Ask Jillian: How Do I Steam My Fiber?

I’ve seen lots of people lately steaming their fiber before they spin. Why do they do this and how do I do it if I want to try it? ~Bethany, Denver, Colorado

Why to steam your fiber

Steam wakes up the crimp in a fiber whether it’s a woolen preparation that’s been hanging out too long and squished in stash, or compressed top that has the crimp pulled straight during preparation, and then squeezed in stash or in chaining.

There are a few reasons that spinners steam their fiber before they spin. 

The most common one is that their fiber is compacted, this usually happens with combed top, and dyed braids. Sometimes the fiber has been your stash for a long time, sometimes a dyer might squeeze their fiber when dyeing, or braid their fiber too tightly. Whatever the reason the fiber doesn’t want to draft, it’s just stuck. 

It’s a great way to revive woolen preparations like batts without re-carding them. 

I like to steam my combed top when I want a loftier preparation, something more a step toward a woolen preparation. Waking up the crimp makes a combed top lighter, airier, and easier to spin long draw. 

How to steam your fiber

Any way that you can get steam into the fiber is good. I wouldn’t let it get completely soaked, you’ll just have to wait for it to dry to spin. 

If you live in a humid place you can hang your fiber outside. You can hold your fiber in the steam of  a kettle or a boiling pot of water. You can use a steamer basket in an Instapot or a pot on the stove. You can take your fiber into a steamy bathroom with you.  

I hang my fiber on a hanger and use an inexpensive clothes steamer; I like to watch the crimp come alive. 

I fluff my fiber, steam it, lightly fluff again (if needed), let it dry and spin. 

Be careful of steam burns, they really hurt! I like to use tongs instead of my hands to manipulate the fiber while I’m steaming. 

How steam changes the fiber

I steamed some Merino and Corriedale commercially combed top and slid some not steamed fiber into the photo with each. I shot the fiber from straight down so you can see the spread, and from the side so you can see the poof. 

Look how the crimp comes alive. I knew the Merino would super puff, love that intense crimp.  

But look how much the Corriedale changed, it’s no slouch in the crimp department! 

I wish I could hand you the post steamed fiber so you could feel the squish and spin it! It’s a dreamy draft and it’s much easier to draft combed top long draw after steaming. 

If you a spinning note-taker, remember steamed combed top isn’t a wholly worsted preparation.  I make sure to mention it in my notes and on my spinning tags. 

What about braids?

When I steam braids, I always do a little prepping beforehand. I always unchain and shake out my fiber before I steam it. The photo shows the original braid on the left, and two versions of steamed fiber flanking a strip of the unchained braid.  

The difference between the two steamed pieces of braid is the one on the left I lightly fluffed sideways all the way down the fiber piece, I always do this before I steam a compacted braid.  

The other piece of braid on the right is just steamed. It grew but not as much as the piece on the left. Both pieces of braid were shaken to open them up some, but only the one on the left was also fluffed open before steaming. 

After I opened the piece of braid on the left, it was much thinner than the unfluffed piece. But once I hit them both with steam, the fluffed open piece (on the left) swelled in size and the just shaken piece opened mostly horizontally. In the photo of the fiber shot sideways the piece in the back is the prefluffed piece and the one in the front is the other. The are at least the same height, the prefluffed pieced almost doubled in loft. That’s a twisty way of saying, if you fluff open your compacted fiber before steaming it will poof more. 

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