For the Love of Fiber

By April

Fall is fast approaching. The light and changes of color are everywhere.

I had an amazing opportunity to take a fall color, natural dye class at Wild Craft Studio School last weekend. The studio is in the hills of White Salmon, Washington. Such a lovely place to get away and learn something new.

First we hiked the hills to forage for ingredients to use as natural dyes.

Then we prepared the ingredients for the dye pots. Shown below: walnut, poke berry and dyer’s polypore.

Oregon Grape ready to be prepared shown below.

Some swatches of naturally dyed fiber hanging in the studio.

Our swatches of fabric and yarn hanging out to dry.

This is piece is from a classmate, it reflects a combination of several different plant dyes.

 I learned lots of new things about preparing fabric for dying. Types of fabrics best used for this type of natural dying. There are many things all around us that can be used to rejuvenate an old sweater with natural dye. Experimentation with plants and variables can be exciting and different every time.

Good times, good food, good folks. Wild Craft Studio School only offers classes during the non snowy months. There are still a few classes for this season. The disciplines meet where nature and craft intersect.

Happy Fall!