Grow Your Own Colour

Imagine if you could dye your clothes with homegrown plants...

Grow Your Own Colour shows you how to start a dye garden no matter how little space you have, whether it’s a window box, balcony or garden. Experience the joy of growing flowers and indigo, and use your plants to naturally dye cloth.

Have you thought about natural dyeing but you’re worried the colours might fade? Or perhaps you’re put off by special equipment you need. This book demystifies the process and will help you get started in the simplest way.

If you’re a plant lover, then find out how common garden flowers like marigold and cosmos can be used to dye fabric in a variety of shades and patterns. Natural dyes are alive; the hues are beautifully subtle. The art of natural dyeing encourages mindfulness and is a wonderful way to be creative.

• how to start gardening if you’ve never done it before
• no-dig gardening methods
• starting seeds indoors vs direct sowing in the ground
• how to grow, harvest and dye with 9 different dye plants
• these plants are covered: Japanese indigo, Hopi Black Dye sunflower, French marigold, African marigold, dyer’s chamomile, coreopsis, sulphur cosmos, purple pincushion, hollyhock (and a couple of other bonus types of cosmos).
• harvesting & drying flowers
• saving seeds & cross-pollination
• dyeing projects for your homegrown flowers
• how to make patterns on cloth
• bundle dyeing, flower hammering, immersion dyeing (in a dye pot), darkening & painting with iron, modifying the pH of dye
• different recipes for silk and plant fibres
• how to test colour fastness on fabric (i.e. how long the dye lasts)
• where to buy dried flowers if you just can’t wait to grow your own!
• where to buy seeds (worldwide)