October 13, 2024: Natural Dyeing

Description

Instructor: Michelle Parrish

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Date: Sunday, October 13, 2024

Duration:  6 hours

Time: 11:00AM to 5:00PM EST

Location: 80 Bassett Road, Shelburne MA 01370

Cost: sliding scale of $90 – $150 (includes lunch and materials)

# of Participants: 8

Experience Level: All are welcome.

Michelle Parrish is a natural dyer, weaver, and spinner living and working in the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts.

She earned her Master Weaver Certificate from the Hill Institute in Florence, MA in 2010. She is one of the organizers of Western Massachusetts Fibershed, which is a local affiliate of the broader Fibershed movement, and is part of the New England Flax and Linen Study Group. She loves to share her enthusiasm about plants with others, and can often be found demonstrating natural dyeing and flax processing at events around the northeast.

Michelle says: “I am fascinated by the complex processes by which raw natural materials are transformed into yarn, color, and cloth. My particular passion is to understand and utilize the materials that can be grown and gathered locally, in the Connecticut River Valley and surrounding hills, and to support organic and sustainable cultivation and processing methods. I aspire to create local cloth, while connecting to sources of sustainably produced materials around the world.”

Learn more about Michelle on her website and blog: Local Color Dyes

Program Description

Do you want to learn how to dye yarn with flowers and plants? Harvesting dye plants allows you to be connected to the colors you use in an intimate and thoughtful way.

During this workshop, Michelle will lead us in preparing dye baths and dyeing skeins of 16/2 wool yarn. Each participant will leave the workshop with 1-2oz of dyed wool yarn in each color. Ziploc bags will be provided to transport wet skeins at the conclusion of the workshop, or participants are welcome to bring glass jars from home.

This workshop is a follow-up to our June Dye Garden Planning Workshop where we planted the Fabric of Life Dye Garden. During that workshop, Michelle introduced a variety of annual and perennial dye plants. The program offered an understanding of how to start a dye garden, including planning, plant selection, starting plants from seed, planting starts, and nurturing healthy plants throughout the season. Participants joined together to plant seeds and starts in the freshly prepared garden bed.

Come with your ideas and questions and learn from Michelle’s breadth of knowledge about growing and using natural dye plants.

No experience necessary.

Please contact us with any questions at office@fabric-of-life.org.

Our sliding scale fee allows us to keep our programming accessible to a wide range of individuals through the generosity of our community. Please select the option that feels the most comfortable for you.