Quality Source: Pendleton Woolen Mill

Whenever we make a trip to Portland, the Pendleton Woolen Mill store is always on our list of places to go.  It's a good thing we don't go to Portland that often, though, because we always end up spending a lot of money there.  Pendleton is well known for high quality wool, both in terms of fabric yardage available for home sewing and in the finished products they sell (men's and women's clothing, blankets, etc.).

Most of the pre-cut wool pieces available at the store were discounted 15% or more on this visit.  That amounts to some significant savings when the original price can get up to $40/yard, and at least 1.5-2 yards are needed for any given project.  From the discounted options, I picked a medium weight grey plaid and a light weight green wool to make work shirts for myself.

HH chose two heavy weight wools, one in black and one in grey, for more pairs of cozy pants.  I plan to line the grey ones in the pictured flannel and the black ones in some actual lining-weight (thin) material because the wool is already so thick. 

We also found some super heavy dark green wool for my mom, who intends to make hiking/hunting pants to replace a pair that is wearing out.

This store also sells zippers and buttons for an insanely low price, albeit with limited selection.  They let you fill up a roughly quart size bag with either notion for just $1 a bag.  I've been able to get approximately 20-30 zippers for that price, which includes long coat-style zippers and nice invisible zippers for dresses that would normally sell for at least $1 each.  The colors are really limited but are usually in neutral tones like black, navy, and brown.  It's important for me to have a wide variety of zippers available at home so I can sew something up quickly without having to go to the store just to get a zipper.

I like to wash wool before sewing with it because I know that's how we plan to launder the clothes that will be made from it.  It's important to do this because wool shrinks quite a bit when washed and dried in hot conditions.  We typically use cold water and only leave the wool in the hot dryer for a portion of the time that would normally be used so it doesn't shrink up too much and become too thick.
  

 Here's a sample of some things I've made out of previous Pendleton wool purchases.  All of this wool was bought at the Woolen Mill store except the stuff for HH's house jacket, which we bought on Ebay.