HILLTOP weaving experience to be shared with you !

Bill and Sue Chitty have over 60 years combined experience in spinning, weaving, dyeing, feltmaking and braiding, offering a knowledgeable textile craft supply service for beginners and improvers.

Hilltop Kits enable beginners to start a new craft on a budget. Our quality woollen, acrylic and blends of fibres are suitable for spinners and feltmakers ensuring consistent results.

Easy Peasy Dye Kits for both Wool and Cotton are designed to give excellent results. A range of Natural dyes and mordants with instructions are stocked .

Publications include books and Craftlets offering advice on a wide range of specialist subjects.

We are agents for the Ashford range of spinning and weaving equipment and accessories.

List of services offered:

• One to One Tuition
• Knowledgeable advice on spinning, weaving, dyeing and feltmaking supplies.
• Repair of equipment
• Mail Order Specialist Craft Supplier
• Agents for the Ashford range equipment and accessories
• Victorian Craft Video agents
• Natural Dyes and mordants
• Easy Peasy Dye Kits for wool and cotton.
• Felting Needles
• Specialist Craft Books and A4 laminated Craftlets
• Fabulous Fibres for spinners and feltmakers

Our range of specialist craft videos provide expert tuition in your home.

One to One Tuition is available throughout the year
at weekends and can be tailored to suit your needs on
any of our specialist craft subjects.

Information for Customers

Our weekend specialist textile One-to-One courses are tailored to suit individual needs.
Tuition fees include the use of any equipment and all materials used on the course.
There are no hidden extras. A ploughman's lunch is provided.

These are some of the courses we offer :


	SPINNING : 4 hours tuition covering fleece selection and preparation, carding, fibre blending, understanding the wheel, spinning, plying, yarn design and finishing the yarn.

	DYEING : Easy Peasy Dye course : 4 hours tuition using Scarlet, Blue and Yellow dyes on wool tops and fleece, the challenge is to create as many colours as possible. OR Easy Peasy Cotton Dye Course : on cotton fabric - Shibori, Tie Dye, Paint and Stencil OR A Natural Dye Course ; 4 hours tuition using 3 different mordants (to fix the dye into the fibre) and various dyestuffs to achieve pink, yellow and blue on fleece or wool tops.

	FELT MAKING : 4 hours tuition to felt either : - 2 x A4 flat pieces to experiment using different techniques to achieve your objectives. OR - felt a seamless hat or beret to fit you OR 1 x A5 seamless bag. We will use merino, corriedale wool tops and dyed fleece. If you wich to make a pair of seamless felted slippers it will take 6 hours - Speak to Sue.

	WEAVING : Learn to set up a 4-shaft loom : 8 hours tuition includes, designing an item to weave, suggestions include scarf or place mats or tapestry, choosing suitable yarns, calculating quantities required for project, using a warping frame, chaining onto the loom, threading up the loom and beginning to weave a project. Please note that the project will not be fully woven in this time period, extra time should be allowed. Trying various looms which have all ready been set up ready for use : 4 hours tuition includes trying, peg loom weaving on a 12" wide loom using fibres, rags, plastic bags and yarns for quick texture or background weaving to accommodate other skills, sample loom weaving a 6" square will be achieved and weaving on a 4 shaft loom which has been set up ready to use. Special techniques in weaving : if you can weave and need to know how to weave Boundweave, Double Cloth, Tapestry pictures or just need to know more patternings to thread up and weave then speak to Sue for the best way forward.

	TALKS AND WORKSHOPS : Hilltop can provide workshops at your location, build meetings etc., and are willing to travel almost anywhere. Bill, during his degree course, specialised in Caterbury Weavers 1650 to 1750, and now gives talks on the subject. If you are interested in any other textile related course, please contact Sue. Remember we can arrange a course at times to suit you, and long courses, such as the weaving course, can be spread out over a period of time. Visit our website for more details and up-to-date prices.