I am so excited that this shawl is finally finished and so proud of what I have accomplished. Making this shawl has been a long journey– probably about 5 years long. When I started, this shawl was nothing but a bunch of really dirty mohair. We are talking so dirty that when I washed it,… Read More A Rags to Riches Shawl
One thing I love about natural dyes is that they turn up in the most unexpected places. For instance, would you ever guess that the pits and skins of avocados can yield light pink and peach colors? I started saving the pits and skins from the avocados we ate so I could start experimenting with… Read More Avocado’s Hidden Secret
I have done a bit of natural dyeing in the past, and I have a beginner’s natural dye book, so I am always on the lookout for plants to dye with. This fall I noticed that my neighbor across the street has a Japanese maple. According to my book, The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes,… Read More Experiments in Ecoprinting
This is yet another project made with fabric that I hand-dyed this summer. This is cotton jersey (from Dharma Trading) that I folded and tied up before dyeing with indigo. The pattern is quite similar another knit dress I made recently. I wasn’t lying about liking mock wraps. I wanted a fairly simple pattern to… Read More Shibori Knit Mock Wrap Dress
More and more, I am drawn to projects that take a long time and involve multiple steps. I think part of that is that you only need so many clothes and most of my wardrobe holes are filled now. I like being able to slow down and really enjoy the process. The creation of this… Read More Alabama Chanin Dress
Since I had four silk scarves that I dyed using shibori (indigo and other natural dyes), I decided to do a bit of experimentation with hems. All the scarves are hemmed using types of “rolled hems” but they all have a slightly different effect. Two of the scarves are done by hand. I first stitched a line… Read More Four Ways to Do a Rolled Hem
I like to play around with pretty much all aspects of working with fiber and fabric. One thing that can be really fun to play with is natural dyes. There is tons you can do with synthetic dyes as well, but I have decided to restrict myself to natural dyes. Part of this is for… Read More Dyeing Silk With Black Walnut