We asked long time customer Jessica Lallatin to share her wool journey.
I’m Jessica, mother of two girls— one who is six and one who is 18 months old. We’re expecting another surprise gender baby in December. Our family lives in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Utah. I’m a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom, and my husband owns his own business. Though we grew up on opposite sides of the country, my husband and I met in school here in Utah 15 years ago. We briefly moved to a warmer climate, but we returned to Utah five years ago.
Since I was a little girl, I always knew I wanted to be a mother, and we hoped to start having children right away. However, after five years of struggling with infertility, I decided to make some major lifestyle changes—focusing on my health and removing toxins from my life. Six months later, I became pregnant with our first child. After making those changes, I knew I only wanted to dress my baby in natural fibers to limit her exposure to plastics. When our daughter was one, we moved back to Utah, where I had to learn how to keep her warm without relying on polyester. This journey led to my true discovery and love of wool.
Using natural materials is very important to me, and I try to incorporate them in our home and life as much as possible. Our toys, dishes, bedding, and clothing are all chosen with this in mind. Beyond just natural fibers, we also consider the processing of the materials, the type of dyes used, and whether the fiber is organic. With wool, we aim to avoid superwash treatments; the closer it is to its original state, the better, in my opinion.
It also brings me great pleasure to invest in heirloom-quality items that can be passed down to my children’s children. We have collected beautiful pieces like Ostheimer animals and Grimm's blocks with that in mind.
We spend a lot of time outdoors in our wool clothing. We participate in a Waldorf outdoor program and a forest school co-op, which has really tested the warmth and durability of our wool and wool-silk layers. For layering, we start with a base layer—Siskin wool-silk is our favorite. For our mid-layer, we prefer to use a knit. On bottoms we love Disana knit leggings, and for tops, we like to use a variety of weights depending on the weather. We especially love the Siskin Donegal and lambswool sweaters. We finish with boiled wool. Boiled wool holds up exceptionally well to heavy play, cold temperatures, and snow.
One of my favorite things about boiled wool is that, after six years of use, we’ve never had to wash it, aside from spot-cleaning a few times. One of our Disana coats lasted three entire winters and still looked good as new when my daughter finally outgrew it. If it gets muddy, we let it dry, then shake or brush off the debris. Snow shakes off easily, and we simply hang it up to dry. Our mid-layers rarely, if ever, need washing. When a sweater does need cleaning, I wash it gently by hand, roll it in a towel to remove excess water, and lay it flat to dry.
Our base layers, which are used daily, require more frequent washes than our cotton and linen clothes, but they can still be worn several times before washing. I wash these on a delicate cycle with wool wash and hang them to dry. My baby’s wool clothes need the most washing due to spit-up, drool, and other baby messes. I usually wash these by hand to be extra gentle; I find it therapeutic, and I love the smell of wet wool. It feels good to put that extra care into my little one’s tiny clothes.
MamaOwl carries many of our favorite brands. Over the years, we’ve discovered some wonderful new ones. Our original favorites are Disana boiled wool and Engel/Siskin wool-silk, which remain staples in our closet. We’ve since branched out to include brands like Selana wool sweaters, My Alpaca bonnets, Cosilana wool terry pajamas, and Hirsch Nature tie socks for babies.
Some of my all-time favorite purchases have been the Donegal sweater in oak for my older daughter, the Siskin fleece Harrier jacket for myself, and the Mormor bonnet for my youngest. Each of these items gets used so often and brings a little bit of joy to our day whenever we put them on.
I strive to learn about where the products we use come from and teach our children to do the same. We try to be mindful about our purchases, avoid buying more than we need, and steer clear of items that will end up in landfills for hundreds of years. Wool has an incredible resale value, so when an item has finished its time in our home, we can pass it along to another family, allowing it to live on until it eventually returns to the earth.
I’ve noticed that people are drawn to wool. We often get asked where our clothes are from, and over the years, I’ve introduced many members of our Waldorf and forest school communities to the benefits of wool. Many have invested in our favorite pieces from MamaOwl or purchased items we’ve outgrown to start their own wool journey. So many parents want high-quality, natural clothing for their children but aren’t sure where to start. I’m grateful for the chance to share the things we’ve tested and loved over the years.
