The Waverley Mills 150+ exhibition launches on Saturday for a two-month commemoration of the founding of Waverley Mills, Tasmania's first commercial woollen factory.

The mill, which was founded outside Launceston in 1874, is the last remaining manufacturing facility of its kind in the country.

During its rich history Waverley Mill has weaved products for the Australian Army and Qantas, and at one time its production accounted for 80 percent of the blanket market in the country.

The new Design Tasmania show has been created to honour that legacy in an "evolving exhibition", and will include the works of commissioned Tasmanian artists and designers.

One of those artists is Sharon O'Donnell, a textile weaver who uses threads spun from her own flock of sheep to create and communicate narratives of sustainability and interconnectedness with nature.

Throughout the exhibition, O'Donnell will work each Saturday afternoon as an artist-in-residence at Design Tasmania, hand-weaving a rug artwork, which she's titled Origins.

"Making textiles is meditative and rhythmic, and the end product is like woven components of life, and that's what I hope to share with the community through this piece," O'Donnell said.

"I would love, come the end of the residency, to have a community blanket that reflects Waverley's role in the community."

O'Donnell will use raw wool materials from local sheep farms, as well as off-cuts, mill ends and recyclable fibres from Waverley Mills' production processes, and has invited the public to assist.

Other artists, like Tricky Walsh, will bring their experimental approach to a non-traditional, machine-woven fashion fabric to the show alongside Lillian Wheatley, a saltwater (muka luna) woman from the Trawlwoolway nation in northeast Tasmania, whose work is inspired by her Country and life growing up on an island in the Bass Strait.

As a Waverley Mills 150+ featured artist, Lillian will apply ancient practices to hand-weave

woollen yarn together with cultural fibres.

Design Tasmania and the mill are also putting out an open call to the public: come in and share your memories of the mill with stories, photographs and vintage blankets and apparel.

Those public contributions, along with treasures acquired from around the country, will establish a "Waverley Mills Design Archive", which will be gathered throughout the duration of the exhibition.

"Waverley Mills has been a fixture of our community for a century and a half," said Michelle Boyde, Design Tasmania's artistic director.

"We're thrilled to collaborate with them to celebrate that legacy, while also engaging local contemporary artists and the public to take it into the next 150 years and beyond."

Waverley Mills 150+ will run from March 23 to May 26 at Design Tasmania.

Those looking to contribute a story, photograph or item can email hello@waverleymills.com or send a message on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/waverleymillsaustralia