Woven in Galashiels
Throws, bed blankets and lambswool scarves, woven in the Scottish Borders from Scottish-spun yarn in four autumn colourways. Every listing gives you the size, the weight, the yarn and the price before you decide.
The pieces, priced
Two throws, a bed blanket in three widths and a scarf. Each is woven in bracken, rowan, heather or peat, and every throw and blanket goes out in a drawstring cotton storage bag.
130 × 180 cm · about 1.2 kg · two-fold wool, washed and milled
The pattern reverses its diagonal every twelve ends, so the face reads as a run of chevrons. Dense in the hand and the heavier of our two throws.
£98 Read the full listing
130 × 180 cm · about 1.0 kg · two-fold wool, milled and brushed
A plain two-and-two twill with a soft brushed face. It drapes more readily than the herringbone and suits the back of a chair.
£92 Read the full listing
150 × 200 cm · about 1.5 kg · hemmed or fringed ends
Cut wide enough to fall well over a standard single bed, with a turned hem at each end unless you ask for fringe.
£135 Read the full listing
200 × 230 cm · about 2.3 kg · hemmed or fringed ends
The blanket most orders are for. It covers a double with room to tuck in, and sits under a quilt in winter or alone in spring.
£165 Read the full listing
230 × 250 cm · about 2.8 kg · hemmed or fringed ends
Our largest length off the loom. Woven in the same yarn as the double, simply more of it, so it hangs deep on a king-size bed.
£195 Read the full listing
30 × 180 cm · about 180 g · twisted fringe at both ends
Finer lambswool, washed only so it keeps its spring. Each end is finished with hand-twisted fringe in pairs of threads.
£48 Read the full listingFour colourways
The range is fixed. We do not dye to order; we weave the same four blends again and again until they are right every time.
How the shed works
The Autumn Weaves is a small weaving shed in Galashiels, a Borders town that has been turning wool into cloth for a very long time. We work a single power loom and a finishing bench, and we make only what is on this site: two throws, a bed blanket in single, double and king widths, and a lambswool scarf, in four colourways that do not change from season to season.
The yarn is spun in Scotland and comes to us on cones. We wind the warp, draw every end through its heddle by hand, and then let the loom do the steady work of throwing the shuttle and beating each pick into place. A throw is cut from the loom as a length of loomstate cloth, rough and open. Finishing is where it becomes something you want on a sofa: we wash it to relax the yarn, mill it so the fibres lock together and the cloth closes up, and for some pieces we brush the face to raise a soft nap. Fringe is twisted by hand at the bench, two groups of threads at a time.
An order runs simply. You fill in the order sheet with the pieces, the colourway and your address. We reply by e-mail within one working day to confirm stock and the total including postage, together with a secure link for settling up; until you follow it, no money moves. Pieces on the shelf are packed and posted within three working days of payment, folded into their cotton bag and wrapped in paper for the parcel.
We value cloth that tells you what it is. That is why every listing carries the finished size, the weight you will feel in your hands, the yarn and the finish, and why the prices are the same on every page and do not move about. If a colourway is between weavings, we say so plainly and give the date the next length comes off the loom.
There is a fair amount we turn down. We do not run mill tours or teach weaving, so please do not book a visit. We do not weave clan patterns or registered setts to order, and we do not blend in synthetic fibre to bring a price down. We also do not sell upholstery fabric by the metre; our cloth is finished as throws, blankets and scarves and nothing else.
More about the loom shedQuestions we are asked
The herringbone, by a small margin. It is woven closer, with more picks beaten into every centimetre, and the finished throw weighs roughly a fifth more than the twill. Warmth in wool comes mostly from weight and the air held in a milled cloth, so the heavier throw keeps a little more heat on your knees. The twill is brushed, which makes it feel softer and lighter against the skin; choose it if drape matters more to you than heft.
Rarely, and by hand. Air it outside on a dry, breezy day first; that alone freshens most wool. When it does need washing, use a bath of cool water with a little wool wash, press the water through rather than rubbing, and never wring. Rinse at the same temperature, roll it in towels to lift the water out, and dry it flat away from direct heat. A sudden change of temperature or a lot of agitation will mill it further and shrink it.
It will cover it, but only just. Our double is 200 cm wide and a standard UK king mattress is 150 cm wide, so you get 25 cm hanging over each side: enough to cover a shallow mattress, not enough to tuck in. For a king bed we suggest the king blanket, which is 230 cm across and leaves 40 cm a side.
Yes. The yarn colour card costs £3 and carries wrapped lengths of the warp and weft yarns for all four colourways, bracken, rowan, heather and peat, with a small woven snip of each. It goes out by letter post, so it fits through the door. Screens shift colour, and wool looks different in daylight; the card is the honest way to choose.
We do. Parcels go to Ireland, the rest of Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand on a tracked service, at the flat rates set out on our postage page. Anything you owe in import charges is collected by your own country's customs on arrival and is not something we can pay for you, so check your local rules before ordering.
Yes, within 30 days of it arriving, as long as it has not been used or washed and comes back folded in its cotton bag. Return postage is yours unless the cloth has a flaw or we packed the wrong piece. The item price goes back to your original card inside five working days of the blanket arriving at the shed.
Pick a piece and a colourway on the order sheet. We confirm the total by e-mail with a payment link, and you pay only when you are happy with it.
Buy from the loomReaching the shed
Mailbox
[email protected]
Every message is read and answered by the people who weave the cloth.
When we reply
Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Parcels leave the shed on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Where we are
Galashiels, in the Scottish Borders. We post across the UK and abroad; the shed itself is not open to visitors.