Sorting Raw Fleece: A Spinner’s Guide to Skirting Wool

The first time you spread a raw fleece out on a table, it can be a little overwhelming. There's a lot of it, it smells like lanolin and barn, and it's not immediately obvious which parts are worth keeping and which parts should go straight into the compost. Skirting is the process that answers that question — and once you understand what you're looking at, it goes quickly and makes everything that comes after significantly easier.

Before washing or preparing raw fleece for spinning on a Turkish drop spindle, most spinners begin with skirting: removing undesirable sections of fleece and sorting the remaining fiber according to quality. Proper skirting can greatly improve the consistency and quality of the final yarn. Learn more about how to read a raw fleece like a spinner.

Set Up Your Skirting Area

Skirting is done on a large flat surface where the entire fleece can be spread out at once. Being able to see the whole fleece at the same time is important — it lets you assess the overall quality, identify the different areas, and make decisions about what to keep and what to remove without having to unfold and refold sections repeatedly. The ideal skirting surface is a wire or mesh table that allows debris and short fibers to fall through as you sort. Purpose-built skirting tables are available from fiber arts suppliers, but a large piece of hardware cloth or wire fencing stretched over a frame or laid across sawhorses works just as well and costs much less.

If a mesh surface is not available, a clean tarp or old sheet spread on the ground or a large table works adequately — debris will not fall through, but it can be shaken off or removed by hand. Working outdoors or in a well-ventilated space is helpful because skirting a raw fleece releases dust and lanolin odor. Have a few containers or bags nearby to collect the skirted sections separately from the prime fiber — belly wool and leg fiber can be used for felting or other projects and should not simply be discarded.

Identify the Different Fleece Areas

When you spread a raw fleece out, you're looking at fiber from every part of the animal, and the quality varies significantly depending on where on the body it grew. Understanding these areas is the foundation of effective skirting. The shoulder area typically has the finest, cleanest, most consistent fiber and is the best part of the fleece for spinning fine yarn. The back of the fleece tends to have strong, uniform fiber with good staple length that is excellent for combing and worsted spinning. These two areas together make up the prime spinning fiber in most fleeces.

The belly area typically has shorter, coarser fiber that may be stained with urine or lanolin buildup. The leg and skirt edge areas often contain the most debris — hay, seeds, and manure tags — and the shortest, most contaminated fiber. These are the sections that get removed during skirting. The neck area can vary — sometimes it has good fiber, sometimes it is heavily contaminated — and should be evaluated lock by lock rather than removed wholesale.

Remove Undesirable Sections and Large Debris

With the fleece spread out and the different areas identified, begin removing the sections that are not worth keeping for spinning. Pull the belly wool, leg fiber, and heavily contaminated edge sections away from the rest of the fleece cleanly — pull them away rather than tearing through the middle of the fleece, which tangles the locks. Remove any sections with extremely short staple (under about an inch), heavy manure tags, or dense urine staining. These sections contaminate the wash water and make the washing process less effective if left in.

While skirting, also remove large debris from the prime sections by hand — hay fragments, seeds, small sticks, and any obvious vegetable matter that is sitting on the surface of the locks. You don't need to pick every piece of debris out at this stage — washing and combing will remove most of what remains — but removing the obvious large pieces now reduces the amount of work required later. Seeds and burrs with hooks or barbs are worth picking out by hand at this stage because they grip the fiber and become harder to remove after washing. Learn more about how to prepare raw wool before using wool combs or hackles.

Sort the Remaining Fleece by Quality

After removing the sections that are clearly not suitable for spinning, sort the remaining fleece into quality grades. This step is optional but worthwhile for larger fleeces or when the fiber quality varies noticeably across different areas. Prime fleece — the shoulder and back fiber that is clean, consistent, and has good staple length — goes into one group for spinning. Secondary fleece — fiber that is usable but slightly shorter, coarser, or less consistent — goes into a second group for utility yarn, blending, or less demanding projects. Lower quality fiber that is not worth spinning but is still intact goes into a third group for felting or other crafts.

Sorting allows each fiber type to be used appropriately and prevents lower-quality fiber from diluting the prime spinning fiber during preparation. Learn more about how to identify high quality wool for spinning.

