Seasonal Plant Dyes: Creating year round colour from plants, beautiful textile projects

by Alicia Hall

Overview

This beautifully illustrated book takes you on a botanical journey through the year, showing you how to create colorful and environmentally friendly plant dyes.

This beautifully illustrated book takes you on a botanical journey through the year, showing you how to create colorful and environmentally friendly plant dyes. You’ll learn sustainable methods of growing and harvesting plants; the tools and techniques required to extract dye; which fabrics and yarns to choose; and the simple method of using soy milk as a fixative, to ensure rich and long-lasting colors.

The book includes easy-to-follow tutorials explaining how to make four stunning pieces using seasonal plant dyes: a linen cushion cover, embroidered picnic blanket, hot water bottle cozy, and quilt.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526747235
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	06/10/2020
Series:	Crafts
Pages:	104
Sales rank:	232,423
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

After discovering plant dyeing in a horticultural book while working as a gardener, Alicia drew on her education in fashion design to experiment with plant dyes and textiles, creating colorful dyes using the plants that grew in the gardens that she worked in. Since growing her passion into a thriving small business, Alicia now spends her time cooking up plant dyes and making textile products in her home studio in the heart of the Wiltshire countryside, where she lives with her husband and son.

Table of Contents

Introduction 06

Chapter 1 Harvesting plants 12

Chapter 2 Choosing fabrics 18

Chapter 3 Tools 26

Chapter 4 Soya milk 28

Chapter 5 Dyeing basics 30

Chapter 6 Modifiers 36

Chapter 7 Spring

Mint leaves 40

Madder roots 42

Bay leaves 44

Nettle tops 46

Forsythia flowers 48

Spring project

Linen cushion cover 50

Chapter 8 Summer

Buddleja flowers 56

Goldenrod flowers 58

Lavender leaves 60

Wood leaves 62

St John's wort flowers 64

Summer project

Embroidered picnic blanket 66

Chapter 9 Autumn

Dahlia flowers 72

Walnut shells 74

Elderberries 76

Dyers chamomile flowers 78

Yarrow flowers 80

Autumn project

Hot water bottle cosy 82

Chapter 10 Winter

Rosemary leaves 90

Ivy leaves 92

Eucalyptus leaves 94

Alder cones 96

Dyers alkanet roots 98

Winter project

Patchwork quilt 100

Editorial Reviews

"The new book Seasonal Plant Dyes by Alicia Hall walks us through the process featuring plants to use at their peak in spring, summer, autumn, and winter to create an array of gorgeous colors and textures only natural dyes can achieve."

Empress of Dirt