Tag Archives: linen

Sew 8 – Sewing is a life skill

cool linen dressThis garment began life as a block-coloured linen skirt cut on the cross, which I’ve upcycled into a cool summer dress.

I grew up in a farming family, born of parents who came through the depression and learned to be resourceful. We grew our own vegetables and Dad butchered the meat on the farm in Otago, New Zealand.

Society’s resurgent interest in home-cooking reflects our re-valuing of the nutritional, seasonal, creative and pleasurable aspects of cooking wholesome food in the home.

I learned to cook and bake in our Great Grandma’s kitchen in the cottage. I learned to sew, knit and crochet with Nana – and I later learned other crafts like spinning wool and making paper from my aunt Kate McLachlanContinue reading

Sew 5 – The magic of eco-dye

eco dye linen dressColour can be transformational, and each day we enjoy a full range of nature’s offerings from sunrise to sunset when we take the time to look.

By comparison, white and pastel-coloured clothing can seem dull, doubly so considering the bright, computer-generated fabrics designs around at the moment. Combined with an out-dated style, it is not surprising such garments remain stashed in the back of the wardrobe.

I have a few white linen numbers hoarded for years because I value the fabric and shell buttons. They have intrinsic value, but were not being worn. So I upcycled them and used red leaves from my regular bush walk to experiment with eco colour.

Fabrics from plant fibres (linen and cotton) don’t take to colour as well as protein fibres (wool and silk) so I went in search of more information at Brisbane Library and discovered the beautiful books of India Flint.

Eco colour and Second Skin brim with inspiration. Dyes from plants are a renewable resource and in Eco colour, India has catalogued an amazing array of combinations and permutations.

If you are not fussy about the colour, what it seems to boil down to is: gather leaves, simmer in pot for a while, place them on moistened garment, wrap into a bundle, return to pot over very low heat for another while, leave to cool in solution as long as your curiosity will allow. Voila.

The dye uptake will be enriched if you pre-prepare the garment with an alkaline solution such as ash water (from a fire) or washing soda. India suggests using protein such as cows’ milk or soy milk which you leave to dry on the fabric before you dye it. Adding rusty metal objects, such as chains or old tools, to the dye bath also helps fix the colour.

Today’s offering started life as a long linen dress with shell buttons down the front. I cropped it off at the waist and added a new skirt made from an assortment of other white linens with more buttons. I created the new skirt as a long rectangle which was pleated randomly as it was sewn in place using zigzag stitch. The lengths vary and pockets are as they appeared on the original garments. I left the dress in moist ash for a day, bundled it with gum leaves and brewed in a pot with more leaves and a rusty spanner.

The garment has lost some of its colour after washing, but can be over-dyed again later to enrich it further. More dye projects ahead – it is fun and easier than it sounds because anything goes.

dyeing linen using eco colour