The theme of ecology and returning to nature is gaining popularity. People are more conscious about choosing the things that surround them. In the interior, many prefer wood and glass, and in clothing – cotton and linen. And some even dye fabrics themselves – of course, also with natural pigments.

London-based artist Abigail Booth has created a whole guide on dyeing fabrics with plants. Some of the recipes are known to everyone, but many of the girl's tips surprised me. But more on that later, and first let's look into the Abigail's studio and get into its spirit.

Working process:

Materials required for dyeing:

Natural pigment sources:

Desk:

At the entrance to the workshop:

Abigail says she just fell in love with natural fabrics and plant dyes. She likes to feel connected with nature and the benefits of natural materials. At first, she was afraid that she would not succeed and would have to stop her occupation, but now she has a whole garden, as well as many flowers in pots. One of her favorite dyes is coreopsis, which produces yellow and orange hues.

The girl published a whole book, which tells in detail what you need to dye the fabric in a particular color. But most of all I liked her seasonal and thematic collections of flowers. For example, such a palette she offers for summer:

For dyeing fabrics in these summer colors, she suggests using hawthorn, nettle, sorrel and fern.

Here's an autumn selection:

There are fabrics dyed with alder cones, willow leaves, acorns and ink nuts, as well as copper beech leaves.

By the way, I'm a city resident and heard about ink nuts for the first time:) So I was very surprised that in addition to dyes for fabric, Abigail makes ink for writing!

Here is a winter selection of flowers:

Here I recognized only rowan and birch bark. If you know what is used to get the top two colors, please write in the comments!

I could not find a spring selection, but I suppose it would have a pink color, which can be obtained with the help of avocado peel.

And yellow and orange, derived from coreopsis.

And here are Abigail's ideas of what can be made from these fabrics and how to combine colors! For example, hand-painted pillows. For them she used eucalyptus leaves and berries of mountain ash.

Excellent and very gentle addition to the interior!

And such a handbag for a trip to the store can be made of fabrics dyed with blueberries, elderberries and rose hips.

But there are much more options — because with the help of vegetable dyes, you can get almost any color!

Of course, synthetic dyes allow you to get brighter colors, but these colors are so delicate and natural! And most importantly, you can be sure that things from hand-painted fabrics do not emit any toxic substances. They can be safely given to children and allergy sufferers.

Have you ever tried to dye fabrics at home? Tell us about your favorite natural dyes!