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The Complete Guide to Natural Dyeing
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Table of Contents

Prelims
Introduction
The Basics
Fixing the Colors (Mordanting)
Calculating amounts
Collecting your own dyestuffs
Dyeing techniques
Recipes and results
Mixing dyebaths
Resources and glossary
Index and credits

Prelims Introduction The Basics Fixing the Colors (Mordanting) Calculating amounts Collecting your own dyestuffs Dyeing techniques Recipes and results Mixing dyebaths Resources and glossary Index and credits

About the Author

Eva Lambert, born in Germany, brought up in the US, and now a UK citizen living in Scotland, has lived in Turkey and travelled extensively in North and West Africa studying weaving and dyeing techniques. In 1998, she opened the Shilasdair shop on the Isle of Skye, selling exclusively natural-dyed yarns. She has given talks, workshops and been the subject of various exhibitions of her work in the UK, also doing historical dyeing for the Victoria and Albert Millennium Exhibition. Her work can be seen at www.shilasdair-yarns.co.uk

Reviews

I think this book is terrific, one of the best I have seen on dyeing. I love the colour coded pages. This book deals with dyeing yarns and fabrics. It's aimed at those who want to dye at home. It tells you everything you need to know with good photographs and instructions. Learn about tie-dye and ikats, random dyeing, indigo and so much more. What I love about this book is the way the varied colours are shown from one dye. Take weld for instance and you can get soft yellow, pistachio, hazelnut and muted yellow. There is also a motif section for resist dyeing and suggestions on recording your data. This book has everything I ever wanted to know about dyeing.-KarenPlatt.co.uk The complete guide to Natural Dyeing is a very comprehensive guide to techniques and includes 'recipes' for dyeing fibre and fabric. Despite containing all the information one could possibly need this is no dry 'how too' manual, it is absolutely dripping with gorgeous images. The book is set out into chapters covering basic theory, techniques for achieving different effects and recipes for using natural materials to achieve colours from the vivid to the subtle and discusses the further colours which might be achieved by over dyeing. There is more than a small element of chemistry to the book with talk of the Ph of water and using chemicals to fix the colour. Some of the recipes call for materials which might be readily available from the garden or kitchen but there is a U.K supplier list at the back of the book for the more obscure ingredients. It is a shame that I do not have the facilities for having a try at dyeing in my own small home- I am sure that all manner of unsuspecting objects would end up a different hue if I tried. Had I a shed, a garage, a utility room, any 'wet play' area really, this book would be more than enough to tempt me to have a go and get my hands green, blue, yellow, red - - -Jennyflowerblue.blogspot.com Whether you're a quilter wishing to give your projects an edge, a spinner searching for an eco twist or a knitter casting around for that perfect colour, you'll find this book jam-packed with natural and foolproof dyeing techniques and recipes for dyeing fabrics, yarns and fibres at home. Step-by-step sequences explain techniques for collecting and preparing your own dyestuffs, colour matching and methods for solid and semi-solid dyeing. Whether you are looking to start from scratch or pick up some new expert skills, this comprehensive guide will give you everything you need to start getting creative - the natural way. Using natural dyes to create your own unique fabrics, yarn and fibre is simple and affordable and this book will make you want to start right now.-Machine Knitting Monthly Great for anyone starting from scratch or wishing to learn more about natural dyeing at home, with step-by-step advice to get started and advice on sourcing dyeing equipment, selecting fabrics, yarns and fibres. It includes a comprehensive guide to finding, gathering and storing dyestuffs. Photographs illustrate natural dye techniques from pre-mordanting to resist dyeing. 'Recipes' are organised by ingredient or dyestuff and the methods used are clearly explained.-Sew Today This complete guide gives you everything needed to start dyeing the natural way. It offers foolproof techniques, recipes and comprehensive instructions for dyeing fabrics, yarns and fibres at home. The opening chapters include the basics including core utensils and preparation before moving on to collecting your own dyestuffs like flowers, leaves, barks and berries. Step-by-step photographs take you through a range of dyeing techniques including tie-dyeing, resist, random dyeing and batik methods. Eighty natural dye recipes are given, including a list of ingredients, method needed and a colour swatch of the result. This book will give you all the skills needed to get started today.-Classic Stitches How many times have quilters been tempted by the thought of dyeing their own fabric only to immediately dismiss the idea because of the mess and inaccessibility of chemical dyes? Here is your answer! This book is packed with natural and foolproof dyeing techniques so that you can start from scratch or pick up some new and expert skills along the way. The last time I saw such beautiful colours as the illustrations in this book, I was in India, the country of colour. This is a step-by-step guide explaining the techniques for collecting and preparing your own dyestuffs, colour-matching and all done the natural way. The chapter containing 'recipes' for dyeing fabrics and yarns is fascinating and, while some core ingredients need to stay in the recipe, much like cooking, other details can easily be changed to achieve different colours or tones on a wide range of fibres. One to take you back to your roots.-Fabrications Dye your own cloth with natural dyes and truly be a part of the green revolution! As the subtitle "techniques and recipes for dyeing fabrics, yarns and fibers at home" states, you can do all this in your own house without specialist equipment and of course much of this you can grow in your own back yard. Like all good Search Press books (and I have yet to see any truly bad ones) there is a helpful guide showing you how to use the book at the beginning, and a useful double page spreads showing all the colors you can make, complete with what page to find the recipe on. There isn't much that does not get covered in here. From a brief overview and history of dyeing to "the basics" about color, fiber properties, and preparing your cloth it progresses through collecting dyestuffs from natural sources through to the actual dyeing process. A third of the book is given over to the recipes, complete with their history and how to go about the process and what you get when you have finished is shown in glorious color. It might be stressed that home fiber dyeing is not something to go into lightly as you do need to obtain the actual dyestuffs and fleeces/cloth/yarns. A short list of places in the UK where this can be done is helpfully given at the back, and the items you need to buy are few and you probably have most if not all of them already in your kitchen. The authors do not try to get you to buy anything you do not need, which is refreshing as is the lack of mystique surrounding the subject: within these covers is a refreshingly straightforward primer. This is one of those books it is a good idea to read through first before doing anything but I am confident that the instructions are beautifully simple, aided and abetted by lush colored photographs. If you want to dye your own cloth or fibers I haven't yet seen a better book for beginners than this one.