Solar Dyeing: A Low Impact Way To Dye
It’s no secret that I have a strong desire to make my life and work more sustainable. This is where solar dyeing comes in.
It’s no secret that I have a strong desire to make my life and work more sustainable. This is where solar dyeing comes in.
It might seem obvious to assume that natural dyes derived from plants would work best on plant based fibres, but this isn’t always the case. So how do you choose, and how is the process of dyeing different for cellulose and protein fibres?
How do you know if the materials you’re choosing are more or less sustainable than ones you were previously using? This question comes up a lot when discussing whether wool is a sustainable material or not, so I thought I’d take a look into it.
This year I want to build upon what I’ve been learning over the past couple of years and see where that takes me! With that in mind, I’ve set out some sewing plans for myself and decided to join in with some sewing challenges on Instagram this month. I also intend to learn some new skills for sewing and crocheting, while developing what I’ve been learning about natural dyeing.
I’ve been doing some more natural dyeing this week and so thought I’d make some recommendations on how to get started if anyone else is interested. I’m by no means an expert, I’m still experimenting and learning, though I can offer some pointers on books, courses and dyes to play with.
At the end of June last year, I visited Peru and went to two different community led centres, where I learned about natural dyeing.
Deadstock fabric is becoming much easier to get hold of, with several sites offering fantastic deals for fabric by the roll or the metre. But what actually is it and is it a sustainable way to shop?
Natural fibres is a surprisingly broad term for quite a few materials. The better known ones are cotton and linen, though there are a whole range of different natural fibres out there.