Handle the Fleece Carefully Throughout

The goal during skirting is to assess and sort the fleece without disturbing the lock structure more than necessary. Locks that are still intact and well-defined are much easier to prepare on combs or hackles than fiber that has been pulled apart or tangled during handling. When spreading the fleece out, lift sections from underneath rather than pulling from the top, which tends to tangle the locks. When removing sections to skirt, pull them away cleanly rather than tearing through the middle of the fleece. Try to keep the remaining fleece spread out loosely rather than folding or compressing it, and avoid working the fiber with your fingers more than needed to assess its quality.

Skirting should always be done before washing. The purpose of skirting is to remove the sections that would contaminate the wash water and make the washing process less effective. If heavily soiled belly wool and leg fiber go into the wash with the prime fleece, the manure, urine, and dense vegetable matter from those sections make the water dirty very quickly and can transfer debris to the better fiber. Washing a pre-skirted fleece is faster, uses less water and detergent, and produces cleaner results. Skirting after washing is also much more difficult because wet fiber is heavier, harder to handle, and the lock structure is less defined.

What to Do with Skirted Fiber and Next Steps

The fiber removed during skirting does not have to be discarded — it simply needs to be used for purposes that match its quality. Belly wool and leg fiber, while not ideal for spinning fine yarn, can be excellent for wet felting projects where the shorter, coarser fiber actually felts more readily than prime spinning fiber. Heavily contaminated sections can sometimes be used for garden mulch or compost, where the lanolin and organic matter are beneficial. Some spinners save all their skirted fiber in a separate bag and use it for blending experiments, stuffing, or other craft projects. The key is recognizing that lower-quality fiber is not worthless — it just has different appropriate uses.

Once the fleece has been skirted and sorted, the prime fiber is ready for the next stage of processing: washing. After washing and drying, the fiber can be opened, combed or hackled, and prepared for spinning. Each step builds on the work done in skirting — a well-skirted fleece washes more cleanly, combs more consistently, and produces more even spinning fiber than one that went into the process unsorted. Taking the time to skirt carefully at the beginning pays dividends at every stage that follows.

Key Takeaways

• Skirting means removing the least desirable sections of a raw fleece — belly wool, leg fiber, heavily contaminated areas, and extremely short staple sections
• Always skirt before washing — low-quality sections contaminate the wash water and transfer debris to the prime fiber if left in
• Shoulder and back fiber is typically the best for spinning; belly and leg fiber is shorter, coarser, and more contaminated
• A wire or mesh skirting table is ideal because debris falls through as you sort — hardware cloth over sawhorses works as an inexpensive alternative
• Remove large debris (hay, seeds, straw) by hand during skirting to simplify washing and preparation later
• Sort the remaining fleece into quality grades — prime for spinning, secondary for utility yarn or blending, lower quality for felting or other crafts
• Lift sections from underneath rather than pulling from the top to preserve lock structure and avoid tangling during skirting
• Skirted fiber is not wasted — belly and leg wool felts readily, and contaminated sections can be composted or used for garden mulch
• Most fleeces benefit from at least some skirting; ask the seller whether a fleece has been pre-skirted before purchasing at a fiber festival

Frequently Asked Questions

What does skirting wool mean?

Skirting is the process of removing the least desirable sections of a raw fleece before washing and preparation. When a fleece comes off the sheep, it includes fiber from every part of the animal — including the belly, legs, and neck — as well as the prime spinning fiber from the back and shoulders. The belly and leg areas typically contain shorter, coarser fiber with more contamination from urine staining, manure tags, and heavy vegetable matter. Skirting means pulling these sections away from the rest of the fleece and setting them aside, leaving a cleaner, more consistent fleece that will wash more easily and produce better spinning fiber. The term comes from the idea of removing the “skirt” or outer edge of the fleece, which is where much of the lower-quality fiber is concentrated.

Why do spinners skirt fleece?