-Myshelf.com This book covers aspects of using natural dyes obtained from plants, flowers, trees and roots to dye yarns and fabrics. It is divided into four sections - a basic introduction, collecting your dyestuffs, dyeing techniques and recipes. There are also thumbnail pictures at the beginning, both for yarn and fabric, to give an idea of the colours that will be included, and where to go for the recipes. It is very clearly laid out with colour co-ordinated pages and there is lots of advice on how to collect your dyestuffs to obtain the maximum potential from them. You are not restricted to the specific flowers covered in this section, as the recipes later cover a wider range of dyestuffs and colour options, but these pages are useful in guiding you in the right direction. There is information about mordants, and dyeing techniques (indigo, tie-dyeing, resists, batik), which provides all the information you need, and makes the book useful if you are a beginner to dyeing. The techniques covered offer clear instruction with photographs, and recipes give flower weight to yarn/fabric weight ratios, which is useful. If you are interested in using natural dyes in your work then this is a clear, helpful and easily understood book to get you started.-Workshop On The Web If you've ever wanted to dye your own yarns at home, here's the book you've been waiting for. It doesn't just cover the dyeing of yarn but also talks about dyeing fabric and fibres. However, there's a lot of crossover technique-wise, so there's plenty of valuable information for the keen knitter to pick up. This book is the perfect companion for the novice dyer, taking you first through the very basics of what you'll need to get started, then how to prepare your yarn, how to work with a colour wheel, what you can use as dyes, and how the who process works.-Knit Today Natural dyes enable crafters to transform fabrics and materials using easy-to-find dyestuffs such as berries, bark and flowers. This book is a comprehensive guide, covering all the need-to-know information to get consumers started while incorporating additional techniques to allow for accomplished dyers. The colourful materials used in the cover images are sure to attract the attention of customers when strolling around the store. Clear, detailed pictures are used throughout the book, complementing the step-by-step instructions for simple guidance while also adding to the character of the book.-Craft Focus When Amazon contacted me to tell me there was a new dye book about to be published, my first reaction was 'Oh no, not another one' as this will be the third in as many years. However, unable to resist a dye book, I have now added it to my growing collection. The first impact is colour: loads of glorious colour right from the word go. There are photos of quite outstanding fabrics by artists such as Isabella Whitworth, whose fabulous scarves are shown, and Kimberly Baxter Packwood's compost dyed fabrics. These would inspire anybody to want to try natural dyeing. The book is very easy to use, clearly laid out and the instructions are good. I love the addition of colour theory, the emphasis on the importance of record keeping as well as the really excellent introduction to tie dyeing, batik and other resist techniques. Criticisms? Well there are a few. I found the lack of a bibliography more than a little surprising, and while I really appreciated the down to earth unfussed approach, I also found having the health and safety chapter at the end disconcerting. That said, the vibrancy of the colours and the clarity of the instructions make this book very definitely the best of the new books published in recent years and will start many an eager dyer off on a journey of discovery and inspire others to experiment.-Journal for Weavers Spinners & Dyers Start from the beginning or pick up some useful new techniques to add to your existing dyeing skills with this clear, easy to follow workbook. If you're a crocheter who's inspired by colour, you'll love this book - it's lavishly illustrated with bright spreads in the style of mood boards. Pages filled with images of leaves, bark, flowers, berries and other natural goodies will get you inspired to create your own colours from nature. But this isn't just a book about the aesthetics of natural dyeing - it's a hands-on, practical guide to the entire process, will illustrations taking you through every aspect, from preparing your fibre for dyeing to understanding fabric properties. There's also a wealth of information on collecting natural materials and the colours you can expect to obtain from different types of berries and bark, as well as advice on more advanced techniques such as tie-dyeing and batik. If you're new to the world of dyeing and want to get started in an environmentally responsible way, this book provides the ideal springboard.-Inside Crochet A fascinating textbook using natural dyes e.g. flowers, bark, roots and berries. These can be collected from the wild or purchased form the listed suppliers. The book deals with yarns such as wool and natural fabrics - cotton, wool, silk and linen. The importance of pre-soaking in a mordant (alum, copper, iron) to fix the dye is discussed, as it can alter the finished colour a great deal. One chapter gives a clear demonstration of indigo dyeing. There are simple outline motifs suitable for use when resist dyeing. There is a safety reminder about only using specific utensils for dyes. The book is illustrated with beautiful clear photos showing the subtle differences between the colours.-Patchwork & Quilting This beautiful and very useful book is a treasure trove of information about dyeing with natural products. The authors explain clearly the techniques involved and even how to collect your own raw materials. There are recipes for a large number of natural dyestuffs with good photographs and explanations. My favourite section is called the 'Recipe Selector' which shows the different shades of colour possible with specific ingredients. These are a feast of colour and should inspire anyone with an interest in using colour in their textile work. A really useful book for dyers, or potential dyers.-Megonline.co.uk

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