Artisan Felted Fabrics, Garments
Did you miss the October issue of Local Flavor Magazine? This dynamic publication features the eclectic mix of life in Northern New Mexico. October was the Farm and Ranch issue, and featured us, our alpacas, dogs and the variety of Whispirit jackets, hats and other accessories.
Take a look:
Whispirit has been nominated for a second time for the Martha Stewart American Made contest. American Made spotlights the next generation of great American makers, entrepreneurs, artisans, and small-business owners who are creating beautiful, inspiring, and useful U.S.-made products. We’re showcasing our U.S. born and raised alpaca as a barn-to-closet creator of hand-made and hand-sewn, high-quality alpaca fiber fabrics, apparel and accessories.
We were and are determined to do everything here in America. Because we believe that it’s time to turn ‘off-shore’ back to ‘on-shore. American Made to us means collaborating with other American makers, as we do with the mills to which we send our alpaca fleece for processing. And the local seamstresses who take Sandy’s designs and make them into beautiful finished products. And the volunteers who come to the ranch each spring to help with shearing the herd. If we couldn’t rely on the can-do, quintessentially American spirit of cooperation, Whispirit would not be what it is today.
Last year’s nomination for the American Made program exposed Whispirit to thousands of individuals interested in the movement to bring back to the United States a tradition of handcrafted, high-quality products. This year, a panel of judges will select up to 500 finalists in early September from four categories: design, style, food and crafts. Public voting for an audience choice winner begins at that time. Winners in each of the categories will be feted in November in New York City. Thanks for your comments, shares and votes for us, here:
http://www.marthastewart.com/americanmade/nominee/104777/design/whispirit
What a coincidence. Launching our new website and this inaugural blog happens at the same time Consum
er Report’s issue devoted to made in America hits the newsstand and Martha Stewart announces that the 2015 Made in America awards are now open for nominations. As well, the 4th of July is just a few days away.
If Whispirit is anything, it is made in America and mostly made in New Mexico (For those geographically challenged, New Mexico IS one of our 50 states.)
Besides our goal of creating wearable art, we were and are determined to do everything here. In America. Before that first shot was fired astride the rude bridge between Lexington and Concord, we were a confederation of small businesses supporting one another. And who rose that fateful morning to impede the British? Small businessmen, farmers and craftsman. Believing that it’s time to turn “off-shore” back to “on-shore” we began Whispirit.
Our alpacas were born and raised on our ranch in the 
East Mountains of New Mexico just south of Santa Fe and east of Albuquerque. Our garments are created from the fleece of those alpacas, harvested once a year with help from volunteers, our friends and neighbors. Several “mom & pop” fleece mills in Washington, Colorado and Kansas process that fleece into batts. We turn those batts into sheets of fabric utilizing the FeltLOOM, a 100% American invention from a farm in Kentucky. We then create prototypes from the patterns Sandy has designed. Yup, right here at the ranch. Those prototypes are then expertly sewn by local, small business, seamstresses. What could be more American?
Please follow our adventure right here, every week.
Thanks ……. Lee
