Brushed by Thistles: How We Brush Our Shetlands with Natural Teasels
Some of the most loved knitwear we make starts with a thistle. Our brushed Shetlands are made to order on vintage brushing machines dating from the 1950s, fitted with natural teasels: the dried seed heads of a thistle. It's a traditional way of raising wool, and it can't be hurried.
The teasels gently lift the fibres of the wool, giving that soft, fuzzy, shaggy finish. The more passes, the fluffier it becomes, and you choose how far we go.
Why teasels?
Long before wire brushes, wool was raised with teasels. Their tiny hooked spines are firm enough to tease out the fibres, yet gentle enough not to tear them, so the wool keeps its strength while gaining a soft halo. Our machines are lined with rows of them, and each side of the garment is brushed in turn.
Where the name comes from
The teasel is named for exactly this job. The word comes from the Old English tæsel, from tæsan, meaning ‘to tease’, as in teasing up wool. It's one of the few plants named not for how it looks, but for the work it does.
Meet the teasel
The teasel is a tall, prickly plant that grows wild along field edges, verges and riverbanks, and we see plenty of them growing around us here in the North-East. It takes two years to complete its life. In the first year it grows as a low rosette of leaves hugging the ground. In the second, it sends up a tall, spiny stem, often taller than a person, topped with the oval, cone-like heads we use.
It is a clever plant. Its leaves join around the stem to form little cups that fill with rainwater, which is how it earned the old country name ‘Venus's basin’. In summer each head flowers in a ring of tiny lilac blooms that starts around the middle and spreads up and down, so for a while it looks like it's wearing purple bands. Bees and butterflies love it. Then in autumn and winter, goldfinches come to pick the seeds from the dried heads.
Wild teasels and fuller's teasels
There are two close cousins. The wild teasel has straight spines. Fuller's teasel, the one grown for the cloth trade, has spines that curve back into tiny hooks. Those hooks are the secret: they catch the fibres of the wool and draw them up, rather than simply scratching the surface. It's fuller's teasels that line our brushing machines.
Centuries of teasing wool
Teasels have been used to raise the nap on woollen cloth for centuries. The craftsmen who finished cloth were known as fullers, which is how fuller's teasel got its name. Teasel heads were set into handheld frames, and later fitted in rows onto rotating drums in machines known as gig mills, the forerunners of the brushing machines we still use today.
England once grew its own teasels as a crop, with Somerset the heart of the trade, and fields of them were a familiar sight. Many attempts have been made to replace them with metal, but the natural teasel has one quality that's hard to copy: if a hook catches too hard, it snaps rather than tearing the wool. That gentleness is why teasels are still prized for finishing fine woollens to this day.
From the field to our machine
Fuller's teasels are harvested in late summer, once the heads have ripened, then cut with a length of stalk and left to dry until they're firm and springy. Dried heads are fitted side by side onto the drum of the brushing machine. As the drum turns, the garment passes over the teasels again and again, and each pass lifts a little more of the wool into that soft, fuzzy halo. Like any natural tool, teasels wear down with use and are replaced with fresh ones.
So when you pull on a brushed Shetland, part of what you're feeling is the work of a thistle. A plant that grows wild on our doorstep, doing the same job it has done for hundreds of years.
Choose your level
Each level is the number of teasel passes on each side of the garment, so Shaggy is brushed twice on the front and twice on the back. From a soft halo to a cloud of wool, we will never brush a Shetland more than four times.
Brushed twiceShaggy
The classic shaggy look. A slightly fuzzy finish with a mildly thicker, softer handle, and the most supple of our brushings.
Brushed three timesTriple BrushedA very fuzzy look. The stitches soften and blur, giving a cloud-like appearance while staying lovely and supple.
Brushed four timesQuad ShaggyOur most brushed finish, with an almost felted look and a denser, plusher handle. The extra brushing lightens the colour a little.
The bears of the North
Our chunky 4-ply Blue Mogganer fisherman's knits are brushed twice, in a special way suited to their thickness. The effect is exaggerated, big and bear-like, so they earn bear names.
The North Sea ShetlandGreat Bear ShaggyOur North Sea Shetland, brushed twice for a big, bear-like finish.
The SubmarinerPolar Bear ShaggyOur Submariner, brushed twice, with the inside of the polo neck brushed too so it looks uniform when worn.
How to order
- Choose your Shetland: pick your style and colour from our seamless saddle shoulder Shetlands, or a Blue Mogganer.
- Choose your brushing: select Shaggy, Triple or Quad on the product page.
- We brush it for you: your Shetland is brushed to order with natural teasels on our 1950s machines, then sent to you.
Not sure which level to go for? Our Brushing Level Guide has a short quiz to help you choose.
Our brushing service and seamless saddle shoulder crew neck Shetlands are available exclusively at bosie.co.
Please note: brushed garments can't be returned
Brushing is a customised service that alters the garment beyond our normal stock, so a custom brushed garment is completely non-returnable, even for exchange. Not sure yet? Order an unbrushed Shetland to try first. If you'd prefer it brushed, you can return the unbrushed one and order it brushed.