The Wool Processing Discovery Box
For the early settlers, clothes needed to be made by hand- from beginning to end. During the Civil War, when cotton was hard to obtain in the northern states, Waukesha County farmers realized they could make a profit by increasing the size of their sheep flocks. Whether made at home or in a factory the basic process of turning wool into fabric was the same.
In the Wool Processing Discovery Box you will find wool, tools used to process wool, and the basic steps followed by many Waukesha County residents during the 1800s.
Your students can feel different types of wool and try their hand at carding and spinning wool. Each student also gets their own bookmark with a sample of wool to finger spin into yarn.