and the stability of global supply chains, milkweed floss, combined with local wool, is explored as a local, native, resilient fiber source that requires little processing for textile application. An ecocentric sourcing and production method involving mindful wild harvesting, local sourcing, and small-scale craft production is explored. The project also attempts to recontextualize felting for an artisanal slow fashion process and the use of local fiber by employing a contemporary experimental design perspective. The combination of wool and milkweed floss was explored for its synergistic properties through experimentation with dry and wet felting methods and yarn spinning, incorporating wool from varying breeds, blending methods, and ratios of milkweed to wool. Based on this exploration, a process for creating fashion items is created, informed by an experimental contemporary design perspective. | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | Alan D. Mathios Research and Service grant | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1813/116997 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.rights | Attribution 4.0 International | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |
| dc.subject | Sustainability | |
| dc.subject | Ecocentrism | |
| dc.subject | Fashion | |
| dc.subject | Textiles | |
| dc.subject | Felt | |
| dc.subject | Wool | |
| dc.subject | Milkweed Fiber | |
| dc.subject | Milkweed Floss | |
| dc.subject | Localism | |
| dc.title | Milkweed, Wool, and Ecocentric Design Harnessing the Potential of Local Fibers in New York State | |
| dc.type | dissertation or thesis | |
| schema.accessibilityFeature | alternativeText | |
| schema.accessibilityFeature | readingOrder | |
| schema.accessibilityFeature | taggedPDF |
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