Hand-weaving
Originally all of Magee's Donegal Tweed was handwoven and this ancient craft can be dated back to the middle ages in Ireland. From one generation to the next, the traditional skill and craftsmanship of handweaving has been passed through families in Donegal. Magee takes great pride in supporting the ancient craft and offering bespoke handwoven cloth. Handweaving was and still is part of rural life, along with farming, thatching and fishing. Woven by hand on traditional wooden looms the weavers develop a dexterity and coordination to create a rhythmic weaving action with their hands and feet, consistent enough to ensure the creation of the highest quality tweed. To this day the plain weaves are still made on traditional wooden looms and Hattersley single-width looms have been introduced to enable more complicated designs to be woven by hand.
The weaves in Donegal tweed are named from the patterns the weavers saw around them in nature. Fishbones from the wild Atlantic Ocean were the inspiration for herringbones; wild fields of barley were the inspiration for barleycorn. The mountains, speckled with quartz, inspired the patterns for Salt & Pepper, which as the name implies is a plain weave of black and white with sparkling flecks of silver, camel and taupe that glint gently from the cloth.
Once the cloth has been woven in the weaver's cottages, in the mountains of Donegal, the cloth is collected and brought to the Magee mill in Donegal town. The location of the mill is particularly advantageous in this respect, as the water for the washing of the cloths comes from the peaty River Eske which flows from the Bluestack Mountains through raised boglands of peat on its journey to the Atlantic Ocean. The peaty water makes the cloth beautifully soft and the handle of the cloth reflects this. Each handwoven length carries the label that bares the signature of the weaver and is a mark of the pride taken in lovingly creating Donegal Tweed.
It is Magee's pleasure to present our handwoven Donegal Tweed collection and to work in close partnership with our discerning customers who appreciate the richness of colour, luxury of fibre and craftsmanship, which have been blended together in Magee Handwoven Donegal Tweed.
