The Wild Dyer

The Wild Dyer - A Maker's Guide to Natural Dyes with Projects to Create and Stitch

by Abigail Booth

Fabrics colored with natural dyes have a beauty and subtlety all of their own. Onion and avocado skins, chamomile and birch bark, nettles, and acorns can produce lovely, ethereal colors and effects. The Wild Dyer demystifies this eco-conscious art, focusing on foraging and growing dying materials; repurposing kitchen trimmings; making and using long-lasting dyes; and creating stitched projects. Workspace setup, equipment, fabric choices, and care are all discussed.

Beautiful photographs and easy-to-follow instructions illustrate how to make eight exquisite household items, from a drawstring bag to a gardener's smock and a reversible patchwork blanket. The Wild Dyer is a complete guide for both beginners and experienced artists seeking to expand their knowledge of this increasingly popular craft.

Abigail Booth studied Fine Art at Byam Shaw School of Art, the San Francisco Art Institute, and Chelsea College of Art, where she graduated in 2013 as a painter and sculptor. Working across textiles, drawing, and painting her work explores the histories of piecework, pigment, and cloth. She exhibits her work throughout the UK and internationally, often collaborating with her partner Max Bainbridge under their studio Forest + Found.

Princeton Architecture Press, 2019, hardcover, 7.5 x 9.25 inches, 160 pages (114 in color).