Skirting is worth doing because it significantly improves the quality and consistency of the fiber that goes into the washing and preparation process. When low-quality sections are left in the fleece during washing, the heavy contamination from those areas — manure tags, urine staining, and dense vegetable matter — makes the wash water dirtier faster and can transfer debris to the better fiber. Removing these sections before washing means the prime fiber gets a cleaner wash and requires less water and detergent. During preparation, a skirted fleece is much more consistent because the fiber characteristics are more uniform throughout, which makes combing or hackling more predictable and produces more even spinning fiber.

Do all fleeces need skirting?

Most raw fleeces benefit from at least some skirting, but the amount of work required varies considerably depending on the source of the fleece. A fleece from a well-managed farm where the sheep are kept in clean conditions and the shearer is experienced may need very little skirting — perhaps just removing a few heavily contaminated locks from the edges. A fleece from a sheep kept in a barn with heavy bedding, or from a less experienced shearer, may need much more extensive skirting to remove large sections of contaminated or second-cut fiber. Some commercially prepared fleeces sold at fiber festivals have already been partially skirted by the farmer, which reduces the work required. When buying a fleece, asking the seller whether it has been skirted is a useful first question.

What happens to skirted wool?

The fiber removed during skirting does not have to be discarded — it simply needs to be used for purposes that match its quality. Belly wool and leg fiber, while not ideal for spinning fine yarn, can be excellent for wet felting projects where the shorter, coarser fiber actually felts more readily than prime spinning fiber. Heavily contaminated sections can sometimes be cleaned and used for garden mulch or compost, where the lanolin and organic matter are beneficial. Some spinners save all their skirted fiber in a separate bag and use it for blending experiments, stuffing, or other craft projects. The key is recognizing that lower-quality fiber is not worthless — it just has different appropriate uses than the prime spinning fiber.

What surface should you use for skirting fleece?

The ideal skirting surface is a wire or mesh table that allows debris and short fibers to fall through as the fleece is spread out and sorted. Purpose-built skirting tables are available from fiber arts suppliers, but a large piece of wire fencing or hardware cloth stretched over a frame works just as well and costs much less. The mesh size should be large enough to let debris fall through but small enough to support the fleece without it sagging through. If a mesh surface is not available, a clean tarp or large table works adequately — the debris will not fall through, but it can be shaken off or removed by hand. Working outdoors or in a well-ventilated space is helpful because skirting a raw fleece releases dust and lanolin odor.

How do you handle fleece during skirting?

The goal during skirting is to assess and sort the fleece without disturbing the lock structure more than necessary. Locks that are still intact and well-defined are much easier to prepare on combs or hackles than fiber that has been pulled apart or tangled during handling. When spreading the fleece out, lift sections from underneath rather than pulling from the top, which tends to tangle the locks. When removing sections to skirt, pull them away cleanly rather than tearing through the middle of the fleece. Try to keep the remaining fleece spread out loosely rather than folding or compressing it, and avoid working the fiber with your fingers more than needed to assess its quality.

How do I skirt a fleece if I don’t have a skirting table?

A dedicated skirting table is convenient but not essential. The most practical alternative is to work outdoors on a clean tarp or old sheet spread on the ground or a large table. Spread the fleece out as fully as possible so you can see the whole thing at once and identify the different areas. Work systematically around the edges, pulling away the belly, leg, and heavily contaminated sections. Shake the fleece gently over the tarp to dislodge loose debris as you go. A large piece of hardware cloth or wire fencing laid over sawhorses makes an excellent improvised skirting table that allows debris to fall through. The most important thing is having enough space to spread the fleece fully — trying to skirt a fleece that is still folded or bunched makes it very difficult to assess the fiber quality accurately.

Should I skirt before or after washing?

Skirting should always be done before washing. The purpose of skirting is to remove the sections of the fleece that would contaminate the wash water and make the washing process less effective. If heavily soiled belly wool and leg fiber go into the wash with the prime fleece, the manure, urine, and dense vegetable matter from those sections make the water dirty very quickly and can transfer debris to the better fiber. Washing a pre-skirted fleece is faster, uses less water and detergent, and produces cleaner results. Skirting after washing is also much more difficult because wet fiber is heavier, harder to handle, and the lock structure is less defined, making it harder to assess fiber quality and separate sections cleanly.