Julie
Gender | Female |
---|---|
Industry | Agriculture |
Occupation | Alpaca Rancher |
Location | Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States |
Introduction | My Name is Julie Follansbee and I am a dressmaker with an obsession for fabric...soft natural fabric. I first read about alpacas when studying textiles, dressmaking and clothing construction 30 years ago at the Fashion Academy of Pittsburgh. There was a small paragraph in a textbook that described the beauty, strength and luster of the alpaca fiber. When I began researching alpacas, I visited many farms and hundreds of websites in search of information and found that these were the sites I referred to most often. Since my focus has been the fiber, I purchased lots of yarn to try and figure out what the very best alpaca yarn felt like. I can't emphasize enough the need for all types of research. Now we are home to seven alpacas. Every alpaca person we have been in contact with has been more than willing to help us with our project and it's nice to know that there is a community so interested in having this whole industry succeed. |