Alpaca Fiber Processing

Processing for each hat with your fiber is $80.00. This includes washing, dying, carding and finish work. Shipping is additional. In most cases, I ship Priority Mail. The charge for shipping and handling is $10.00 per box. If I can't fit your order in one box because of multiple hat styles, there is an additional $10.00 per box. Washington residents should add 8.4% tax. For Visa & Mastercard orders, please call me with your account numbers to keep them secure.

Most individual hat orders will take 3-4 weeks. Call for turn around on larger orders.

I will need to know the exact measurement, if the hat is for a specific person. Use a string or tape measure. Starting from the center of the forehead, continue around the back of the head, at the widest part and back to the center of the forehead. Your head size is where the tape meets the beginning of the tape. The tape should be taut but not too tight. If using string, remove and measure the amount used to go around the head.

Select a style of hat from the Alpaca Hat Page, color coordinated hat band or leather hat band, and what color fiber you want, natural or dyed. Multiple color dying is done at no additional cost. Remember, fawns and browns can be overdyed and make wonderful rich colors! Please be specific about what you want. You can send a color sample to match if you wish. If you have questions about colors or overdying, feel free to ask me questions.

Send 8 oz of clean unwashed fiber with at least a 3 inch long staple, for each hat. Your finished hat will weigh around 6 ounces depending on the style and size. The extra fiber allows for loss in processing. I recommend using only prime blanket fiber. The best fiber for hats is 23 or more microns. Anything under 20 microns tends to be too soft to hold a molded shape well, unless blended with a stronger fiber. I will not process leg, neck or belly fiber. The guard hairs tend to poke out making the hat look hairy. You want a nice smooth felt. Use your blanket fiber.

Felted Fabric from Your Huacaya Alpaca Fiber
See Felted Fabric Page for examples of fabric

New prices effective January 2007. For Visa & Mastercard orders, please call me with your account numbers to keep them secure.

All fabric processing will be priced by the run instead of by the pound. Weights provided are approximate maximums per run, not weights before processing. Each run includes washing, blending, carding, felting, fulling and finally, steam pressing, to provide the highest quality finished fabric.

Light Weight Felt Run $175.00
Maximum finished size 35-38 inches wide by 4 yards long
Two pound maximum per run

Medium Weight Felt Run $200.00
Maximum finished size 35-38 inches wide by 4 yards long
Three pound maximum per run

Heavy Weight Felt Run $175.00
Maximum Finished size 35-38 inches wide by 40 inches long
Two pound maximum per run

Color Dying for Fabric $6.00 per pound
Fawns and brown can be overdyed to some wonderful rich colors.
If you are interested but unsure, ask questions

Custom Design Layout $30.00 per hour
For patterned or open designs that require additional layout.

Payment must be received before your order is processed. Loss of 20-25% is typical, depending on fiber cleanliness so, include enough fiber to fill the maximum weight after carding. If payment is not received within 45 days, a second notice will be sent. If payment is not received within 60 days, the fiber will become the property of Longbranch Fiber Farm. Prices listed are for Huacaya Alpaca fiber only. My experience with Suri and other fibers is not sufficient to provide a consistent product at this time. If your fiber is received and found to be unsuitable for this process, it will be returned at the owners expense.

Return Shipping of Product: rate will be based on actual weight.

Washington residents add 8.4% tax for processing.

Laminated felt is a process intended for prime blanket fiber. It is more expensive to process but the yield per pound of fiber is much higher than standard felt. Refer to the Felted Yardage page for descriptions of felt and a few pictures.

The staple length of fiber provided must be at least 3 inches long in order to be carded. I do not recommend using fiber with a lot of guard hair. The guard hair does not felt into the fabric, it just pokes out and is cumbersome to remove by hand.

Some vegetation is removed while processing the fiber. I will make a good effort to get some of it out but you should skirt and remove as much debris as you can. Small bits and seeds can be removed from the finished product with tweezers.

A note to those alpaca breeders who have had felt made at other processors. Many of you have ordered felt made by a felting machine that uses a friction method of felting and leaves a diamond pattern on the felt. This type of machine only does the "felting" portion of the job. Felt is actually a two step process. First you must tangle the fiber together, this is the felting part. Then you must shrink the felt down until it can not be pulled apart. This is the "fulling" portion of the job. If you have ever washed a wool sweater, only to end up with something to fit a two year old, you have "fulled" the knit of the sweater! The fibers were tangled together in the spinning and knitting process, making the "felting" unnecessary.

For many processors, their area of expertise is spinning yarn and they are very good at that. Unfortunately, they may not be familiar with the felting process. Some of you may have gotten felt that fell apart as soon as you tried to do anything with it. This type of felt is often sold as a "pre-felt" to fiber artists, who will use it as a base, adding more felt layers in the design process. If you have some of this felt, it just needs to be fulled and there are several ways you can do that. Incidently, that diamond pattern in the felt will disappear when it is fulled. Click on the link below to see instructions for fulling your pre-felts.

Felt that is ordered from Longbranch Fiber Farm is felted and fulled. It does not require additional fulling to be used. If you want prefelt for design work, you can special order it. The cost for processing is the same.