Harris Tweed home weaving and making up - Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Scotland
Harris Tweed is a luxury cloth that has been handwoven for nearly 150 years by the islanders on the Isles of Harris, Lewis, Uist and Barra in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Harris Tweed must be made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in these islands, hand woven by islanders at their homes, and then finished within the Outer Hebrides. This video shows Donald McKay, a weaver, and Sylvia Edwards, a home craft maker, in their work places. The weaver, Donald MacKay, has not changed his methods of working in nearly 40 years. He weaves Harris Tweed in his loom shed, which overlooks the golden sands of Luskentyre beach. He's had many very prestigious clients. In 2004, for example, Nike were looking for a way to update a trainer called The Terminator, and ordered 10,000 yards of Mr MacKay's tweed to be used as a key part of the design.
