It is wonderful how putting your self out there on a blog can connect you with some people and strengthen the connection with others. Molly Wizenburg, the author of Orangette (the blog Jenny mentioned last week), met her husband through her blog. No need for a husband here, but an acquaintance of mine and I have gotten to know each other a bit better through comparing notes.
Stacy and I worked together slightly on a board coordinating different parts of a local family organization. Every time I see her it is wonderful to hear about her garden or current project. She contributed to Two Clever Moms a little while ago on a post we did together about napkins.
Knowing that I like to dye things, a couple weeks ago she mentioned she has a elderberry bush and an indigo plant. She was wondering if I had done any natural dying. I said no, but was very happy to try. After doing a little research I thought elderberries may be a good place to start. When dying with indigo there is a long process with very special ingredients. Elderberry dying, on the other hand, needs water and salt. I tried the technique described here. I used 100 percent cotton gauze fabric that I sewed into a long tube and then connected into a big cowl scarf.
It was fun to experiment. The result wasn’t dramatic. I think I need to change my expectations from the vivid synthetic colors to the more muted natural dye results.
Below is a picture of the big girl and I getting ready with our purple shirts, just in case. And the finished pale pink scarf.
August 26, 2013 at 3:12 pm
oh MAN! Elderberry pie is my very favorite thing in the world. If I had access to that elderberry bush there wouldn’t be any berries left for dyeing things! We have a few bushes at the dead end of our road in my hometown but it is still a race to get enough berries for pies before all the birds eat them 🙂