Join horticulturist and craftsperson Julia Billings for a weekend exploring the essentials of transferring colours found in plants onto fabric and yarn, with a particular focus on locally-found species.
We will cover the key aspects of natural dyeing: fibre preparation and mordanting, sourcing dyestuffs, the various steps involved in preparing and working with a natural dyebath, safe dyeing practice, over-dyeing to create complex colours, keeping records of dye experiments and other tips for dyeing with plants and other natural materials. We'll also explore ways to achieve different colours from the same pot and take a walk around the local area to explore the dye potential of some of the plants growing in the gardens at the Arthouse and surrounding landscape.
On Saturday, we’ll prepare our yarn and fabric samples, facilitating their uptake of colour. We’ll also create a number of different dyebaths using locally-foraged species and explore the different types of dyes and their chemistry, hue and fastness. On Sunday, we’ll dye yarn and fabric samples in each bath to create a shadecard with 10 different shades of yarn and fabrics. Together, these two days of exploration should give participants a solid understanding of the dye process, how different natural dyes and fibres interact and how to develop their own practice or incorporate dyes into an existing creative practice.
This course is suitable for both beginners or those with some experience working with natural dyes.
Included in the course fee: All materials, comprehensive notes on processes covered and a fabric shade card and 100gm of yarn dyed in the workshop.
Julia Billings is a craftsperson and horticulturist based in Bridgeton, Glasgow, where she runs a natural dye and textile studio, producing plant-dyed yarn and threads for craftspeople and facilitating workshops on dyeing with natural materials, knitting, mending and other textile skills.
Julia taught herself to knit in an attempt to keep warm while working outdoors in horticulture and soon found most of her spare time being spent knitting. Travel and time with inspired teachers further fuelled a love of traditional techniques and working with colour and it is the reworking and combining of these old skills and techniques with simple, clean design and materials that most inspire her.
Julia uses local fibres and plants as much as possible, actively seeking to work with invasive and weedy species as a resource, and firmly believes that the transfer of skills and knowledge is essential to the ongoing development and elevation of craft. To see more visit her website https://www.woollenflower.com
