A small tuft of raw cotton in creamy white tinged with warm gold, its fibres soft and puffy with a few dark seed fragments caught inside.
  • A close view of the fibre, its fine hairs tangled in drifts of pale gold and cream with a few darker strands curling free.

Red leaf cotton is a variety of cotton known for its pigmented leaves and adaptability to cooler growing conditions compared to conventional cotton. This sample was grown and harvested at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, North Carolina.

Composition

Red leaf cotton fiber

Handling Notes

  • Often used for fabric, cloth, and other garments, as well as for household textile production
  • Spins and dyes like standard short-staple cotton
  • Card thoroughly before spinning and use a higher twist for yarn strength

Applications in Craft

Keywords

Provenance

Melanie Wilder, Swannanoa, North Carolina. Acquired 2024.

In Use

Have you used this material?

Please contact Mellanee Goodman, Program Director, Curator, and Materials Specialist, to start a conversation about submitting your work for inclusion on this site.

mgoodman@centerforcraft.org