As Good as Gold

I love to dye my own yarns. At university, I was a whizz in the dyelab, churning out dozens of coloured hanks every week. Not only did it enhance my project, but it was extremely cheap to do - although, it does take a while, and can be unpredictable - But I like to work like that.

I do alot of natural dying at home. Vegetable dying in particular is so humble in its process and method, using waste to create beauty is enriching and rewarding, and the results are outstanding. I have done several natural dying workshops, and they work really well, you just do some knitting whilst its all simmering!

My favourite workshop so far has been when the children visited a pick-your-own farm, and we tried to dye everything that they had picked. The theme of the week was Transformations, and they were truely mesmerised.

On the 22nd of December, I'm doing another dye workshop for children based on the Grimm's Fairy Tale - Rumplestiltskin. They have to 'make gold' for the King. And they're going to make it through dying rayon, a shiny and refelctive yarn, with white onion.

Onion dyed 'gold'

Onion dyed 'gold'

Onion dyed 'gold'

Dye sketchbook

Dyed hanks drying

Vegetable dyed wool

• A short lesson in natural dying •

• wind your yarn into hanks, and simmer in alum and cream of tartar for 1 hour over heat. rinse well. ( with plant fibres leave to steep overnight. )

• Add your dye stuffs to a pan of water, and add your treated yarn. Simmer until your desired colour is achieved. rinse well, (without allowing the water to run directly on your yarn.) My gold rayon simmer for 10 minutes to make the shade I wanted.

Here are a few everyday vegetables you could use: red and white onion skins, avocado skins, red cabbage outer leaves, orange peel, beetroot, spinach...

#textiles #textiledesign #naturaldying #dying #vegetables #yarn #wool #rayon #oniondying