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3-21-2026 Bellwether Bulletin
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The Bellwether Bulletin 
Weekly Fiber News ~ Patterns ~ History & Lore
March 21, 2026
📰 The Fiber Feed: Top News
Major Fiber Exhibit Kickoff: A new exhibition, Excellence In Fibers XI, opened on March 19 at the Contemporary Craft gallery in Pittsburgh, PA (USA). The showcase features artists who “challenge the conceptual and physical boundaries of fiber,” including weaver Ruth Gowell, who has focused on multi-layered warp face weave with viscose rayon dyed in color progressions. | Read more at Contemporary Craft

Becoming a Global Fashion Hub: A groundbreaking residency program is bringing together designers from the UK and Africa to share indigenous craftsmanship and sustainable innovation. Sponsored by the British Council and Paul Smith’s Foundation, the initiative focuses on shifting away from traditional mentorship toward an equal exchange of textile heritage and digital innovation. According to Africa.com, the program marks London’s effort to position itself as a global fashion hub, supporting creatives through authentic collaboration vs a one-way transfer of knowledge. | Read more at Africa.com

Wool Event Showcases Supply Chain: A recent event hosted by Australian woolgrower Vanessa Bell is putting renewed focus on something many fibers can’t offer: a visible, traceable origin. Held inside a working shearing shed on her property, Emu Creek, the gathering brought together fashion and media voices to experience wool at its source. Events like this highlight a shift in the industry with woolgrowers taking an active role in connecting to fashion brands. | Read more at Wool.com

🖼️ New Exhibits
Textiles as Living Archives: A March exhibition at Stanford University in Stanford, CA (USA), explores textiles as records of resistance and identity. Called “Woven Narratives: Textiles as Living Archives,” the exhibition features rare archaeological fragments from Peru, Guatemala and the Philippines, treating every thread as a line of data and unravelling how indigenous communities used specific weave structures to preserve history when written records were suppressed. | Read more at Stanford University
(courtesy of Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game)
🐂 Fiber Friends
Arctic Muskox
Qiviut is the ultra-fine underwool of the muskox (pictured here), often prized for being eight times warmer than sheep’s wool and softer cashmere.
Because it lacks scales, the fiber is hypoallergenic and will not felt or shrink. The muskoxen aren’t sheared. Instead, their underwool is harvested by “combing” the animal during its spring molt or gathering tufts that shed naturally. Even though they look massive, they’re actually smaller than domestic cows, weighing 400-500 pounds for females and 600-800 pounds for mature bulls.| Read more at University of Alaska Fairbanks
🧶 From the Studio:

IT'S HERE! Grab your copy of the textured farmers market tote crochet pattern. This boho-style bag is also great for a fun beach day.
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📜 Heritage & Lore
A dose of fiber history
In many Indigenous Mesoamerican traditions, weaving is understood as more than craft. It is a way of encoding identity, story and cosmology into cloth. The Maya goddess Ixchel is closely associated with spinning and textile creation; weaving on the backstrap loom is often described as mirroring the structure of the universe, with threads representing the interconnectedness of life and time. Across Maya communities, textiles are still created using techniques where the loom becomes an extension of the weaver’s body, reinforcing the idea that cloth is a form of living expression passed through generations. | Read more at Smithsonian Folklife Festival

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