Long before the world of chemical formulations, have you ever thought about where the bright colours in your cycling gear came from?
Plants, plants plants. They have many of the vivid blues, oranges, reds, yellows that sustainable fabrics like to adopt – and it’s just a case of putting your basic cooking skills – boiling and stirring – to practise.
So, it’s no wonder that Slow Fashion and Slow Food had a wonderful marriage when Bay Area Slow Food culinary artist Leif Hedendal of the Secret Cafe, and Sasha Duerr of the Permacouture Institute came together in San Francisco for a “Dinner to Dye For” event.
The day’s agenda explained which natural fibres could be used with natural dyes, before a group ate a lovely dinner using the same ingredients that had made the dyes earlier in the day. A craft that is related to what native species are available to you, natural dyeing is easier than you think – although you have to be prepared for experimentation otherwise you’ll find yourself wearing brown a lot. Interestingly, the hardest colour to make from natural dyes is green!
Sasha Duerr explains: “The loss of traditional fibre and dye knowledge is much the same as grocery store shopping when all you see are four different types of apples in the produce section rather than the hundreds of varietals of apples that actually exist. We have literally forgotten, in only a few generations, the vast majority of organic sources of colour.”
Look out for Duerr’s book on plant dyes from the kitchen and garden, due to be published by Timber Press/Workman in Autumn 2010.
To feel inspired by other sustainable textiles visit Permacouture Institute.
