"For several thousand years, all dyes were of animal, vegetable, or mineral origin, and many ancient civilizations possessed excellent dye technologies. The first synthetic dye was produced in 1856, and the use of traditional dyes declined rapidly thereafter. By 1915 few non-synthetics were used by industry or craftspeople. The craft revivals of the 1920s explored traditional methods of natural dyeing to some extent, particularly with wool, although the great eighteenth- and nineteenth-century dye manuals, which recorded the older processes, remained largely forgotten. In The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing, J.N. Liles consolidates the lore of the older dyers with his own first-hand experience to produce both a history of natural dyes and a practical manual for using pre-synthetic era processes on all the natural fibers--cotton, linen, silk, and wool. A general section on dyeing and mordanting and a glossary introduce the beginner to dye technology. In subsequent chapters, Liles summarizes the traditional dye methods available for each major color group. Scores of recipes provide detailed instructions on how to collect ingredients--flowers, weeds, insects, wood, minerals--prepare the dyevat, troubleshoot, and achieve specific shades"--Publisher's description.

This long-awaited guide serves as a tool to explain the general principles of natural dyeing, and to help dyers to become more accomplished at their craft through an increased understanding of the process. Photos of more than 450 samples demonstrate the results of actual dye tests, and detailed information covers every aspect of natural dyeing including theory, fibers, mordants, dyes, printing, organic indigo vats, finishing, and the evaluation of dye fastness. Special techniques of printing and discharging indigo are featured as well. The book is intended for dyers and printers who wish to more completely understand the "why" and the "how," while ensuring safe and sustainable practices. Written by a textile engineer and chemist (Boutrup) and a textile artist and practitioner (Ellis), its detailed and tested recipes for every process, including charts and comparisons, make it the ideal resource for dyers with all levels of experience.

Eliminate the guesswork out of creating the color you want and dye happy with formulas for over 900 colors in this handy reference guide. A simple and straightforward approach to fabric dyeing makes playing with color fun and exciting. Learn the basics and try a variety of specialty techniques such as twisting, pleating, layering, and painting. Dye in lots from 1/4 yard to 1 yard, or use multipliers for more. Now you have Linda’s personal “recipe book” to mix any colors you can imagine. Learn special techniques like how to make rainbows, subtle gradations, and unique patterns using common brands of dye, and then use your hand-dyed fabric for any project from quilt making to wearables to fiber art.

Eva Lambert, born in Germany, brought up in the US, and now a UK citizen living in Scotland, has lived in Turkey and travelled extensively in North and West Africa studying weaving and dyeing techniques. In 1998, she opened the Shilasdair shop on the Isle of Skye, selling exclusively natural-dyed yarns. She has given talks, workshops and been the subject of various exhibitions of her work in the UK, also doing historical dyeing for the Victoria and Albert Millennium Exhibition.

Valuable hints on dyeing fibers and fabrics, soap plants to use for cleaning textiles, fragrant plants to scent and protect fabrics; planning and creating a garden featuring cotton, flax, indigo, and much more.

Provides easy to follow step-by-step tutorials for preparing, dyeing, and spinning different fibers.

Persian blue, pomegranate flower, spiny lobster, wine soup, pale flesh, dove breast, golden wax, grass green, green sand, rotten olive, modest plum, agate, rich French gray, gunpowder of the English……..just some of the color names of old fabric to fire the imagination. Memoirs on Dyeing concerns a unique manuscript from the eighteenth century; a dyers memoirs from Languedoc, containing recipes for dyes with corresponding color samples. It is an exceptional document, hugely rare and of great significance not only to textile historians but dyers and colorists today, as thanks to the information in the manuscript the colors can be reproduced exactly, with the same ingredients, or reproduced using modern techniques by matching the color samples. To the English translation of the text, together with facsimile pages reproduced in color from the original manuscript, are added essays meant to situate it in its historical, economic and technological contexts. For those historians who have long been fascinated by the change in scale and the amount of innovation that occurred in woollen cloth production in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries, the Memoirs on Dyeing bring firsthand insight into the daily preoccupations and tasks of a key actor in the success story of the Languedocian broadcloth production specially devised for export to the Levant. Even non-specialists may be interested in understanding the clever management and technical organization that made it possible for the author to produce, dye, finish, pack and export up to 1,375 pieces of superfine broadcloth per year, representing nearly 51 km of cloth.