Tom Rievaulx

Cloth leaves the loom loose and open; finishing is what turns it into the material a customer handles. Tom scours the oil out, mills the wool until the structure has closed to the density on the specification, then crops and presses.

Milling is irreversible and the judgement is his alone. Two minutes too long and a herringbone loses its definition; two minutes short and the cloth handles thin. He works to a measured width and a weighed sample, not to the clock.